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Lest Darkness Fall Discussion

"While all your criticisms of 'Lest Darkness Fall' are well taken, somehow I find that they fail to do justice to this book, a masterpiece of historical fiction. L Sprague DeCamp's genius lies partly in his ability to portray characters in a very human way and yet very lightly -- a humorous yet compassionate understanding of human nature. He manages to bring us into 6th century Rome, understand the politics and life in general, and yet have us get a tremendously detailed feel of the people there as human beings. This is an extremely difficult task, as you can appreciate if you try to read more ponderous historical fiction written by many other writers... DeCamp has a profound understanding of human nature, and an encyclopedic grasp of ancient history and technology, but he uses his knowledge effortlessly while weaving it intoan engrossing adventure tale. More respect for DeCamp, please!" - Ronald Berg

Well, I guess I'll need to give DeCamp another chance and read at least one more of his books. Which one would you recommend? Steve

Thanks for your reply! As you can tell, I am a big fan of L. Sprague DeCamp. He's written so many books that it is difficult to know where to start, but I find his earlier novels to be the best. You could check out his collaboration with Fletcher Pratt, The Incomplete Enchanter, where symbolic logic transports scientists into other worlds. DeCamp and Pratt also wrote about an encounter between modern logic and ancient mythological traditions in Land of Unreason. Finally, if you are into historical fiction, you might enjoy the tall tales by DeCamp based in ancient Persia --An Elephant for Aristotle and The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate.

There are numerous writers now who use DeCamp's themes but do so unsuccessfully, which just serves to show how effortlessly DeCamp pulls off his combination of historical fiction, character studies, adventure, and light hearted philosphy. It's not heavy stuff, but it's very dry witted and consistently entertaining and thought provoking. There's one current writer who openly borrows from DeCamp and does so successfully -- David Brin in The Practice Effect. In Hollywood terms it's a pretty clear remake of The Incomplete Enchanter." - Ronald Berg 6/98

Thanks for the suggestions - I'll get to them one of these days! Steve

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