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I'm surprised I don't see more threads in this forum about these two authors. Both are on my list of favorites.

Maybe the reason is that their books have (for the most part) been out of print for a long time. I know Eric Frank Russell's works where tied up in his estate for many years, but I think at least one title was re-released not to long ago.

Russell did mostly shorts, among my favorites were Allamagoosa, Jay Score and The Waitabits. He also did some short novels like The Space Willies and Wasp. All of his works have a humorist twist to them, sometimes woven all through the story, sometimes as a "punch line" right at the end of the story (as in Allamagoosa).

H Beam Piper is best known for the "Little Fuzzy" stories but he wrote a number of other books, "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen", and "First Cycle" being on top of my list. Most of his works were set in the same universe as "Little Fuzzy, but a number of his works where "Paratime" stories that were based on crossing between universes (like Lord Kalvan).

I don't think any of his works have been republished lately, but I'm not sure why. His works include a number of all time classics among older readers like my self.

[Expendable]

Loved Little Fuzzy. It's always made me a little sad knowing Piper died thinking he was a failure.

Some of us like trolling through the library stacks and searching the shelves at used book stores to find the old books - but sometimes we don't mention the ones we find because we think nobody else has read their stories. But we don't forget them.

[clong]

I've read two Piper books, The Other Human Race, which I thought was charming but naive to the point of being ludicrous (as in "we've discovered a sentient alien race which appears to be on the verge of extinction and our first order of business is . . . to set up an adoption agency so that humans can make pets out of the cute little buggers"?), and Uller Uprising, which was a decent British Empire in India tale transposed to a "scifi empire of mankind" universe.

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ludicrous (as in "we've discoverd a sentient alien race which appears to be on the verge of extinction and our first order of business is . . . to set up an adoption agency so that humans can make pets out of the cute little buggers

The part that's ludicrous is that someone didn't go into the business of selling the cute little buggers for a profit (in other words, typical "good guys wins" story, HBP did tend to write "hero based" scifi. ). I have no doubt that a race as cute and as smart as the fuzzies would be popular as pets (smarter and more loyal than a dog...)

Uller Uprising, which was a decent British Empire in India tale transposed to a "scifi empire

I would recommend any of his work, I've found his work to be "dependable", every thing I've read of his is at least worth the time it takes to read, and I've read all his work that I've found in the past 35 years. Of course, YMMV.

[Ouroboros]

A fair few Eric Frank Russell books are currently available in new editions in the Uk and Ireland at the moment.

'Wasp' has been re-released on this side of the pond (Uk and Ireland, at least) for the past few years. It was issued as one of Gollancz's SF collector's edition series ... They're the ones with the very distinctive yellow paperback foldover sleeves. 'Next of Kin' was release as part of the same series, and a couple of weeks ago 'The Great Explosion' and a 'Best of Eric Frank Russell' also joined the line-up.

I'm a big fan of 'Wasp', it and 'Next of Kin' are some of the more original greats in military / spy / espionage SF. Like many of the great military SF authors, Russell was a veteran himself (of the RAF), and having lived through WWII informed a lot of what he wrote. What probably makes him a little different than most military SF authors is that his writing is characterised by a deep aversion to, or at least suspicion of, authority and discipline imposed from above. That's partially where 'Wasp' gets its bite from.

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Some of us like trolling through the library stacks and searching the shelves at used book stores to find the old books

Oh yes. Much more so than hunting thru a slew of slush at the new book store.

And even when the stories are dated they are worth a read.

Eric Frank Russell started in early 30's with most of his work was done in the 40's and 50's, so you have to excuse the punch card technoligy (hey, it made sense at the first time I read it, so that dates me too).

Russell's theme seemed to be to thumb his nose at authority, to the point that some of it was almost anarchy, like "And then there were none (http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.htm#chapter1)".

[microbes]

A fair few Eric Frank Russell books are currently available in new editions in the Uk and Ireland at the moment.

I knew "Next of Kin" was back out (Hard Cover only over here I think, but I havn't been in a "new book store" in ages, so I could be wrong...). It's an expanded version of "The Space Willies". I have 2 copys of the old Ace Double of it and "Six Worlds Yonder".

Funny thing about "The Space Willies" was I had hunted for a copy for about 30 years (to replace a copy I wore out when I was 14 years old), and I got tied of hunting, so I bought a copy on eBay (cost me $21), and the next week.... I find one in a thrift store for a dime. 3 months later, another copy for $2.00 (I gave that copy away). I'm glad it's back out again, and any other titles or stories.

'Best of Eric Frank Russell' also joined the line-up.

I have a copy with an "Alan Dean Foster" introduction from 1986. It is no were near a complete set of his shorts, but it has nice collection of the best of them. If you want to read something darker than normal without the typical "hero wins" plot, read "I am nothing".

his writing is characterised by a deep aversion to, or at least suspicion of, authority and discipline imposed from above.

We cross posted, but yes. He had a anarchist streak for sure.