some variety of angel, are wakening from an age-
long sleep to interfere in human affairs during the
Victorian era, and a secret society of werewolves
is battling them. The series continued with The
Angel of Pain(1991) and The Carnival of Destruc-
tion(1994), with more of the sleepers wakening
and using humans as tools with which to examine
the world. The trilogy is a major accomplishment,
but its complexity tends to discourage casual
readers.
Young Blood (1992) is a more conventional
present-day vampire story, notably, for the depth
with which the author examines the various char-
acters who discover that they are no longer
human. The Hunger and Ecstasy of Vampires(1996)
is science fiction, despite its title, although Stable-
ford’s treatment may be of interest to horror fans.
His most recent fantasy novel is Year Zero(2002),
an offbeat satire and kitchen sink novel in which a
contemporary woman has a series of surreal en-
counters with everything from angels and demons
to aliens from outer space.
A good selection of Stableford’s fantasy fiction
can be found in Fables and Fantasies (1996).
Among his better stories are “Judas Story” (1975),
“Slumming in Voodooland (1991), “Seers” (1997),
and “The Devil’s Comedy” (2002). He has also
written four heroic fantasy novels set in the
Warhammer role-playing game universe under the
pen name Brian Craig. Although primarily a sci-
ence fiction writer, his occasional horror fiction has
gathered considerable praise.
Stallman, Robert (1930–1980)
Although Robert Stallman’s writing career was cut
short by his premature death, he left behind an un-
usual set of three books that has ensured that his
name will not soon be forgotten. The trilogy con-
sists of The Orphan(1980), The Captive(1981),
and The Beast(1982, also published as The Book of
the Beast). A cursory examination would lead the
casual reader to believe that these are novels about
a werewolf, but Stallman actually took that legend
and stood it on its head. The opening volumes re-
veal the birth of the beast, a powerful, predatory
animal whose origin is never explained and whose
powers are never rationalized. The beast is the
central figure from that point forward, not a
human who can turn into a beast but a beast who
can alter his form and take the guise of a human.
The limitations on the beast’s powers of trans-
formation are unusual. It can violate the law of
conservation of mass and energy by becoming a
human child, but it cannot imitate an imaginary or
living human, only those who have recently died.
As part of the process of self-preservation the beast
creates a second personality in its own mind, and
there is sometimes conflict between the two per-
sonae. Most of the series then consists of the
beast’s attempts to learn how to be human and the
occasional difficulties arising from his split nature.
There is a melodramatic subplot in which the beast
rescues his human wife and child from a band of
neo-Nazis and the revelation in the final book that
there are other shape-changers in the world,
though most are not like the beast. The beast
achieves his destiny at last, although the final vol-
ume is not as coherent as the first two, probably
because Stallman died before he had completed re-
vising it. The trilogy is a particularly remarkable
achievement since Stallman had written no previ-
ous fiction.Stasheff, Christopher(1944– )
Christopher Stasheff is best known as the author of
the very long Warlock series, which is science fic-
tion rather than fantasy but should also be of inter-
est to fantasy readers because it is set on a planet
whose physical laws and technology have been
contrived to make it appear that magic works.
Stasheff began writing the series in 1969, but it was
not until 1986 that his first actual fantasy novel
appeared.
Her Majesty’s Wizard(1986) was the first vol-
ume of the Wizard in Rhyme series, the individual
volumes of which share a common setting but
sometimes use entirely different casts of characters.
In the first a man from our world discovers that by
reciting certain poetry he can be magically trans-
ported into a typical fantasy world. His light-
hearted, lightweight adventures are often caused
by his own blundering in this and the belated se-
quel, The Oathbound Wizard(1993). A different
protagonist takes the stage in The Witch Doctor336 Stallman, Robert