*The Warrior Race edit

"The Warrior Race"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inAstounding Science-Fiction
PublisherStreet & Smith Publications, Inc.
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateOctober 1940

"The Warrior Race" is a classic science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for October, 1940.[1][2] It first appeared in book form in the collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction (Shasta, 1948),;[1][2] it later appeared in the anthologies The Edward De Bono Science Fiction Collection (The Elmfield Press, 1976),[2] Isaac Asimov Presents The Great SF Stories 2 (1940) (DAW Books, 1979),[1][2] and Barbarians II (Signet/New American Library, Feb. 1988).[2]

Plot summary edit

"Earth is under the rule of the incorruptible Centaurans. They are a warrior race of extraterrestrial humanoids known for their inhumanly high standards of conduct and rigic discipline. Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia, Juggins, a Centaurian, begins to submit to the pressures of living among corrupt humans. He begins smoking, taking bribes and otherwise touching off the decline and fall of the Centurian conquerors."

Reception edit

Commenting on this story in Laughlin and Levack's comprehensive bibliography of de Camp's works, Loay H. Hall writes "In this tale, de Camp again employs his vast knowledge of history--in this case the Spartan warrior race and its decline and fall, which he draws upon to explain the corruption of the Centurians. Despite de Camp's tongue-in-cheek claim in the foreword to The Wheels of If (Shasta, 1948) that he does not write satire, there is little doubt that this tale—and "The Contraband Cow"—are intended to be satire."[1]

Importance edit

X

Awards edit

The story was nominated for the 2016 Retro Hugo Award for Best Novelette, but placed below the cutoff for finalists for the award.[2]

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c d Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 258-259.
  2. ^ a b c d e f The Warrior Race title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database


Category:Science fiction short stories Category:Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp Category:1940 short stories

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*The Soaring Statue edit

"The Soaring Statue"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
File:The Soaring Statue.jpg
W. E. Terry's illustration of the
story in Other Worlds Science Stories
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inOther Worlds Science Stories
PublisherClark Publishing Company
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateJuly 1952

"The Soaring Statue" is a classic science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Other Worlds Science Stories for July, 1952.[1][2] It first appeared in book form in the anthology Tomorrow's Universe (Hamilton & Co., 1953),[1][2]

Plot summary edit

"An earthly archaeologist settles a quarrel between two nations on another planet, rescues the wife of the terran governor, and liberates archaeological relics the governor has wrongly collected."

Reception edit

X

Relation to other works edit

De Camp's theme of scientists plying their trade amid administrative, local and environmental difficulties and sometimes resorting to extreme expedients in defence of their professions and professional standards is a common one in his fiction. Other examples include the short stories "Employment" (1939), "Living Fossil" (1939), "The Colorful Character" (1949), "In-Group" (1952), and "The Saxon Pretender" (1952) and the novels The Great Fetish (1978), The Bones of Zora (1983), The Stones of Nomuru (1988), and The Venom Trees of Sunga (1992).

In its portrait of a medieval-level society in the shadow of a technologically advanced one, "The Soaring Statue" complements the Krishna and Kukulkan stories in de Camp's Viagens Interplanetarias series.

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 240.
  2. ^ a b The Soaring Statue title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Warning: Default sort key "Soaring Statue, The" overrides earlier default sort key "Warrior Race, The". Category:Science fiction short stories Category:Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp Category:1952 short stories

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The Best-Laid Scheme edit

"The Best-Laid Scheme"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inAstounding Science-Fiction
PublisherStreet & Smith Publications, Inc.
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateFebruary 1941

"The Best-Laid Scheme" is a classic time travel science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for February, 1941, and was reprinted in Fantastic Story Magazine for March, 1953.[1][2] It first appeared in book form in the collection The Wheels of If and Other Science Fiction (Shasta, 1949).[1][2] The story has been translated into German.[1]

Plot summary edit

This parody on other time travel stories is about a scientist who uses a time travel device to threaten all of North America with destruction through time travel paradoxes, and the secret agent attempting to stop him using a copy of the device.

"A tale of time travel and time paradox. Russell Hedges, seeking to rule his world of the future, threatens mass destruction unless he is made Chief Executive of the North American Continent. Agent Mendez de Witt is called in and proceeds to chase Hedges forward and backward in time. De Witt catches up with him in 1959 and during a foot chase space-time is ruptured and the two find themselves curiously changed."

Reception edit

X

Importance edit

X

Awards edit

X

Notes edit

  1. ^ a b c Laughlin, Charlotte, and Levack, Daniel J. H. De Camp: An L. Sprague de Camp Bibliography. San Francisco, Underwood/Miller, 1983, page 129.
  2. ^ a b The Best-Laid Scheme title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database

Warning: Default sort key "Best-Laid Scheme, The" overrides earlier default sort key "Soaring Statue, The". Category:Science fiction short stories Category:Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp Category:1941 short stories

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The Round-Eyed Barbarians edit

"The Round-Eyed Barbarians"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Publication
Published inAmazing Stories
PublisherTSR, Inc.
Media typePrint (Magazine)
Publication dateJanuary 1992

"The Round-Eyed Barbarians" is an alternate history science fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Amazing Stories for January, 1992.[1] It first appeared in book form in the collection Alternate Americas (Bantam Spectra, Oct. 1992),[1] subsequently gathered into the omnibus collection What Might Have Been: Volumes 3 & 4: Alternate Wars / Alternate Americas (Bantam Spectra/SFBC, Dec. 1992); it later appeared in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection (St. Martin's Press, Jun. 1993), issued in the UK as Best New SF 7 (Robinson, Sep. 1993)[1] Translation: Italian by Rosanna Petino as "I barbari", in I mondi del possibile (ed. Piergiorgio Nicolazzini), q.v."

Plot summary edit

"What if: The Chinese discovered the Americas before Columbus. Summary: C. 1560, Spanish and Chinese explorers meet in North America, and a dispute over a Spaniard's elopement with a AmerInd girl must be settled."

Reception edit

X

Importance edit

X

Awards edit

X

Notes edit

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=Gratitude

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=A Thing of Custom

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=Impractical Joke

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=New Arcadia

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Captain Leopard edit

"Captain Leopard"
Short story by L. Sprague de Camp
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Historical fiction
Publication
Published inClassical Stories: Heroic Tales from Ancient Greece and Rome
PublisherPast Times
Media typePrint (Anthology)
Publication dateJuly, 1996

"Captain Leopard" is a historical fiction short story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the anthology Classical Stories: Heroic Tales from Ancient Greece and Rome (Past Times, July, 1996).[1] It later appeared in the anthology Heroic Adventure Stories: From the Golden Age of Greece and Rome (Robinson, Jan. 1998), and the magazine Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror no. 9, Sep. 2005.[1]

Plot summary edit

Retiring Roman Legionary Captain Pantera is looking to invest his savings in the partnership of a Syrian inn. In the course of conversation with his prospective partners it emerges that he once fathered an illegitimate child by a Judean woman who grew up to be a obscure preacher, Jesus of Nazareth, about whose teachings and fate a rising cult has since been founded.

Reception edit

X

Importance edit

X

Awards edit

X

Notes edit

Category:Historical fiction Category:Short stories by L. Sprague de Camp Category:1996 short stories

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John R. Fultz edit

John R. Fultz
Born (1969-10-09) October 9, 1969 (age 54)
Breathitt County, Kentucky, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, teacher
Genrespeculative fiction
Website
johnrfultz.com

John Ray Fultz is an American teacher and writer of speculative fiction and comics,[1][2] best known for his Books of the Shaper and Tall Eagle novels. He writes as John R. Fultz.[2]

Biography edit

Fultz was born in 1969[3] in Kentucky,[1][2][4] where he was also raised.[3] He later lived in Chicago, and moved to California in 1998.[3] He lives in the North Bay Area,[1][4] and teaches high school level English Literature[4] in the Napa Valley Unified School District.[5][6]

Literary career edit

Fultz's fiction has appeared in Weird Tales, Black Gate, and Space & Time; his comic book work has appeared in the comic book anthologies Zombie Tales and Cthulhu Tales. His graphic novel Primordia was published by Archaia Comics.[4]

Bibliography edit

Books of the Shaper edit

  1. Seven Princes (2012)
  2. Seven Kings (2013)
  3. Seven Sorcerers (2013)

Tall Eagle edit

  1. The Testament of Tall Eagle (2015)
  2. Son of Tall Eagle (2018)

The Zang Cycle edit

Other collections edit

Chapbooks edit

  • Strange Days in Old Yandrissa (2012)

Short Fiction edit

  • "The Lost Scrolls of Mu" (1997)
  • "The Giants of Oothom Zagi" (1998)
  • "The Devouring of S'lithik Hhai" (1998
  • "Kingdom of the Black Lotus" (1998)
  • "The Five Deaths of Uz Kybul" (1999)
  • "The Maddening of Amun Zah" (2000)
  • "I Do the Work of the Bone Queen" (2008)
  • "Behind the Eyes" (2009)
  • "This Is How the World Ends" (2010)
  • "The Taste of Starlight" (2010)
  • "The Thirteen Texts of Arthyria" (2010) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Where the White Lotus Grows" (2011) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Strange Days in Old Yandrissa" (2012) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "The Gnomes of Carrick County" (2012) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Flesh of the City, Bones of the World" (2013)
  • "The Key to Your Heart Is Made of Brass" (2013)
  • "Daughter of the Elk Goddess" (2013) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Yael of the Strings" (2014) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Anno Domini Azathoth" (2015)
  • "The Rude Mechanicals and the Highwayman" (2015)
  • "Chivaine" (2015) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "The River Flows to Nowhere" (2016)
  • "The Penitence of the Blade" (2016) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Ten Thousand Drops of Holy Blood" (2017) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "The Man Who Murders Happiness" (2017)
  • "The Veneration of Evil in the Kingdom of Ancient Lies" (2017)
  • "Love in the Time of Dracula" (2018)
  • "Oorg" (2018) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "Clouds Like Memories, Words Like Stones" (2018)
  • "Tears of the Elohim" (2018) (collected in Worlds Beyond Worlds (2021)
  • "The Thing in the Pond" (2019)
  • "The Embrace of Elder Things" (2019)

Verse edit

  • "R'lyeh Rising" (1997)

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Fultz, John R. "About" at johnrfultz.com
  2. ^ a b c John R. Fultz at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
  3. ^ a b c "Introducing John R. Fultz" [interview] at civilian-reader.blogspot.com.
  4. ^ a b c d Wagner, Wendy. "John R. Fultz" [author profile] at lightspeedmagazine.com.
  5. ^ Entry for John R Fultz at openpayrolls.com.
  6. ^ Entry for John R Fultz at transparentcalifornia.com.


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Saved here to be reworked away from the current back-and-forth deletion war. 3/21/2023.

Chalcis (ancient state) edit

Chalcis
Vassal state of Roman Empire
c. 80 BC–92 CE
CapitalChalcis sub Libanum (Anjar, Lebanon?)
Government
Tetrarch (King between 41 - 48 CE) 
• c. 80 – 40 BCE
Ptolemaeus Menneus
• 40 – 33 BCE
Lysanias
• 23 – 20 BCE
Zenodorus
• 41 – 48 CE
Herod of Chalcis
• 48 – 53 CE
Agrippa II
• 57 – 92 CE
Aristobulus of Chalcis
Historical eraClassic era
• dissolution of the Seleucid Empire
c. 80 BC
• Chalcis becomes Roman vassal state
64 BCE
• death of Aristobulus of Chalcis, incorporation into Roman Syria
92 CE
Preceded by
Succeeded by
  Seleucid Empire
  Coele-Syria
Herodian Tetrarchy  
Roman Syria  
Today part ofIsrael
Syria
Lebanon

Chalcis was a small ancient Iturean majority state situated in the Beqaa Valley, referred to at various times either as a kingdom or tetrarchy, named for and originally based from the city of the same name. The ancient city of Chalcis (a.k.a. Chalcis sub Libanum, Chalcis of Coele-Syria was located midway between Berytus and Damascus.[1] The modern town of Anjar in Lebanon is believed to be the site of ancient Chalcis sub Libanum, although this has not been definitively demonstrated. The ruins of a Roman temple are located a few kilometers south-west of Anjar near Majdal Anjar. Other sources indicate that Chalcis sub Libanum is located at "Husn esh-Shadur" near Baalbek.[2][3]

Independent kingdom edit

Originally, Chalcis was a city in Coele-Syria. When the Seleucid influence in the area began to dissipate, the Itureans took over a region stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to near Damascus. They made Chalcis the capital of their realm, while Baalbek was the center of worship. The founder of this realm seems to have been Ptolemaeus, son of Menneus, an Ituraean dynast.[citation needed]

During the time of Alexander Jannaeus, Hasmonaean king of Judea, Ptolemaeus had to cede part of his territory to the Hasmonaeans. This area was later known as Iturea (Iturea, in an ethnic sense, covered the much larger area in which the Itureans were settled). In 64 BCE Ptolemaeus bribed the Roman general Pompeius to refrain from annexing his realm and allow him to continue to rule as Tetrarch. Pompey also returned to him the areas lost to Jannaeus when he brought an end to the independent Hasmonaean state in 63 BCE.[citation needed]

Roman vassal state edit

 
The realm of Chalcis (no boundaries indicated) is north of the territory marked here in yellow, which highlights instead the adjacent tetrarchy of Philip (4 BCE - 34 CE), then kingdom of Herod Agrippa I (37 - 44 CE) and Herod Agrippa II (53 - 100 CE) (Iturea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Batanea, and Auranitis).

Chalcis was a vassal state under Roman rule during the remainder of Ptolemaeus' reign. In 40 BCE, he was succeeded by his son Lysanias. Lysanias supported the efforts of the Hasmonean scion Antigonus II Mattathias to take the throne of Judea in 42 and 40 BCE, allying with him against the Roman client king Herod, whom he temporarily supplanted on his Parthian-supported second attempt. Lysanias's anti-Roman sympathies eventually led to his execution by Mark Antony in 33 BCE, at the instigation of Cleopatra VII of Egypt, who had eyes on his territories.[4]

Though Antony gave Lysanias' territory to Cleopatra, a remnant realm of Chalcis persisted after this disaster, with the most important cities being Chalcis and Abila. Cleopatra leased it to Zenodorus, possibly a son of Lysanias, and following her suicide in 30 BCE, Augustus initially allowed Zenodorus to rule as Tetrarch, only to depose him in 23 BCE for conducting raids into Trachonitis, which had prompted complaints from his neighbors. Augustus then gave some or all of his lands to Herod, including Iturea, Batanaea, Trachonitis and Auranitis. Little is known about Chalcis itself in the time immediately after Lysanias' death; Chalcis sub Libanum and its district may have been made part of the Roman province of Syria, while Abilene, the area around Abila, appears to have made up a separate statelet at least part of the time.[citation needed]

Division edit

The districts surrendered to Herod continued to be ruled by him and his family, who in time came to control the core regions of the former kingdom as well. After Herod's death in 4 BCE, Iturea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Batanea, Paneas and Auranitis became a tetrarchy under Philip, one of his sons, who ruled as a tetrarch until his death in AD 34. Meanwhile, Abilene may have gone to another Lysanias, mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 3:1 as tetrarch of Abilene in the time of John the Baptist. It is possible, however, that the reference to Lysanias in Luke is an anachronistic reference to the Lysanias put to death by Antony.[citation needed]

In AD 37, Emperor Caligula gave Herod Agrippa I the former tetrarchies of Philip (namely Iturea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Batanea, Paneas and Auranitis) and Lysanias (Abilene) with the title of king. His realm was subsequently augmented in AD 40 by the regions of Galilee and Perea, formerly ruled by Herod Antipas (4 BCE - AD 39),[5][6] and in AD 41 by the regions of Judea, Idumea and Samaria, formerly ruled by Herod Archelaus (4 BCE - AD 6) and then formed the province of Judaea (AD 6 - 41). Agrippa I ruled all these territories until his death in AD 44.

Meanwhile, in AD 39, the district of Iturea was given by Caligula to a certain Soemus, who is called by Dio Cassius (lix. 12) and by Tacitus (Annals, xii. 23) "king of the Itureans." Soemus reigned until his death in AD 49, when his kingdom was incorporated into the province of Syria (Tacitus, l.c.).

In AD 41, at Agrippa's request, his brother Herod was given Chalcis and allowed the title of basileus (king) by Claudius.[7] King Herod of Chalcis reigned until his death in AD 48, whereupon his kingdom was given to Agrippa's son Agrippa II, though only as a tetrarchy.[8][1]

Agrippa II was forced to give up the tetrarchy of Chalcis in AD 53, but in exchange Claudius made him ruler with the title of king over the territories previously governed by Philip (Iturea, Trachonitis, Gaulanitis, Batanea, Paneas and Auranitis), and Lysanias (Abilene).[9][10][11] In 55, the Emperor Nero added to his realm the cities of Tiberias and Taricheae in Galilee, and Livias (Iulias), with fourteen villages near it, in Perea.

The tetrarchy of Chalcis, previously surrendered by Agrippa II in AD 53, was subsequently in AD 57 given to his cousin Aristobulus, the son of Herod of Chalcis (Acts 25:13; 26:2,7). After the death of Aristobulus in AD 92, Chalcis was absorbed into the province of Syria.

According to Photius, Agrippa II died at the age of seventy in the third year of the reign of Trajan (AD 100,[12] but statements of Josephus, in addition to the contemporary epigraphy from his kingdom, cast this date into serious doubt.[citation needed] The modern scholarly consensus holds that he died before 93/94.[13] Following his death his realm as well came under the direct rule of Rome.

Rulers of Chalcis edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Herod Agrippa II at Livius.org
  2. ^ "Chalcis sub Libano". Pleiades.
  3. ^ "Chalcis sub Libano, Husn esh-Shadur". Digital Atlas of the Roman Empire. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  4. ^ Josephus, Jewish Antiquities, 15.92.
  5. ^ Schwartz, Daniel R. Agrippa I Mohr 1990
  6. ^ Rajak, Tessa (1996), "Iulius Agrippa (1) I, Marcus", in Hornblower, Simon (ed.), Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^   One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domainChisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Agrippa, Herod, I.". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 425.
  8. ^   Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Agrippa II". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.: "In the year 50, without regard to the rights of the heir to the throne, he had himself appointed ... to the principality of Chalcis by the emperor."
  9. ^ Josephus, Antiquities (book 20, chapter 7, verse 1); Josephus, Wars of the Jews (book 2, chapter 12, verse 8).
  10. ^ Hoehner, Harold W. (1980) [1972]. Herod Antipas. Contemporary evangelical perspectives: biblical history (Volume 17). Zondervan. p. 108. ISBN 9780310422518. Retrieved 2016-09-10.
  11. ^ Orr, James, ed. (2018) [1939]. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Delmarva. p. 6669. Retrieved 2016-09-16.
  12. ^ Photius cod. 33
  13. ^ Rajak (1996), Iulius Agrippa (2) II, Marcus

Category:Ancient Lebanon Category:Roman Syria Category:Former kingdoms

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Draft addition to Conan Chronologies article edit

Gary Grossmann chronology edit

In 2023 Gary Grossmann circulated his own take on the chronology, again including only those stories written by Howard. He focuses on the 21 completed stories, but also makes an effort to place the fragments and outlines, where possible. Grossmann bases his story placements on close readings of the texts and the chronological hints and evidence on Conan's maturation and accumulation of experience therein, together with a minimalistic approach to where he might have been when, giving weight to geographical proximity of the various adventures in appraising their nearness to each other in time. He differs most radically from his predecessors in the always-speculative bridges between the stories, envisioning links he views as truer to the character and circumstances than others provide. He notes that all chronologies (including his) agree in assigning the stories into early, middle and late groupings, with the disagreements between schemes applying only to the arrangements of stories within these groupings.

Order edit