Editing Eric Frank Russell (section)

== Biography ==
Russell was born in [[1905 in science fiction|1905]] near [[Sandhurst, Berkshire|Sandhurst]] in [[Berkshire]], where his father was an instructor at the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst|Royal Military College]].<ref name="Collection">{{cite web|title=Handlist of the Eric Frank Russell Collection 1937–1984 |url=http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0501efr.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121222192434/http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/news/0501efr.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-12-22 }}</ref><ref name="Ingham">{{cite book |last=Ingham |first=John L. |title=Into Your Tent: The Life, Work and Family Background of Eric Frank Russell |year=2010 |publisher= Plantech (U.K.) |isbn=978-0-9564576-0-8 }}</ref> Russell became a fan of science fiction and in 1934, while living near [[Liverpool]], he saw a letter in ''[[Amazing Stories]]'' from Leslie J. Johnson, another reader from the same area.<ref name = "Ashley">{{cite book |last=Ashley |first=Michael |author-link=Mike Ashley (writer) |title=The History of the Science Fiction Magazine, Volume 2 |year=1975 |publisher= Henry Regnery Company |isbn=0-8092-8002-7}}</ref><ref name=isfdb-johnson/> Russell met with Johnson, who encouraged him to embark on a writing career. Together, the two men wrote a [[novella]], "Seeker of Tomorrow", that was published by [[F. Orlin Tremaine]] in the July 1937 number of ''Astounding Stories''.<ref name=isfdb/>{{efn|Two novelettes by Russell alone preceded "Seeker for Tomorrow", in the February and April numbers of the monthly, and a short story followed in December, the third issue after Campbell succeeded Tremaine as editor.<ref name=isfdb/> One more of his stories was published that year, by Walter H. Gillings in ''[[Tales of Wonder (magazine)|Tales of Wonder]]'' #1, the first issue of <!--what we call-->Britain's first professional SF magazine (1937, no month).<ref name=isfdb/><!--probably late in the year, see TALK--> <br>&nbsp; Johnson had not yet published any speculative fiction.<!--according to ISFDB, which does not catalogue his crucial Letter either--> He and Russell also collaborated on one story published decades later, "Eternal Rediffusion" (''Weird Tales'', September 1973).<ref name=isfdb-johnson/>}} Both Russell and Johnson became members of the [[British Interplanetary Society]].<ref name="Ingham" />

Russell's first novel was ''Sinister Barrier'', cover story for the inaugural, May 1939 issue of ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]''<ref name=isfdb/>—''Astounding''{{-'}}s sister magazine devoted to [[fantasy]]. It is explicitly a Fortean tale, based on [[Charles Fort]]'s famous speculation "I think we're property", Russell explains in the foreword.  An often-repeated legend has it that Campbell, on receiving the manuscript for ''Sinister Barrier'', created ''[[Unknown (magazine)|Unknown]]'' primarily as a vehicle for the short novel (pp.&nbsp;9–94).<!--pp. per ISFDB--> There is no real evidence for this, despite a statement to that effect in the first volume of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s autobiography, ''In Memory Yet Green''.<ref name="Ingham" />

His second novel, ''Dreadful Sanctuary'' (serialized in ''Astounding'' during 1948) is an early example of [[conspiracy fiction]], in which a [[Paranoia|paranoid]] [[delusion]] of global proportions is perpetuated by a small but powerful [[secret society]].<ref name="Langford">{{cite web |last=Langford |first=David | author-link=David Langford | title = SF Books of the Damned | work = Originally published in Fortean Times | year =1996 | url = http://www.ansible.co.uk/writing/damned.html }}</ref>

There are two incompatible accounts of Russell's military service during [[World War&nbsp;II]].<ref name="Ingham" /> The official, well-documented version is that he served with the [[Royal Air Force]], with whom he saw active service in Europe as a member of a Mobile Signals Unit. However, in the introduction to the 1986 [[Del Rey Books]] edition of Russell's novel ''Wasp'', [[Jack L. Chalker]] states that Russell was too old for active service, and instead worked for Military Intelligence in London, where he "spent the war dreaming up nasty tricks to play against the Germans and Japanese", including [[Operation Mincemeat]]. Russell's biographer John L. Ingham states however that "there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in his R.A.F. record to show that he was anything more than a wireless mechanic and radio operator".<ref name="Ingham" />

Russell took up writing full-time in the late 1940s. He became an active member of British [[science fiction fandom]] and the British representative of the [[Fortean Society]]. He won the first annual [[Hugo Award for Best Short Story]] in 1955 recognizing his humorous "[[Allamagoosa]]" as the year's best science fiction.<ref name=SFAwards/>

The 1962 novel ''[[The Great Explosion]]'' won a [[Prometheus Hall of Fame Award]] in 1985<ref name=SFAwards/>—the third naming of two works to the [[libertarian science fiction]] hall of fame. The 1957 novel ''Wasp'' has been a finalist for the honor, which is now limited to one work per year.<ref name=SFAwards/>

The [[EMP Museum#Science Fiction Hall of Fame|Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame]] inducted Russell in 2000, its fifth class of two deceased and two living writers.<ref name=sfhof-old/>

''Into Your Tent'', a thorough and detailed biography of Russell by John L. Ingham, was published in 2010 by Plantech (UK).<ref name="Ingham"/>