Dr. Simon Reads Appendix N Part Six: L Sprague de Camp

Dr. Simon Reads Appendix N Part Six: L Sprague de Camp

This is an ongoing sporadic series, in which I explore classic fantasy and science fiction works. Appendix N is the bibliography of Gary Gygax's original Dungeon Masters Guide, and lists a range of classic SF and fantasy authors that influenced his interest in the fantastical. See the first part of this series for more information.

This time around, I have reached the works of:

L Sprague de Camp

The splendidly named Lyon Sprague de Camp was born in New York 1907 and lived to the ripe old age of 93. He’s another one of these highly prolific authors, turning out tons of stories all in a general fantasy/science fiction vein but within a lot of different sub-genres, from swords and sorcery, planetary romance, time travel, whimsy, satire and so on. He was also instrumental in groups such as SAGA (Swordsmen and Sorcerers Guild of America), a loose-knit group of fellow writers of fantastic tales, and the all-male writers club The Trap Door Spiders. He’s credited with coining the term “ET” for extraterrestrial, and some of his books, including the ones listed below, contain notable firsts.

Appendix N recommends “Lest Darkness Fall” and “The Fallible Fiend”. To this I also added “Rogue Queen” as it came highly recommended. Note that de Camp is also listed in Appendix N as co-author with Fletcher Pratt; I’ll be dealing with the co-authored works in the next instalment, and the Pratt’s solo work later on.

(Also note that I’ve skipped Lin Carter and his “World’s End” series as listed in Appendix N because, at the time of writing, these are out of print and not yet on e-book. I’ve since acquired a second-hand copy of the first book, so watch this space).

Lest Darkness Fall

First published in 1939, this story is a very early “alternative history” novel , inspired by Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. It’s influence can be seen in de Camp and Pratt’s co-authored works, where a modern day American scholar finds himself catapulted into another world. In this case, the protagonist is the archaeologist Martin Padway, who whilst visiting Rome is struck by lightning and sent back to the mid-6^th century, to a Rome ruled by Goths, under threat by invading barbarian tribes and beset by doctrinal squabbles.

Padway, luckily enough, has enough knowledge of Italian and Latin to be able to quickly pick up the Vulgate Latin used at the time, and has a good memory of the works of Procopius to know what the future holds. At first he sets out only to survive by setting up a brandy distillery, but as the book progresses he becomes more and more embroiled in power struggles, interfering in the succession of Gothic kings, recruiting the Byzantine general Belisarius and prosecuting several successful wars. It’s a sort of Dark Ages Breaking Bad in a way, with Padway becoming more and more ruthless in his methods while at the same time telling himself that he’s just trying to stay alive and comfortable, and that he’s also trying to prevent the oncoming Dark Ages by keeping Rome a vibrant and powerful influence in the region.

I like that the work is set in a generally under-appreciated period of history. Padway as a character is somewhat enigmatic, and I think it works best if one approaches it as a story told by himself, wherein he interprets all of his sometimes morally dubious actions in the best light that he can. As with other books by de Camp it ends somewhat abruptly, feeling like a sequel is forthcoming to expand upon the next stage of the story (there is a story called “The Apotheosis of Martin Padway” by SM Stirling that does look ahead, but nothing by de Camp).


The Fallible Fiend

The Fallible Fiend is part of the Novarian Series, and actually forms the third book (the first being The Clocks of Iraz). It would seem, without reading the others, that the series is really a loosely connected sequence of stories connected largely by being set in the same world. The Fallible Fiend in any case stands alone perfectly comfortably.

It is told from the perspective of the demon Zdim, summoned by the sorcerer Dr Maldivius to protect a magical artefact known as the Sybilline Sapphire. Zdim, although well-meaning, is also very literally-minded (as well as being huge, scaly, fanged and clawed). Taking idioms and poorly worded instructions too literally, he kills a number of people  by accident, and his contract passes between a series if hapless owners until he ends up an unlikely hero by preventing a barbarian invasion.



There are some similarities to Robert Asprin’s Skeev and Aahz series, although whereas Aahz is a skilful schemer, Zdim is good-natured and confused by human ways. The book is more fun at the beginning with the bewildered Zdim wondering why nobody is ever happy that he’s done what they asked of him, becoming more mainstream as the invasion and the war get underway. The setting, Novarian, and the City State of Ir, are nothing particularly special in terms of execution, but I reckon you could nick some good names from it if nothing else.

The Rogue Queen

The Rogue Queen is part of de Camp’s “Viagens Interplanitarias” series, a science-fiction cycle with a Brazilian backdrop. Like The Fallible Fiend, it stands alone within that rough grouping, and is not part of an ongoing series.

It details the planet Ormazd, whose roughly humanlike inhabitants live in a society much like hive insects, with a fertile queen serviced by louche, lazy drones while infertile female warriors and workers do all the hard work. The heroine is the young worker Iloedh, far too curious for the liking of her peers. Matters are brought to a head when a group of Terran explorers arrive, and the differences between their societies becomes clear. Added to the mix are plots by the Ormazd to get hold of the superior Terran weaponry and a forbidden, unconsummated romance between Iloedh and a drone called Antis.

Ilhoed and Antis become fugitives, joining up with a small group of Terrans and bewildered by the strange love triangle that exists within the human group. She is forced to abandon her strict vegetarian diet and eat meat, a choice that she believes will poison her, but in fact makes her turn into a sexually mature Queen as well. The effects of this on the Ormazd society, where every drone has his own Queen but also undermining the carefully constructed caste system and potentially leading to the kinds of murderous jealousy seen in the humans, is touched upon, but as with Lest Darkness Falls, the book ends before any of the potential changes really happen.

Apparently the themes of this book were well ahead of their time when it was published in 1951, perhaps again showing how social commentary could be slid under the radar via fantasy and science fiction.


Overall I enjoyed de Camp’s books. His writing style reminded me of Jack Vance, in that emotion was often blunted by understatement, and his frequent lapse in the idioms of the 40s and 50s made some of his characters hard for me to understand. I think the Ormazd could be lifted whole-cloth into an SF or fantasy setting, they were great fun and well-realized. I’d like to learn more of Novaria as well to see what else could be taken. Certainly the amusingly literal character of Zdim would make a good NPC. There’s less, I think, to be garnered from Lest Darkness Fall unless one wanted either to set a game within the 6^th century, or to steal cultural inspiration from that period.