L. Sprague de Camp was a master in the science fiction and fantasy fields, known both for his adventure-packed, swashbuckling action stories and his humor-laced tales. His unique style inspired any number of today’s greatest writers, and now they’ve come together to honor de Camp with this anthology. In it, fifteen authors pay tribute to the master with stories of humorous adventure and good old-fashioned character-driven fun.
David Drake’s “A Land of Romance” follows the adventures of one minor mid-level marketing executive as he’s accidentally tapped for something far greater, and stranger. When his boss turns out to be something of a magician in need of a volunteer to travel to another dimension, who else but not-so-mild-mannered Howard Jones is ready to step up to the plate? Did we mention that there’s a girl to be won, as well? This story fits the de Camp atmosphere perfectly, serving as a great lead into the rest of the volume.
Michael T. Flynn gives us “The Ensorcelled ATM,” in which a disgruntled man attempts to take his revenge on a corporate headhunter, and ends up sucked into another world, where they have need of someone with his skills. Or rather, the skills of the man he was pretending to be. But there might be a solution which satisfies everyone, after all.
Richard Foss’ “Ripples” is an alternate history about some of history’s greatest philosophers, where one took a vastly different path in life, and the other had to try and stop him. It’s not what you’d expect. Chris Bunch turns in “Gun, Not For Dinosaur,” which is something of a sequel to a classic, well-known story. When one of the richest men in the world embarks upon a time-traveling safari back into the dawn of history, he has a truly insidious plan in mind, one which could tear the human race apart.
Esther M. Friesner’s “One For The Record” is a gently-told, tongue-in-cheek tale about a gentleman’s club and the strange events which befall it one day. It seems there’s something of a rash of people returning from the dead, in the Greek manner of things, and an old myth is about to get a new resolution. The way it all gets solved is acceptable, is somewhat gauche, and well-executed. Harry Turtledove, however, is bound to make a few people twitch with his tale of dentistry gone wrong in “The Haunted Bicuspid.” However barbaric we might find today’s practices to be, they’re nothing compared to what one man goes through in this story.
“Return to Xanadu,” by Lawrence Watt-Evans, focuses upon a simple harem girl whose encounter with the notorious Harold Shea upsets her normal life, even as it paves the way for her true destiny as one of literature’s greatest storytellers. Meanwhile, S.M. Stirling’s “The Apotheosis of Martin Padway” acts as a coda to the long and strange history of Martinus of Padua, a time-tossed man who once upon a time changed the world with his ideas from the future.
“The Deadly Mission of P. Snodgrass,” by Frederick Pohl, may be a reprint, but it’s still one of the greatest time-travel stories ever written, in its own exaggerated way. A man’s attempt to change the past may seem to alter things for the best, but ultimately, it turns out to be a drastic mistake. Laura Frankos’ “The Garden Gnome Freedom Front” is a hilarious look at those ubiquitous inhabitants of our lawns and gardens: the lawn gnome. Three young women have taken it upon themselves to liberate the poor creatures, but when magic intervenes and brings the gnomes to life, it signals a change in the way the game is played.
With other stories by Poul Anderson, Judith Tarr, Susan Schwartz, and Darrell Schweitzer to finish off the collection, this is quite an entertaining, satisfying anthology, combining the classic de Camp feel with modern sensibilities. Some of the stories served as wonderful follow-ups to his own mythos, while others merely invoked his style in a warmly familiar manner. I was very happy with the overall results.