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

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.

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

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

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 May you live in interesting times," frequently attributed as an ancient Chinese curse.

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