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Spaceways, v. 4, issue 5, whole no. 28, June 1942

Page 14

14     SPACEWAYS

A BOOK REVIEW
by
JACK F SPEER

Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp. Henry Holt & Co., 1941. $2.50.

It is not strictly true that this is an expanded version of the story that appeared in Unknown. I think it is more probably the story as de Camp originally wrote it, with some minor changes. This supposition is based primarily on the observation that the passages in the book which did not appear in Unknown are on the whole definitely inferior to the rest, and in many cases are of the sort that, while perfectly safe in books, would lead father to forbid Junior's ever reading that dirty magazine again had Campbell not censored him.
Condensation was achieved in Unknown not only thru omission of some incidents, but also by rewriting some paragraphs, at times as drastically as Dawn of Flame was rewritten when published in Thrilling Wonder, at other times merely to cover up the omission of some incidents (of Campbell's recent slip in Land of Unreason, which carries a reference to the Queen's wand causing a cloudless rain, altho that incident does not appear in the Unknown Worlds version), and often simply in the omission of a "Christus!" or other interjection.
In the omitting of incidents by Campbell there is no great consistency. The book contains rawer stuff than Unknown could allow, but does not tell what the Empress Theodora used to complain about, and in the magazine version were some mildly shocking things. In the book, de Camp discourses at greater length on the subject of languages, and goes into more detail on the military operations, but again the Unknown version carried a great deal of such material. The Church is taken fora ride oftener in the full story.
On the other hand, some passages occurring in Unknown are not present here; the late arrival of the artillery after Bloody John was defeated, for instance. And there are some places in the book that appear to be rewrites of the magazine story rather than vice verse. Apparently neither is the Qvelle document. A further reason for believing the story was retouched before going into the book is Tancredi's exposition of his time-slipping theory, which seems to show the influence of Jack Williamson's Hindsight, which de Camp could not have had access to at the first writing.
Among the many new characters introduced in the book are Ebenezer the Jew, a colleague of Thomasus the Syrian; assistant editor George Meandrus, barely mentioned in Unknown; Julia of Apulia, a slut of a housemaid, who gets Padway to have her in bed for a night; the Bishop of Bolgna, knowledge of whose private life enables Padway to get a troublesome local priest brot into line; Dorothea, daughter of an aristocrat, a nice girl about whom Padway becomes mildly romantic; Leo Vekkos, a Greek physician, one of a horde of quacks who descend on Martinus when he has a mild attack of flu; and others.
The book itself is of averagely good appearance, but in place of the perfectly matched, vigorous Cartier illustrations, has a few chapter cuts by someone done in a dead Greewich Village style, which contribute nothing to the story, and a cover by the same, in no way comparable to Cartier's.
If you would like to have de Camp's best story on your shelf, you mite buy the book, but do not expect much more from the story than you got in Unknown.

The sands of time and subscritions run out. If to the left of these lines you find the single word expired-- your subscription has run out (we guarantee nothing the s. of t.) or you haven't sent any exchange copy of your publication for so long that we're getting badly gypped. Why not spend two bits right away for the next three issues of Spaceways?

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14 SPACEWAYS A BOOK REVIEW by JACK F SPEER Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp. Henry Holt & Co., 1941. $2.50. It is not strictly true that this is an expanded version of the story that appeared in Unknown. I think it is more probably the story as de Camp originally wrote it, with some minor changes. This supposition is based primarily on the observation that the passages in the book which did not appear in Unknown are on the whole definitely inferior to the rest, and in many cases are of the sort that, while perfectly safe in books, would lead father to forbid Junior's ever reading that dirty magazine again had Campbell not censored him. Condensation was achieved in Unknown not only thru omission of some incidents, but also by rewriting some paragraphs, at times as drastically as Dawn of Flame was rewritten when published in Thrilling Wonder, at other times merely to cover up the omission of some incidents (of Campbell's recent slip in Land of Unreason, which carries a reference to the Queen's wand causing a cloudless rain, altho that incident does not appear in the Unknown Worlds version), and often simply in the omission of a "Christus!" or other interjection. In the omitting of incidents by Campbell there is no great consistency. The book contains rawer stuff than Unknown could allow, but does not tell what the Empress Theodora used to complain about, and in the magazine version were some mildly shocking things. In the book, de Camp discourses at greater length on the subject of languages, and goes into more detail on the military operations, but again the Unknown version carried a great deal of such material. The Church is taken fora ride oftener in the full story. On the other hand, some passages occurring in Unknown are not present here; the late arrival of the artillery after Bloody John was defeated, for instance. And there are some places in the book that appear to be rewrites of the magazine story rather than vice verse. Apparently neither is the Qvelle document. A further reason for believing the story was retouched before going into the book is Tancredi's exposition of his time-slipping theory, which seems to show the influence of Jack Williamson's Hindsight, which de Camp could not have had access to at the first writing. Among the many new characters introduced in the book are Ebenezer the Jew, a colleague of Thomasus the Syrian; assistant editor George Meandrus, barely mentioned in Unknown; Julia of Apulia, a slut of a housemaid, who gets Padway to have her in bed for a night; the Bishop of Bolgna, knowledge of whose private life enables Padway to get a troublesome local priest brot into line; Dorothea, daughter of an aristocrat, a nice girl about whom Padway becomes mildly romantic; Leo Vekkos, a Greek physician, one of a horde of quacks who descend on Martinus when he has a mild attack of flu; and others. The book itself is of averagely good appearance, but in place of the perfectly matched, vigorous Cartier illustrations, has a few chapter cuts by someone done in a dead Greewich Village style, which contribute nothing to the story, and a cover by the same, in no way comparable to Cartier's. If you would like to have de Camp's best story on your shelf, you mite buy the book, but do not expect much more from the story than you got in Unknown. The sands of time and subscritions run out. If to the left of these lines you find the single word expired-- your subscription has run out (we guarantee nothing the s. of t.) or you haven't sent any exchange copy of your publication for so long that we're getting badly gypped. Why not spend two bits right away for the next three issues of Spaceways?