L. Sprague de Camp

Lyon Sprague de Camp, (November 27 1907-November 6 2000) was a science fiction and fantasy author born in New York City.

Works (Fiction)

His 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.

Related Topics:
September - 1937 - Astounding Science Fiction

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Some of de Camp's most famous works were the short novels Lest Darkness Fall (1939), The Wheels of If, (1940) and The Glory That Was (1960). He also wrote the "Harold Shea" series with Fletcher Pratt as well as the Tales from Gavagan's Bar. De Camp is often credited for a resurgence of interest in Robert E. Howard's Conan character, and he wrote several novels about Conan.

Related Topics:
Lest Darkness Fall - 1939 - 1940 - 1960 - Harold Shea - Fletcher Pratt - Robert E. Howard

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He was known for writing Historical Fiction, that is books that were historically accurate as far as the time the events took place, but the story itself was false. One of his most famous novels in this genre was The Dragon of Ishtar Gate.

Related Topics:
Historical Fiction - The Dragon of Ishtar Gate

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Like many authors who wrote in the fantastic canon, de Camp was a materialist who also wrote works examining society, history, technology and myth. Though overshadowed by his popular fiction, deCamp 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.

Related Topics:
Materialist - Society - History - Technology - Myth - Fiction - Racism - Ethnocentrism

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