Lyon Sprague de Camp (November 27, 1907 – November 6, 2000) was a science fiction and fantasy author born in New York City. 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. He was also known for his sword and sorcery, a fantasy genre revived partly by his editorial work on and continuation of Robert E. Howard's Conan cycle.
Easton Press L. Sprague de Camp books
Lest Darkness Fall - Masterpieces of Science Fiction - 1988
The Honorable Barbarian - Signed First Edition of Science Fiction - 1989
Rogue Queen - Masterpieces of Science Fiction - 1996
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Author L. Sprague de Camp
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.
L. Sprague de Camp was the guest of honor at the 1966 World Science Fiction Convention and has 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 Grand Master award. In 1995, he won the first Sidewise Award for Alternate History Lifetime Achievement Award.
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.
De Camp also liked to debunk 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, The Evolution Of Naval Weapons (a United States of America government textbook) and Teach Your Child To Manage Money.
The author also wrote biographies of two prominent but personally flawed fantasy writers, Robert E. Howard and H. P. Lovecraft. The latter, the first major independent biography of the now-famous writer, is criticized by many fans of Lovecraft as unflattering and unbalanced.
During World War II, de Camp worked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard with fellow authors Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein.
Death
De Camp died on November 6, 2000, only seven months after his wife of sixty years, Catherine Cook de Camp, died. He died on what would have been her birthday.
L. Sprague de Camp books in order
Science fiction
Lest Darkness Fall (1939)
Divide and Rule (1948)
The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction (1948)
Genus Homo (1950 - with P. Schuyler Miller)
The Hand of Zei (1950)
Rogue Queen (1951)
The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens (1953)
The Virgin of Zesh (1953)
Sprague de Camp's New Anthology of Science Fiction (1953)
The Glory That Was (1960)
A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales (1963)
Scribblings (1972)
The Virgin & the Wheels (1976)
The Best of L. Sprague de Camp (1978)
The Great Fetish (1978)
Footprints on Sand (1981 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
Aristotle and the Gun and Other Stories (2002)
Years in the Making: the Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp (2005)
Fantasy
None But Lucifer (1939 - with Horace L. Gold)
The Incomplete Enchanter (1941 - with Fletcher Pratt)
Land of Unreason (1942 - with Fletcher Pratt)
The Carnelian Cube (1948 - with Fletcher Pratt)
The Undesired Princess (1951)
Tales from Gavagan's Bar (1953, exp. 1978 - with Fletcher Pratt)
The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales (1953)
Tales of Conan (1955 - with Robert E. Howard)
Solomon's Stone (1957)
Conan the Adventurer (1966 - with Robert E. Howard)
The Goblin Tower (1968)
The Reluctant Shaman and Other Fantastic Tales (1970)
The Clocks of Iraz (1971)
The Fallible Fiend (1973)
The Purple Pterodactyls (collection - 1980)
The Unbeheaded King (1983)
The Reluctant King (1985)
The Incorporated Knight (1987 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
The Honorable Barbarian (1989)
The Sedulous Sprite (unpublished)
The Pixilated Peeress (1991 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
Conan Novels
The Return of Conan (1957 - with Björn Nyberg)
Conan of the Isles (1968 - with Lin Carter)
Conan the Buccaneer (1971 - with Lin Carter)
Conan the Liberator (1979 - with Lin Carter)
Conan and the Spider God (1980)
Conan the Barbarian (1982 - with Lin Carter)
Conan Collections
Tales of Conan (collection) (1955 - with Robert E. Howard)
Conan the Adventurer (collection) (1966 - with Robert E. Howard)
Conan (collection) (1967 - with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
Conan the Usurper (collection) (1967 - with Robert E. Howard)
Conan the Avenger (collection) (1968 - with Björn Nyberg and Robert E. Howard)
Conan the Freebooter (collection) (1968 - with Robert E. Howard)
Conan the Wanderer (collection) (1968 - with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
Conan of Cimmeria (collection) (1969 - with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
Conan of Aquilonia (collection) (1977 - with Lin Carter)
Conan the Swordsman (collection) (1978 - with Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg)
The Treasure of Tranicos (collection - 1980 - with Robert E. Howard)
The Flame Knife (collection) (1981 - with Robert E. Howard)
The Conan Chronicles (1989 - with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
The Conan Chronicles 2 (199 - with Robert E. Howard and Lin Carter)
Sagas of Conan (2004 - with Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg)
Poetry
Demons and Dinosaurs (1970)
Heroes and Hobgoblins (1981)
Phantoms and Fancies (1972)
Nonfiction
The Evolution of Naval Weapons (1947)
Lands Beyond (1952 - with Willy Ley)
Science-Fiction Handbook (1953)
Lost Continents; the Atlantis Theme in History, Science, and Literature (1954)
The Heroic Age of American Invention (1961)
The Ancient Engineers (1963)
Ancient Ruins and Archaeology (1964 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
Spirits, Stars, and Spells: the Profits and Perils of Magic (1966 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
The Great Monkey Trial (1968)
Darwin and His Great Discovery (1972 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
Great Cities of the Ancient World (1972)
Lovecraft: a Biography (1975)
Blond Barbarians and Noble Savages (1975)
The Miscast Barbarian: a Biography of Robert E. Howard (1975)
Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers (1976)
Dark Valley Destiny: the Life of Robert E. Howard (1983 - with Catherine Crook de Camp and Jane Whittington Griffin)
Time and Chance: an Autobiography (1996)
Science
Inventions and Their Management (1937 - with Alf K. Berle)
Antarctic Conquest (1949 - with Finn Ronne, as by Ronne alone)
Engines (1959)
Man and Power (1961)
Energy and Power (1962)
Elephant (1964)
The Story of Science in America (1967 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
The Day of the Dinosaur (1968 - with Catherine Crook de Camp)
The Ragged Edge of Science (1980)
The Fringe of the Unknown (1983)
The Ape-Man Within (1995)
Other books
An Elephant for Aristotle (1958)
The Bronze God of Rhodes (1960)
The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate (1961)
Swords and Sorcery (1963)
The Arrows of Hercules (1965)
The Conan Reader (1968)
The Golden Wind (1969)
Rubber Dinosaurs and Wooden Elephants (1996)
Source and additional information: L. Sprague de Camp