Literary Birthday – 27 November – L. Sprague de Camp
L. Sprague de Camp was born on 27 November 1907 and died on 6 November 2000.
L. Sprague de Camp Quotes
- It does not pay a prophet to be too specific.
- There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just learned that his brain child is a deformed idiot.
- In writing a series of stories about the same characters, plan the whole series in advance in some detail, to avoid contradictions and inconsistencies.
- The story of civilisation is, in a sense, the story of engineering – that long and arduous struggle to make the forces of nature work for man’s good.
- Therefore, no matter how the world makes out in the next few centuries, a large class of readers at least will not be too surprised at anything. They will have been through it all before in fictional form, and will not be too paralysed with astonishment to try to cope with contingencies as they arise.
L. Sprague de Camp was an American author of speculative fiction, which blended science fiction and fantasy with historical elements and humour. He wrote more than 100 books, including science fiction and fantasy novels, and works of non-fiction, such as biographies of other fantasy authors. His works include The Compleat Enchanter, H.P. Lovecraft: A Biography, and the time travel novel, Lest Darkness Fall
. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.
Source for image: Cimon Avaro, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L._Sprague_de_Camp.png
by Amanda Patterson
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