Anderson, William C
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1920-2003) USAF pilot who served in World War Two, and author in various genres who published his first sf, The Valley of the Gods (1957) as by Andy Anderson. Like his Pandemonium on the Potomac (1966), it features a father and daughter: in the former book they philosophize about the extinction of mankind; in the latter they act on their anxiety about Man's imminent self-destruction, becoming involved in what turns out to be a British plot to enforce world peace by blowing up a US city as a Dreadful Warning. The Penelope sequence – Penelope (1963) and Penelope, the Damp Detective (1974) – is also comic in intent, deriving its humour through the eponymous communicating dolphin (see Communication; Under the Sea) and her rich Southern US accent. The eponymous and acronymic protagonist of Adam M-1 (1964) is a Robot body which houses the brain of an otherwise dead test pilot (see Cyborg), the first Astrodynamically Designed Aerospace Man; unfortunately, ADAM is initially unequipped to indulge his powerful Sex drive. In due course he attains both suitable mechano-genital enhancement and a female counterpart, EVE M-2 (see Adam and Eve). Anderson's humour was more than once compared to that of Thorne Smith. [JC/DRL]
William Charles Anderson
born La Junta, California: 7 May 1920
died Fairfield, California: 16 May 2003
works
series
Penelope
- Penelope (New York: Crown Publishers, 1963) [Penelope: hb/]
- Penelope, the Damp Detective (New York: Crown Publishers, 1974) [Penelope: hb/]
individual titles
- Valley of the Gods (Baraboo, Wisconsin: Andoll Publishing, 1957) as Andy Anderson [pb/]
- Five, Four, Three, Two, One – Pffff: Or, 12,000 Men and One Bikini (New York: Ace Books, 1960) [pb/]
- Adam M-1 (New York: Crown Publishers, 1964) [hb/]
- Pandemonium on the Potomac (New York: Crown Publishers, 1966) [hb/Tom O'Sullivan]
- The Gooney Bird (New York: Crown Publishers, 1968) [hb/]
- The Apoplectic Palm Tree (New York: Crown Publishers, 1969) [hb/]
links
- library.boisestate.edu/special/FindingAids/fa218.htm
- Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Picture Gallery
previous versions of this entry