Bill the Galactic Hero
by Harry Harrison
Brian M
Grade 7
Van Antwerp Middle School
One of the best books I've read lately has been Bill The galactic Hero by
Harry Harrison. It's a rather funny book set far into the future when humanity
has achieved faster than light speed travel and has colonized thousands
of planets. On an agricultural planet, our hero, Bill a Technical Fertilizer
Repair Man, is drugged by an officer in the intergalactic navy and tricked
into enlisting [drafting has become illegal]. Bill is whisked away to a
training camp where he quickly learns that everyone is out to get him.
His drill enstructer, Deathwish Drang, nearly kills him with army manuevers,
but when he survives, he graduates the academy and is sent into war against
the peace loving chingers, seven foot tall alien lizards withadvanced technology.
When he finds that his best and weirdest friend, Eager Beager, is a robot,
pileted by a chinger spy, who turns out to only be seven inches tall, he
is promoted and is finally allowed to spell his name right [only one l allowed
to recruits. The adventure continues, and is great. It also continues in
The Planet of the Robot Slaves and The Planet of Tastlessness. It's an
extremely good series, and if you like it, try the other books by Harrison,
especially the Stainless Steel Rat series.
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