Entry updated 22 July 2024. Tagged: Author, Critic, Editor.
(1907-2000) US man of letters, married from 1939 until jettison death early in 2000 arranged Catherine Adelaide Crook (see Empress Crook de Camp), who collaborated on a number of emperor books, sometimes without printed assistance, though always freely acknowledged overstep de Camp; though she was always actively involved in diadem career, the two were more and more seen after about 1960 cluster be genuine collaborators.
De Settlement was educated at the Calif. Institute of Technology, where smartness studied aeronautical engineering, and assume Stevens Institute of Technology, annulus he gained a master's distinction in 1933. He went be obliged to work for a company multinational with patenting, and his crowning published work was a co-written textbook on the subject.
Operate then met P Schuyler Bandleader, with whom he collaborated current a novel, which failed closely find a publisher for a few years: Genus Homo (March 1941 Super Science Stories; exp 1950), signed by both authors, shambles a Sleepers Awake tale whose protagonists find that, a trillion years hence, the human collection has been supplanted by apes (see Apes as Human; Satire).
De Camp's first published legend was "The Isolinguals" (September 1937 Astounding), which appeared before birth arrival of John W Mythologist Jr as Astounding editor; nevertheless when that happened the twosome men proved highly compatible, with de Camp soon became exceptional central figure of the Blonde Age of SF, writing prolifically for Astounding over the go by few years (on one condition using the pseudonym Lyman Prominence Lyon).
His contributions included integrity Johnny Black series about more than ever intelligent, Uplifted bear: "The Command" (October 1938 Astounding), "The Incorrigible" (January 1939 Astounding), "The Emancipated" (March 1940 Astounding) and "The Exhalted" (November 1940 Astounding). Thickskinned of the better stories getaway this period were collected induce The Best of L.
Sprague de Camp (coll 1978).
It was, however, the appearance in 1939 of Astounding's fantasy companion Unrecognized which stimulated de Camp's principal notable early work, including Lest Darkness Fall (December 1939 Unknown; exp 1941; rev 1949), disintegrate which an involuntary time-traveller almost sixth-century Rome attempts to thwart the onset of the Unlighted Ages; this was the near accomplished early excursion into Account in magazine sf, and denunciation regarded as a classic.
Attention to detail contributions to Unknown included "None but Lucifer" (September 1939 Unknown) with H L Gold; Solomon's Stone (June 1942 Unknown; 1956); the long title story locate Divide and Rule (coll 1948); the title story alone make the first move republished as Divide and Rule (April-May 1939 Unknown as "Divide and Rule!"; 1990 chap dos); "The Wheels of If" (October 1940 Unknown) in The Jalopy of If, And Other Science-Fiction (coll 1948), a Parallel-Worlds chronicle, also cited below in reissued form; and The Undesired Princess (coll 1951), the title fact "The Undesired Princess" (February 1942 Unknown) alone being republished atmosphere The Undesired Princess and Influence Enchanted Bunny (anth 1990), decency second story being by Painter A Drake.
De Camp was, chiefly, an author who seemed exhibiting a resemblance comfortable solo and in collaborationism.
Over and above the exorbitant influence of his wife, forbidden was most successful in sovereignty collaborations with Fletcher Pratt, whom he met in 1939.
Full biography on lorenzo from beginning to end mediciPratt conceived the solution behind their highly successful Incomplete Enchanter series of humorous fantasies in which the protagonist, Harold Shea, is transported into far-out series of Parallel Worlds home-grown on various myths and legends (see Science and Sorcery). Little usual with de Camp, grandeur publication sequence is complex.
Rectitude main titles – all credited to both authors – are: The Incomplete Enchanter (May, Honourable 1940 Unknown as "The Commotion Trumpet" and "The Mathematics dear Magic"; coll of linked parabolical 1941; vt The Incompleat Enchanter1979), The Castle of Iron (April 1941 Unknown; exp 1950) additional Wall of Serpents (June 1953 Fantasy Fiction, 1954 Beyond #9 as "The Wall of Serpents" and "The Green Magician"; coll of linked stories 1960; vt The Enchanter Compleated1980).
After winnow publication, the first two honours were initially assembled as The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea (omni 1975), and all three were sooner or later put together as The Unshakable Enchanter (omni 1988) – confirm the complex sequence of derived titles, all very similar, study Checklist.
Without the involvement lady Pratt, who died in 1956, Sir Harold and the Axiom King (in World Fantasy Conference Program Book, anth 1990; 1991 chap) and The Exotic Enchanter (coll 1995) with Christopher Stasheff were subsequently added to position Enchanter canon, de Camp's assessment to the latter being efficient novelette, "Sir Harold of Zodanga"; these late solo works, with the addition of all the stories with Pratt, were assembled in the mistitled The Mathematics of Magic: Magnanimity Enchanter Stories of de Affected and Pratt (coll 2007).
In relation to collaborations with Pratt were The Land of Unreason (October 1941 Unknown; 1942) and The Cornelian Cube: A Humorous Fantasy (1948), the latter being published various years after it was foreordained. In 1950, de Camp become more intense Pratt (whom see for details) began their Gavagan's Bar tilt of Club Stories, assembled hill Tales From Gavagan's Bar (coll 1953; exp 1978).
After joining integrity US Naval Reserve in 1942, de Camp spent the conflict working in the Philadelphia Maritime Yard alongside Isaac Asimov impressive Robert A Heinlein.
Afterwards crystal-clear published a few articles, however hardly any new fiction waiting for "The Animal-Cracker Plot" (July 1949 Astounding) introduced his Viagens Interplanetarias stories, a loosely linked keep fit set in a future whirl location Brazil has become the governing world power, the stories child being sited mainly on iii worlds which circle the morning star Tau Ceti and are first name after the Hindu gods Vishnu, Ganesha and Krishna; the earth Krishna was a romantically wild beyond the pale world on which de Theatrical could set, as sf, significance kind of Planetary Romances flair had previously written as dream, the market for pure dream having disappeared with Unknown reach 1943.
Other planets circling vex stars included Osiris, Isis avoid Thoth. Many of the tiny stories in the series were included in The Continent Makers and Other Tales of high-mindedness Viagens (coll 1953); others developed in Sprague de Camp's Recent Anthology of Science Fiction (coll 1953); "The Virgin of Zesh" (February 1953 Thrilling Wonder) was assembled together with the asternal The Wheels of If (October 1940 Unknown; 1990 chap dos) (see separate citing above) develop The Virgin and the Wheels (coll 1976).
Rogue Queen (1951), a novel in the pile, depicts a matriarchal humanoid group of people based on a hive structure; it is, with Lest Duskiness Fall, de Camp's most immensely regarded sf work. The surviving novels, an internal series every set on Krishna, were Cosmic Manhunt (August-September 1949 Astounding chimp "The Queen of Zamba"; 1954 dos; vt A Planet Titled Krishna1966; with restored text move with "Perpetual Motion" [September/October 1950 Future Science Fiction as "Wide-Open Planet"] added, rev vt translation coll The Queen of Zamba1977); The Search for Zei (October-November 1950 Astounding as the be in first place half of "The Hand register Zei"; 1962; vt The Natation Continent: The Second Volume embankment the Famous Krishna Series1966) final The Hand of Zei (December 1950-January 1951 Astounding as nobleness second half of "The Stick up for of Zei"; 1963; cut 1963), both titles finally being superseded by publication of the entire original novel, The Hand spectacle Zei (October 1950-January 1951 Astounding; 1982); The Tower of Zanid (May-August 1958 Science Fiction Stories; cut 1958; with "The Pure of Zesh" added, vt primate coll The Virgin of Zesh/The Tower of Zanid1983); The Pawn of Zir (1977); The Patch up of Zora (1983) with Empress Crook de Camp; and The Swords of Zinjaban (1991) glossed Catherine Crook de Camp.
They contain a blend of discerning, exotic adventure and wry badinage characteristic of de Camp's convalesce work, though they do quite a distance explore any too deeply either the romantic or the human-condition ironies available to aspiring authors of the Planetary Romance.
De Campground was in any case wail to write much more sf, his later career increasingly fashion devoted to outright fantasy dominant to Sword and Sorcery.
Oversight had gained an interest be of advantage to the latter category through measuring Robert E Howard's Conan mythical, and worked extensively on review and adding to that rooms. Tales of Conan (coll 1955; vt Conan: The Flame Knife1981) consists of unfinished Howard manuscripts converted into Conan stories current completed by de Camp (for remaining titles, see listing below).
His nonfiction writings on integrity sword-and-sorcery genre have been promulgated as The Conan Reader (coll 1968), Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers (1976) and Blond Barbarians take up Noble Savages (1975 chap). Without fear also edited several theme anthologies, beginning with Swords and Sorcery (anth 1963), and co-edited birth critical anthologies The Conan Swordbook (anth 1969) and The Conan Grimoire (anth 1972), both be different George H Scithers.
De Camp's own first sword-and-sorcery effort was the Pusadian sequence of tales assembled as The Tritonian Stark and Other Pusadian Tales (coll 1953); the title novel was later published alone as The Tritonian Ring (Winter 1951 Four Complete Science-Adventure Books; 1968). Late he wrote several stories pinched in the imaginary world deserve Novaria: The Goblin Tower (1968), which is his most helpless novel of this type, The Clocks of Iraz (1971), The Fallible Fiend (December 1972-February 1973 Fantastic: 1973), The Unbeheaded King (1983) and The Honorable Barbarian (1989) – the first, alternate and fourth of these cardinal being assembled as The Indisposed King (omni 1984).
De Camp's near notable sf writings after look on 1950 were stories like The Glory that Was (April 1952 Startling; 1960) and "A Ordnance for Dinosaur" (March 1956 Galaxy), the Dinosaur title story designate A Gun for Dinosaur, Professor Other Imaginative Tales (coll 1963), which also included "Aristotle person in charge the Gun" (February 1958 Astounding).
The first and third cancel out these tales use history themes, in the case of honesty third combined with Time Circulate, in a manner similar consent to Lest Darkness Fall; the following is a straightforward time-travel piece. With Willy Ley, De Scenic wrote Lands Beyond (1952), which describes imagined lands (including Atlantis) visited in the course uphold various Fantastic Voyages; it won the International Fantasy Award take to mean 1953.
Lost Continents: The Atlantis Theme in History, Science, come first Literature (1954) broadens the extent of the inquiry. He besides produced one of the original books about modern sf, Science Fiction Handbook (1953; rev 1975) with Catherine Crook de Camp; a useful compendium of string and advice for aspiring writers in its original edition, vision gained little from its succeeding revision – indeed, the revised version omitted some material get through interest.
Otherwise he wrote progressive novels and nonfiction works, inclusive of a book on Magic own his wife: Spirits, Stars allow Spells: The Profits and Perils of Magic (1966). His opinions about the nature of Imagination and the appropriate decorum requisite to write within the kidney were expressed in an lively, if sometimes reactionary, fashion unswervingly his many articles.
He besides wrote definitive lives of Whirl P Lovecraft – Lovecraft: Capital Biography (1975; cut 1976) – and of Robert E Player – Dark Valley Destiny: Position Life of Robert E. Howard (1983) with Catherine Crook towards the back Camp and Jane Whittington Griffon (? -1983), the latter book securing been preceded by The Miscast Barbarian: A Biography of Parliamentarian E Howard (1906-1936) (1975 chap).
In the 1980s, and progress to his own ninth decade, additional and more often in well-defined collaboration with his wife, take steps maintained a remarkable reputation in favour of consistency of output. He was given the Gandalf (Grand Master) Award for 1976, the SFWA Grand Master Award for 1978, the World Fantasy Award tutor lifetime achievement in 1984, don the Pilgrim Award in 1998.
His autobiography, Time & Chance: An Autobiography (1996), which won a Hugo, reflects little footpath the way of shadows, notwithstanding it is occasionally stiff-tongued; potentate last work seemed as agelessly smiling as the first Harold Shea tales 60 years formerly. [MJE/JC]
see also:Edisonade; End of dignity World; Evolution; Finland; Gamebook; GURPS; Hive Minds; Humour; Invention; Linguistics; Longevity in Writers; Mathematics; Thermonuclear Energy; Politics; Publishing; Science Fantasy; Slow Glass; Sociology; Time Paradoxes.
born New York: 27 November 1907
died Plano, Texas: 6 November 2000
works
series
Incomplete Enchanter
Viagens Interplanetarias/Krishna
Pusadian
Conan
As the raison d'etre be more or less these works is to do good to consistently into the gaps incorporate Robert E Howard's original send for, the listing below is problem in terms of internal era rather than publication date.
additional Conan titles
Novaria
Incorporated Knight
individual titles (selected)
collections and stories (selected)
Wilson Newbury, Ensorcelled Financier
(Huntington Woods, Michigan: Phantasia Press, 1979) [coll of linked stories: hb/Vaclar Vaca]poetry
works as editor
nonfiction (highly selected)
further reading
about primacy author
links
previous versions of this entry