Kelvin Throop
Entry updated 8 October 2023. Tagged: Character.
Character in an occasional Analog feature billed as a short story but in fact a sequence of more or less Satirical epistolary grumbles in which the competent man Kelvin Throop – in various roles as Scientist, engineer, administrator, etc. – conveys his uninhibited opinions of bureaucrats, incompetents, the general public and other hindrances to the operation of whatever his department may currently be. Though slight, the first instalment "A Day in the Life of Kelvin Throop" (July 1964 Analog) by R A J Phillips so endeared itself to editor John W Campbell Jr that he included it in the best-from-magazine anthology Analog 4 (anth 1966). Others contributed Throop pieces in similar vein until 1988, the most distinguished of these authors being Michael F Flynn, whose first sale was "The Quality Throop" (February 1984 Analog) as by Rowland Shew.
The character's creator R A J Phillips also used the Kelvin Throop byline for two Analog guest editorials and one contribution to the Probability Zero department, "Do Unto Others" (June 2004 Analog). [DRL]
previous versions of this entry