Harrison describes this as a comic book for adults. It is a collaboration
between Harrison and artist Jim Burns, who provided the 28 full-colour
paintings for this 11.5"x11.5" volume.
The story tells of an administrative error which brings a huge machine to lay
a railway over hundreds of miles of an uninhabited planet, Strabismus. In
truth the planet is inhabited by several very different groups of aliens, who
all try to stop the progress of the track-laying machine.
The hero is Private Parrts, who with the owner of the railway engine and
heroine Styreen Foam, ride through adventure after adventure in a locomotive
following the track-layer.
This is probably Harrison's most outrageous and vulgar comedy, but it still
has a bitter undertone of truth.
London: Pierrot, August 1979, 113pp., 0-905310-13-6, hbk (limited to 500 copies).
London: Pierrot, August 1979, 113pp., 0-905310-12-8, pbk.
New York: A & W Visual, September 1979, 109pp., ISBN: 0-89104-136-2, hbk.
New York: A & W Visual, September 1979, 109pp., ISBN: 0-89104-135-4, pbk.
as: Planete Story. Paris: Editions Denoel, 1979, 114pp., pbk. Illustrated by Jim Burns. Translated by Elizabeth Gille. [French]
as: De Reis Van De Grospo. Haarlem: Rostrum, 1979, 113pp., 28cm, ISBN: 90-328-9751-9, pbk. Illustrated by Jim Burns. Translated by Pon Ruiter. [Dutch]
in: Omni (Magazine), July 1979 (Vol.1, No.10), p.88-95. 'Pictorial' containing a selection of illustrations from the novel, with captions summarising the story.
as: Planeten-Story. Rastatt: Moewig, 1980. Illustrated by Jim Burns. Translated by Klaus Mahn. ISBN: 3-8118-0181-3 [German]
