Eric Frank Russell

Eric Frank Russell (January 6, 1905 - February 28, 1978) was an English science fiction author, producing some of the best humorous science fiction of his time.

Related Topics:
January 6 - 1905 - February 28 - 1978 - English - Science fiction - Author

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He also used pseudonyms Duncan H. Munro and Webster Craig for short fiction.

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Russell was a man who loathed the pomposity and rigmarole of humanity's various forms of organisation; he generally took aim at authority in all its forms. His is the humour of the pantomime clown, and yet a deeper and more serious thread, in which the spiritual aspects of humanity's endeavours and aspirations shine through, runs through his work.

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He was born in Sandhurst, Surrey into a military family. He served with the RAF during World War II and worked briefly as an engineer before taking up writing full-time. He was an active supporter of post-war science fiction and also a member of the Fortean Society. He won a Hugo Award in 1955 for his short story "Allamagoosa", a Prometheus Hall of Fame Award in 1985 for "The Great Explosion", and in

Related Topics:
Sandhurst - RAF - World War II - Fortean Society - Hugo Award

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2000 was a posthumous inductee into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

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Russell's full-length works (some of which are collections of related stories) include:

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• Sinister Barrier (1939)
• Dreadful Sanctuary (1948)
• Sentinels from Space (also published as The Star Watchers, 1951)
• Three to Conquer (also published as Call Him Dead, 1955)
• Men, Martians and Machines (1955)
• Wasp (1957)
• Next of Kin (also published as The Space Willies, 1958)
• The Great Explosion (1962)
• With A Strange Device (1964); alternate title The Mindwarpers (1965)
• Somewhere a Voice (1965, 7 stories)

Russell also wrote many short stories and novellas, as well as The Rabble Rousers, a sardonic nonfiction look at human folly, such as the Dreyfus affair and the Florida land boom. There are two omnibus collections of Russell's science fiction: Major Ingredients (short stories) and Entities (novels).

Related Topics:
Novella - The Rabble Rousers - Dreyfus affair - Florida land boom

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Design for Great-Day (1995) by Alan Dean Foster and Eric Frank Russell

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is based on a 1955 story by Eric Frank Russell.

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It is currently undecided, but Russell may be the originator of the phrase, "May you live in interesting times," frequently attributed as an ancient Chinese curse.

Related Topics:
May you live in interesting times - Chinese - Curse

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