British science fiction author Eric Frank Russell was born on this date 111 years ago.  (That’s January 6, 1905 for those of  you reading this at a later date.)

Russell isn’t as well known as he should be these days.  I’m not aware of any new editions of his work in the last decade or so.  There are a couple of ebooks available on Amazon, but for the most part, you’ll have to look for his work in second hand editions of the two NESFA omnibuses (short fiction and novels) from about 15 years ago.

During World War II, Russell worked in the same unit in British Intelligence as a chap named Ian Fleming.  Russell used some of the ideas he developed for sabotage in his novel Wasp.  There’s an ebook version, and the book is included in Entities from NESFA.  The novel is about a man sent behind enemy lines to disrupt and cause trouble.  It’s essentially primer on how to be a terrorist without actually killing anybody.  Like most of Russell’s work, there’s an element of humor that runs through it.  These days, it’s hard to imagine a novel dealing with these themes that fits the description I gave, but Russell pulls it off.

In fact, the humor in Russell’s work is what makes his work stand out.  Russell liked to poke fun at bureaucracy.  His short story “Allamagoosa” won the first Hugo award in the short story category.  It’s the tale of a starship captain trying to find a particular item on an inventory he has to complete for an inspection.  The only problem is no on on the ship has any idea what the item is.  So the captain and crew create some device and try to pass it off as the missing item only to learn in the end that there’s a misprint on the inventory list and the thing they’re looking for has been right in front of them all along.

Legend has it that John Campbell created Unknown in order to publish Russell’s novel Sinister Barrier.  This story my be apocryphal, but it’s a good story.  And indeed, Campbell is the editor Russell is most associated with, although his work primarily appeared in Astounding rather than Unknown.

But the story Russell is most remembered for, “Dear Devil”, appeared in Ray Palmer’s Other Worlds, a magazine remembered for its promotion of the Shaver Mystery.  This story, which was nominated for retro-Hugo and isn’t humorous, is a post-apocalyptic tale of a Martian who comes to Earth.  He ends up raising a young boy, even though he’s thought to be a devil because of his appearance.  I was blown away by this story when I was in junior high.  When I last read it about 15 years or so ago, it still held up.

Russell’s work for me is characterized by a sense of fun.  While Russell wasn’t afraid to tackle serious themes, he never took himself or his writing too seriously.  If you’ve not read him, you should check him out.