Ancient Mirrors ~ take a trip through the looking glass

The 1930s and 1940s were an exciting time for fantasy and science fiction in America. Magazines like Weird Tales, Fantastic Adventures, and Unknown provided breeding grounds for new talents. Many of these authors, like Alfred Bester, Robert Heinlein, and Fritz Leiber, are now considered legends in the field. To these names, one must also remember that of L. Sprague de Camp, who started his 60 year career in Astounding Science Fiction, and later in Unknown.Lyon Sprague de Camp was born in New York City in 1939. His first published story was “The Isolinguals” in 1937, which appeared in Astounding Science Fiction. De Camp soon proved capable of writing ground-breaking science fiction stories, both humorous and heroic fantasy, historical fiction from different time periods, and even non-fiction works in which he debunked popular pseudoscientific claims and myths.One of de Camp’s favorite themes in his science fiction works was time travelparticularly the introduction of advanced technologies into the past. His 1939 work Lest Darkness Fall, in which a modern archaeologist is transported back in time to 6^th century Rome, is considered one of the earliest and still the best examples of the alternate history genre. In the book, the modern man’s devotion to technology helps him change the course of history.De Camp is also known for several fantasy series which helped determine the course of the genre. His “Incomplete Enchanter” series featuring the world-hopping psychologist Harold Shea provided a way for de Camp and his collaborator, Fletcher Pratt, to deconstruct the epics and myths which provided the basis for modern fantasy. In his “Gavagan’s Bar” series, the tradition of the barroom tall tale is given a fantasy twist. De Camp also edited and contributed to Robert E. Howard’s “Conan the Barbarian” cycle, reviving interest in both the character himself and in the vein of heroic fantasy. De Camp would make his own original contributions to this genre in the “Pusadian Series,” the “Novarian Series,” and a two-book set consisting of The Incorporated Knight and The Pixilated Princess.Today, much of Camp’s work is available in collected editions, such as Years in the Making: The Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp, Sagas of Conan, and The Mathematics of Magic: the Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt. For anyone interested in seeing how American fantasy started growing up into the genre we know and love today, de Camp’s work is definitely worth a look.