Investor's Business Daily, April 25th, 2007
Poul Anderson liked to keep his work simple. That way, he said, he could devote more time to pleasing his readers.
In his stories, Anderson created technologically advanced worlds. Yet the world Anderson worked in was technologically modest for its time. He was simply too committed to his craft.
"He used a typewriter up until last fall, always being too busy on the next project to learn how to use computers," his widow, Karen, a co-author of several of Anderson's books, told IBD.
Anderson, who died July 31, 2001, at age 74 in Orinda, Calif., moved into his profession through necessity. He began writing in college to pay his tuition. Though he planned to become a physicist and earned a bachelor of science degree with honors from the University of Minnesota in 1948, he found he couldn't get a job right out of college.
So he decided to concentrate on what he knew he did well: writing. It was a decision that set off a long, award-laden career. Named a Grandmaster by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1997, Anderson won three Nebula Awards and seven Hugo Awards. He wrote a huge number of books that have been embraced by science-fiction fans around the world.
"We lost track after 100," Karen, who became his wife in 1953, said of the books Anderson published.
Some of his most popular were "The Enemy Stars," "Genesis" and "Earthman, Go Home!"
Much of Anderson's success can be attributed to discipline, says his widow. He usually worked six to eight hours a day. Though "weeks didn't mean anything to us" in the usual sense of a seven-day week, Anderson took a day off only when he was comfortable that he was caught up with his work.
He kept distractions to a minimum. Phone calls weren't allowed until after 6:30 p.m., when he was finished for the day.
Despite his dedication, Anderson didn't push his limits. Even though he had deadlines to meet, he never worked through the night. "He knew that if he got too tired, he wouldn't do his best work," she said.
Anderson also refused to skimp on the details. He made great efforts to ensure that his work was accurate, even on the smallest points. He read heavily and was known to confer with university scientists when he needed confirmation.
He'd work out his own calculations to guarantee realism. In one novel, a character, armed with a sling, fought an opponent who wore Roman armor. He and Karen ran equations to figure out that the 1-ounce piece of lead propelled by the sling had the striking power of an 1870s muzzle-loading rifle, enough force to pierce the adversary's shield easily.
To cultivate his audience, Anderson tried to give his characters the sort of personalities that could inspire readers: full of integrity, funny, motivated.
Anderson's characters are optimists. They don't give in to despair even though they are given opportunities to do so. In his characters, readers see heroes.
Anderson drew from his own outlook, which he kept positive. Fan, friend and writer Joe Haldeman recalled in a tribute that Anderson "was also a cheerful man who, among other gifts, was the best joke teller I've ever known."
Anderson's characters "are free to choose how they will respond to the universe and they can choose to struggle against the chaos around them," Glenn McDavid wrote in an essay on Anderson's work.
Anderson's stories were often extensions of his characters. He looked at the world and saw honor and courage where others saw something less. He then wrote stories that "exemplified the bravery the writer saw around him and throughout history," said Karen.
On that theme, Anderson gained a following with an idea that consistently occurred throughout his work: the importance of personal freedom and free will.
"If I preach at all, it's probably in the direction of individual liberty, which is a theme that looms large in my work," Anderson said.
Despite his fame, Anderson never forgot those who contributed to his achievements.
On one occasion, Anderson stayed with fans while in town for a science-fiction convention. His host, Robin Bailey, asked the writer if he'd sign a couple of his books that were in Bailey's library of science-fiction work. Anderson agreed, and Bailey left the room to get the books. What happened next was unexpected.
"In my excitement, I was unaware that Poul had followed me up the stairs," Bailey wrote in a tribute to Anderson on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America Web site shortly after the writer's death, "and when he noticed the approximately 37 volumes of his titles on my shelves, he insisted on signing every one of them."
Fan and fellow writer Jessica Salmonson, who knew Anderson before she had any significant works published, simply said: "He was kind to fandom. No snob, he."
Anderson was so accessible, sometimes scientists would tell him they chose their careers because his books had inspired them.
Karen believes that Anderson's profound imagination and lyrical writing style were probably responsible.
"He was a good poet," she said.
This story originally ran Aug. 9, 2001, on Leaders & Success.
