The Glory That Was

Last updated
The Glory That Was
Glory That Was.jpg
First edition
Author L. Sprague de Camp
Cover artist Ed Emshwiller
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Science fiction
Publisher Avalon Books
Publication date
1960
Media typePrint (hardback)
Pagesvii, 223

The Glory That Was is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the science fiction magazine Startling Stories for April, 1952, and subsequently published in book form in hardcover by Avalon Books in 1960 and in paperback by Paperback Library in March 1971. [1] It has since been reprinted in paperback by Ace Books in July 1979 [1] [2] and Baen Books in April 1992, and in trade paperback by Phoenix Pick in September 2014. [2] An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form; [2] [3] [4] a second e-book edition was issued by Phoenix Pick in September 2014. [2] The book has also been translated into Italian, German [1] [2] and Greek.

Contents

The book is a tour de force for de Camp, bringing together features of several of the types of fiction he specialized in, including his time travel stories, historical novels, and trademark "domestic science fiction", in which ordinary people encounter the extraordinary—though as it turns out no time travel is involved, it is not a historical novel, and the "ordinary" people live in the twenty-seventh century.

Two of de Camp's friends and colleagues, science fiction writers Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, with whom he had worked on military research during World War II, were involved in the book in different ways. It features a laudatory introduction by Heinlein and is dedicated to Asimov, whom de Camp stated "helped to push this one over the hump." Asimov recorded some vivid impressions of the author's research for the book in his own introduction to de Camp's short story collection The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens (1953). [1]

Plot summary

Twenty-seventh century Earth is united by a worldwide democratic government presided over by a constitutional monarch, though the former is veering toward totalitarianism and the latter is a megalomaniac. To neutralize the World Emperor the power-hungry prime minister has ceded to him control of Greece for use in a mysterious secret project. Now Greece is surrounded by a force field cutting it off from the rest of the world, and people of Greek descent everywhere have vanished, presumably spirited away to the isolated region by the Emperor's agents.

One such kidnapped citizen is Thalia, wife of classical scholar Wiyem Flin. Anxious to get her back, he recruits his friend, magazine editor Knut Bulnes, into a desperate attempt to penetrate the force barrier. Bulnes, hoping to obtain an exclusive story on the Emperor's mysterious project, agrees. The two succeed, sailing a boat through the barrier when it is temporarily disrupted by a storm.

Inside the force field, Flin and Bulnes are astounded to find themselves not in 27th century Greece, but to all appearances the Classical Greece of Pericles and the Peloponnesian War. Pretending to be foreign philosophers, they establish themselves in Athens as they attempt to unravel the mystery, and begin to discover that all is not as it seems; the wife of the playwright Euripides, for instance, appears to be Thalia, though she does not recognize Flin and has no memory of her former life.

After meeting the astronomer Meton, Flin and Bulnes discover that the north celestial pole is where it is expected to be in the twenty-seventh century, proving that they cannot really be in ancient Greece. Bulnes discovers a hidden subterranean building containing modern machinery and people speaking twenty-seventh century language. The pair eventually deduce that the entire country is an elaborate charade, with most of the inhabitants being controlled by a "mind conditioning" device that erases their memories and deceives them into believing they are living in ancient Greece. They decide to reveal this fact to Pericles by masquerading as an oracle of the god Apollo. Pericles appears for their meeting but when they reveal their news, he attempts to shoot them with a modern gun. Only then do they realize that Pericles is actually the World Emperor himself.

Escaping, they discover an elaborate system of machinery and antennas hidden in the colossal statue of Athene Promachos. They enlist the aid of Kleon, a political opponent of Pericles. They are surprised to discover that he is actually the Emperor's brother, although under conditioning like most of the people and unaware of his true identity. With the help of Kleon and his supporters, they start a fire at the Athene Promachos statue, destroying the conditioning machinery and restoring the memories of the people. Although the Emperor kills his brother and is himself killed in the ensuing melee, Flin is finally reunited with his wife Thalia.

Relationship to previous works

There are hints of the concept of using brainwashed people to reenact the past in some of de Camp's other works. In his science fiction novel Lest Darkness Fall (1939), the main character considers the possibility that instead of being thrown back in time he has found himself in a Rome that Benito Mussolini has forced to imitate the 6th century, but dismisses the idea as impractical. In the fantasy novel The Carnelian Cube (1948) by de Camp and his collaborator Fletcher Pratt an actual reenactment of the Biblical siege of Samaria by the Assyrians is performed, directed by astrology-guided archaeologists using drafted and hypnotized participants. And in the story "Cornzan the Mighty" (1955) actors are conditioned to believe the scenario they are performing is real.

Reception

Galaxy Science Fiction 's Floyd C. Gale rated The Glory That Was three stars out of five, stating that "there isn't a belly laugh in the book, there are plenty of chuckles and unostentatious erudition". [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. Sprague de Camp</span> American science fiction and fantasy writer (1907–2000)

Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and works of non-fiction, including biographies of other fantasy authors. He was a major figure in science fiction in the 1930s and 1940s.

<i>Assignment in Eternity</i> 1953 collection of novellas by Robert Heinlein

Assignment in Eternity, is a collection of four science fiction and science fantasy novellas by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, first published in hardcover by Fantasy Press in 1953. The stories, some of which were revised somewhat from their original magazine publication, were:

<i>Pebble in the Sky</i> 1950 novel by American writer Isaac Asimov

Pebble in the Sky is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published in 1950. This work is his first novel — parts of the Foundation series had appeared from 1942 onwards in magazines, but Foundation was not published in book form until 1951. The original Foundation books are also a string of linked episodes, whereas this is a complete story involving a single group of characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnome Press</span> Defunct American small-press publishing company

Gnome Press was an American small-press publishing company primarily known for publishing many science fiction classics. Gnome was one of the most eminent of the fan publishers of SF, producing 86 titles in its lifespan — many considered classic works of SF and Fantasy today. Gnome was important in the transitional period between Genre SF as a magazine phenomenon and its arrival in mass-market book publishing, but proved too underfunded to make the leap from fan-based publishing to the professional level. The company existed for just over a decade, ultimately failing due to inability to compete with major publishers who also started to publish science fiction. In its heyday, Gnome published many of the major SF authors, and in some cases, as with Robert E. Howard's Conan series and Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, was responsible for the manner in which their stories were collected into book form.

<i>The Queen of Zamba</i> 1949 novel by Lyon Sprague de Camp

The Queen of Zamba is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the first book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. It was written between November 1948 and January 1949 and first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction as a two-part serial in the issues for August and September 1949. It was first published in book form as a paperback by Ace Books in 1954 as an "Ace Double" issued back-to-back with Clifford D. Simak's novel Ring Around the Sun. This version was editorially retitled Cosmic Manhunt and introduced a number of textual changes disapproved by the author. The novel was first issued by itself in another paperback edition under the title A Planet Called Krishna, published in England by Compact Books in 1966. A new paperback edition restoring the author's preferred title and text and including the Krishna short story "Perpetual Motion" was published by Dale Books in 1977. This edition was reprinted by Ace Books in 1982 as part of the standard edition of the Krishna novels. The novel has been translated into German, French, Italian, Czech, and Polish. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.

<i>The Best of L. Sprague de Camp</i>

The Best of L. Sprague de Camp is a collection of writings by American science fiction and fantasy author L. Sprague de Camp, first published in hardback by Nelson Doubleday in February 1978 and in paperback by Ballantine Books in May of the same year as a volume in its Classic Library of Science Fiction. The book was reprinted by Ballantine in May 1986. It was reissued in trade paperback and ebook editions by Phoenix Pick in December 2014. It has also been translated into German.

<i>The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens</i>

The Continent Makers and Other Tales of the Viagens is a 1953 collection of science fiction stories by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the fifth book in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers, and in paperback by Signet Books in 1971 with a cover by illustrator Bob Pepper. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. It has also been translated into Portuguese, Dutch, and Italian. The pieces were originally published between 1949 and 1951 in the magazines Astounding Science-Fiction, Startling Stories, Future Combined with Science Fiction, and Thrilling Wonder Stories.

<i>Genus Homo</i> (novel) 1941 novel by L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller

Genus Homo is a science fiction novel by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and P. Schuyler Miller. It was first published in the science fiction magazine Super Science Stories for March, 1941, and subsequently published in book form in hardcover by Fantasy Press in 1950 and in paperback by Berkley Books in 1961. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. It has also been translated into French, Italian and German.

<i>The Incorporated Knight</i>

The Incorporated Knight is a fix-up fantasy novel by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp, the first book in their sequence of two Neo-Napolitanian novels. Chapters 1-5 first appeared as L. Sprague de Camp's short stories "Two Yards of Dragon", "The Coronet", "Spider Love" and "Eudoric's Unicorn" in Flashing Swords!, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and The Year's Best Fantasy Stories in 1976-1977. The complete novel was first published in hardcover by Phantasia Press in August 1987, and in paperback by Baen Books in September 1988, with a trade paperback edition, also from Baen, following in 1991. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.

<i>None but Lucifer</i>

None but Lucifer is a fantasy novel by American writers Horace L. Gold and L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the fantasy magazine Unknown in September 1939, and later serialized in the revival of Galaxy Science Fiction, March-July 1994. Despite its good reception by the readership and the prominence of its authors, the book remained unpublished in book form for over sixty years, until finally issued as a trade paperback by Gateways Retro Science Fiction in 2002. It is also available as an electronic publication.

<i>Tales Beyond Time</i>

Tales Beyond Time: From Fantasy to Science Fiction is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction short stories, edited by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp. It was first published in hardcover by Lothrop Lee & Shepard in 1973, and in paperback by William Morrow; a large print edition followed from G. K. Hall & Co. in 1974. It was the second such anthology assembled by the de Camps, following their earlier 3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction (1972).

<i>3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction</i>

3000 Years of Fantasy and Science Fiction is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction short stories, edited by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Catherine Crook de Camp. It was first published in both hardcover and paperback by Lothrop Lee & Shepard in 1972. It was the first such anthology assembled by the de Camps, preceding their later Tales Beyond Time (1973).

<i>Rogue Queen</i> 1951 science fiction novel by L. Sprague de Camp

Rogue Queen is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the third book in his Viagens Interplanetarias series. It was first published in hardcover by Doubleday in 1951, and in paperback by Dell Books in 1952. A later hardcover edition was issued by The Easton Press in its The Masterpieces of Science Fiction series in 1996; later paperback editions were issued by Ace Books (1965) and Signet Books. A trade paperback edition was issued by Bluejay Books in June 1985. The first British edition was published in paperback by Pinnacle Books in 1954; a British hardcover reprint followed from Remploy in 1974. The novel has been translated into Portuguese, Italian, French and German. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.

<i>The Tritonian Ring</i> Heroic fantasy novel by Lyon Sprague de Camp

The Tritonian Ring is a heroic fantasy novel written by L. Sprague de Camp as part of his Pusadian series. It was first published in the magazine Two Complete Science Adventure Books for Winter, 1951, and first appeared in book form in de Camp's collection The Tritonian Ring and Other Pusadian Tales. Its first publication as a stand-alone novel was as a paperback by Paperback Library in 1968; the first hardcover edition was from Owlswick Press in 1977. An E-book edition was published as The Tritonian Ring and Other Pasudian [sic] Tales by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form.

The 20th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon), also known unofficially as Chicon III, was held on 31 August–3 September 1962 at the Pick-Congress Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

<i>The Tower of Zanid</i> 1958 novel by Lyon Sprague de Camp

The Tower of Zanid is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Sprague de Camp, the sixth book of his Viagens Interplanetarias series and the fourth of its subseries of stories set on the fictional planet Krishna. Chronologically it is the seventh Krishna novel. It was first published in the magazine Science Fiction Stories for May 1958. It was first published in book form in hardcover by Avalon Books, also in 1958, and in paperback by Airmont Books in 1963. It has been reissued a number of times since by various publishers. For the later standard edition of Krishna novels it was published together with The Virgin of Zesh in the paperback collection The Virgin of Zesh & The Tower of Zanid by Ace Books in 1983. An E-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. The novel has also been translated into Italian and German.

<i>Sinister Barrier</i> 1939 novel by Eric Frank Russell

Sinister Barrier is an English language science fiction novel by British writer Eric Frank Russell. The novel originally appeared in the magazine Unknown in 1939, the first novel to appear in its pages. It was first published in book form in 1943 by The World's Work, Ltd. Russell revised and expanded the book for its first US publication by Fantasy Press in 1948. Most subsequent editions were based on the Fantasy Press version.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Stolen Dormouse</span> Short story by L. Sprague de Camp

"The Stolen Dormouse" is a science fiction novella by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published as a serial in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for April and May, 1941 and first appeared in book form in de Camp's collection Divide and Rule. The story has also appeared in the anthologies Astounding Stories: The 60th Anniversary Collection, and The Best of Astounding: Classic Short Novels from the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

<i>The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown</i>

The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown is an alternate historical adventure novel written by Paul Malmont, the sequel to The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril (2007). It features real-life pulp magazine authors of the past as the heroes of adventures reminiscent of their favored genres. The book was first published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster and audiobook by Brilliance Audio in July 2011. The title is drawn from those of the magazines, Astounding Science-Fiction, Amazing Stories, and Unknown, for which his main protagonists wrote.

<i>Grand Masters Choice</i>

Grand Masters' Choice is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Andre Norton and Ingrid Zierhut. It was first published as the convention book for Noreascon Three in a limited edition hardcover by NESFA Press in August 1989. The first paperback edition was published by Tor Books in October 1991. The paperback edition credited Norton alone as editor.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Laughlin, Charlotte; Daniel J. H. Levack (1983). De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco: Underwood/Miller. p. 58.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 The Glory That Was title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  3. Orion Publishing Group's L. Sprague de Camp webpage
  4. Amazon.com entry for e-book edition
  5. Gale, Floyd C. (August 1960). "Galaxy's 5 Star Shelf". Galaxy Science Fiction. pp. 117–121.