Classic Fantasy Pre 1980s

[Tsujigiri]

BTW Tsujigiri any chance of you mailing me your bio on Lovecraft, just be interested to see how you approached it. Just a thought...

It is on my Laptop, which is about 150 miles away from me at the moment. I will see if I can have it e-mailed to me, other than that we will have to wait till the laptop comes home

 

[GOLLUM]

No worries, do your best mate!

Signing off now..

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Just came back from the library, where I picked up The Hour of the Dragon. According to the foreword, this is the original version, prepared from photocopies of the Weird Tales serial.

 

[GOLLUM]

Just came back from the library, where I picked up The Hour of the Dragon. According to the foreword, this is the original version, prepared from photocopies of the Weird Tales serial.

Certailny sounds promising BUT check out the below info provided to Alia from a previuos query. Kelpie, who is the publisher of this book and exact title? Sounds like possibly the Millenuim edition unless someone has literaly scanned pages from weird tales...

The Hour of the Dragon (novel) was a 5 part series in Weird Tales magazine as folows: December 1935 & January, February, March, April 1936 editions.

**Previuos Info**
"As far as accuracy or having the "original" version of REH's Conan tales being presented to you goes, the “original” or most authentic versions based on REH’s original writings have been printed by Wandering Star publications in Hardback Editions and in Trade PB by Ballantine Books. These are the ones I have in my possession.

It sounds like from the titles you’ve given me that you have the Millennium Fantasy Masterwork editions of the collected Conan tales Vol I and II??

Assuming you do they’re also pretty good editions BUT there’s, it would appear, some REH WT stories that are not alledgedly perhaps as original or authnetic as they could be albeit they come pretty close! Also the first editions of these had quite a number of typographical errors, although they’ve apparently been addressed. I’d be interested in your feedback once you’ve read them in terms of any remaining typos?

Below is a link coutesy of “The Barbarian Keep” that will provide you with a detailed explanation of the Weird Tales stories and where the “orignal” versions may be found. Needless to say Wandering Star, Balantine and Millenium feature heavily here as they’re the best sources of “original” REH material I know of excepting I guess the orignal Weird Tales magazine publications and REH’s orginal writings.

Hope this answers your question!

http://www.barbariankeep.com/cnsources.html

** End Info**

Will sign back in tommrow

 

[Novocaine]

Classic author:
H.G. Wells

Known for creating:
The War of the Worlds
The Invisible Man
The Time Machine

Time of works:
1890s

 

[GOLLUM]

Duly noted Noavcaine.

Everyone I'll be posting my next Bio shortly. Been so busy lately at work haven't had much time for anythnig else LOL!

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi again..

Just finished work contract, going on a short break will next log in to this forum and post bio(s) towards the end of next week.

Bye for now..

 

[GOLLUM]

Hi all!!

Finally got back from my holidays to post this biography on Sci-Fi, Non-Fiction and Fantasy author Lyon Sprague de Camp. As this author is possibly better known for his Sci-Fi and Non-Fiction work I am not as familiar with him as some of the previous authors I have featured . Nevertheless, to the best of my knowledge this biography is the most comprehensive or exhaustive in terms of an "overall summary" or overview to date on the Net other than the de Camp's official website and his own autobiography "Time and Chance" that won him the 1997 Hugo award. Some titles are left out (well over 100 written) but hopefully the main ones are included.

Please note this is not a definitive work, just my attempt to hopefully increase the awareness of an important figure in the field of speculative fiction.

P.S. My next bio will be on Fletcher Pratt who co-authored the infamous Enchanter fantasy books with Lyon Sprague de Camp. His bio will be a fairly short one.

Enjoy..

 

[GOLLUM]

LYON SPRAGUE DE CAMP (NOVEMBER 27 1907 – NOVEMBER 6 2000)​

Lyon Sprague de Camp (LDC) was born on November 27, 1907 in New York to his father Lyon de Camp and mother Beatrice Sprague.

In the spring of 1910, at the age of 2, LDC suffered a fairly severe bout of pneumonia, which left him weakened for some period of time but fortunately did not kill him.

In 1918 LDC was sent off to a boarding school where he began reading the pulp Sci-Fi stories of the day, which would have a major influence in his own writings. As a youth he summered in the Adirondacks where he often hunted and hiked.

In 1921, his parents divorced, leaving his mother and himself along with his two brothers Lyman and Crawford to move to Pasadena, California. Apparently as something of a loner, LDC sought solace in the world of literature before graduating from high school. With his mother LDC traveled throughout Asia acquiring a multicultural education that would be put to future use in his story writing and own travels in later life including Japan and China.

Acquiescing to his parent’s urgings, LDC attended California Institute of Technology taking on an Engineering degree. During this time he became active on the college paper “The California Tech”, serving one year as editor.

In 1929, LDC was driving with his two brothers when the car lost control and rolled over, killing the eldest brother Crawford, an event one assumes must have been devastating for the young LDC.

The following year in 1930 he graduated with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from California Institute of Technology. Unfortunately this coincided with the Great Depression that had started a year earlier with the infamous Wall Street crash of 1929. As a result jobs were hard to come by with many engineers being made redundant.

Deciding to further his education, LDC attended Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New. Jersey and in 1933 he gained his M.S. Engineering. However like a lot of young men growing up in these economically and socially tumultuous times, he was often required to take up work in a number of different areas that for him included technical editing and educational or teaching roles.

From 1933-36 he found employment as an instructor at the Inventors Federation, where he became quite knowledgeable in the area of patents and inventions.

1937 proved to be something of a turning point for LDC, where as an employee of the International Correspondence Schools of Scranton, he co-authored his first book on patents with Alf K. Berle entitled “Inventions and Their Management”. In this same year he also published his first short story "The Isolinguals”, a tale about a plague of transmigrating souls taking over America in the science fiction magazine “Astounding Science Fiction”. It would be this magazine, especially under the later guidance of editor John W. Campbell in addition to the short-lived fantasy magazine “Unknown”, that LDC would develop a solid writing relationship with and included his popular “Johnny Black” stories about an intelligent bear. In fact the period 1936-1945 that is strongly associated with John W. Campbell's "Astounding Magazine" is generally regarded as the "Golden Age" of science fiction, although several significant works by authors coming to prominence during this time were only written in the 1950s. Suffice to say that this period marked the rise of several of the best known authors in the genre of which LDC is one.

Around 1937 whilst still at Scranton, he also began collaboration on his first fiction book with P Schuyler Miller, entitled “Genus Homo” about Gorillas, which although initially appearing in a 1941 magazine would not appear as a book for another 9 years.

In 1938 he continued his more recent work as a technical editor and published the other main story he’d written at Scranton in “Astounding Science Fiction” magazine entitled “Hyperpilosity” in addition to writing an article on “Language for Time Travelers” that spoke of how both the past and future may affect language, a commentary that subsequently caused something of a stir within the science fiction community. At the end of 1938 he also met English teacher Catherine Cook at a party and the couple soon began dating as LDC often provided her with pieces of his work for feedback, a practice that in later years would involve Catherine as an editor and sometimes collaborator with LDC that also evolved into handling a number of his business affairs.

At the start of 1939 the first story he’d written back at Scranton was published in “Golden Fleece” magazine entitled “The Hairless Ones Come”, a story about cavemen he appears not to have held in very high regard. Later that same year LDC married Catherine on August 12 at the Riverside Church in New York.

During the 1940s, LDC attracted a large youth readership with his interesting ideas and his penchant for alternate histories as well as the study of future languages. Two examples of this are “The Wheels Of If" first published in a 1940 edition of "Astounding Magazine", and in the following year perhaps his best-known work of fiction; a classic time travel story entitled “Lest Darkness Fall”. First published in an abridged form by “Unknown Magazine” in 1939 it revolves around a person who travels back to ancient Rome in an attempt to hold back the black tide of the Dark Ages by using their contemporary knowledge of technology.

In 1941 he also published in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt, the first collection of the infamous Harold Shea stories in a book entitled "The Incompleat Enchanter”. Originally conceived by Fletcher Pratt, it included the first two Harold Shea stories written with LDC in “Unknown magazine”, namely “The Roaring Trumpet” in 1940 and "The Mathematics of Magic” the following year. Harold Shea is a young psychologist who finds himself, through a series of mathematical calculations, transported to various worlds of myth. Unfortunately for him he tends to end up in the wrong place and combined with the inevitable culture shock ensures a very comical series of misadventures.

In July 1942 LDC joined the US Naval Reserve, working in the Philadelphia Naval Yard with fellow authors Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov who would become one of his closest friends. During this time he progressed through the ranks becoming a Lieutenant Commander prior to war’s end.

After World War II the sales from his short stories and books “Lest Darkness Fall” and “The Incomplete Enchanter” enabled LDC to become a full time writer.

In 1947 he wrote the US government textbook “The Evolution Of Naval Weapons” and in 1948 another of his humorous collaborative works with Fletcher Pratt entitled “The Carnelian Cube” along with other tales like “Divide and Rule” and a collection of his short stories entitled “The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction”.

In 1950 his earlier collaborative tale with P Schuyler Miller, “Genus Homo” was finally published in book form and although his earlier works had focused more on science fiction, the story "Aristotle and the Gun” in 1956 essentially marked a prolonged shift away from this genre towards fantasy novels and non-fiction works.

During the 1950s up to the early 1970s his works effectively comprised historically based tales (incl. “An Elephant for Aristotle” (1958), “The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate” (1961) and “The Golden Wind” (1969)), non-fiction books focusing on science and history which often attempted to debunk beliefs that the ancient civilizations had supernatural assistance in building their great monuments (incl. The acclaimed historical Scopes court trial study “The Great Monkey Trial” (1968), collaborative works with Catherine including “The Day of the Dinosaur” (1968) and “Citadels of Mystery” (1964) and a number of studies inspired by his ever increasing world travels including “Great Cities of the Ancient World” (1972) and “The Ancient Engineers” (1974)), juvenile non-fiction (incl. “Darwin And His Great Discovery” (1972)), poetry (incl. “Heroes and Hobgoblins” (1962), “Demons and Dinosaurs” (1970) and “Phantoms and Fancies” (1972)) and last but by no means least his fantasy stories, some of which were of the more traditional sword and sorcery style (incl. “Rogue Queen” (1951) as part of the Viagens series, another collaborative series with Fletcher Pratt on tales recounted from inside a pub entitled “Tales from Gavagan’s Bar” and apparently inspired by Lord Dunsany's "Jorkens" (started in 1950 in “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction” and later published as “Tales From Gavagan’s Bar” (1953)), “Undesired Princess” (1951), another Harold Shea Enchanter series “Wall of Serpents” (1953), the Krishna series with Catherine starting with “The Search For Zei” (1962) and “The Goblin Tower” (1968) as part of the humuours Reluctant King series).

Perhaps the most famous or indeed infamous of these latter works were those featuring Robert E. Howard’s (REH) original Conan tales. As indicated in the previous biography of REH, LDC compiled and in places heavily edited REH’s tales prior to submitting them for publication starting in the March 1953 edition of “Fantasy Magazine” with “The Black Stranger” a.k.a “The Treasure of Tranicos”. However, irrespective of these potentially problematic editions there is no disputing the fact that LDC certainly helped to both preserve and resurrect interest in REH and his Conan tales in particular, later writing several new Conan stories often in collaboration with other authors like Lin Carter.

In 1975 LDC wrote two major biographies entitled “H. P. Lovecraft: A Biography” and “Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard”, the former of which has been surrounded in some controversy due to Lovecraft fans claiming a perceived lack of a fair and balanced view of HPL’s contribution to the field of speculative fiction.

In 1976 he received the World Science Fiction Society's Gandalf Grand Master award for Lifetime Achievement in Fantasy, another honour to add to his previous achievements that included the 1953 International Fantasy Award for nonfiction (co-authored) and his Guest of Honor appearance at the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention.

In 1978 “The Best of L. Sprague de Camp” collection focusing on some of his most notable works was published, the same year he received The Nebula Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America.

In 1980 he wrote his final Conan novel "Conan and the Spider God” and in 1982 a novel adaptation of the film “Conan The Barbarian” with Lin Carter. At the start of the decade he also wrote “The Ragged Edges of Science”, a collection of articles on magic and occultism with a followup in 1983 entitled “The Fringe of the Unknown”, the same year his humuorous fantasy tale “Nothing in the Rules”, which first appeared in the July 1939 edition of “Unknown Magazine”, was inducted into the Fantasy Hall of Fame.

As in previous decades, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, several reprints and omnibus editions of earlier works were reprinted perhaps most notably the Harold Shea stories as "The Enchanter Completed” (1980), “The Compleat Enchanter” (1984) and “The Complete Compleat Enchanter” (1989 US, a.k.a. “The Intrepid Enchanter”, 1998 UK) and numerous reprints of the classic “Lest Darkness Fall” a more recent edition being in 1996 with an Italian translation in 1999. LDC also wrote a number of followup stories for established series during this same time, some of which involved further collaborations with Catherine and included “The Bones of Zora” (1983) and “The Swords of Zinjaban” (1991) as part of the Krishna series, “The Enchanter Reborn” (1992, co-author Christopher Stasheff) and “The Exotic Enchanter” (1995, co-author Christopher Stasheff) featuring new Harold Shea stories, “Stones of Nomuru” (1988) and “The Venom Trees of Sunga” (1992) as part of the Viagan series and “The Unbeheaded King” (1983) as part of the Reluctant King series in addition to the related story “The Honorable Barbarian” (1989) .

In 1984 he received the World Fantasy Convention Award for lifetime achievement in addition to a screen credit for technical adviser on the movie “Conan The Destroyer” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1987 he began a new humorous fantasy series with Catherine called "The Incorporated Knight” with a followup novel in 1991 entitled “The Pixilated Peeress”.

In 1989 the couple moved to Plano, Texas after spending more than 40 years in Philadelphia in order to be closer to their two sons, Gerard and Lyman, the same year LDC was inducted into the fandom Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

In 1993, following the new Harold Shea stories and despite growing health issues including arthritis of the fingers, LDC compiled his new tales about a prehistoric time traveler come tour operator Reginald Rivers who had first appeared in a “Gun For Dinosaur” back in 1956 into a series entitled “Rivers Of Time”.

In 1994 one of LDC’s final trips with Catherine was to Easter Island in the South Pacific where he did research into his book on social anthropology covering humankind’s primitive past and its effects on modern society entitled “The Ape-Man Within”.

In 1995 “The Ape-Man Within” was published, the same year he was awarded the first Sidewise Award for Alternate History Lifetime Achievement and with Catherine the Robert Bloch (author of Psycho) award.

In 1996 LDC’s autobiography “Time and Chance” was published and in 1997 at the age of almost 90 he was awarded the prestigious Hugo award for this work in the category for Best Non-Fiction, the same year he was also credited as a technical adviser on the movie “Kull The Conqueror”.

In 1998 he received the Pilgrim Award from the Science Fiction Research Association.

On April 9, 2000 his wife Catherine died and perhaps ironically on her birthday November 6, 2000 LDC followed her after suffering a heart attack several days earlier at the family home in Plano, Texas. He was 92 years of age.

On December 2, 2000 following a service at Wildwood Chapel at Restland Cemetery in Dallas, LDC’s previously cremated remains were laid to rest alongside Catherine’s at Arlington National Cemetery.

Whilst some controversy may always remain with his publications of REH’s Conan tales LDC was obviously an extremely diverse and prolific non-fiction, science fiction and fantasy writer who formed an important part of the Golden Age of science fiction and will undoubtedly remain a relevant figure in these Genres for years to come.

 

[Alia]

What an extraordinary man! And well achieved individual!
Thank you for sharing the bio with us, Gollum. Lots of good information and I'm sure hard work on your part.
*gives applause*

 

[Rane Longfox]

Very impressive Gollum!

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks for the feedback...

My next Bio will be a short one featuring author Fletcher Pratt. This will be posted on the weekend. After that I wil be featuring the first female author on this thread, Andre Norton who sadly pased away earlier this year.

Ciaoo...

 

[Rosemary]

Hi there gollum

I shall get the hang of these various threads soon!

My original response to this thread is to be found in reply to your welcome!

You have certainly done a brilliant job with this Classic Fantasy forum, as I said you would. An extremely well written and very interesting subject.

Obviously a lot of hard work & time has gone into this. Although knowing you it would have been enjoyable work. Well done!!

As mentioned previously, I shall print the articles you have posted here, read them at my leisure and then add them to the ones that you gave to me.

It is now 2.30 am which just goes to show how much I am enjoying this.

Bye 4 now

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks for those kind words Rosemary.

Will post my short bio on Fletcher Pratt in the next 1-2 days.

Bye for now...

 

[BAYLOR]

Vathek by William Beckford 1786.