Book Review: Years in the Making: The...

Years in the Making: The Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp, L. Sprague de Camp, 2005, The NESFA Press, 377 pp.

A collection of de Camp's tiem-travel science fiction including "Lest Darkness Fall," a short novel that has never been out of publication since it first hit the stands in 1939.

In that classic, graduate archeology student Martin Padway is struck by lightning in Fascist Rome and when he gets his vision back, he's standing in the same place, but in Fourth Century AD, during the fall of the now-Goth-dominated Roman Empire.

So where would you start? You're in a strange place and time with the clothes on your back? No food, no local currency, no friends. If you're Padway, you can speak what passes in this declining civilization for Latin but that's about it.

He succeeds in assuring his immediate future by selling off his pocket coins to a goldsmith and money changer, then proceeds to float a loan so he can create a new product by distilling wine into brandy. Not bad, right? In the process, he teaches his banker how to use Arabic numerals to make bookkeeping more efficient.

Martin operates on the theory that changing time will not affect him personally because any changes he makes will create a new branch of the time tree. Reinforced with this theory, he not only prospers, but begins his ambitious attempt to prevent the descent of the Dark Ages.

Martin is an old-fashioned Great American Hero, long before American self-loathing led to the rise of the frequently loathsome anti-hero. Not that he's a superman.

Martin is a very human hero, not a great looking guy, unsuccessful with some of his projects, and tongue-tied around women and finding himself ensnared in a romantic entanglement or two that he wants out of. But he is a hero with a mission and you root for him all the way.

It's a great story that leads Padway into some very unusual directions as he tries to do what science fiction heroes are meant to do, solve the problem.

The book also contains "Gun for a Dinosaur" where a guide tries to explain to a greenhorn why he can't go dinosaur hunting. Expect some other excellent reading including "The Wheels of If," "Aristotle and the Gun," "Balsamo's Mirror," and more.

I must admit, I bought it for one story, though I found the rest entertaining. The fact is, every few years I'm moved to reread "Lest Darkness Fall." Love to see that sucker filmed.