Books

Short works

Books : reviews

Eric Frank Russell.
The Best of Eric Frank Russell.
1978

rating : 1.5 : unmissable

Contents

Metamorphosite. 1946
The Lords of Terror, leaders of the great interstellar Empire, encounter a strange lone humanoid
Hobbyist. 1947
Mana. 1937
Jay Score. 1941
How Emergency Pilot Jay Score saves the Upskadaska City, and its mixed crew of terrans and chess-loving Martians, after a meteor strike.
Homo Saps. 1941
Camels on Mars
Late Night Final. 1948
Twenty-two spaceships from Huld land and prepare to conquer the planet. Then the natives invite them round for dinner.
Dear Devil. 1950
A lone Martian poet on a post-apocalyptic Earth helps rebuild civilisation. [Makes me cry every time I read it.]
Fast Falls the Eventide. 1952
Earth's sun is dying, so humans have to find other homes. How to do this without worrying all the different aliens?
I am Nothing. 1952
A powerful anti-war polemic
Weak Spot. 1954
Why doesn't the powerful Empire swat the annoying Barb antagonists?
Allamagoosa. 1955
What not to do when you misplace your Offog
Into Your Tent I'll Creep. 1957
Why is one of the alien visitors so worried about the gift of two dogs?
Study in Still Life. 1959

Eric Frank Russell.
Dark Tides.
1962

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

The Sin of Hyacinth Peuch. 1962
With a Blunt Instrument. 1962
A Matter of Instinct. 1962
I'm a Stranger Here Myself. 1962
This One's On Me. 1962
I Hear You Calling. 1962
Wisel. 1962
The Ponderer. 1962
Sole Solution. 1956
Rhythm of the Rats. 1962
Me and My Shadow. 1962
Bitter End. 1962

Eric Frank Russell.
Deep Space.
1954

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

Second Genesis. 1966
Homo Saps. 1941
Camels on Mars
First Person Singular. 1950
The Witness. 1951
Last Blast. 1952
The Timid Tiger. 1947
A Little Oil. 1952
Rainbow's End. 1951
The Undecided. 1949

Eric Frank Russell.
Far Stars.
1961

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

The Waitabits.
Allamagoosa. 1955
What not to do when you misplace your Offog
P.S.. 1953
Legwork. 1961
Diabologic. 1961
The Timeless Ones. 1952

Eric Frank Russell.
Men, Martians and Machines.
1955

rating : 2.5 : great stuff

Four linked novellas, featuring Jay Score and the betentacled Martian chess fanatics

Contents

Jay Score. 1941
How Emergency Pilot Jay Score saves the Upskadaska City, and its mixed crew of terrans and chess-loving Martians, after a meteor strike.
Mechanistria. 1955
Symbiotica. 1955
Mesmerica. 1955

Eric Frank Russell.
Next of Kin.
1959

rating : 3 : worth reading

More classic EFR as the human PoW John Leeming uses a piece of bent copper wire to wage psychological warfare on the enemy, with the help of his Eustace of course...

Next of Kin is an expanded form of The Space Willies, 1958, itself based on the short story "Plus X". Unfortunately the good stuff with the Eustaces doesn't start until past half way through the book, the first half (presumably most of the expansion?) being more conventional "individualist space pilot laughs in the face of authority".

Eric Frank Russell.
Somewhere a Voice.
1965

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

Dear Devil. 1950
A lone Martian poet on a post-apocalyptic Earth helps rebuild civilisation. [Makes me cry every time I read it.]
I am Nothing. 1952
A powerful anti-war polemic
Somewhere a Voice. 1953
U-Turn. 1950
Seat of Oblivion. 1941
Tieline. 1955
Displaced Person. 1948

Eric Frank Russell.
Wasp.
1958

rating : 1.5 : unmissable
review : 2 April 2000

EFR had two main themes: pompous authority figures being outwitted by clever subordinates, and entire alien races being no match for a single canny human. Put the two themes together, and you get the classic Wasp.

Humanity is at war with the evil Sirian Empire: we have the better tech, but they have superior numbers. So, to win, we need to do something cleverer than fight them head on. James Mowry, who can pass as a Sirian, is recruited as a "wasp" -- an agent provocateur dropped behind enemy lines with instructions to cause as much mischief as possible. As the leader and total membership of the otherwise fictitious Sirian Freedom Party, Dirac Angestun Gesept, he causes plenty of havoc.

EFR's writing has aged better than many other 1950s authors, possibly because the fight against self-important bureaucrats is ever more relevant, but his style and the humour is a little old-fashioned. Indeed, although EFR is careful to paint this as the Good Guys desperately fighting lots of Very Bad Guys by any means possible, this is rather harder to read as a comedy today than when it was written. Today we are more used to being the victims of psychopathic terrorists than the supporters of heroic resistance fighters; one's first natural impulse is to identify with the Sirians. However, here (most of) the victims are either nasty criminal thugs, or very nasty secret police (basically just a purple-skinned Gestapo -- indeed, compare the names of the Sirian Secret Police, the Kaitempi, and the Japanense Imperial Army's military police, the kempeitai), so the impulse does not last long. In fact, everyone is a bit of a cipher -- even Mowry careers from one incident or crisis to the next.

Yet, as a dig at totalitarianism, and as a resistance fighter's pocket instruction manual, Wasp still makes good reading.

Eric Frank Russell.
Like Nothing on Earth.
Methuen. 1975

(read but not reviewed)

Contents

Hobbyist. 1947
Ultima Thule.
Allamagoosa. 1955
What not to do when you misplace your Offog
Into Your Tent I'll Creep. 1957
Why is one of the alien visitors so worried about the gift of two dogs?
The Mechanical Mice. 1975
Nothing New. 1975
Exposure. 1975