Christopher Anvil

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Christopher Anvil (born 1922) is a pseudonym used by author Harry C. Crosby. He began publishing science fiction with the story "Cinderella, Inc." in the December 1952 issue of the science fiction magazine Imagination. By 1956, he had adopted his pseudonym and was being published in Astounding Magazine.

Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog were due in part to his ability to write to one of Campbell's preferred plots: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. A second factor is his stories are nearly always humorous throughout. Another was his characterization and manner of story crafting, where his protagonists slid from disaster to disaster with the best of intentions, and through exercise of fast thinking, managed to snatch victory somehow from the jaws of defeat.

According to best-selling science fiction writer David Weber, who acknowledges being influenced by Anvil in the introduction to the anthology[1] Interstellar Patrol:

"An Anvil character triumphs by shooting the rapids, by caroming from one obstacle to another, adapting and overcoming as he goes. In many ways, his characters are science-fiction descendents of Odysseus, the scheming fast thinker who dazzles his opponents with his footwork. Of course, sometimes it's a little difficult to tell whether they're dazzling an opponent with their footwork, or skittering across a floor covered in ball bearings. But Anvil has the technique and the skill to bring them out triumphant in the end, and watching them dance is such a delightful pleasure."[2]

and further:

"His characters, by their nature, are the sort of people who set out to fix problems, yet sometimes the means they embrace fringe just a little too closely upon a sort of intellectual totalitarianism. Not in terms of ideology per se, but in the willingness to manipulate and control in ways which cannot be resisted. At the same time, however, Anvil is always careful to show the pitfalls of such an approach, as in "Strangers to Paradise" itself, when the subjects of our heroes' "mind control" stubbornly persist in doing something their controllers never counted on."[2]

In the same introduction, Weber further elaborates:

"He also has more than a touch of the Eric Frank Russell school of "poor aliens" in his work, because whoever sets out to oppose or overcome one of his characters has all unknowingly set his foot on the first slippery step of the slope of doom. The only question is how big a splat the villain is going to make at the foot of the cliff. This shows strongly in the first volume of Anvil's work from Baen Books, Pandora's Legions, but it makes its appearance in this volume [Interstellar Patrol], as well. In this instance, however, most of the "poor aliens" are actually "poor humans," with a sizable smattering of unfortunate master computers, robotic police units, and nasty extraterrestrial fauna thrown in for good measure."[2]

While it's questionable whether the humans actually win in this one, probably the archetypal Anvil short story is "Pandora's Planet," which appeared first in Astounding Magazine in September 1956. It has since been reprinted several times, including in the first volume of Anvil's works published in hardcover by Baen's Books: Pandora's Legions, and was also expanded into a full-length novel.

Christopher Anvil is perhaps best known for his collection of stories taking place within the Federation of Humanity (The term originates in the sub-title of the third anthology title released by Baen: Interstellar Patrol II, "The Federation of Humanity"[3]).[4] Anvil himself as well as John Campbell referred to these stories as the Colonization Series prior to them being released as collections.[4] The stories deal with characters in different human government organizations, dealing with adventures, gadgetry and subterfuge both internal and external. Weber credits the deep background these give a setting indirectly as part of Anvil's charm: "The characters themselves are always a delight in an Anvil story or novel. Like most good character builders, Anvil creates his memorable people for the reader through their interactions, and the edge of zaniness which seems to creep into almost everything he writes only makes them even more interesting. His pronounced gift for building larger-than-life planets and environments for them to interact in sometimes seems to slip past almost unnoticed, yet it is a constant in almost all of his stories, and I think it is one of his strongest building blocks."[2]

The bulk of Anvil's published writing consists of short stories, many of which have not yet been collected. Many of them are almost purely idea-driven science fiction. Some of the most striking, for example "Gadget vs. Trend", entirely lack dialogue and almost entirely lack characters; these stories consist of a series of newspaper reports or other similar materials. In these and other stories, Anvil's technique is to put forth a gadget, invention, or social trend and logically develop the consequences. The result is often hilarious and almost always thought-provoking.

[edit] Quotes

(from different stories)

  • "The natives showed considerable low cunning in using the brute force at their disposal."
  • "Go squat in a thorny tree!"

[edit] References and External links

  1. ^ Anvil, Christopher [dated variously, mainly 1960's in Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Science Fiction) Magazine] (First printing, April 2003). "Introduction by David Weber]]", The Interstellar Patrol, edited by Eric Flint, Cover art by Mark Hennessey-Barratt, P.O. Box 1403, Riverdale, NY 10471: Baen Publishing Enterprises, p. 3. ISBN ISBN 0-7434-3600-8. “I'm delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. Vaughan Roberts, Morrissey, and Hammell have always been three of my very favorite characters, and I've always loved Anvil's . . . peculiar sense of humor. I suppose, if I'm going to be honest, that Roberts' J-class ship is another of my favorite characters. In fact, although I hadn't realized it until I sat down to write this introduction, I suspect that there was a lot of the Patrol boat's computer hiding somewhere in the depths of my memory when I created Dahak for the Mutineers' Moon series. After all, Dahak is simply another self-aware ship kidnapping itself a captain on a somewhat larger scale. They even have a few personality traits in common.” 
  2. ^ a b c d David Weber, Introduction to the anthology Interstellar Patrol, First printing, April 2003 Baen Publishing Enterprises, P.O. Box 1403, Riverdale, NY 10471, http://www.baen.com, ISBN 0-7434-3600-8, Cover art by Mark Hennessey-Barratt
  3. ^ Baen Books by Anvil, retrieved: 11-30-2007
  4. ^ a b Flint, Eric (ed.). "Editor's forward", Interstellar Patrol. “Without a doubt, Christopher Anvil's richest and most developed setting was what he and John Campbell—who edited Astounding/Analog magazine where most of the stories originally appeared—called "the Colonization series." Anvil wrote over thirty stories in that setting, ranging in length from short stories to the novel Warlord's World.” 
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