Tag Archives: Eric Frank Russell

Creeping into Eric Frank Russell’s Tent

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Eric Frank Russell (1905-1978) was born today, January 6. His work primarily featured government bureaucracies getting their comeuppance. Tonight’s tale, “Into Your Tent I’ll Creep” is a brief story of an expedition from Altair making contact with Earth. They want to form an alliance because humanity is the only species they’ve encountered that has attained space travel.

But there’s one member of the expedition who has developed a form of telepathy that allows him to read the minds of the dominant life form on Earth. And it isn’t mankind.

To say more would spoil the twist.

“Into Your Tent I’ll Creep” was first published in the September 1957 issue of Astounding. It is currently available in Major Ingredients, a large hardcover collection from NESFA Press. The Best of Eric Frank Russell contains the story, and used  copies are available online for a lower price. Russell’s short fiction isn’t currently in print in electronic format.

Astounding/Analog 90th Anniversary: F. Orlin Tremaine

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Editor F. Orlin Tremaine was born on this date, January 7, 1899. He passed away at the age of 57 in 1956.  Tremaine worked at the Clayton pulp company, although he had no editorial duties with Astounding.  He left to pursue other publishing ventures which didn’t pan out and returned to Clayton in 1932. When Clayton went belly-up, Street and Smith bought the company. It was this time Tremaine was editing responsibilities for Astounding along with other titles. Tremaine edited Astounding from 1932 until late 1937, at which time he hired John W. Campbell, Jr to edit the magazine. Tremaine was promoted to Editorial Director.

Among the authors Tremaine published were H. P. Lovecraft (At the Mountains of Madness and The Shadow Out of Time), L. Sprague de Camp, Raymond Z. Gallun, Jack Williamson, Murray Leinster, and Eric Frank Russell. Oh, and some guy named Campbell.

Eric Frank Russell’s “Hobbyist”

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This is another post that’s going to do double duty as a birthday post and an Astounding anniversary post.  It’s also going to be out of order in respect to the ToC.

Eric Frank Russell was born on this date, January 6, in 1905. He passed away in 1978. Russell was British, and although he was well-known in the US during his lifetime, he has sadly slipped into obscurity these days.  None of his short fiction is in print in electronic format in the US.  Only the NESFA collection Major Ingredients is in print.  His novels are doing a little better, with several being available in print and electronic formats. Continue reading →

Happy Birthday, Eric Frank Russell

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Eric Frank RussellBritish 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. Continue reading →