Christopher Anvil

Christopher Anvil is the pen name of American author Harry Christopher Crosby (1925-2009), who was best known for his science fiction short stories. Crosby 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, where he became a regular contributor.

Anvil's repeated appearances in Astounding/Analog were due in part to his ability to write to one of editor John W. Campbell's preferred plots: alien opponents with superior firepower losing out to the superior intelligence or indomitable will of humans. Additionally, Anvil's stories are nearly always humorous throughout, which helped to set him apart from other science fiction writers of his time. His protagonists often find themselves sliding from disaster to disaster with the best of intentions, but through exercise of fast thinking, manage to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The American science-fiction writer Harry Christopher Crosby, also known as Christopher Anvil, was well regarded during his lifetime for his many extensive contributions to the genre. Whether it be short-form stories or longer novels, Crosby was always well received thanks to his mastery of the form, along with the scope of his imagination and his handling of characters, as well as dealing with a vast array of deeper themes. Throughout the entire course of his writing career, Crosby developed one of the most highly and uniquely distinctive voices of his generation.