James Bolivar diGriz, alias "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat", is a fictional character and a series of comic science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison.
Description James Bolivar diGriz goes by many aliases, including "Slippery Jim" and "The Stainless Steel Rat". He is a futuristic con man, thief, and all-round rascal. He is charming and quick-witted. He is also a master of disguise and martial arts, an accomplished bank robber, a criminal mastermind, an expert on breaking and entering, and (perhaps most usefully) a skilled liar. Master of self-rationalization, the Rat frequently justifies his crimes by arguing that he is providing society with entertainment; and besides which, he only steals from institutions that he believes have insurance coverage and so will be able to recoup their losses. He displays a strong sense of morality, albeit in a much more restricted sense than is traditional. For example, diGriz will steal without compunction, but deplores killing.
The character was introduced in Harrison's short story "The Stainless Steel Rat", first published in 1957 in Astounding magazine. The story introduces the Rat, who has just carried out a successful larceny operation, and subsequently details a complex bank robbery the Rat pulls off with ease; however, he is outfoxed by the mysterious "Special Corps"—a crime-fighting organization staffed with former criminals—and recruited by them in order to fight crime. Harrison used the story, with minor modifications, as the introduction to the series's first full-length novel, also called The Stainless Steel Rat. Like other characters created by Harrison, the Rat is a speaker of Esperanto and advocates atheism.
Books There are 12 works in the Stainless Steel Rat series.
TitleRelease dateIn-series chronologyNotesThe Stainless Steel Rat19614Large sections of the story first appeared in Astounding as two novelettes: The Stainless Steel Rat (1957) and The Misplaced Battleship (1960). These were reworked into the opening chapters of the novel. re-issued in Hardcover (1970): Published Walker and Co., Jacket Illustrator Jack Gaughan (two variations), LC #74-103005 [First Edition] re-issued in paperback (1986): Jim believes he has pulled off a successful bank job, but is out-conned into working for the Special Corps, the elite law-enforcement and spy agency led by the former greatest crook in the Galaxy, Harold Peters Inskipp, and composed mostly of ex-criminals like himself. He believes he has escaped from the Corps, and meets his love interest, Angelina—also a criminal genius, but lacking in Jim's relatively high moral codes and strictures against killing. She is building an illegal space battleship on an otherwise peaceful planet. Angelina was born unattractive and committed crimes to pay for her transformation into a beautiful woman; her psychological traumas are treated when Jim captures her, but she retains her allure and her criminal tendencies and joins in the Special Corps as Jim's partner.The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge19705re-issued in paperback (1986): Jim and Angelina get married, but rapidly get involved in something that so far has proven impossible in the galaxy—the planet Cliaand has successfully been invading other worlds. Jim is sent to infiltrate and investigate, and discovers the mysterious Gray Men behind Cliaand's success, receives aid from a resistance movement composed mostly of feisty warrior women, and becomes father of twins (James and Bolivar).The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World19726First serialized in 1971 in If magazine in three parts. Parts 2 and 3 were titled, respectively, The Cast Iron Rat and The Stainless Steel Rat's Return. (The latter should not be confused with the Return of... board game or ...Rat Returns 2010 novel). re-issued in paperback (1989): A master criminal from the far future, "He", is attempting to erase the Special Corps from its timeline. Jim travels to 1975 Earth, and then to Napoleonic England, to stop He from destroying the timeline—but discovers that his own actions might have brought He into being! Finally He is trapped in a time loop, saving the Corps.The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You19787re-issued in paperback (1985): After freeing his family from various forms of incarceration (Angelina from the clutches of the Interstellar Income Tax people and his now teenage twins from their prison-like boarding school), Jim saves the all-human galaxy from invading aliens. Additionally, two more Corps are revealed to exist—the Morality Corps, whose main concern is that all human actions abide by their code of morality, and the Time Corps, who patrol time itself to prevent any unauthorized tampering with the flow of time. Both new corps outrank the Special Corps; Inskipp is duty-bound to work with them, but with some covert help from Inskipp and overt help from Angelina, Jim finds a way to work around them.The Stainless Steel Rat for President19828re-issued in paperback (1987): Jim and Angelina enjoy a belated honeymoon on a planet run by a dictator who rigs elections to keep himself in office, so the Rat (with his family's help) sets himself up as a rival candidate. Very much a satire on banana republic politics and a parody of adventures set in Latin America.A Stainless Steel Rat is Born19851paperback (1986): A novel chronicling the beginning of the Stainless Steel Rat's career. Jim intentionally gets caught trying to rob a bank so that he will go to jail where he can learn from the masters of crime, only to realize (too late) that the true masters would never get caught.The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted19872original hardback: re-issued in paperback (1991): Takes place immediately following A Stainless Steel Rat is Born. Jim hunts the man who killed his mentor, but in the process must save a pacifist planet from an imminent attack by a military dictatorship led by the same man.The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat199312Published in Stainless Steel Visions by Harry Harrison (Tor 0-312-85245-2), a collection of 12 reprinted stories, one original. An original short story which finds Jim in Terminal Penitentiary, a prison where over-the-hill crooks are sent.The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues19943original hardback: paperback (1995): The Stainless Steel Rat (in the same earlier timeline as Is Born and Gets Drafted) goes to a prison colony planet to retrieve an alien artifact, which he must find in thirty days, or the slow-acting poison he was administered will take its effect.The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell19969original hardback: paperback (1998): In the later timeline (to which the stories have henceforth returned), Jim searches for his wife, who is abducted by a con man who preys on religious believers, swindling them out of their money and then enslaving them in his mining operation.The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus199910original hardback: paperback (2000): Jim is hired by a businessman to investigate thefts; the clues lead him to suspect a roaming circus, which he infiltrates.The Stainless Steel Rat Returns201011The first three chapters were published as The Stainless Steel Rat and the Pernicious Porcuswine in the anthology Gateways (2010), edited by Elizabeth Anne Hull. original hardback: The final Stainless Steel Rat book written by Harrison before his death. The Stainless Steel Rat is living high on the hog on the planet of Moolaplenty when a long-lost cousin and a ship full of swine arrive to drain his bank account and send him and Angelina on a journey to wander the stars.
The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat (1978) anthologized the first three books: The Stainless Steel Rat Omnibus (2008) anthologized the first three books: (Gollancz)
The series takes place in the far future, to the point where the name and location of the original homeworld of humankind has been lost. According to professor Coypu, the Gregorian calendar is no longer in use (with no mention of what replaced it), but The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World provides a timeframe for the Rat's life and adventures when DiGriz is sent 32,598 years into the past and arrives in 1975 A.D., which would place the events of the series around the late 346th century.
Spin-offs
Comics The Stainless Steel Rat, The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World and The Stainless Steel Rat for President were adapted into comic strip form in early issues of 2000 AD, written by Kelvin Gosnell and drawn by Carlos Ezquerra. Ezquerra drew Jim with an appearance modelled on the actor James Coburn. They appeared in the following issues of 2000 AD:
The Stainless Steel Rat, 12 episodes, 2000 AD progs 140–151 (Nov. 1979 to Feb. 1980). The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World, 12 episodes, 2000 AD progs 166–177 (June to Sep. 1980). The Stainless Steel Rat for President, 12 episodes, 2000 AD progs 393–404 (Nov. 1984 to Feb. 1985).
The first appearance of The Stainless Steel Rat in prog 140 was supposed to be preceded with a brief panel of explanation of who Jim was. However, an editorial error meant that the panel actually appeared at the end of the first episode, not the beginning. This prompted a letter to be printed in prog 148 from Harry Harrison himself pointing out the error, for which he won £3.
These three stories were colorized and reprinted by Eagle Comics in 1985 and 1986 as a six-issue limited series. They were also collected in a trade paperback in July 2010 ().
The 2000 AD comic versions were collected into a paperback () and hardcover edition in August 2021 which includes the color centre spreads as they originally appeared.
Books
Gamebook Harrison also produced a gamebook in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy series, called You Can Be the Stainless Steel Rat (), the reader being told that their decisions would "determine whether he or she can find Prof. Geisteskrank on the planet Skraldespand"Geisteskrank" is colloquial German for insanity and "Skraldespand" is Danish for garbage can. and bring him back before he activates a lethal new weapon". The reader generally cannot fail in this mission, regardless of his or her choices, although it is possible to get caught in an inescapable loop at one point.
Cameos In the tribute anthology Foundation's Friends, Harrison wrote a story, The Fourth Law of Robotics, which featured the Stainless Steel Rat in the setting of Isaac Asimov's Robot series.
Board game The Return of the Stainless Steel Rat, a board game inspired by the character, was published by SPI in their magazine Ares in the early 1980s. Designed by Greg Costikyan, the game involved the Rat infiltrating a space station under hostile control. The game was accompanied by a 6,000-word short story.
Video games In 1984 a Stainless Steel Rat video game was developed by Mosaic Publishing for the ZX Spectrum, co-written by Harrison with programmer Sean O'Connell.
A text adventure game titled The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World was released in 1984 for the Commodore 64.
Characters Angelina diGriz Angelina diGriz is a criminal mastermind much like the Rat, only less ethical and more willing to kill. As the Rat's first case for the Special Corps, he tracks Angelina down and ends up falling in love with her. After her capture, she undergoes psycho surgery (not to be mistaken for "psychic surgery") to lessen her homicidal tendencies and she also joins the Corps; during that time she begins a relationship with the Rat that ends with them marrying in the last trimester of her pregnancy. She later assists on many of the Rat's adventures, often providing advice and solutions that Jim himself is unable to see. While she is no longer a heartless killer, her suppressed homicidal tendencies occasionally come out, especially when she sees another woman near her husband.
James and Bolivar diGriz