The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt
Encyclopedia
The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt is an omnibus collection of five classic fantasy
stories by science fiction
and fantasy
authors L. Sprague de Camp
and Fletcher Pratt
, gathering material previously published in three volumes as The Incomplete Enchanter
(1941), The Castle of Iron
(1950), and Wall of Serpents
(1960), along with additional stories from The Enchanter Reborn
(1992) and The Exotic Enchanter
(1995). It represents an expansion of the earlier omnibuses The Compleat Enchanter
, which contained only the material in the first two volumes, and The Complete Compleat Enchanter
, which contained only the material in the first three volumes. The expanded version also differs from the previous omnibuses in its selection of supplementary material. The Mathematics of Magic is the first edition of the authors' Harold Shea series to include every one of their contributions to it in one volume. Contributions to the series of other authors from the collections of the 1990s are omitted. It was edited by Mark L. Olson and first published in hardover by NESFA Press
in February, 2007. The stories in the collection were originally published in magazine form in the May 1940, August 1940 and April 1941 issues of Unknown
, the June 1953 issue of Beyond Fantasy, the October 1954 issue of Fantasy Magazine
, the World Fantasy Convention program book for 1990, and the collection The Exotic Enchanter
in 1995. De Camp's essay "Fletcher and I" was originally published in The Compleat Enchanter in 1975, and Jerry Pournelle
's essay "Arming the Incomplete Enchanter" was originally published in George H. Scithers
', fanzine
Amra
.
The Harold Shea stories are parallel world
tales in which universes where magic works coexist with our own, and in which those based on the mythologies, legends, and literary fantasies of our world and can be reached by aligning one's mind to them by a system of symbolic logic. Psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues Reed Chalmers, Walter Bayard, and Vaclav Polacek (Votsy), travel to several such worlds, joined in the course of their adventures by Belphebe and Florimel of Faerie, who become the wives of Shea and Chalmers, and Pete Brodsky, a policeman who is accidentally swept up into the chaos. The seven stories collected in The Complete Compleat Enchanter explore the worlds of Norse mythology
in "The Roaring Trumpet," Edmund Spenser
's The Faerie Queene
in "The Mathematics of Magic," Ludovico Ariosto
's Orlando Furioso
(with a brief stop in Samuel Taylor Coleridge
's Kubla Khan
) in "The Castle of Iron," the Kalevala
in "The Wall of Serpents," Irish mythology
in "The Green Magician," L. Frank Baum
's land of Oz
in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King," and Edgar Rice Burroughs
's Barsoom
in "Sir Harold of Zodanga."
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
stories by science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
authors L. Sprague de Camp
L. Sprague de Camp
Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...
and Fletcher Pratt
Fletcher Pratt
Murray Fletcher Pratt was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and history, particularly noted for his works on naval history and on the American Civil War.- Life and work :...
, gathering material previously published in three volumes as The Incomplete Enchanter
The Incomplete Enchanter
The Incomplete Enchanter is a collection of two classic fantasy short stories by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, the first volume in their Harold Shea series. The pieces were originally published in the magazine Unknown in the issues for May and August, 1940...
(1941), The Castle of Iron
The Castle of Iron
The Castle of Iron is the title of a fantasy novella by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, and to the novel into which it was later expanded by the same authors. It was the third story in their Harold Shea series...
(1950), and Wall of Serpents
Wall of Serpents
Wall of Serpents is a collection of two classic fantasy short stories by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, the third volume in their Harold Shea series. The pieces were originally published in the magazines Fantasy Fiction and Beyond Fantasy Fiction in the...
(1960), along with additional stories from The Enchanter Reborn
The Enchanter Reborn
The Enchanter Reborn is an anthology of five fantasy short stories edited by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff, the first volume in their continuation of the classic Harold Shea series by de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. It was first published in paperback...
(1992) and The Exotic Enchanter
The Exotic Enchanter
The Exotic Enchanter is an anthology of four fantasy short stories edited by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff. "The Exotic Enchanter" is the second volume in the continuation of the classic Harold Shea series by de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. It was first...
(1995). It represents an expansion of the earlier omnibuses The Compleat Enchanter
The Compleat Enchanter
The Compleat Enchanter: The Magical Misadventures of Harold Shea is an omnibus collection of three classic fantasy stories by science fiction and fantasy authors L...
, which contained only the material in the first two volumes, and The Complete Compleat Enchanter
The Complete Compleat Enchanter
The Complete Compleat Enchanter is an omnibus collection of five classic fantasy stories by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, gathering material previously published in three volumes as The Incomplete Enchanter , The Castle of Iron , and Wall of Serpents ,...
, which contained only the material in the first three volumes. The expanded version also differs from the previous omnibuses in its selection of supplementary material. The Mathematics of Magic is the first edition of the authors' Harold Shea series to include every one of their contributions to it in one volume. Contributions to the series of other authors from the collections of the 1990s are omitted. It was edited by Mark L. Olson and first published in hardover by NESFA Press
NESFA Press
NESFA Press is the publishing arm of the New England Science Fiction Association, Inc. The NESFA Press primarily produces three types of books:...
in February, 2007. The stories in the collection were originally published in magazine form in the May 1940, August 1940 and April 1941 issues of Unknown
Unknown (magazine)
Unknown was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. Unknown was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, Astounding Science Fiction, which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and...
, the June 1953 issue of Beyond Fantasy, the October 1954 issue of Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy Magazine
Fantasy Magazine is a U.S.-based online fantasy and science fiction magazine. It was launched as a print edition at the 2005 World Fantasy Convention in Madison, Wisconsin. It continued in this format for six more issues, but in mid-October 2007, it moved online, with daily content, and spun off...
, the World Fantasy Convention program book for 1990, and the collection The Exotic Enchanter
The Exotic Enchanter
The Exotic Enchanter is an anthology of four fantasy short stories edited by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Christopher Stasheff. "The Exotic Enchanter" is the second volume in the continuation of the classic Harold Shea series by de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. It was first...
in 1995. De Camp's essay "Fletcher and I" was originally published in The Compleat Enchanter in 1975, and Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Pournelle
Jerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
's essay "Arming the Incomplete Enchanter" was originally published in George H. Scithers
George H. Scithers
George H. Scithers was a science fiction fan, author, and Hugo Award winning editor.A long-time member of the World Science Fiction Society, he published a fanzine starting in the '50s, wrote short stories, and moved on to edit several prominent science fiction magazines, as well as a number of...
', fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
Amra
Amra
Amra are the name of certain ancient Irish elegies or panegyrics on native saints. The best known is the Amra of Coluimb Cille...
.
The Harold Shea stories are parallel world
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
tales in which universes where magic works coexist with our own, and in which those based on the mythologies, legends, and literary fantasies of our world and can be reached by aligning one's mind to them by a system of symbolic logic. Psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues Reed Chalmers, Walter Bayard, and Vaclav Polacek (Votsy), travel to several such worlds, joined in the course of their adventures by Belphebe and Florimel of Faerie, who become the wives of Shea and Chalmers, and Pete Brodsky, a policeman who is accidentally swept up into the chaos. The seven stories collected in The Complete Compleat Enchanter explore the worlds of Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
in "The Roaring Trumpet," Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognised as one of the premier craftsmen of Modern English verse in its infancy, and one of the greatest poets in the English...
's The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene
The Faerie Queene is an incomplete English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. The first half was published in 1590, and a second installment was published in 1596. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it was the first work written in Spenserian stanza and is one of the longest poems in the English...
in "The Mathematics of Magic," Ludovico Ariosto
Ludovico Ariosto
Ludovico Ariosto was an Italian poet. He is best known as the author of the romance epic Orlando Furioso . The poem, a continuation of Matteo Maria Boiardo's Orlando Innamorato, describes the adventures of Charlemagne, Orlando, and the Franks as they battle against the Saracens with diversions...
's Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso
Orlando Furioso is an Italian epic poem by Ludovico Ariosto which has exerted a wide influence on later culture. The earliest version appeared in 1516, although the poem was not published in its complete form until 1532...
(with a brief stop in Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
's Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan is a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, completed in 1797 and published in Christabel, Kubla Khan, and the Pains of Sleep in 1816...
) in "The Castle of Iron," the Kalevala
Kalevala
The Kalevala is a 19th century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology.It is regarded as the national epic of Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature...
in "The Wall of Serpents," Irish mythology
Irish mythology
The mythology of pre-Christian Ireland did not entirely survive the conversion to Christianity, but much of it was preserved, shorn of its religious meanings, in medieval Irish literature, which represents the most extensive and best preserved of all the branch and the Historical Cycle. There are...
in "The Green Magician," L. Frank Baum
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
's land of Oz
Land of Oz
Oz is a fantasy region containing four lands under the rule of one monarch.It was first introduced in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, one of many fantasy countries that he created for his books. It achieved a popularity that none of his other works attained, and after four years, he...
in "Sir Harold and the Gnome King," and Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American author, best known for his creation of the jungle hero Tarzan and the heroic Mars adventurer John Carter, although he produced works in many genres.-Biography:...
's Barsoom
Barsoom
Barsoom is a fictional representation of the planet Mars created by American pulp fiction author Edgar Rice Burroughs, who wrote close to 100 action adventure stories in various genres in the first half of the 20th century, and is now best known as the creator of the character Tarzan...
in "Sir Harold of Zodanga."
Contents
- "Introduction" (by Christopher StasheffChristopher StasheffChristopher Stasheff is an American science fiction author and fantasy author whose novels include The Warlock in Spite of Himself and Her Majesty's Wizard . He has a PhD. in Theatre and also teaches radio and television at Eastern New Mexico University in New Mexico...
) - "The Roaring TrumpetThe Roaring TrumpetThe Roaring Trumpet is a fantasy novella written by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt as the initial story in their Harold Shea series. It was first published in the May 1940 issue of the fantasy pulp magazine Unknown...
" (by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt) - "The Mathematics of MagicThe Mathematics of MagicThe Mathematics of Magic is a fantasy novella written by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt as the second story in their Harold Shea series. It was first published in the August 1940 issue of the fantasy pulp magazine Unknown...
" (by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt) - "The Castle of IronThe Castle of IronThe Castle of Iron is the title of a fantasy novella by science fiction and fantasy authors L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, and to the novel into which it was later expanded by the same authors. It was the third story in their Harold Shea series...
" (by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt) - "The Wall of Serpents" (by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt)
- "The Green Magician" (by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt)
- "Fletcher and I" (by L. Sprague de Camp)
- "Sir Harold and the Gnome KingSir Harold and the Gnome KingSir Harold and the Gnome King is a fantasy novella written by science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp as part of the Harold Shea series he originated in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt and later continued with Christopher Stasheff. It was first published in the 1990 World Fantasy...
" (by L. Sprague de Camp) - "Sir Harold of ZodangaSir Harold of ZodangaSir Harold of Zodanga is a fantasy novella written by science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp as part of the Harold Shea series he originated in collaboration with Fletcher Pratt and later continued with Christopher Stasheff. It was first published in paperback by Baen Books in de...
" (by L. Sprague de Camp) - "Arming the Incomplete Enchanter" (by Jerry PournelleJerry PournelleJerry Eugene Pournelle is an American science fiction writer, essayist and journalist who contributed for many years to the computer magazine Byte and has since 1998 been maintaining his own website/blog....
) - "An Enchanter Bibliography"