Christopher Anvil

Christopher Anvil (March 11, 1925 – November 30, 2009[1]) is a pseudonym used by American author Harry Christopher Crosby.

Harry Christopher Crosby, Jr.
Born(1925-03-11)March 11, 1925
Norwich, Connecticut, United States
DiedNovember 30, 2009(2009-11-30) (aged 84)
Cayuta, New York, United States
Pen nameChristopher Anvil
OccupationNovelist, short story author
GenreScience fiction

Biography and work

Crosby was born in Norwich, Connecticut, the only child of Harry Clifton Crosby and Rose Glasbrenner. After serving as a pilot with the U.S. military[2], he began publishing science fiction with the story "Cinderella, Inc." in the December 1952 issue of the magazine Imagination. By 1956, he had adopted his pseudonym Christopher Anvil and his science fiction work was being published in Astounding Magazine. He went on to a long and successful career in the field.

His stories usually deal with characters in different human government organizations, dealing with adventures, gadgetry and subterfuge both internal and external. His military background enabled him to bring a certain realism to his portrayal of action and intrigue, which counterpointed the more fantastical elements of his stories.

One of Anvil's best-known short stories is "Pandora's Planet", which appeared first in Astounding Magazine in September 1956 and has since been reprinted several times, including an appearance in the first volume of Anvil's works published in hardcover by Baen's Books, Pandora's Legions. It has also been "fixed-up" into a full-length novel.

Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog in the 1950s and 60 were due in part to three factors. Firstly his ability to write stories which fitted with one of Campbell's preferred approaches to plotting: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. Secondly, his stories are nearly always humorous throughout, and the humour is well done. Finally there 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.

His stories became a perennial favorite with readers and then in 1966... "he hit a winning streak in the late 1960s in a series which seemed straight out of Star Trek ... The Interstellar Patrol".[3] The bulk of Anvil's published writing consists of short stories, but these can be read in sequence according to the in-world timeline, as is now arranged in the two collections of The Interstellar Patrol.

Many of his non-series stories are almost purely idea-driven science fiction. Some of the most striking of these, 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.

Modern reprints

Like the work of many 20th century science fiction writers, all of Anvil's work has recently become available again by print-on-demand and ebooks. According to David Weber, who acknowledges being influenced by Anvil in the introduction to the anthology[4]:Introduction by David Weber, p. 3 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 descendants 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.[4]:Introduction by David Weber, p. 3

Anvil also published a number 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"[5]).

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. [4]:Editor's forward

Anvil himself, as well as John Campbell, referred to these stories as the Colonization Series prior to their being released as collections.[4]:Editor's forward

Bibliography
Main article: Christopher Anvil bibliography
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References
  1. "Christopher Anvil 1925-2009", Locus, December 9, 2009.
  2. Transformations : The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970, Liverpool University Press, 2005, page 286.
  3. Transformations : The Story of the Science Fiction Magazines from 1950 to 1970, Liverpool University Press, 2005, page 286.
  4. Anvil, Christopher (April 2003) [dated variously, mainly 1960's in Analog Science Fiction and Fact (Science Fiction) Magazine]. Interstellar Patrol. edited by Eric Flint, Cover art by Mark Hennessey-Barratt (First ed.). Riverdale, NY 10471: Baen Publishing Enterprises. 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.CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. Baen Books by Anvil Archived 2007-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved: 11-30-2007
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