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Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories
Rarely do books have such a great influence on a genre as "Lest Darkness Fall" has had on science fiction. Frequently quoted as one of the ‘favorite’ books of many of the masters of the field, this book by L. Sprague de Camp helped establish time-travel as a solid sub-genre of science fiction.
An indication of the influence and longevity of the book is by the number of best-selling writers who have written stories in direct response to, or influenced by, "Lest Darkness Fall." This new volume also includes three such stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S. M. Stirling written over a period of forty-three years—a testament to the timelessness of the book.
Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court", the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome.
Once in ancient Rome, Padway (now Martinus Paduei Quastor) embarks on an ambitious project of single-handedly changing history.
L. Sprague de Camp was a student of history (and the author of a number of popular works on the subject). In Lest Darkness Fall he combines his extensive knowledge of the workings of ancient Rome with his extraordinary imagination to create one of the best books of time travel ever written.
“Endlessly fascinating. The author knows a lot about Gothic Italy and almost as much about human nature, and he has a real gift for making the people of those days come alive.”—The New York Times
“Lest Darkness Fall [is] one of the best time travel stories ever written…”—A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction
“Good fun.” —The New Yorker
“A work of real and stimulating imagination.” —Saturday Review of Literature
An indication of the influence and longevity of the book is by the number of best-selling writers who have written stories in direct response to, or influenced by, "Lest Darkness Fall." This new volume also includes three such stories by Frederik Pohl, David Drake and S. M. Stirling written over a period of forty-three years—a testament to the timelessness of the book.
Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court", the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome.
Once in ancient Rome, Padway (now Martinus Paduei Quastor) embarks on an ambitious project of single-handedly changing history.
L. Sprague de Camp was a student of history (and the author of a number of popular works on the subject). In Lest Darkness Fall he combines his extensive knowledge of the workings of ancient Rome with his extraordinary imagination to create one of the best books of time travel ever written.
“Endlessly fascinating. The author knows a lot about Gothic Italy and almost as much about human nature, and he has a real gift for making the people of those days come alive.”—The New York Times
“Lest Darkness Fall [is] one of the best time travel stories ever written…”—A Reader’s Guide to Science Fiction
“Good fun.” —The New Yorker
“A work of real and stimulating imagination.” —Saturday Review of Literature
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 27, 2011
123 people are currently reading
348 people want to read
About the author
L. Sprague de Camp
759 books312 followersLyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction, fantasy and non-fiction literature. In a career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, both 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
April 15, 2017
Rating: 3* of five
My 4-star review of the title novel is separate from the related stories.
The Panshins' essay isn't anything too terribly much in the way of revelations or extensions of the critical knowledge of de Camp's game-changing book.
Rating: 3-ish stars for The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass
Frederik Pohl wrote a few paragraphs about the awfulness of unintended consequences. It's barely a story, in fact I'd call it more of a short responsive essay about Lest Darkness Fall. On emotional response, I'd give it 1 star because it's so mean-spirited, a pin wielded with a twisted smirk to prick the balloon of fantasy the novel inflates so delightfully. I grudgingly add stars because it's true, it's accurate, and cautionary words aren't amiss in this positivist-romantic context.
Rating: 3.5* of five for The Apotheosis of Martin Padway
S.M. Stirling wrote a nice Wellsian-time-travel extension of de Camp's story. It's a pleasant romp, and says some interesting things about the world Paduei has created. I particularly love the introduction of polo as a peaceful alternative to chariot races.
The surprise ending isn't as much of a surprise as it could have been, had the story been titles differently. But it made me grin.
Rating: 4* of five for To Bring the Light
David Drake's use of the deus ex machina of a lightning bolt was completely charming, and the tale itself was as much fun to me as was Howard Waldrop's "The Mother of Us All."
It's an interesting side-light on history's great city being founded, as so many of humanity's works are, on hatred, murder, and rivalry. A goddess steps in to change something with as many consequences and reverberations as it is imaginable to have. Drake doesn't have a high opinion of Rome, it would seem....
My 4-star review of the title novel is separate from the related stories.
The Panshins' essay isn't anything too terribly much in the way of revelations or extensions of the critical knowledge of de Camp's game-changing book.
Rating: 3-ish stars for The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass
Frederik Pohl wrote a few paragraphs about the awfulness of unintended consequences. It's barely a story, in fact I'd call it more of a short responsive essay about Lest Darkness Fall. On emotional response, I'd give it 1 star because it's so mean-spirited, a pin wielded with a twisted smirk to prick the balloon of fantasy the novel inflates so delightfully. I grudgingly add stars because it's true, it's accurate, and cautionary words aren't amiss in this positivist-romantic context.
Rating: 3.5* of five for The Apotheosis of Martin Padway
S.M. Stirling wrote a nice Wellsian-time-travel extension of de Camp's story. It's a pleasant romp, and says some interesting things about the world Paduei has created. I particularly love the introduction of polo as a peaceful alternative to chariot races.
The surprise ending isn't as much of a surprise as it could have been, had the story been titles differently. But it made me grin.
Rating: 4* of five for To Bring the Light
David Drake's use of the deus ex machina of a lightning bolt was completely charming, and the tale itself was as much fun to me as was Howard Waldrop's "The Mother of Us All."
It's an interesting side-light on history's great city being founded, as so many of humanity's works are, on hatred, murder, and rivalry. A goddess steps in to change something with as many consequences and reverberations as it is imaginable to have. Drake doesn't have a high opinion of Rome, it would seem....
May 17, 2018
A classic. First published in 1941 and still a good read.
September 8, 2016
“This was a harsh, convulsive world … you’d get caught in the gears sooner or later.”
An outstanding collection of stories led by de Camp’s 1939 classic. For a hard science fiction author who rejected time machines and faster than light travel as not possible, de Camp wrote an excellent story of a twentieth-century man dropped into six-century Rome.
Comparison with Mark Twain’s 1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is inevitable. De Camp’s story is better. Twain’s focus was on social commentary of his own era; de Camp worked at getting both the history and the technology right. Twain’s wit satirizes; de Camp’s makes you think.
“You’re persecuted because heretics … are not?”
Lest Darkness Fall is all the more enjoyable because, despite being written before World War two when “Benny the Moose” still ran Italy, de Camp created a timeless story which works in the twenty-first century. Sure things work too easily, but all the breaks seem to go against the protagonist.
“Feels like I stepped into a sewer full of big rats.” “That’s what adventures are like.”
Published with de Camp’s tale is an assortment of shorts riffing or inspired by it. A worthy bundle.
“[Time travel] sounded metaphysical and he was a hardened empiricist.”
John Campbell defined science fiction for Astounding magazine as “good, logical and possible.” De Camp was a major contributor. But Campbell was wise enough to also publish Unknown to explore “alternate possibilities.” Most of today’s science fiction writers and readers hardly blink at including FTL travel, time machines, transporters and replicators with no idea how it’d work. Magic labeled as science. That a few authors pay attention to the laws of physics, chemistry and biology enrich the reading for the rest of us.
“History had … been changed. Darkness had not fallen.”
An outstanding collection of stories led by de Camp’s 1939 classic. For a hard science fiction author who rejected time machines and faster than light travel as not possible, de Camp wrote an excellent story of a twentieth-century man dropped into six-century Rome.
Comparison with Mark Twain’s 1889 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is inevitable. De Camp’s story is better. Twain’s focus was on social commentary of his own era; de Camp worked at getting both the history and the technology right. Twain’s wit satirizes; de Camp’s makes you think.
“You’re persecuted because heretics … are not?”
Lest Darkness Fall is all the more enjoyable because, despite being written before World War two when “Benny the Moose” still ran Italy, de Camp created a timeless story which works in the twenty-first century. Sure things work too easily, but all the breaks seem to go against the protagonist.
“Feels like I stepped into a sewer full of big rats.” “That’s what adventures are like.”
Published with de Camp’s tale is an assortment of shorts riffing or inspired by it. A worthy bundle.
“[Time travel] sounded metaphysical and he was a hardened empiricist.”
John Campbell defined science fiction for Astounding magazine as “good, logical and possible.” De Camp was a major contributor. But Campbell was wise enough to also publish Unknown to explore “alternate possibilities.” Most of today’s science fiction writers and readers hardly blink at including FTL travel, time machines, transporters and replicators with no idea how it’d work. Magic labeled as science. That a few authors pay attention to the laws of physics, chemistry and biology enrich the reading for the rest of us.
“History had … been changed. Darkness had not fallen.”
February 10, 2014
This is a book about time travel by an author who didn't believe it was possible. So he did what Mark Twain and Edgar Rice Burroughs had done before him, and used a fantastical accident to get Martin Padway to sixth century Rome. Fair enough.
Martin has no illusions about the likelihood of his success, but he is determined to do what he can to avert the Dark Ages. How fortunate that he is a scientifically trained archaeologist and a student of history - but we accept that premise because without it there is no story. How does he begin? Have you ever tried to do arithmetic with Roman numerals? Right, Martin introduces Arabic numerals to Italy 500 years ahead of schedule, with great success.
From there he proceeds on a madcap romp filled with as many failures as successes, but one which is consistently amusing. There's a farcical nature to his antics, but that doesn't detract from the story.
In 1939, this story was revolutionary. Today it's highly entertaining, but it feels incomplete at the end. I suppose, to carry the story any further than de Camp did would have forced him to confront the question of whether Martin could really have changed history, or perhaps created an alternate time stream, and that clearly is not what the author intended. But to a modern reader, it doesn't seem to go as far as it could have.
Martin has no illusions about the likelihood of his success, but he is determined to do what he can to avert the Dark Ages. How fortunate that he is a scientifically trained archaeologist and a student of history - but we accept that premise because without it there is no story. How does he begin? Have you ever tried to do arithmetic with Roman numerals? Right, Martin introduces Arabic numerals to Italy 500 years ahead of schedule, with great success.
From there he proceeds on a madcap romp filled with as many failures as successes, but one which is consistently amusing. There's a farcical nature to his antics, but that doesn't detract from the story.
In 1939, this story was revolutionary. Today it's highly entertaining, but it feels incomplete at the end. I suppose, to carry the story any further than de Camp did would have forced him to confront the question of whether Martin could really have changed history, or perhaps created an alternate time stream, and that clearly is not what the author intended. But to a modern reader, it doesn't seem to go as far as it could have.
Read
October 23, 2018The story which helped to cement time travel and alternate histories as part of the standard SF repertoire, in which historian Martin Padway happens to find himself back in sixth century Rome, and resolves to avert the Dark Ages. That much I knew, but there were still all sorts of surprises, like the realisation that it was published in late 1939. Padway starts in what was then modern Rome, ruled by 'Benny the Moose' (an epithet I've never seen before, but will now never forget), and there's some discussion of whether the age of the big wars is over – the implication, of course, being that he's slipped back from one tipping point to another. And for the time in which it was written, and with the tendency of most SF around then to show its workings, it's impressive in itself that this is never spelled out. So too that, against whatever macho bullshit one might expect, Padway tries his best to stay under the radar (an expression neither he nor his new friends would recognise, though he delights in impressing them with the cliches of intervening centuries) while quietly 'inventing' brandy, the printing press, the telegraph...but of course, one thing leads to another, and eventually he does find himself having to take a hand in politics, and even fight a battle or two, just to protect his position. But this is precisely the point: he's not John Carter, leaping fearlessly into battle because that's what protagonists do – he's fighting as a last resort, like sane people do. And while those interludes were doubtless a good way to keep the casual readers of Unknown interested, now it's clear that they're a sideshow to the practicalities of trying to make early modern technology in a practical world, and negotiating the endemic corruption of local politics along the way.
Another surprise: the lightness of tone. Given the title, the high stakes, the fact that it's a last ditch stand against an era already darkening, I'd assumed this would be a story defined by the sense of straining against fate, poised always on the edge of tragedy. When in fact the dominant mode is gentle comedy. Characters have tics and catchphrases straight out of a sitcom (sometimes overplayed, as with the lugubrious Vandal bodyguard forever pining for his lost estates). The Goths – with whom Padway somewhat surprisingly sides – mainly come across as posh Brits, with the more annoying ones feeling like they'd be right at home in the Bullingdon Club. And all of the national stereotypes stay just the right side of feeling like iffy racial essentialism (though the less said about the gender politics, the better). It helps that Padway himself has his running jokes, like always saying that America is "further than that", and that Congregationalism is the closest thing America has to whichever Christian variant his interlocutor follows*. There's a pleasingly sensible awareness, too, that darkness is falling not through any grand conspiracy, but through simple short-sightedness and inertia. It's a very smart story, and also an engaging one, making it easy to see why it's been almost as influential in our world's fictions as Padway was in his world's facts.
Also included in this edition are an essay by the Panshins on the environment which produced Lest Darkness Fall, a Malthusian squib by Frederik Pohl suggesting it as a bad influence on a well-meaning time traveller, and a direct sequel by SM Stirling. This seems a little clumsier than the original in many ways – its lack of concern for native Americans, its vision of how far and how fast Padway's alterations might have carried humanity, even its idea of how relations with the Eastern Empire might have developed. But I mostly forgive it for a Cabell allusion and its ending. Finally, a story by David Drake, a writer of whom I've always steered clear because he seemed to be associated with what we'd now think of as the Puppies tendency in SF – I first became aware of him when one of his books was the inaugural release for an imprint which lamented the touchy-feeliness even of eighties/nineties SF, and longed for the days when "the only good alien is a dead alien". But 'To Bring the Light', while no classic, is certainly not noxious. It sends a scholarly Roman lady back to the founding of the city which, inevitably, she has to ensure. At worst, you could say it missed the point of referencing de Camp's original, where history was improved rather than just maintained.
*It may depend on your level of interest in heresies – mine is higher than usual – but for me some of the funniest bits centred on the baffling array of creeds doing battle in the era. There's a particularly fabulous scene where theological dispute kicks off a pub brawl - "I'm a Eunomian, and I can lick any two men in the place!". There's also the bit where one outraged citizen complains about being a victim of religious persecution – "We Orthodox are forced to stand around and watch Arians and Monophysites and Nestorians and Jews going about their business unmolested". Though that might be considerably more amusing if only his ilk weren't still alive, well, and politically ascendant.
Another surprise: the lightness of tone. Given the title, the high stakes, the fact that it's a last ditch stand against an era already darkening, I'd assumed this would be a story defined by the sense of straining against fate, poised always on the edge of tragedy. When in fact the dominant mode is gentle comedy. Characters have tics and catchphrases straight out of a sitcom (sometimes overplayed, as with the lugubrious Vandal bodyguard forever pining for his lost estates). The Goths – with whom Padway somewhat surprisingly sides – mainly come across as posh Brits, with the more annoying ones feeling like they'd be right at home in the Bullingdon Club. And all of the national stereotypes stay just the right side of feeling like iffy racial essentialism (though the less said about the gender politics, the better). It helps that Padway himself has his running jokes, like always saying that America is "further than that", and that Congregationalism is the closest thing America has to whichever Christian variant his interlocutor follows*. There's a pleasingly sensible awareness, too, that darkness is falling not through any grand conspiracy, but through simple short-sightedness and inertia. It's a very smart story, and also an engaging one, making it easy to see why it's been almost as influential in our world's fictions as Padway was in his world's facts.
Also included in this edition are an essay by the Panshins on the environment which produced Lest Darkness Fall, a Malthusian squib by Frederik Pohl suggesting it as a bad influence on a well-meaning time traveller, and a direct sequel by SM Stirling. This seems a little clumsier than the original in many ways – its lack of concern for native Americans, its vision of how far and how fast Padway's alterations might have carried humanity, even its idea of how relations with the Eastern Empire might have developed. But I mostly forgive it for a Cabell allusion and its ending. Finally, a story by David Drake, a writer of whom I've always steered clear because he seemed to be associated with what we'd now think of as the Puppies tendency in SF – I first became aware of him when one of his books was the inaugural release for an imprint which lamented the touchy-feeliness even of eighties/nineties SF, and longed for the days when "the only good alien is a dead alien". But 'To Bring the Light', while no classic, is certainly not noxious. It sends a scholarly Roman lady back to the founding of the city which, inevitably, she has to ensure. At worst, you could say it missed the point of referencing de Camp's original, where history was improved rather than just maintained.
*It may depend on your level of interest in heresies – mine is higher than usual – but for me some of the funniest bits centred on the baffling array of creeds doing battle in the era. There's a particularly fabulous scene where theological dispute kicks off a pub brawl - "I'm a Eunomian, and I can lick any two men in the place!". There's also the bit where one outraged citizen complains about being a victim of religious persecution – "We Orthodox are forced to stand around and watch Arians and Monophysites and Nestorians and Jews going about their business unmolested". Though that might be considerably more amusing if only his ilk weren't still alive, well, and politically ascendant.
August 31, 2017
Despite being the 80 year old grandfather of modern alternate history, Lest Darkness Fall feels quite fresh. Admittedly, you'll find dated attitudes toward race and gender roles if you're looking for them, but don't be put off by the age of this book.
The premise is this: the protagonist, through forces unknown, is thrust back in time. Not in the history of his own world exactly, but one just like it -- a branching off the tree of time, in which one can change the future. Which is precisely what Martin does.
If you've ever wondered what you'd "invent" if you traveled back in time (I always figured I'd start with soap and the germ theory of disease), and if you like late Antiquity, you can't go wrong with this book. It's candy.
The other short stories packaged with de Camp's novel are also enjoyable. I wouldn't feel bad skipping them if I had better things to do, but I give them a thumbs up.
The premise is this: the protagonist, through forces unknown, is thrust back in time. Not in the history of his own world exactly, but one just like it -- a branching off the tree of time, in which one can change the future. Which is precisely what Martin does.
If you've ever wondered what you'd "invent" if you traveled back in time (I always figured I'd start with soap and the germ theory of disease), and if you like late Antiquity, you can't go wrong with this book. It's candy.
The other short stories packaged with de Camp's novel are also enjoyable. I wouldn't feel bad skipping them if I had better things to do, but I give them a thumbs up.
February 3, 2019
Last year when I fell in love with Constantinople after reading Ghost Empire I started looking for additional titles on the subject. This is one of those novels I picked up to help me get a better feel for the Byzantine Empire without having to get bogged down in dry historical texts. Lest Darkness Fall & Related Stories has served that purpose in a roundabout sort of way. This is "what if" historical fiction very much in the same speculative vein that Harry Turtledove currently follows. The big political question raised in this story: What if the Goths had defeated Justinian's invasion of Italy and turned his star general, Belisaurius, against the empire?
L. Sprague de Camp explores answers to this question besides quite a few others in an incredibly witty and well-paced tale.
As the blurb up top explains - "Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court", the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome."
Padway is quite a guy, but before we get into his adventures in ancient Rome, let's take a quick look at the time he spent in "modern" Rome. I really enjoyed his short sojourn through Mussolini's 1939 capital city. This is the first time I've ever heard this dictator referred to as 'Benny the Moose. I wonder how often that moniker was used back in the day.
Nowadays you can catch a few documentaries on how Il Duce made great efforts to connect the tangible glory of the ancient ruins with his own achievements. I found it amusing when Padway compared these works to those of the United States Government projects for the restoration of Colonial towns, like Williamsburg.
L. Sprague de Camp included what must have seemed like perpetual, mundane details to him in the '30s, but remind me of things I saw fade away during my childhood in the '50s and '60s.
First, Padway didn’t want his new twelve-thousand-lire Borsalino soaked because liked that hat. When I was a tyke I noticed that both my grandfathers never went out in public without wearing a fedora while my dad and uncles never wore hats at all. I asked my Dad about this, and he told me that the older guys came from a time when hats were part of the well dressed gentleman's wardrobe.
"Well, why don't you and Uncle Bob wear hats?"
"Because we had to in the army."
It seems hats were an unwelcome reminder of the time dad had spent in uniform. Men who fought did not want to wear hats with civilian clothes after the war. When the grandfathers started dying the Borsalinos began disappearing. I bet De Camp didn't see that coming.
Padway carried a lot of stuff in his pockets just like we do today, but there are a few differences:
"His pen, pencil, and lighter would be useful as long as ink, leads, and lighter fuel held out. The silver and bronze should be exchangeable."
No more silver coins these days (unless you're carrying commemoratives to shop at the mall). And probably a plastic Bic disposable lighter now instead of a chrome Ronson.
I guess my point here is just to enjoy De Camps casual look at what was modern to him.
The method L. Sprague de Camp used to transport Padway to ancient Rome made me chuckle. Padway's friend and cab driver just happens to expound on his personal theory concerning the nature of time to explain why some people disappear. He figures they just slide down the tree trunk of time. When they stop slipping, they are back in some former time. But as soon as they do anything, they change all subsequent history thus forming a new branch on the tree.
Then, lo and behold, just as soon as Padway disembarks from the cab and takes a couple of steps - lightening strikes near him and he is transported to 530 A.D. There the Roman streets are narrow, and for the most part not very crowded, and the town has a drowsy, shabby-genteel, rundown personality, like that of Philadelphia. The honk of taxi horns is absent, as there are no taxis to honk. Instead, two oxcarts creaked slowly and shrilly down the via della Minerva.
Well, the author had to get Padway to sixth century Rome somehow. I suppose a fantastical, coincidental accident is as good a way as any to get him there. Fair enough.
Padway kept a remarkably cool head in the face of such shock. Perhaps his training and experience as an archaeologist helped as well as his Chicago street smarts. He was also lucky that he could convert his language skills in Classical Latin and modern Italian to help him communicate in the local dialect. His first order of business was to find himself a money changer to convert his 1930s silver and bronze coins into a few Roman solidi. This was just "walking around" money to tide him over until he could use his twentieth-century knowledge to support himself without getting being burned as a witch.
He uses his knowledge of Arabic numerals, arithmetic and bookkeeping to leverage a loan at favorable terms to finance a still for refining wine into brandy. From there he's well on his way to success.
The story is written in a light, almost comedic tone. Each character has their unique tic or catchphrase. Throughout the story Padway's banker is constantly raising objections to every new enterprise Padway proposes. He usually does this by looking upward to heaven to address his complaints to God. Then the next thing you know he's ready to go along with whatever Padway recommends.
"Good Lord! He wants me to start some newfangled line that nobody ever heard of! I couldn’t think of such a thing, Martinus. What was it you had in mind?”
“Good God, man, what are your insides made of? That’s volcano juice!” As his coughing subsided, a saintlike expression appeared. “It does warm you up nicely inside, though, doesn’t it?” He screwed up his face and his courage, and finished the cup in one gulp. “Hey,” said Padway. “Go easy. That isn’t wine.”
Padway himself has his own running jokes, like always explaining that America is "further than that" whenever a Roman tries to guess his point of origin, and that Congregationalism is the closest thing America has to whichever Christian variant his conversational partner follows.
As he lived and learned Martin Padway discovered that the approaching Dark Ages did not provide a business friendly environment - certain individuals of the ruling class felt themselves entitled to part of his profits or bits and pieces of his inventory. Economic life there seems to have been been similar to modern California or Illinois.
Also there was the impending threat of invasion by Emperor Justinian intent on bringing Italy back into the empire's fold. Drawing upon his historical knowledge Padway knew that the war would be long and destructive. Anything, from Padway’s point of view, was preferable to a long war.
Thus Padway eventually branched out into political and military pursuits with the intent of changing the the natural course of events.
"The results may be better; they could hardly be worse...I propose to win your war for you. If I can.”
So Martinus Padui charges to to the defense of his new homeland and provides an entertaining read based on strong historical foundations. L. Sprague de Camp includes precise details about the Italian situation of that period that are important in the plot. This story alone is well worth your time.
L. Sprague de Camp explores answers to this question besides quite a few others in an incredibly witty and well-paced tale.
As the blurb up top explains - "Similar, thematically, to Mark Twain’s "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court", the book tells the tale of Martin Padway who, as he is walking around in modern Rome, is suddenly transported though time to 6th Century Rome."
Padway is quite a guy, but before we get into his adventures in ancient Rome, let's take a quick look at the time he spent in "modern" Rome. I really enjoyed his short sojourn through Mussolini's 1939 capital city. This is the first time I've ever heard this dictator referred to as 'Benny the Moose. I wonder how often that moniker was used back in the day.
Nowadays you can catch a few documentaries on how Il Duce made great efforts to connect the tangible glory of the ancient ruins with his own achievements. I found it amusing when Padway compared these works to those of the United States Government projects for the restoration of Colonial towns, like Williamsburg.
L. Sprague de Camp included what must have seemed like perpetual, mundane details to him in the '30s, but remind me of things I saw fade away during my childhood in the '50s and '60s.
First, Padway didn’t want his new twelve-thousand-lire Borsalino soaked because liked that hat. When I was a tyke I noticed that both my grandfathers never went out in public without wearing a fedora while my dad and uncles never wore hats at all. I asked my Dad about this, and he told me that the older guys came from a time when hats were part of the well dressed gentleman's wardrobe.
"Well, why don't you and Uncle Bob wear hats?"
"Because we had to in the army."
It seems hats were an unwelcome reminder of the time dad had spent in uniform. Men who fought did not want to wear hats with civilian clothes after the war. When the grandfathers started dying the Borsalinos began disappearing. I bet De Camp didn't see that coming.
Padway carried a lot of stuff in his pockets just like we do today, but there are a few differences:
"His pen, pencil, and lighter would be useful as long as ink, leads, and lighter fuel held out. The silver and bronze should be exchangeable."
No more silver coins these days (unless you're carrying commemoratives to shop at the mall). And probably a plastic Bic disposable lighter now instead of a chrome Ronson.
I guess my point here is just to enjoy De Camps casual look at what was modern to him.
The method L. Sprague de Camp used to transport Padway to ancient Rome made me chuckle. Padway's friend and cab driver just happens to expound on his personal theory concerning the nature of time to explain why some people disappear. He figures they just slide down the tree trunk of time. When they stop slipping, they are back in some former time. But as soon as they do anything, they change all subsequent history thus forming a new branch on the tree.
Then, lo and behold, just as soon as Padway disembarks from the cab and takes a couple of steps - lightening strikes near him and he is transported to 530 A.D. There the Roman streets are narrow, and for the most part not very crowded, and the town has a drowsy, shabby-genteel, rundown personality, like that of Philadelphia. The honk of taxi horns is absent, as there are no taxis to honk. Instead, two oxcarts creaked slowly and shrilly down the via della Minerva.
Well, the author had to get Padway to sixth century Rome somehow. I suppose a fantastical, coincidental accident is as good a way as any to get him there. Fair enough.
Padway kept a remarkably cool head in the face of such shock. Perhaps his training and experience as an archaeologist helped as well as his Chicago street smarts. He was also lucky that he could convert his language skills in Classical Latin and modern Italian to help him communicate in the local dialect. His first order of business was to find himself a money changer to convert his 1930s silver and bronze coins into a few Roman solidi. This was just "walking around" money to tide him over until he could use his twentieth-century knowledge to support himself without getting being burned as a witch.
He uses his knowledge of Arabic numerals, arithmetic and bookkeeping to leverage a loan at favorable terms to finance a still for refining wine into brandy. From there he's well on his way to success.
The story is written in a light, almost comedic tone. Each character has their unique tic or catchphrase. Throughout the story Padway's banker is constantly raising objections to every new enterprise Padway proposes. He usually does this by looking upward to heaven to address his complaints to God. Then the next thing you know he's ready to go along with whatever Padway recommends.
"Good Lord! He wants me to start some newfangled line that nobody ever heard of! I couldn’t think of such a thing, Martinus. What was it you had in mind?”
“Good God, man, what are your insides made of? That’s volcano juice!” As his coughing subsided, a saintlike expression appeared. “It does warm you up nicely inside, though, doesn’t it?” He screwed up his face and his courage, and finished the cup in one gulp. “Hey,” said Padway. “Go easy. That isn’t wine.”
Padway himself has his own running jokes, like always explaining that America is "further than that" whenever a Roman tries to guess his point of origin, and that Congregationalism is the closest thing America has to whichever Christian variant his conversational partner follows.
As he lived and learned Martin Padway discovered that the approaching Dark Ages did not provide a business friendly environment - certain individuals of the ruling class felt themselves entitled to part of his profits or bits and pieces of his inventory. Economic life there seems to have been been similar to modern California or Illinois.
Also there was the impending threat of invasion by Emperor Justinian intent on bringing Italy back into the empire's fold. Drawing upon his historical knowledge Padway knew that the war would be long and destructive. Anything, from Padway’s point of view, was preferable to a long war.
Thus Padway eventually branched out into political and military pursuits with the intent of changing the the natural course of events.
"The results may be better; they could hardly be worse...I propose to win your war for you. If I can.”
So Martinus Padui charges to to the defense of his new homeland and provides an entertaining read based on strong historical foundations. L. Sprague de Camp includes precise details about the Italian situation of that period that are important in the plot. This story alone is well worth your time.
March 8, 2014
I absolutely loved this story. It's incredibly witty, well-paced and credible (once you accept the incredible premiss). The characters are relatable, charismatic and fun to read. I honestly can't think of a single bad thing to say.
On a highly personal note, I couldn't stop thinking that I would be sooo dead, so many times along the book. I'd starve to death before I figured out a way to make brandy... or a press... heck! I don't even think I would have had the presence of mind to introduce indoarabic numerals!
The other stories in the book, the ones written by other authors, aren't bad... but with the possible exception of The Deadly Mission of
Phineas Snodgrass, they just don't captivate you the same way the first one does.
In any case, this is definitely a book I'd recommend to anyone who wants some easygoing, funny science fiction. Read it and love it. :)
On a highly personal note, I couldn't stop thinking that I would be sooo dead, so many times along the book. I'd starve to death before I figured out a way to make brandy... or a press... heck! I don't even think I would have had the presence of mind to introduce indoarabic numerals!
The other stories in the book, the ones written by other authors, aren't bad... but with the possible exception of The Deadly Mission of
Phineas Snodgrass, they just don't captivate you the same way the first one does.
In any case, this is definitely a book I'd recommend to anyone who wants some easygoing, funny science fiction. Read it and love it. :)
February 21, 2014
This is a classic time-travel story from 1939 and was fun as as remembrance of what SF was like in the "old days", although any SF reader has probably read so many time-travel stories this does not seem fresh or clever. In addition to the main story, though, I thought the essay by the Panshins was very interesting and informative, and I thought S. M. Stirling's story featuring de Camp's protagonist 50 years later was highly enjoyable, better than the original by a lot. The Pohl story was also enjoyable, once I got into it; the beginning was odd enough that I almost decided to skip it!
If you want to read Last Darkness Fall I highly recommend this edition so you get the "bonus" items I mentioned.
If you want to read Last Darkness Fall I highly recommend this edition so you get the "bonus" items I mentioned.
May 1, 2021
Lol. This book is horrifically bad in every possible way: the characters are one-dimensional, the plot makes no sense whatsoever, and dialogue is the worst I've ever read.
I can't, for the life of me, comprehend why it's is considered a classic or seminal piece of early sci-fi. I am quite literally purging this book from my home so that I cannot be reminded of how truly awful it was.
I'm very glad to be finished it, so that now I can start my fall LOTR reading!
I can't, for the life of me, comprehend why it's is considered a classic or seminal piece of early sci-fi. I am quite literally purging this book from my home so that I cannot be reminded of how truly awful it was.
I'm very glad to be finished it, so that now I can start my fall LOTR reading!
December 2, 2016
Absolutely fantastic. I can see why this book is revered as a classic. The protagonist is believable and you find yourself fully in his corner rooting him on the deeper he gets involved in the ancient world he's been tossed into. A great time travel book is always so much fun and this one is a delight (and very funny).
4 stars.
4 stars.
December 5, 2017
Story: 8 (powerful and intelligent if often distracted)
Characters: 6 (simplistic but distinctive)
Accuracy: 5 (society ridiculously simplistic but facts are generally accurate)
How is one supposed to judge a book that is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century? This book created the entire genre of alternate history, or at least the form of it that goes beyond the everyday wondering about what would have happened if events had transpired differently (which people have traced as far back as Livy’s argument that Rome could have defeated Alexander if he had lived, although are we really doing this?) and instead adds in time travel. It’s revolutionary. But the very fact that it is so influential means that everything here’s been done hundreds of times since, by authors starting with Lest Darkness Fall as the foundation and building a grand new edifice from there while improving on those elements that don’t work as well. So how can one judge a book for not rising above a cliched idea when it invented the very cliche? Well I’m going to try anyway.
So this book is about Martin Padway (called Martin of Padua) who gets sent back in time through a freak lightning strike. Yeah, I know. No matter how hard I try to ignore it, the book is very much a product of its time. For all its innovations and original contributions, it still has more than one foot in the door of ‘30s pulp fiction novels. The time travel through lightning’s probably the weakest part of this book. As for the lightning strike... well, all eras have their own preferential magics. Electricity still meant life and advanced technology throughout the early twentieth century and the current wars were still within living memory at the time de Camp was writing. If this had been written post-war it’d undoubtedly have been some sort of nuclear accident (as indeed was the similarly weak excuse in Pebble in the Sky ). Now in an era less trusting in the transformative power of science, we’d ignore the justification entirely and just make it magic. Even leaving aside the outdated choice of pseudoscientific impetus, the introduction is the weakest part of the novel. It starts by having a man suggest ‘wouldn’t it be cool if a very specific and absurd thing happened’ and then, lo and behold, it happens. It’s a clumsy and ham-fisted attempt to set up some slender rational for the events to come, but as its the only pre-travel dialogue we get it feels insanely convenient and more than a little cheesy. I can’t even imagine how that topic of conversation could get started.
Once we get to the past things start to improve. Arriving in the forum outside the Pantheon comes as a bit of a shock. We see Martin, who’s something of a cold fish but is in the fortunate position of being both an archaeologist and enthusiastic capitalist, start to reason out how to transform his modern knowledge into a living. The adapting of modern knowledge and know-how to a pre-modern culture is one of the joys of alternate history, and it’s one I was surprised to see already in the founding novel. The choice of innovations is generally good. A distillery for hard liquor was a sensible place to start. Everyone enjoys a good booze up now and then. What I did find implausible was the treatment of new accounting methods, using Arabic numerals and zero, as if it was some sort of immediately obvious supertool. Yes, Arabic numerals are inherently superior to Roman numerals, but I wouldn’t expect a Roman banker to recognize that intellectual concept immediately. That’s a prime example where an older way of doing things would hang on due to it being the old way of doing things. At least until a new generation picked up on its value. I mean hell, we’re actually committed to the concept of progress and we still use imperial units of measurement. Sensible does not mean it’ll happen.
Martin’s adventures during this time are somewhat pulpy. They involve getting caught up in the affairs of kings and using his knowledge of the future to ensure victory so that he’ll have time to establish his printing and other businesses. Yeah, he really is that self-focused. He also manages to escape from seasoned Roman guards using his knowledge of chemistry, but really just his native intelligence. Just like any good pulp hero. Along the way he has to avoid the girls (floozies is probably the proper ‘30s term) throwing themselves at him, including a senator’s daughter and a revenge-mad Gothic princess. This novel won’t win any points for its gender politics. Martin isn’t interested in girls (he explains explicitly), not because he’s gay or anything interesting, but because they don’t really think like sensible males. Wooow. In the end, he’s worked himself up to being the chief voice at court and the power behind the king, who, since Martin helped choose him, is actually a fairly chill guy.
The really striking thing, for me, is how utterly and unabashedly imperialistic the whole thing is. There was never any point at which the protagonist considered the ethics of rebuilding an entire culture for his personal benefit (theirs too of course, but ultimately his) or questioned his right to interfere in their personal affairs and beliefs. I broadly agree with the idea that if you found yourself trapped in such an appallingly cruel world it’s not wrong to try and improve it (especially when it does mean improving the lives of everyone in it), but the smug and unquestioned superiority with which he goes about doing so put me off a lot. Looking back, I realize that this imperialistic and, frankly, fascistic attitude about superior men having the right, nay duty, to rework society for the benefit of all is par for the course with Golden Age scifi. Just look at the attitudes in Foundation (Isaac Asimov), Ensign Flandry (Poul Anderson), and, notoriously, Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein). All glorify men of superior culture who come bringing civilization to the savages. I still love many of those old works, but reading a new one for the first time as a full-grown adult leaves me uncomfortably aware of just how ugly their politics can be.
Generally, I’d say the book comes across as hopelessly naive. I can't bring myself to believe that the notoriously conservative inhabitants of what until recently was the Roman Empire could so quickly discard their deeply held beliefs and welcome a mere merchant (a vile profession, almost as low as that of actors) into the ranks of upper society. There’s a certain dismissiveness about the viewpoints of the local inhabitants throughout the novel. They’re obviously uneducated primitives, so with a little bit of Truth thrown their way they’re bound to see the light. It’s not that de Camp doesn't sympathize with them, because he does, but he just doesn’t take their issues and beliefs very seriously. Obviously his way is the sensible way, so the people will come round in the end. The book is highly rationalist, as in it believes that people will naturally adopt ideas that are clearly in their best interest. But one of the things that the second half of the century has shown clearly it’s that reason is actually only a very small part of what motivates people to do things. Beliefs are strong and hard to kill, particularly in a time like this where the scientific method doesn’t exist, even among the educated elites, and faith is the dominant force in people’s lives. One trial for witchcraft isn’t the worst obstacle he’d face. There’d be dozens, and more to the point he’d find himself ostracized and hated for what he did. After all, such supernatural knowledge could only come from one of two places: God or the devil. And since he makes no obvious effort to associate himself with the Christian faith, that leaves only one answer...
When discussing alternate history there are two different extremes to the whole style. There’s what I call the Mark Twain approach, where modern man is essentially superman among all those primitive screwheads, ala A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, even to the point of randomly remembering the exact date and time of solar eclipses due to strike Britain in the 6th century. I think that latter point was meant to be a joke, but given that it was boldly breaking new ground I’m not exactly sure what he could be parodying unless it was just our belief in our own superiority. The other extreme is the Frederik Pohl, where modern man is essentially a helpless child whose abstract knowledge is of little or no use in a world of harsh practicalities, ala The Man Who Came Early. All other works fall somewhere in between.
So where does Lest Darkness Fall fit on the Pohl-Twain scale? It's closer (much closer) to the Twain side of the equation (as might be expected since Pohl’s work was a direct reaction against de Camp’s), although without as much convenient silliness. Martin Padway is able to rise pretty much immediately to the very top of Gothic society by means of his knowledge and practical expertise, which is very much an example of modern man as superman, but he's also prone to unforced errors as a result of pride and an unwillingness to adapt. When his plans do fail it’s largely the result of him failing to take into account the need to adapt himself to the political situation. And some inventions (such as cannons) are too much for him to handle. But then too, he seems able to effortlessly outwit the leaders of late Roman society. All those people who climbed the greasy pole, knowing that a wrong move could get them killed, are but putty in this archaeologist’s hands.
This was a great book for its time. Revolutionary even. And it’s still fun today. But the cracks are showing, sometimes quite glaringly. I refuse to believe that a world as complicated as 6th century Italy could be conquered by one man with an archaeology degree and some knowledge of chemistry and industry. It’s just not a possibility that seemed plausible at any point. I know that in the ‘30s people thought we could do anything, but there has to be some sort of limit, right? While modern books like 1632 can still be quite naive, they’re much better at acknowledging the problems a traveller would face. This one is told more in the style of a pulp adventure, where the locals have extremely shallow cultures producing extreme character archetypes and everything will work out in the end for our hero, who is eternally confronted with escapes, escapades, and basic matters of warfare and high politics. It is somehow reassuring to read a book told in such a tone, although the use of a larger-than-life style leaves little room for good characterization or reader involvement in the world.
The structure here is episodic, as one would expect from something that was originally written in short story form, but that largely works for it rather than against it. The copy that I have came with a sequel by S.M. Stirling that followed up to tell of the events at the end of Martin's life (throwing in a new time travel component as well). I thought that really added to the book, as it answered many of the questions left unresolved in the original novel and provided some sort of context for the development of this timeline in the future. It also added in some much needed complications to the ever-victorious narrative. I’m surprised that de Camp never wrote a sequel of his own. Perhaps he felt the adventure was complete, which suggests to me that he never fully grasped the potential of alternate history. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in alternate history, time travel, or golden age scifi, but I'd have to couch that recommendation in caveats and warnings. The book is quite readable, but it no longer feels fresh and exciting. It’s lost something irreplacable over the years of copycats and successors, and the alternate history angle is largely interesting for its historical nature. What’s left is the pulpy adventure yarn, and that’s still an element that’s intact and functional. So if that’s your thing then read on because it’s got a well-earned reputation as one of the best in the genre.
Characters: 6 (simplistic but distinctive)
Accuracy: 5 (society ridiculously simplistic but facts are generally accurate)
How is one supposed to judge a book that is one of the seminal works of the twentieth century? This book created the entire genre of alternate history, or at least the form of it that goes beyond the everyday wondering about what would have happened if events had transpired differently (which people have traced as far back as Livy’s argument that Rome could have defeated Alexander if he had lived, although are we really doing this?) and instead adds in time travel. It’s revolutionary. But the very fact that it is so influential means that everything here’s been done hundreds of times since, by authors starting with Lest Darkness Fall as the foundation and building a grand new edifice from there while improving on those elements that don’t work as well. So how can one judge a book for not rising above a cliched idea when it invented the very cliche? Well I’m going to try anyway.
So this book is about Martin Padway (called Martin of Padua) who gets sent back in time through a freak lightning strike. Yeah, I know. No matter how hard I try to ignore it, the book is very much a product of its time. For all its innovations and original contributions, it still has more than one foot in the door of ‘30s pulp fiction novels. The time travel through lightning’s probably the weakest part of this book. As for the lightning strike... well, all eras have their own preferential magics. Electricity still meant life and advanced technology throughout the early twentieth century and the current wars were still within living memory at the time de Camp was writing. If this had been written post-war it’d undoubtedly have been some sort of nuclear accident (as indeed was the similarly weak excuse in Pebble in the Sky ). Now in an era less trusting in the transformative power of science, we’d ignore the justification entirely and just make it magic. Even leaving aside the outdated choice of pseudoscientific impetus, the introduction is the weakest part of the novel. It starts by having a man suggest ‘wouldn’t it be cool if a very specific and absurd thing happened’ and then, lo and behold, it happens. It’s a clumsy and ham-fisted attempt to set up some slender rational for the events to come, but as its the only pre-travel dialogue we get it feels insanely convenient and more than a little cheesy. I can’t even imagine how that topic of conversation could get started.
Once we get to the past things start to improve. Arriving in the forum outside the Pantheon comes as a bit of a shock. We see Martin, who’s something of a cold fish but is in the fortunate position of being both an archaeologist and enthusiastic capitalist, start to reason out how to transform his modern knowledge into a living. The adapting of modern knowledge and know-how to a pre-modern culture is one of the joys of alternate history, and it’s one I was surprised to see already in the founding novel. The choice of innovations is generally good. A distillery for hard liquor was a sensible place to start. Everyone enjoys a good booze up now and then. What I did find implausible was the treatment of new accounting methods, using Arabic numerals and zero, as if it was some sort of immediately obvious supertool. Yes, Arabic numerals are inherently superior to Roman numerals, but I wouldn’t expect a Roman banker to recognize that intellectual concept immediately. That’s a prime example where an older way of doing things would hang on due to it being the old way of doing things. At least until a new generation picked up on its value. I mean hell, we’re actually committed to the concept of progress and we still use imperial units of measurement. Sensible does not mean it’ll happen.
Martin’s adventures during this time are somewhat pulpy. They involve getting caught up in the affairs of kings and using his knowledge of the future to ensure victory so that he’ll have time to establish his printing and other businesses. Yeah, he really is that self-focused. He also manages to escape from seasoned Roman guards using his knowledge of chemistry, but really just his native intelligence. Just like any good pulp hero. Along the way he has to avoid the girls (floozies is probably the proper ‘30s term) throwing themselves at him, including a senator’s daughter and a revenge-mad Gothic princess. This novel won’t win any points for its gender politics. Martin isn’t interested in girls (he explains explicitly), not because he’s gay or anything interesting, but because they don’t really think like sensible males. Wooow. In the end, he’s worked himself up to being the chief voice at court and the power behind the king, who, since Martin helped choose him, is actually a fairly chill guy.
The really striking thing, for me, is how utterly and unabashedly imperialistic the whole thing is. There was never any point at which the protagonist considered the ethics of rebuilding an entire culture for his personal benefit (theirs too of course, but ultimately his) or questioned his right to interfere in their personal affairs and beliefs. I broadly agree with the idea that if you found yourself trapped in such an appallingly cruel world it’s not wrong to try and improve it (especially when it does mean improving the lives of everyone in it), but the smug and unquestioned superiority with which he goes about doing so put me off a lot. Looking back, I realize that this imperialistic and, frankly, fascistic attitude about superior men having the right, nay duty, to rework society for the benefit of all is par for the course with Golden Age scifi. Just look at the attitudes in Foundation (Isaac Asimov), Ensign Flandry (Poul Anderson), and, notoriously, Starship Troopers (Robert A. Heinlein). All glorify men of superior culture who come bringing civilization to the savages. I still love many of those old works, but reading a new one for the first time as a full-grown adult leaves me uncomfortably aware of just how ugly their politics can be.
Generally, I’d say the book comes across as hopelessly naive. I can't bring myself to believe that the notoriously conservative inhabitants of what until recently was the Roman Empire could so quickly discard their deeply held beliefs and welcome a mere merchant (a vile profession, almost as low as that of actors) into the ranks of upper society. There’s a certain dismissiveness about the viewpoints of the local inhabitants throughout the novel. They’re obviously uneducated primitives, so with a little bit of Truth thrown their way they’re bound to see the light. It’s not that de Camp doesn't sympathize with them, because he does, but he just doesn’t take their issues and beliefs very seriously. Obviously his way is the sensible way, so the people will come round in the end. The book is highly rationalist, as in it believes that people will naturally adopt ideas that are clearly in their best interest. But one of the things that the second half of the century has shown clearly it’s that reason is actually only a very small part of what motivates people to do things. Beliefs are strong and hard to kill, particularly in a time like this where the scientific method doesn’t exist, even among the educated elites, and faith is the dominant force in people’s lives. One trial for witchcraft isn’t the worst obstacle he’d face. There’d be dozens, and more to the point he’d find himself ostracized and hated for what he did. After all, such supernatural knowledge could only come from one of two places: God or the devil. And since he makes no obvious effort to associate himself with the Christian faith, that leaves only one answer...
When discussing alternate history there are two different extremes to the whole style. There’s what I call the Mark Twain approach, where modern man is essentially superman among all those primitive screwheads, ala A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, even to the point of randomly remembering the exact date and time of solar eclipses due to strike Britain in the 6th century. I think that latter point was meant to be a joke, but given that it was boldly breaking new ground I’m not exactly sure what he could be parodying unless it was just our belief in our own superiority. The other extreme is the Frederik Pohl, where modern man is essentially a helpless child whose abstract knowledge is of little or no use in a world of harsh practicalities, ala The Man Who Came Early. All other works fall somewhere in between.
So where does Lest Darkness Fall fit on the Pohl-Twain scale? It's closer (much closer) to the Twain side of the equation (as might be expected since Pohl’s work was a direct reaction against de Camp’s), although without as much convenient silliness. Martin Padway is able to rise pretty much immediately to the very top of Gothic society by means of his knowledge and practical expertise, which is very much an example of modern man as superman, but he's also prone to unforced errors as a result of pride and an unwillingness to adapt. When his plans do fail it’s largely the result of him failing to take into account the need to adapt himself to the political situation. And some inventions (such as cannons) are too much for him to handle. But then too, he seems able to effortlessly outwit the leaders of late Roman society. All those people who climbed the greasy pole, knowing that a wrong move could get them killed, are but putty in this archaeologist’s hands.
This was a great book for its time. Revolutionary even. And it’s still fun today. But the cracks are showing, sometimes quite glaringly. I refuse to believe that a world as complicated as 6th century Italy could be conquered by one man with an archaeology degree and some knowledge of chemistry and industry. It’s just not a possibility that seemed plausible at any point. I know that in the ‘30s people thought we could do anything, but there has to be some sort of limit, right? While modern books like 1632 can still be quite naive, they’re much better at acknowledging the problems a traveller would face. This one is told more in the style of a pulp adventure, where the locals have extremely shallow cultures producing extreme character archetypes and everything will work out in the end for our hero, who is eternally confronted with escapes, escapades, and basic matters of warfare and high politics. It is somehow reassuring to read a book told in such a tone, although the use of a larger-than-life style leaves little room for good characterization or reader involvement in the world.
The structure here is episodic, as one would expect from something that was originally written in short story form, but that largely works for it rather than against it. The copy that I have came with a sequel by S.M. Stirling that followed up to tell of the events at the end of Martin's life (throwing in a new time travel component as well). I thought that really added to the book, as it answered many of the questions left unresolved in the original novel and provided some sort of context for the development of this timeline in the future. It also added in some much needed complications to the ever-victorious narrative. I’m surprised that de Camp never wrote a sequel of his own. Perhaps he felt the adventure was complete, which suggests to me that he never fully grasped the potential of alternate history. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in alternate history, time travel, or golden age scifi, but I'd have to couch that recommendation in caveats and warnings. The book is quite readable, but it no longer feels fresh and exciting. It’s lost something irreplacable over the years of copycats and successors, and the alternate history angle is largely interesting for its historical nature. What’s left is the pulpy adventure yarn, and that’s still an element that’s intact and functional. So if that’s your thing then read on because it’s got a well-earned reputation as one of the best in the genre.
April 16, 2024
Note: Spoilers are always a possibility with my revies so read at your own risk.
I enjoyed this book but, even so, 4 stars is rounding up. The main story, Lest Darkness Falls, has an incredibly passive MC (Martin Padway). To be clear, the MC, who through bizarre happenstance, travels from May 1939 to 535 AD, starts paper production and printing presses. However, when told that such things will bring him trouble the MC does nothing. Then when the completely predictable trouble comes the MC leaps into action (finally) and turns everything around in some very convenient ways.
So I mostly liked this book because I am predisposed to time travel stories and the MC only failed to prioritize and wasn't completely stupid. Plus this story was published in 1941 and so clearly written in a time when readers weren't inundated with time travel stories. As a result the astuteness (eventually) shown by the MC is somewhat surprising. Of course the MC's obtuseness wasn't appreciated but much of it was understandable given the small amount of time travel reference materials the author was working with (I'm not going to research this but probably just A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and H.G. Wells' The Time Machine.)
The "Related Stories":
The first "Related Story" is just a couple of pages of background about L. Sprague De Camp's writings. While mildly interesting, definitely not a story.
The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass is more a summary of a story than a story which I am happy to spoil here: Phineas went back in time and made everything so good that humans became mathmatically certain to overpopulate the universe. Therefore a second time travel mission went back and killed Phineas to prevent this.
The Apotheosis of Martin Padway is an okay story but so short I can't review it without spoilers (so skip the rest of this paragraph to avoid spoilers). Late in life Martin Padway (and to a lesser extent his granddaughter) is caught up in riots directed by foreign agents intent on Martin's death. Just as it seems clear Martin is going to die he is taken aboard a flying ship by time travelers. These time travelers are apparently from Martin's future where it was unknown that Martin was himself a time traveler, albeit an accidental one. Therefore the story ends on Martin's big reveal of his own time traveler status and that the presence of the second set of time travelers means that Martin sucessfully prevented the Dark Ages.
To Bring the Light by David Drake didn't appeal. It tells the story of a woman sent back in time from the glory days of Rome to its founding. I found it to be a somewhat uninspired short story (unfortunately as I am a bit of a David Drake fan) that completely lacked resolution.
Discontinuity by David Weber is the best of the stories. Essentially Martin Padway's changes to the timeline have finally been noticed by time cops. Since such changes means millions may cease to exist they are always punished by death. However, Martin is the first accidental time traveler found by the time cops and so his case is unique and requires a unique resolution . . .
Fake Pandemic by Harry Turtledove is also an excellernt story. Tribonian, Emperor Justinian's questor, meets with Martin Padway and is told of the upcoming plague. Tribonian is convinced and so this is the story of Tribonian's trials and tribulations for the sake of avoiding death on a grand scale.
I enjoyed this book but, even so, 4 stars is rounding up. The main story, Lest Darkness Falls, has an incredibly passive MC (Martin Padway). To be clear, the MC, who through bizarre happenstance, travels from May 1939 to 535 AD, starts paper production and printing presses. However, when told that such things will bring him trouble the MC does nothing. Then when the completely predictable trouble comes the MC leaps into action (finally) and turns everything around in some very convenient ways.
So I mostly liked this book because I am predisposed to time travel stories and the MC only failed to prioritize and wasn't completely stupid. Plus this story was published in 1941 and so clearly written in a time when readers weren't inundated with time travel stories. As a result the astuteness (eventually) shown by the MC is somewhat surprising. Of course the MC's obtuseness wasn't appreciated but much of it was understandable given the small amount of time travel reference materials the author was working with (I'm not going to research this but probably just A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and H.G. Wells' The Time Machine.)
The "Related Stories":
The first "Related Story" is just a couple of pages of background about L. Sprague De Camp's writings. While mildly interesting, definitely not a story.
The Deadly Mission of Phineas Snodgrass is more a summary of a story than a story which I am happy to spoil here: Phineas went back in time and made everything so good that humans became mathmatically certain to overpopulate the universe. Therefore a second time travel mission went back and killed Phineas to prevent this.
The Apotheosis of Martin Padway is an okay story but so short I can't review it without spoilers (so skip the rest of this paragraph to avoid spoilers). Late in life Martin Padway (and to a lesser extent his granddaughter) is caught up in riots directed by foreign agents intent on Martin's death. Just as it seems clear Martin is going to die he is taken aboard a flying ship by time travelers. These time travelers are apparently from Martin's future where it was unknown that Martin was himself a time traveler, albeit an accidental one. Therefore the story ends on Martin's big reveal of his own time traveler status and that the presence of the second set of time travelers means that Martin sucessfully prevented the Dark Ages.
To Bring the Light by David Drake didn't appeal. It tells the story of a woman sent back in time from the glory days of Rome to its founding. I found it to be a somewhat uninspired short story (unfortunately as I am a bit of a David Drake fan) that completely lacked resolution.
Discontinuity by David Weber is the best of the stories. Essentially Martin Padway's changes to the timeline have finally been noticed by time cops. Since such changes means millions may cease to exist they are always punished by death. However, Martin is the first accidental time traveler found by the time cops and so his case is unique and requires a unique resolution . . .
Fake Pandemic by Harry Turtledove is also an excellernt story. Tribonian, Emperor Justinian's questor, meets with Martin Padway and is told of the upcoming plague. Tribonian is convinced and so this is the story of Tribonian's trials and tribulations for the sake of avoiding death on a grand scale.
January 27, 2021
The story by de Camp is pretty good. It's well paced and has some somewhat plausible things going on. Several of the connections seem like a stretch to me, but the story is still impressive and fun to read. As a time traveler accidentally thrown back into the past it's a much, much better story than A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Padway doesn't look down on the Romans or consider them stupid in any way, which gives it loads more credibility and entertainment value than Connecticut Yankee. Our ancestors weren't stupid, they were just ignorant of certain developments that hadn't happened yet.
Most of the characters weren't fleshed out real well, but the major ones had enough to make their decisions seem true to themselves. There was one part I didn't agree with. Padway ends up killing a man and he describes it as a homicide/murder. In fact, it was self defense/defense of another. Minor nit, but it bothered me enough to kick me out of the story for a few minutes.
Overall I enjoyed the story. 5 stars
Included in this edition are some other stories and a look at pulp magazines that de Camp submitted to.
L. Sprague de Camp's Great Leap Of Imagination by Alexei and Cory Panshin 4 stars
This is a look at the pulp magazines that were available and which de Camp submitted stories to in the late 1930s. It was somewhat dry but still informative. The types of monthly pulp magazines are still around in some form or another, sometimes in physical and sometimes only in electronic format. The short story doesn't seem to be as big of a deal, especially for beginning authors, anymore with eBooks and indy authors putting out cheap or even free reads.
The Deadly Mission Of Phineas Snodgrass by Frederik Pohl 2 stars
This short story seemed more like a draft concept rather than an actual story. There was no character development, just taking a mathematical concept to absurd limits.
The Apotheosis Of Martin Padway by S. M. Stirling 0 stars
I refuse to buy any more Stirling stories, and those that I already have in my possession will be non-reviewed. I have a very good reason for this. His politics has been revealed as hateful and genocidal.
By his own words: And by "compulsory" I don't mean fines and scolding; I mean the cops will come to your house and physically hold you and your family down while the shot is administered, and if you resist beat you to a pulp or shoot you.,
The man would fit right in with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Red Chinese, or the Khmer Rouge. He can go sodomize himself with a ricin covered cactus for all I care.
To Bring the Light by David Drake 4 stars
This is a nice little story involving a Roman woman transported to the past just like Martin Padway. Instead of going to another era of Rome however, she's transported to just before the founding of Rome and meets Romulus and Remus. It's well paced and I liked the main character.
The eBook was formatted well with only one noticeable spelling/grammar error.
Most of the characters weren't fleshed out real well, but the major ones had enough to make their decisions seem true to themselves. There was one part I didn't agree with. Padway ends up killing a man and he describes it as a homicide/murder. In fact, it was self defense/defense of another. Minor nit, but it bothered me enough to kick me out of the story for a few minutes.
Overall I enjoyed the story. 5 stars
Included in this edition are some other stories and a look at pulp magazines that de Camp submitted to.
L. Sprague de Camp's Great Leap Of Imagination by Alexei and Cory Panshin 4 stars
This is a look at the pulp magazines that were available and which de Camp submitted stories to in the late 1930s. It was somewhat dry but still informative. The types of monthly pulp magazines are still around in some form or another, sometimes in physical and sometimes only in electronic format. The short story doesn't seem to be as big of a deal, especially for beginning authors, anymore with eBooks and indy authors putting out cheap or even free reads.
The Deadly Mission Of Phineas Snodgrass by Frederik Pohl 2 stars
This short story seemed more like a draft concept rather than an actual story. There was no character development, just taking a mathematical concept to absurd limits.
The Apotheosis Of Martin Padway by S. M. Stirling 0 stars
I refuse to buy any more Stirling stories, and those that I already have in my possession will be non-reviewed. I have a very good reason for this. His politics has been revealed as hateful and genocidal.
By his own words: And by "compulsory" I don't mean fines and scolding; I mean the cops will come to your house and physically hold you and your family down while the shot is administered, and if you resist beat you to a pulp or shoot you.,
The man would fit right in with Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, the Red Chinese, or the Khmer Rouge. He can go sodomize himself with a ricin covered cactus for all I care.
To Bring the Light by David Drake 4 stars
This is a nice little story involving a Roman woman transported to the past just like Martin Padway. Instead of going to another era of Rome however, she's transported to just before the founding of Rome and meets Romulus and Remus. It's well paced and I liked the main character.
The eBook was formatted well with only one noticeable spelling/grammar error.
July 8, 2019
I used to love time travel stories, but not so much anymore, and this book is a good example of why. Here, de Camp riffs on Twain's Connecticut Yankee, and I appreciated that it was a little more 'realistic' than that old story, plus I enjoyed the setting in the sixth-century Ostrogothic kingdom (right up my historical alley). These stories always make me wonder, though, 'How much do I actually know about the material culture that surrounds me, that I take for granted?' I mean, could you design a working steam engine, a gunpowder weapon, or a printing press with sixth-century technology? I'm pretty sure the answer for me is 'not really.' I should also note that this story had the same linguistic flaw I often find in these kind of stories: the protagonist 'knows' Latin, so with just a little adjustment, he's speaking with the natives just fine--I just don't think that would work out so easily (no one learns colloquial, spoken Latin these days, so the adjustment would take quite a bit more time).
The other stories in the book were OK--I liked the last one the best, where a Roman travels back in time to the foundation of Rome; the author plays around with myth and legend nicely.
The other stories in the book were OK--I liked the last one the best, where a Roman travels back in time to the foundation of Rome; the author plays around with myth and legend nicely.
May 27, 2019
This is a classic SciFi/Fantasy book about time travel, similar to Mark Twain’s story. Interestingly enough, the author did not believe in time travel. L. Sprague de Camp was a giant in early SciFi, and influenced many authors then and down through the years. The premise of “Lest Darkness Fall” is that an archaeological expert with extensive knowledge of the fall of Rome and general pre-medieval times history is transported into 6th century Rome. He desperately tries to stop the ransacking of Rome and the beginning of the dark ages, while trying to just stay alive and find a way to make a living. A later short story in the book concerns an educated, upper class woman being transported to pre-Roman times, meeting Romulus and Remus. The book certainly was interesting, but I found myself skimming through some long explanatory sections, thus the 4 stars.
October 25, 2019
The original story "Lest Darkness Fall" is a classic that I had never read. I've read other works by the same author and this has the same appealing characteristics -- well-researched history, fast-moving plot, and light humor. The characters are broadly drawn, but I find that okay in this style of book. The basic idea -- Martin Padway, classical historian, is inadvertently sent to sixth-century Rome, and sets out to change history for the better -- is fun. The "related stories" are all worth reading; I especially liked "The Apotheosis of Martin Padway", which gives a glimpse of the world that resulted from Padway's work.
January 24, 2021
The short story by Sprague De Camp was good, but it did dive a little to deep, into battles and politics, as I was losing interest when he started to make such big changers, as it seem to work so well for him. The Romans were renowned for there smart thinking, both on the battlefield and in the senate, and they seen to accepted the barbarian very quickly. I think I may have enjoyed it, if I had a little more story. But despite that, for a book written in the 1940s, it was done well. The other stories did bring my rating down a little , there were not on par with first (Les Darkness Fall).
August 8, 2017
I really enjoyed Lest Darkness Fall. De Camp, an engineer, writes about an archaeologist knocked back in time to around the final fall of the western Roman empire. Has obviously considered the probable constraints and issues involved in this arrangement in a lot of detail, and also just tells a good story.
January 24, 2018
One of mankind's great works of fiction. This story follows a young man and a historian sent back in time just after the ostrogothic invasion of Rome. It is rich in symbolism, humor and obscure historical references which make this book such a wonderful read.
March 8, 2022
Het soort boek dat echt heerlijk is om af en toe nog eens herlezen te worden. Ik denk dat ik dit de eerste keer gelezen heb zo'n 30 jaar of meer geleden en het in die tijd al een viertal keer opnieuw gelezen heb. Iedere keer weer zeer aangenaam.
June 20, 2022
As they like to brag on the cover, the book that started the genre. A lot of fun but you have to wonder what happened to those who slid down the tree not speaking a version of the local language. That might be the subject for a good story.
October 31, 2023
This was one of the first time travel books I read way back when I started reading science fiction.
I enjoyed it the second time around as much as the first.
Apparently, other people liked it also. Some of them became sf authors whose books I, in turn, read.
The great Mandala keeps on rolling!
I enjoyed it the second time around as much as the first.
Apparently, other people liked it also. Some of them became sf authors whose books I, in turn, read.
The great Mandala keeps on rolling!
November 11, 2017
While I appreciate the impact this book may have had, I just found it a little dull. About half way through I needed to push myself to complete.
May 31, 2019
Great book
Very enjoyable. Wish there were more short stories included in this e book. This was a quick read. Highly recommended.
Very enjoyable. Wish there were more short stories included in this e book. This was a quick read. Highly recommended.
December 23, 2020
Ok now I have read this classic!
October 2, 2023
Foundational alternate history fiction that everyone should read
November 22, 2023
The classic that inspired many others, and many authors, takes up 2/3 of the book, and is a wonderful fun surprising read. Afterwards, several other authors comment/riff on it. A great read.
October 6, 2024
Fast and rather fun adventure in the ancient Rome. Smarter than expected. Descriptions of fighting are nice and clear. Dialogue is amusing. Short novelettes at the end are unnecessary but readable.
August 31, 2024
A great anthology that collects the infamous title story - in which a modern-day man falls through time and ends up bringing an age of scientific accomplishment to the Roman Empire - together with several tales from other authors that riff upon similar tropes. A very entertaining read.
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