The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell

Harry Harrison

Jim diGriz may be facing one of his most devilish opponents yet when his wife Angelina goes missing after paying a visit to a local temple. Jim attempts to track down his missing wife, only to find himself transported to "Hell."
Not being familiar with the lore of the Christian religion, Jim doesn't really make the "Hell" connection. He only knows it is brutally hot, volcanic place inhabited by deranged, red people who want to eat him.
After being rescued, Jim and his cohorts figure out that the temple and others like it are used to lure rich people to finance a madman's plan to gain eternal life for himself. The man, Professor Slakey, has managed not only to create a transporter that connects to other universes, but has also duplicated himself multiple times in order to create an army of Slakeys dedicated to obtaining unnildecnovum, an element that reverses entropy, thereby granting the possessor the key to eternal life. Jim and the rest will have to move heaven and hell if they are going to rein in the mad professor.

This was a pretty good read. Jim and company find themselves in all kinds of strange situations as they try to deal with the wily professor. Lots of adventure and intriguing challenges as they unravel the trail of their adversary.

Bill, the Galactic Hero: The Final Incoherent Adventure!

By Harry Harrison and David Harris

Bill, who specialty is fuse tending, finds himself chosen to be a gunner in a war against the planet Eyerack. His job is pretty simple,  reduced to a sort of video game with a joy stick and a screen. All he has to do is point and shoot at the little targets on the screen, and the military has kindly supplied him with all the tokens he will need to keep the game running. Things are going really good and Bill is racking up a great score. What could go wrong? According to the Captain, Captain Kadaffi, God is on their side. Or is He? It's hard to tell who is right and who is wrong and Bill, after crashing on the surface of Eyerack, is changing sides more frequently than his underwear.

I guess this is supposed to be some sort of commentary on the Iraq war, with characters like Captain Kadaffi and a planet named Eyerack. Bill bounces from side to side, in his search for safety and security. The whole story seems kind of pointless and it just kind of dribbles away to a very unsatisfying ending. Not recommended.

Bill the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Zombie Vampires

By Harry Harrison and Jack C. Haldeman II

Volume 4 of the series has Bill, starship trooper, off on an adventure that bears a striking resemblance to the 1979 movie, Alien.
Assigned to the Bounty, captained by Captain Blight, Bill is the lone MP on board, in charge of a group of angry, disgruntled criminals. Bill soon becomes angry and disgruntled too because he and the criminals are restricted to a diet of okra while the captain and the officers eat like kings. Then the captain limits their drinking water and the criminals revolt. The captain and officers are captured and forced to live on the despised okra while Bill and the criminals stuff themselves on the choice goodies denied them for so long.
Their plan is to abandon the officers on a desolate planet. Upon their arrival, they discover the planet's only installation, a communications station, is deserted. They set about exploring, and Bill finds a cavern under the station filled with strange pods and things go downhill very quickly after that.

This was a pretty good and funny read, especially if the reader is familiar the the movie the book lampoons. Overall, it is a silly story, just for fun mainly, but I enjoyed it.

A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah!

By Harry Harrison

In an alternate history, where the American Revolution failed and George Washington was executed as traitor, his distant descendant Augustine Washington is one of the chief engineers in charge of building a transatlantic tunnel between Europe and North America. If he succeeds, he will redeem his family name from the disgrace brought on it by his traitor ancestor. And win the hand of the woman he has loved for many hopeless years.

The genre of this story is a branch of science fiction known as steampunk, a kind of Victorian take on modern times. Wikipedia describes the book thus: "Harry Harrison's novel A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah! (1973) portrays a British Empire of an alternate 1973, full of atomic locomotives, coal-powered flying boats, ornate submarines, and Victorian dialogue." And that is pretty much what it is. If you like descriptions of mechanical devices and engineering exploits or you like reading tales of alternate history, this would be the book for you. But if you don't, then pass on by. It is heavy on engineering but pretty short on anything else to engage the reader. The conspiracy plot is very lean and the romance is practically nonexistent. I managed to finish reading it and it was a chore to get through, even skipping most of the engineering babble.
I generally avoid stories of alternate history as I usually find them very boring but the reviews I read about this one portrayed it as being funny and humorous, which is my weak spot. I love to read a funny story. But once again the reviews were misleading. I didn't find this story to be the least bit funny. I kept waiting for the funny part but it never showed up. Maybe the funny bit is supposed to be the Victorian machines, but since I am not mechanically-minded, all that mechanical engineering stuff meant nothing to me.
It's probably a good story but I was the wrong audience. For that reason, even though I personally didn't like it, I will rate it a fair read.