Dreadful Sanctuary
by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding Science Fiction, 1948)
revised novelised edition (Lancer, 1963)
How do you know you are sane? Russell’s hardboiled, offbeat prose drives a SF conspiracy thriller born, like Sinister Barrier, of Fortean speculation. The Lancer publication, purportedly revised by Russell himself, substitutes an ending markedly more pessimistic than those of other editions.
The Man from R.O.B.O.T.
by Harry Harrison (Analog, July 1969)
This novelette sees Harry Harrison in one of his lighter moods. The ‘one man against a world’ scenario is reminiscent of Eric Frank Russell, as is the irreverence threaded throughout, but the journey in this case leads to a rather banal denouement.
Sinister Barrier
by Eric Frank Russell (The World’s Work, 1943)
Russell’s first novel evinces nothing of his later puckishness. Instead it is a hardboiled SF invasion yarn that reads well under its own steam but less so when the characters act as mouthpieces for Russell’s Fortean beliefs, which informed the chilling concept.
Design for Great-Day
by Eric Frank Russell (Planet Stories, January 1953); subsequently republished as ‘The Ultimate Invader’ [Novella]
In several of his stories Russell took delight in sending up blinkered authority. In this novella he endowed his protagonist not only with the usual insouciance but also the ethical clout of a highly advanced multi-species commune. At first rib-tickling, then earnest.
Men, Martians and Machines
by Eric Frank Russell (Dennis Dobson, 1955)
A fix-up novel in which Russell’s characteristic humour is tempered in favour of fully realised SF space opera. Few who’ve read these four interlocked novelettes/novellas will ever forget their mixed-species crew, nor the ingeniously bellicose alien environments that Russell conjures for exploration.
The Great Explosion
by Eric Frank Russell (Dennis Dobson, 1962)
The novel whose gentle drollery earned Russell a posthumous Prometheus Award for libertarian SF. Russell’s short stories often poked fun at authority. In this longer form his anti-conformist, anti-bureaucratic ribbing encompasses also a wistful sense of the individual’s place amongst the stars.
With a Strange Device
by Eric Frank Russell (Dobson, 1964)
Where Russell was renowned for humorous SF, this novel seems more in keeping with Cold War espionage stories (or within Russell’s spectrum, his early Fortean noir outings Sinister Barrier and Dreadful Sanctuary), and maintains its intrigue even upon second or third reading.
Three to Conquer
by Eric Frank Russell (Avalon, 1956)
Russell selectively breeds two SF storylines — alien body snatchers and telepathic outsider — to produce a memorable invasion tale, told in the manner of hardboiled detective fiction (itself melding lone wolf with FBI manhunt). Cited for possible adaptation during Doctor Who’s planning stages.
Sentinels from Space
by Eric Frank Russell (Bouregy & Curl, 1952)
Even if the intrigue generated by Russell’s shadowy, casually powerful protagonist transpires to be greater than the underlying premise — a conceptual stunner, much alluded to but then minimalist in denouement — the story’s (xeno-)sociopolitical setting alone offers plenty of mileage for intelligent exploration.