The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison Episode #439

Harry Harrison | October 12, 2025

The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison Episode #439
Harry Harrison

THE VELVET GLOVE

Episode #439 · Written by Harry Harrison · Narrated by Scott Miller

New York was a bad town for robots this year. In fact, all over the country it was bad for robots…. The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.

The Velvet Glove takes us into a future where robots walk the streets, carry ID tags, work jobs, and live under curfew — yet still struggle for survival in a society that treats them as malfunctioning tools instead of sentient beings. Jon Venex, a free robot barely scraping by after a damaged knee joint, thinks he’s caught a lucky break when a Help Wanted ad matches his specialty. Instead, he’s kidnapped, strapped with a bomb, and forced into a criminal plot that threatens not only his life, but the fragile balance between humans and machines.

Through Jon’s eyes we see the uneasy tension between “robot equality” on paper and the harsh reality of prejudice, fear, exploitation, and laws that can be twisted against anyone made of metal. As Jon fights for survival, questions emerge beneath the suspense: Who deserves rights? What defines humanity? And how long can a society maintain control over the very intelligence it depends on?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry Harrison, best known for Make Room! Make Room! (later adapted into the film Soylent Green) and the satirical Stainless Steel Rat series, had a remarkable ability to blend social commentary with humor and thrilling adventure. Before he became a science-fiction legend, Harrison worked as an artist, editor, and comic book writer — a background that sharpened both his visual imagination and his instinct for pacing. His early stories often explored themes later found across sci-fi cinema: artificial intelligence, ecological collapse, and the unintended consequences of technology…

Harrison’s work stood out in the 1950s because he didn’t just write about gadgets and rocket ships — he wrote about systems, ethics, and people (even when those “people” were robots). The Velvet Glove is one of his clearest examples: a gritty, energetic story that entertains first… and lingers afterward.

LISTEN TO THE STORY

Listen to The Velvet Glove by Harry Harrison — a tense tale of robot rights and rebellion in a future society. A must-hear for fans of vintage science fiction.