Eric Rücker Eddison, CB, CMG (24 November 1882 – 18 August 1945) was an English civil servant and author, writing epic fantasy novels under the name E. R. Eddison. His best-known works include The Worm Ouroboros (1922) and the Zimiamvian Trilogy (1935–1958). Eddison claimed the views of Tolkein, who admired his work, were too ‘soft’ whilst Tolkein stated about Eddison’s work: that he read Eddison “with great enjoyment for their sheer literary merit”, but “disliked his characters” and found his “evil and indeed silly ‘philosophy'” tending to “arrogance and cruelty”. Most of Eddison’s books are available here in both physical format and free in pdf.