View source for L. Sprague de Camp

[[Image:l-sprague-de-camp.jpg|thumb|300px|right|L. Sprague de Camp (centre) with Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov]]

'''Lyon Sprague de Camp''', ([[November 27]] [[1907]] – [[November 6]] [[2000]]) was a [[science fiction authors|science fiction]] and [[fantasy authors|fantasy author]] born in [[New York City]]. In a writer career spanning fifty years he wrote over 100 novels, along with notable works of nonfiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors.

==Life==
Trained as an aeronautical engineer, De Camp received a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the [[California Institute of Technology]] in 1930 and Master of Science degree in Engineering from [[Stevens Institute of Technology]] in 1933.

He married Catherine Crook in 1940, with whom he collaborated on numerous works of fiction and nonfiction beginning in the 1960s.

During [[World War II]], de Camp worked at the [[Philadelphia Naval Yard]] with fellow authors [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Robert A. Heinlein]]. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Naval Reserve.

He was a member of the all-male literary banqueting club the [[Trap Door Spiders]], which served as the basis of [[Isaac Asimov]]'s fictional group of mystery solvers the [[Black Widowers]]. De Camp himself was the model for the Geoffrey Avalon character.

The de Camps moved to [[Plano, Texas|Plano]], [[Texas]] in [[1989]]. De Camp died there on [[November 6]], [[2000]], seven months after the death of his wife of sixty years, Catherine Crook de Camp. He died on what would have been her birthday, three weeks shy of his own 93rd birthday. His ashes were interred with those of his wife in [[Arlington National Cemetery]].

De Camp's personal library of about 1,200 books was acquired for auction by Half Price Books in 2005. The collection included books inscribed by fellow writers such as [[Isaac Asimov]] and [[Carl Sagan]], as well as de Camp himself.

==Works (Fiction)==
De Camp's first published story was "The Isolinguals" in the [[September]] [[1937]] issue of ''[[Astounding Science Fiction]]''.  He went on to write numerous novels, short stories and non-fiction works in his long career.

De Camp was a [[materialism|materialist]] who wrote works examining [[society]], [[history]], [[technology]] and [[myth]]. His science fiction is marked by a concern for linguistics and historical forces. His most highly regarded works in the genre are his time-travel stories, including ''[[Lest Darkness Fall]]'' ([[1939]]), ''The Wheels of If'' ([[1940]]), and ''The Glory That Was'' ([[1960]]). His most extended work was his Viagens Interplanetarias series, set in a future where Brazil is the dominant power, particularly the subseries of planetary romances set on the planet Krishna. De Camp wrote a number of less-known but significant works that explored such topics as [[racism]], which he noted is more accurately described as [[ethnocentrism]]. He pointed out that no scholar comparing the merits of various ethnicities has ever sought to prove that ''his own'' ethnicity was inferior to others.

De Camp was best known for his light fantasy, particularly the "[[Harold Shea (fictional series)|Harold Shea]]" series  and "Gavagan's Bar" series, both written in collaboration with his longtime friend [[Fletcher Pratt]]. He was also known for his sword-and-sorcery, a subgenre he was instrumental in reviving through his editorial work on and continuation of [[Robert E. Howard|Robert E. Howard's]] "[[Conan]]" cycle.

De Camp also wrote [[Historical Fiction]], that is, books that were historically accurate as far as the time the events took place, but in which the story itself was false. Most of his work in this genre was set in the era of classical antiquity. One of his most famous historical novels was ''[[The Dragon of Ishtar Gate]]''.

==Works (Nonfiction)==
De Camp enjoyed debunking doubtful history and claims of the supernatural, and to describe how ancient civilizations produced structures and architecture thought by some to be beyond the technologies of their time, such as the pyramids of ancient Egypt]. Works in this area include ''Citadels of Mystery'' and ''The Ancient Engineers''. Among his many other wide-ranging non-fiction works were ''Lost Continents'', ''The Great Monkey Trial'' (about the Scopes Trial), ''The Ragged Edge Of Science'', ''Energy and Power'', ''Heroes of American Invention''. ''The Day Of The Dinosaur'' (which argued, among other things, that evolution took hold after Darwin because of the Victorian interest spurred by recently popularized dinosaur remains, corresponding to legends of dragons), ''The Evolution Of Naval Weapons'' (a American governmental textbook) and ''Teach Your Child To Manage Money''.

The author also wrote biographies of many key fantasy writers, most as short articles, but two as full-length studies of the prominent but personally flawed authors [[Robert E. Howard]] and [[H. P. Lovecraft]]. The latter, the first major independent biography of the now-famous writer, was criticized by some fans of Lovecraft as unflattering and unbalanced. Lovecraft scholar S.T. Joshi characterises this as de Camp's failure to understand his subject and Joshi's own biography is highly critical of de Camp's approach.

==Awards==
L. Sprague de Camp was the guest of honor at the [[1966]] [[Worldcon|World Science Fiction Convention]] and won the [[Nebula Award]] as a Grandmaster ([[1978]]) and the [[Hugo Award]] in [[1997]] for his autobiography, ''Time and Chance''. In [[1976]], he received the [[World Science Fiction Society]]'s [[Gandalf Award|Gandalf Grand Master]] award. In [[1995]], he won the first [[Sidewise Award for Alternate History]] Lifetime Achievement Award.

==Bibliography==

===Science Fiction===

====Series====
=====Viagens Interplanetarias=====
#''[[The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens]]'' (----)
#''[[Rogue Queen]]'' (1951)	
#''[[The Stones of Nomuru]]'' (1988) (with [[Catherine Crook de Camp]])
#''[[The Venom Trees of Sunga]]'' (1992)
======'''Krishna Novels'''======
*#''[[The Queen of Zamba]]'' (1977)	[expansion of [[Cosmic Manhunt]] (1954)]
*#''[[The Tower of Zanid]]'' (1958)	
*#''[[The Search for Zei]]'' (1962)
*#''[[The Hand of Zei]]'' (1963)	
*#''[[The Hostage of Zir]]'' (1977)	
*#''[[The Prisoner of Zhamanak]]'' (1982)	
*#''[[The Bones of Zora]]'' (1983) (with [[Catherine Crook de Camp]])
*#''[[The Swords of Zinjaban]]'' (1991) (with [[Catherine Crook de Camp]])

====Other Novels====
*''[[Lest Darkness Fall]]'' (1941)	
*''[[Divide and Rule]]'' (1948)	
*''[[The Stolen Dormouse]]'' (1948)	
*''[[Genus Homo (novel)|Genus Homo]]'' (1950) (with [[P. Schuyler Miller]])
*''[[The Glory That Was]]'' (1960)	
*''[[The Virgin and the Wheels]]'' (1976)	
*''[[The Great Fetish]]'' (1978)	

===Fantasy===

====Series====
=====[[Harold Shea (fictional series)|Harold Shea]]=====
#''[[The Incomplete Enchanter]]'' (1941) (with Fletcher Pratt)	
#''[[The Castle of Iron]]'' (1941) (with Fletcher Pratt)	
#''[[Wall of Serpents]]'' (1953) (with Fletcher Pratt)
#''[[Sir Harold and the Gnome King]]'' (1991)	
#''[[The Enchanter Reborn]]'' (1992) (with Christopher Stasheff)	
#''[[The Exotic Enchanter]]'' (1995) (with Christopher Stasheff)

=====Novarian Series=====	
#''[[The Goblin Tower]]'' (1968)	
#''[[The Clocks of Iraz]]'' (1971)	
#''[[The Fallible Fiend]]'' (1973)	
#''[[The Unbeheaded King]]'' (1983)	
#''[[The Reluctant King]]'' (omnibus) (1985)	
#''[[The Honorable Barbarian]]'' (1989)	
	
=====Incorporated Knight=====
#''[[The Incorporated Knight]]'' (1987)	
#''[[The Pixilated Peeress]]'' (1991)

=====Conan===== 
#*1 ''[[Conan]]'' (1967) (with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
#*2 ''[[Conan of Cimmeria]]'' (1969) (with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter) 
#*3 ''[[Conan the Freebooter]]'' (1968) (with Robert E. Howard) 
#*4 ''[[Conan the Wanderer]]'' (1968) (with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter) 
#*5 ''[[Conan the Adventurer]]'' (1966) (with Robert E. Howard)
#*6 ''[[Conan the Buccaneer]]'' (1966) (with Lin Carter) 
#*7 ''[[Conan the Warrior]]'' (1966) (with Robert E. Howard)
#*8 ''[[Conan the Usurper]]'' (1967) (with Robert E. Howard) 
#*10 ''[[Conan the Avenger]]'' (1968) (with Björn Nyberg and Robert E. Howard) 
#*11 ''[[Conan of Aquilonia]]'' (1977) (with Lin Carter) 
#*12 ''[[Conan of the Isles]]'' (1968) (with Lin Carter) 
#*''[[Tales of Conan]]'' (1955) (with Robert E. Howard) 
#*''[[Conan the Swordsman]]'' (1978) (with Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg) 
#*''[[Conan the Liberator]]'' (1979) (with Lin Carter) 
#*''[[Conan and the Spider God]]'' (1980) 
#*''[[The Treasure of Tranicos]]'' (1980) (with Robert E. Howard) 
#*''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' (1982) (with Lin Carter) 
#*''[[Conan: The Flame Knife]]'' (1986) (with Robert E. Howard) 
#*''[[Sagas of Conan]]'' (2004) (with Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg) 

====Other Novels====
*''[[Land of Unreason]]'' (1942) (with Fletcher Pratt)	
*''[[The Carnelian Cube]]'' (1948) (with Fletcher Pratt)	
*''[[The Undesired Princess]]'' (1951)	
*''[[Solomon's Stone]]'' (1957)	
*''[[The Undesired Princess and the Enchanted Bunny]]'' (1990) (with [[David Drake]])

===Historical Novels===
*''[[An Elephant for Aristotle]]'' (1958)	
*''[[The Bronze God of Rhodes]]'' (1960)	
*''[[The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate]]'' (1961)	
*''[[The Arrows of Hercules]]'' (1965)	
*''[[The Golden Wind]]'' (1969)	

===Nonfiction===

====Biography====
*''[[Dark Valley Destiny: The Life of Robert E. Howard]]''  (1983)  
*''[[Literary Swordsmen & Sorcerers]]''  (1976)  
*''[[Lovecraft: A Biography]]''  (1996)  
*''[[Time & Chance: An Autobiography]]''  (1996)  

====History====
*''[[Ancient Ruins]]''  (1992)  
*''[[Citadels of Mystery]]''  (1972)  
*''[[Darwin And His Great Discovery]]''  (1972) 
*''[[Great Cities Of The Ancient World]]''  (1990)  
*''[[Heroes of American Invention]]''  (1993)  
*''[[The Ancient Engineers]]''  (1963)  
*''[[The Evolution Of Naval Weapons]]''  (1947)  
*''[[The Great Monkey Trial]]''  (1968)  
*''[[The Heroic Age of American Invention]]''  (1961)  

====Science==== 
*''[[The Day Of The Dinosaur]]'' (1985)  
*''[[Elephant]]''  (1964)  
*''[[Energy and Power]]''  (1962)  
*''[[Engines]]''  (1959)  
*''[[Footprints On Sand]]''  (1981)  
*''[[Inventions Patents and Their Management]]''  (1959)  
*''[[Man And Power]]  (1961)  
*''[[The Ragged Edge Of Science]]  (1988)  
*''[[The Story Of Science In America]]  (1967)  

====Other====
*''[[Lands Beyond]]''  (1952)  
*''[[Lost Continents]]''  (1975)  
*''[[Rubber Dinosaurs And Wooden Elephants]]''  (1996)  
*''[[Science-Fiction Handbook]]'', Revised  (1975, 1977)  
*''[[Spirits, Stars and Spells the Profits and Perils of Magic]]'' (1966)  
*''[[Teach Your Child To Manage Money]]''  (1974)  
*''[[The Ape-Man Within]]''  (1995)  
*''[[The Fringe Of The Unknown]]''  (1983)  
*''[[The Money Tree]]''  (1972)  
*''[[Three Thousand Years Of Fantasy And Science Fiction]]''  (1972)  
*''[[To Quebec and the Stars]]''  (1976)

==External links==
* [http://www.lspraguedecamp.com/] - the official L. Sprague de Camp website

[[Category:Writers|De Camp, L. Sprague]]
[[Category:Historic Authors|De Camp, L. Sprague]]

Original Wiki source: [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]