The Purple Pterodactyls
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The Purple Pterodactyls
''The Purple Pterodactyls'' is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. The collection was first published in hardcover by Phantasia Press in January, 1980, and in paperback by Ace Books in April of the same year. It has also been translated into German. An e-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. The pieces were originally published between 1975 and 1979 in the magazines ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', ''Fantastic'', ''Escape!'', and '' Fantasy Crossroads''. Summary The book collects the author's fifteen tales of ensorcelled financier W. Wilson Newbury, an ordinary man continually encountering extraordinary situations. His French wife Denise also appears in most of the tales. Two stories ("Balsamo's Mirror" and "Far Babylon") feature characters recognizable as real-life authors H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, tho ...
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WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ...
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The Reluctant Shaman
"The Reluctant Shaman" is a contemporary fantasy story by American writer L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine ''Thrilling Wonder Stories'' for April 1947.Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. ''De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography''. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 231. It first appeared in book form in the collection ''The Reluctant Shaman and Other Fantastic Tales'' (Pyramid, 1970); it later appeared in the magazine '' Science Fiction Yearbook'' no. 5 (Popular Library, Inc., 1971) and the collection '' The Best of L. Sprague de Camp'' ( Doubleday, 1978). The story has been translated into French and German. Plot summary Virgil Hathaway, a Penobscot Indian shopkeeper in Gahato, New York, receives an odd visitor, Charlie Catfish of the Senecas. The fast-talking Catfish, caretaker to eight ''Gahunga'', quickly pawns his charges off on Hathaway before leaving. "You can handle 'em even though you're Algonquin," he says, "being as y ...
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1980 Short Story Collections
__NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire *January 28 **Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar. **Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus. China *Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed. By topic Religion * Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211). Births * Lu Kai (or Jingfeng), Chinese official and general (d. 269) * Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. ...
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David Langford
David Rowland Langford (born 10 April 1953) is a British author, editor, and critic, largely active within the science fiction field. He publishes the science fiction fanzine and newsletter ''Ansible'', and holds the all-time record for most Hugo Awards, with a total of 29 wins. Personal background David Langford was born and grew up in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales before studying for a degree in Physics at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he first became involved in science fiction fandom. Langford is married to Hazel and is the brother of the musician and artist Jon Langford. His first job was as a weapons physicist at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, Berkshire from 1975 to 1980. In 1985 he set up a "tiny and informally run software company" with science fiction writer Christopher Priest, called Ansible Information after Langford's news-sheet. The company has ceased trading. Increasing hearing difficulties have reduced Langford's participation i ...
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Don D'Ammassa
Donald Eugene D'Ammassa (born April 24, 1946) is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror critic and author.Clute, John. "Don D'Ammassaa."
Article in ''SFE: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction''.
He is chiefly known for his numerous reviews, written over a period of more than thirty years. He writes as Don D'Ammassa.


Writing career

D'Ammassa first made a name for himself as a fan writer in the 1970s; he was nominated for the for 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1986, and his

Brian Stableford
Brian Michael Stableford (born 25 July 1948) is a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who has published more than 70 novels. His earlier books were published under the name Brian M. Stableford, but more recent ones have dropped the middle initial and appeared under the name Brian Stableford. He has also used the pseudonym Brian Craig for a couple of very early works, and again for a few more recent works. The pseudonym derives from the first names of himself and of a school friend from the 1960s, Craig A. Mackintosh, with whom he jointly published some very early work. Biography Born in Shipley, Yorkshire, Stableford graduated with a degree in biology from the University of York in 1969 before going on to do postgraduate research in biology and later in sociology. In 1979 he received a PhD with a doctoral thesis on ''The Sociology of Science Fiction''. Until 1988, he worked as a lecturer in sociology at the University of Reading. Since then he has been a ful ...
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Unknown (magazine)
''Unknown'' (also known as ''Unknown Worlds'') was an American pulp fantasy fiction magazine, published from 1939 to 1943 by Street & Smith, and edited by John W. Campbell. ''Unknown'' was a companion to Street & Smith's science fiction pulp, ''Astounding Science Fiction'', which was also edited by Campbell at the time; many authors and illustrators contributed to both magazines. The leading fantasy magazine in the 1930s was ''Weird Tales'', which focused on shock and horror. Campbell wanted to publish a fantasy magazine with more finesse and humor than ''Weird Tales'', and put his plans into action when Eric Frank Russell sent him the manuscript of his novel '' Sinister Barrier'', about aliens who own the human race. ''Unknown''s first issue appeared in March 1939; in addition to ''Sinister Barrier'', it included H. L. Gold's "Trouble With Water", a humorous fantasy about a New Yorker who meets a water gnome. Gold's story was the first of many in ''Unknown'' to combine commonpl ...
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Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of Book Publishing and Bookselling". With 51 issues a year, the emphasis today is on book reviews. The magazine was founded by bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ... Frederick Leypoldt in the late 1860s, and had various titles until Leypoldt settled on the name ''The Publishers' Weekly'' (with an apostrophe) in 1872. The publication was a compilation of information about newly published books, collected from publishers and from other sources by Leypoldt, for an audience of booksellers. By 1876, ''The Publishers' Weekly ...
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Emma Lathen
Emma Lathen is the pen name of two American businesswomen: economic analyst Mary Jane Latsis (July 12, 1927 – October 29, 1997) and attorney Martha Henissart (born 1929). The pseudonym is constructed from two authors' names: "M" of Mary and "Ma" of Martha, plus "Lat" of Latsis and "Hen" of Henissart. Henissart and Latsis met as graduate students at Harvard, where Henissart studied law and Latsis studied economics and public administration. Latsis grew up in Chicago and graduated from Wellesley College. Henissart received her B.A. in physics from Mount Holyoke College in 1950. Latsis worked for the CIA and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization and taught economics at her alma mater, Wellesley College. Henissart practiced law in New York and then returned to the Boston area to become the chief legal counsel for Raytheon. When they began writing mysteries in the early 1960s they decided to use a pseudonym and maintain the secret of their identities to avoid ...
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Kirkus Reviews
''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, nonfiction, and young readers' literature. ''Kirkus Reviews'', published on the first and 15th of each month; previews books before their publication. ''Kirkus'' reviews over 10,000 titles per year. History Virginia Kirkus was hired by Harper & Brothers to establish a children's book department in 1926. The department was eliminated as an economic measure in 1932 (for about a year), so Kirkus left and soon established her own book review service. Initially, she arranged to get galley proofs of "20 or so" books in advance of their publication; almost 80 years later, the service was receiving hundreds of books weekly and reviewing about 100. Initially titled ''Bulletin'' by Kirkus' Bookshop Service from 1933 to 1954, the title was ...
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Fletcher Pratt
Murray Fletcher Pratt (25 April 1897 – 10 June 1956) was an American writer of history, science fiction, and fantasy. He is best known for his works on naval history and the American Civil War and for fiction written with L. Sprague de Camp. Life and work According to de Camp, Pratt was born near Tonawanda, New York. The son of Robert M. and Alice Horton Pratt, he attended public schools in Buffalo and graduated from high school in 1915 at the Griffith Institute in Springville, New York, where his father operated a trucking delivery service between Springville and Buffalo. Following high school he attended Hobart College in Geneva, New York for one year. In February 1916 the Associated Press reported that he had been arrested for burglary in Geneva after a series of midnight cash drawer robberies that allegedly netted him less than $25. He was reported to have told police that his father did not supply him with enough funds to survive at Hobart. On February 23 the ''Buffa ...
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Tales From Gavagan's Bar
''Tales from Gavagan's Bar'' is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writers L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, illustrated by the latter's wife Inga Pratt. It was first published in hardcover by Twayne Publishers in 1953; an expanded edition rearranging the contents and adding pieces not in the first was published in hardcover by Owlswick Press in June 1978. The original illustrations were retained in this edition. It was subsequently issued in paperback (without the illustrations) by Bantam Books in January 1980. An e-book edition was published by Gollancz's SF Gateway imprint on September 29, 2011 as part of a general release of de Camp's works in electronic form. The collection has also been published in German. Most of the pieces were originally published between 1950 and 1954, twelve in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'', three in ''Weird Tales'', and eleven in the first edition of the collection; two additional tales subsequently appeared in ...
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