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The Incompleat Enchanter #1-5+
The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories
Harold Shea is a psychologist who dreams of adventure, but never gets beyond learning to fence and occasionally showing up at staff meetings dressed in horseback riding garb. But when he learns that his boss, Dr. Reed Chalmers, has developed a theory which allows a person to transport himself to any world he can imagine, Harold Shea decides to give it a whirl. This volume includes all the De Camp and Pratt Enchanter stories.
504 pages, Hardcover
First published February 16, 2007
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169 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 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 13, 2016
Read as part of the Retro-Hugos Voter Packet.
Review based on only the short story, 'The Mathematics of Magic.'
I know I've read stuff by L. Sprague de Camp in the past and been amused - so either I just wasn't in the right mood, or this isn't one of his better humorous offerings.
The story features a couple of modern-day psychologists, one older, one younger, who figure out a way to transport themselves into alternate, fantasy-like universes. Soon, they find themselves on a rambling adventure through a land which is a combination of Faerie and the Age of Chivalry. The humor rests heavily on poking fun at fantasy tropes that are quite a bit outdated and are seen far more rarely in the literature now than they were when the story was written. I felt that it was a bit too long and unfocused for what it was.
'The Roaring Trumpet' was also nominated, but it's another story featuring the same two protagonists, so I think I'm going to skip it, since I didn't particularly get into this one.
Review based on only the short story, 'The Mathematics of Magic.'
I know I've read stuff by L. Sprague de Camp in the past and been amused - so either I just wasn't in the right mood, or this isn't one of his better humorous offerings.
The story features a couple of modern-day psychologists, one older, one younger, who figure out a way to transport themselves into alternate, fantasy-like universes. Soon, they find themselves on a rambling adventure through a land which is a combination of Faerie and the Age of Chivalry. The humor rests heavily on poking fun at fantasy tropes that are quite a bit outdated and are seen far more rarely in the literature now than they were when the story was written. I felt that it was a bit too long and unfocused for what it was.
'The Roaring Trumpet' was also nominated, but it's another story featuring the same two protagonists, so I think I'm going to skip it, since I didn't particularly get into this one.
August 23, 2011
3.5 stars
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Back in the 1940s and 1950s, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt co-wrote five fantasy stories about psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues for the pulp magazines. The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt collects all five of these original Enchanter stories, plus an introduction by Christopher Stasheff (who edited many of the later Enchanter stories written by other authors), an article written by de Camp about Fletcher Pratt and their collaboration, two additional Enchanter stories written by de Camp after Pratt’s death in 1956, and two essays by SF writer Jerry Pournelle called “Arming the Incomplete Enchanter” and “Rearming the Incomplete Enchanter,” in which he lovingly criticizes Harold Shea for his choices about what to take with him on his adventures (I must say that I agree with Dr. Pournelle).
The five original Enchanter stories are:
1. “The Roaring Trumpet” (Unknown, May 1940) — This first story explains how Dr. Reed Chalmers, Harold Shea’s director at the mental institution, develops a scientific technique for visiting imagined parallel universes. Harold, who styles himself an adventurer and is learning how to fence and ride horses, decides he’d like to go to ancient Ireland to look for his dreamgirl. But when he tries Dr. Chalmers’ technique, he accidentally ends up in the world of Norse mythology just before Ragnarök.
2. “The Mathematics of Magic” (Unknown, October 1940) — Harold Shea and Dr. Chalmers visit the land of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene where they must act chivalrously and where they meet Belphebe and Florimel who later become their wives.
3. “The Castle of Iron” (Unknown, April 1941) — While experimenting with his techniques, Dr. Chalmers accidentally whisks Belphebe off to another world. When police officer Pete Brodsky comes to investigate the disappearance, he is swept away, along with Harold and his colleagues Walter Bayard and Vaclav Polacek to Coleridge’s Xanadu. From there, Harold and Polacek (“the Bouncing Rubber Czech”) are imported to the world of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso where Chalmers and the ladies are, while Walter and Pete the cop, a good Presbyterian, are left in a harem in Xanadu.
4. “The Wall of Serpents” (Fantasy Fiction, June 1953) — Trying to retrieve Shea’s colleagues and the cop from the various universes they’re stuck in, Harold and Belphebe end up in the Finnish epic The Kalevala.
5. “The Green Magician” (Beyond Fiction, 1954) — Trying to get back to Ohio, Harold, Belphebe, and Pete end up in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology where everyone decorates their dining halls with the heads of their enemies. They try to avert war between Cuchulainn and Queen Maev.
The two later stories written by de Camp after Pratt’s death have previously been collected in two Baen editions (The Enchanter Reborn, 1992 and The Exotic Enchanter, 1995) along with Enchanter stories written by Lawrence Watt-Evans, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Maddox Roberts, Roland J. Green & Frieda A. Murray, and Tom Wham:
6. “Sir Harold and the Gnome King” — Harold Shea goes to L. Frank Baum’s Oz to find the Gnome King’s Magic Belt because he thinks it will help him retrieve Walter Bayard from ancient Ireland.
7. “Sir Harold of Zodanga” — “Professor Doctor Sir Harold Shea” visits Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom.
It took me weeks to get through the 504 pages of The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the Harold Shea stories (some are actually novellas), because I did. They (especially the de Camp and Fletcher collaborations) are clever, witty, irreverent, and fun. I liked all of the main characters, and the secondary characters were also entertaining.
The writing isn’t anything glorious (1940s SFF isn’t known for its glorious writing), and it will sometimes make you cringe (such as when Shea says to Belphebe “it is damn white of you”). The plots are often ridiculously silly, but they’re still amusing, effectively blending deadpan and slapstick humor.
However, after a few hundred pages, the 1940s slang has become tiresome and the conceit starts to wear thin. I read the stories back to back because I had the book on loan from the library (I even had to renew it), but these stories probably worked better in their original serialized format — when you read one and take a break for a few months before picking up another. The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt is a great purchase because it collects all the Harold Shea stories, which are classics of fantasy literature, but I recommend reading them one at a time as a comical break from more serious fare.
ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.
Back in the 1940s and 1950s, L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt co-wrote five fantasy stories about psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues for the pulp magazines. The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt collects all five of these original Enchanter stories, plus an introduction by Christopher Stasheff (who edited many of the later Enchanter stories written by other authors), an article written by de Camp about Fletcher Pratt and their collaboration, two additional Enchanter stories written by de Camp after Pratt’s death in 1956, and two essays by SF writer Jerry Pournelle called “Arming the Incomplete Enchanter” and “Rearming the Incomplete Enchanter,” in which he lovingly criticizes Harold Shea for his choices about what to take with him on his adventures (I must say that I agree with Dr. Pournelle).
The five original Enchanter stories are:
1. “The Roaring Trumpet” (Unknown, May 1940) — This first story explains how Dr. Reed Chalmers, Harold Shea’s director at the mental institution, develops a scientific technique for visiting imagined parallel universes. Harold, who styles himself an adventurer and is learning how to fence and ride horses, decides he’d like to go to ancient Ireland to look for his dreamgirl. But when he tries Dr. Chalmers’ technique, he accidentally ends up in the world of Norse mythology just before Ragnarök.
2. “The Mathematics of Magic” (Unknown, October 1940) — Harold Shea and Dr. Chalmers visit the land of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene where they must act chivalrously and where they meet Belphebe and Florimel who later become their wives.
3. “The Castle of Iron” (Unknown, April 1941) — While experimenting with his techniques, Dr. Chalmers accidentally whisks Belphebe off to another world. When police officer Pete Brodsky comes to investigate the disappearance, he is swept away, along with Harold and his colleagues Walter Bayard and Vaclav Polacek to Coleridge’s Xanadu. From there, Harold and Polacek (“the Bouncing Rubber Czech”) are imported to the world of Ludovico Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso where Chalmers and the ladies are, while Walter and Pete the cop, a good Presbyterian, are left in a harem in Xanadu.
4. “The Wall of Serpents” (Fantasy Fiction, June 1953) — Trying to retrieve Shea’s colleagues and the cop from the various universes they’re stuck in, Harold and Belphebe end up in the Finnish epic The Kalevala.
5. “The Green Magician” (Beyond Fiction, 1954) — Trying to get back to Ohio, Harold, Belphebe, and Pete end up in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology where everyone decorates their dining halls with the heads of their enemies. They try to avert war between Cuchulainn and Queen Maev.
The two later stories written by de Camp after Pratt’s death have previously been collected in two Baen editions (The Enchanter Reborn, 1992 and The Exotic Enchanter, 1995) along with Enchanter stories written by Lawrence Watt-Evans, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Maddox Roberts, Roland J. Green & Frieda A. Murray, and Tom Wham:
6. “Sir Harold and the Gnome King” — Harold Shea goes to L. Frank Baum’s Oz to find the Gnome King’s Magic Belt because he thinks it will help him retrieve Walter Bayard from ancient Ireland.
7. “Sir Harold of Zodanga” — “Professor Doctor Sir Harold Shea” visits Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom.
It took me weeks to get through the 504 pages of The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy the Harold Shea stories (some are actually novellas), because I did. They (especially the de Camp and Fletcher collaborations) are clever, witty, irreverent, and fun. I liked all of the main characters, and the secondary characters were also entertaining.
The writing isn’t anything glorious (1940s SFF isn’t known for its glorious writing), and it will sometimes make you cringe (such as when Shea says to Belphebe “it is damn white of you”). The plots are often ridiculously silly, but they’re still amusing, effectively blending deadpan and slapstick humor.
However, after a few hundred pages, the 1940s slang has become tiresome and the conceit starts to wear thin. I read the stories back to back because I had the book on loan from the library (I even had to renew it), but these stories probably worked better in their original serialized format — when you read one and take a break for a few months before picking up another. The Mathematics of Magic: The Enchanter Stories of de Camp and Pratt is a great purchase because it collects all the Harold Shea stories, which are classics of fantasy literature, but I recommend reading them one at a time as a comical break from more serious fare.
August 21, 2019
Pretty good with lots of running around in Fairy land with adventures, magic, sword play, more running around and humor regarding chaste women and chivalrous men. I did not read The King of Elfland's Daughter by Lord Dunsany that this book satirizes, so much of the references were lost on me, but definitely readable without the prior knowledge. I can see some of the influence of this series with many modern fantasy novels including...Harry Potter! The novel (2nd in the series) would otherwise have scored a 2 star with me, if not for some appreciation of the influences on contemporary fantasy literature.
March 7, 2017
In my youth, I owned a copy of some of these stories, and I remember them fondly. It was the Golden Age of the university in America, and I enjoyed that feeling that knowledge was king and, with the right knowledge, you could anything. And here were some well-educated men taking that step into the unknown, using math and logic as a gateway into fantasy. Later, in grad school, I actually studied The Faerie Queene and Orlando Furioso, and enjoyed these stories even more, having an understanding of the milieu and characters.
So now, many years, later, I discover that the library has a volume of collected stories. They haven't aged well with me.
Oddly, I was under the impression that there were several more stories than actually exist. I also found it a little disappointing that Pratt and de Camp never ventured into some of the more obvious tales: King Arthur, Beowulf, Arabian Nights. But never mind that: I just don't think they were written very well.
I know that the oldest of these stories is now 70-something years old, but that's really an excuse. I also know that Fletcher Pratt was an incredible polymath who wrote books about everything, and that de Camp wrote 8 zillion books in his life (albeit few really great ones), but these stories seem formulaic and kind of boring. Worse, Reed Chalmers is absent in most of them, and the tension and interplay between Chalmers and Shea is what gives a zing to "The Roaring Trumpet" that the subsequent stories lack.
Most strangely, I remember them as being funnier than I find them now. Again, "The Roaring Trumpet" stands out here, with the great feast scene that Chalmers and Shea accidentally set askew.
Bonus points to the authors for including strong female characters, especially Belphoebe, who in some ways is the most awesome character of the lot.
So. There are some moments here, but these stories have not well stood the test of time. If you're interested in where the D&D magic system comes from, this is one set of stories to read (along with Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories).
So now, many years, later, I discover that the library has a volume of collected stories. They haven't aged well with me.
Oddly, I was under the impression that there were several more stories than actually exist. I also found it a little disappointing that Pratt and de Camp never ventured into some of the more obvious tales: King Arthur, Beowulf, Arabian Nights. But never mind that: I just don't think they were written very well.
I know that the oldest of these stories is now 70-something years old, but that's really an excuse. I also know that Fletcher Pratt was an incredible polymath who wrote books about everything, and that de Camp wrote 8 zillion books in his life (albeit few really great ones), but these stories seem formulaic and kind of boring. Worse, Reed Chalmers is absent in most of them, and the tension and interplay between Chalmers and Shea is what gives a zing to "The Roaring Trumpet" that the subsequent stories lack.
Most strangely, I remember them as being funnier than I find them now. Again, "The Roaring Trumpet" stands out here, with the great feast scene that Chalmers and Shea accidentally set askew.
Bonus points to the authors for including strong female characters, especially Belphoebe, who in some ways is the most awesome character of the lot.
So. There are some moments here, but these stories have not well stood the test of time. If you're interested in where the D&D magic system comes from, this is one set of stories to read (along with Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories).
June 10, 2008
A wondrous 400 page volume of incredible and literally out of this world stories in a new genre called science fantasy. The creator of his genre is non other than this author, de Pratt. There are close to about 5 stories or so in this book, and each range from 80-140 pages. Despite the length this book is addictive. It brought me back to loving to read and with each moment and sentence i anticipate and eagerly flip the page. The stories follow the life of Harold Shea, a renown psychotrist who is utterly bored and tired of his life. In pursuit of exitment and adventure he and his collegeas stumble about a mathematical equation which allowed them to bend space and time and thus traveling to other universes. What sets this apart from other sci-fi or fantasy is it incorporate the best of both worlds. He quickly learned how to survive and find himself enjoying his stay at those universe, in each he overcome challenges which threaten not only his life but those of his friends and sometimes even the world. He learns due to his wit and his analytical skills derided from his psychology courses the mathematical laws which governs those worlds and for magic thus he can wield magic.
This book taught me to make the best out of the situations, although it is somewhat of a cliche it is the most efficient and best thing to do. As harold made the best of what he was dump into he learnt new skills, made new friends and had the adventure his heart yearned for. We not only must be content but stife for the best in all situations thus not wasting the precious time we do have.
This book taught me to make the best out of the situations, although it is somewhat of a cliche it is the most efficient and best thing to do. As harold made the best of what he was dump into he learnt new skills, made new friends and had the adventure his heart yearned for. We not only must be content but stife for the best in all situations thus not wasting the precious time we do have.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews