Reading SF is my favourite obsession. Over the coming weeks I will place a list here of my favourite authors, lists of books, and pointers to other resources.
Eric Frank Russell hailed from Liverpool and began his writing career before World War II.
Although his output was small the quality was phenomenal and avoided most of the cliches of the "pulp" era without losing the human element. When other English authors were putting out over-detailed or downbeat SF he was producing fast-paced but human-scaled work which used technology as a plot vehicle - and as a result it is still very readable today.
His plots are intelligent with no great holes. Were he alive today he'd be scripting "Babylon 5" rather than "Trek - Next Generation".
Most of his stories feature individualists - but not of the "backyard scientist" or "handsome and rugged adventurer" moulds so beloved of that era. His heroes are merely quietly self assured or witty or irreverent.
About half of his output was humorous SF. This is a branch of the genre which is notoriously difficult to succeed in - but I rate EFR's SF comedy work as being on a par with Harry Harrison's. Like Harry, Arthur C. Clarke (who was his protogé), and Terry Pratchett his humanitarianism reaches out from the pages.
Those of his books I own are:
An American with itchy feet, Harry Harrison has lived and worked all around the globe.
He is a dynamic writer, and his work shows an unashamed love of science and technology (he predicts the advent of Field Programmable Gate Arrays in his "Deathworld" series) but he is also quick to point out its pitfalls and several novels deal with the human impact of high technology (one of them, quite literally...).
His anti-racist and anti-sexist views are represented in his work often. His heroes run the spectrum from superb mental and physical athletes to normal people.
Although he writes both fantasy and good hard Science Fiction - most people associate him with the humorous "Stainless Steel Rat" series (Death to the Crunchies!).
A notorious attendee of British Eastercons - he is always happy to be bought a drink.
Based in Portsmouth this merry band of souls meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month in the Lounge Bar of the Magpie Public House, Fratton Road.
The group is 80% literature oriented but most nights are spent discussing beer, SF personages, conventions, philosophy, beer, and other such trivia.
It has an excellent organ named the "Terminus Borealis Times", produced by Phil Plumbly, and social events happen all the time.
They are a wonderfully welcoming group and the one rule is "everyone is welcome".
Contact: just turn up!
Based between Reading and Basingstoke this group meets once per month in Bramley Village Hall where they have big screen video and room for rôle playing.
The group is 70% media oriented and has quite a spread of interests (they have recently had the very latest B5 alongside The Goodies and The Clangers!).
Each month sees the distribution of "Matrix" magazine and there are plenty of social events.
Contact via email
SF has a terminology all of its own.
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