Time and Chance: An Autobiography

by L. Sprague de Camp, Catherine Crook de Camp

Book by De Camp, L. Sprague, De Camp, Catherine Crook

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

444 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

Lyon 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.

Reviews

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable tour of the Twentieth Century by a one of the science fiction grandmasters. de Camp has a dry, amusing, and engaging voice. In addition to describing his childhood in New York City and upstate, he includes early descriptions of automobile trips across country, and also a notable tragedy in his young adult life. He takes us on a tour of earlier Twentieth Century America with some side mentions about other science fiction authors, and many anecdotes about travel in Europe, Africa, and India.

I do recommend skimming the first chapter, as it covers genealogy of several ancestral generation before getting to Sprague's birth and life.

[Juan Sanmiguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

An autobiography of one the Golden Age greats. Very engaging.