Classic science fiction author Harry Harrison says America is becoming a totalitarian state, and praised Russia for its interest in literature, according to an interview published in the Russian newspaper Pravda. The Stainless Steel Rat author, visiting Moscow for a convention, said America violates its own constitution and behaves undemocratically towards the rest of the world, but any totalitarian regime “is bound to collapse sooner or later.” He didn’t actually praise Russia’s government, but did say Russians are much more avid readers, and science fiction consumers, than Americans. But he criticized Russian science fiction for emphasizing ideas over action or characters. [Pravda]
