has not aged well, but the basic satire of the story
remains valid.
There have been several film versions ranging
from serious to animated to musical comedy, and
the protagonist has been replaced with a space-
man and a young black female child in some cases.
L. Sprague DE CAMP, responding to the ease with
which Twain’s protagonist is able to recreate mod-
ern technology in a primitive culture, wrote what is
perhaps his best single novel, Lest Darkness Fall
(1941), in which a contemporary academic falls
back through time to the days of the Roman Em-
pire and tries unsuccessfully to use modern knowl-
edge to prevent the fall of civilization. Knowledge
in a vacuum proves to be virtually useless. There is
no industrial base to provide the tools he needs to
build advanced weapons, and even if he did, the
preconceptions and habits of the Romans are so en-
trenched that he has no serious chance of changing
their attitude. Many other time travel novels, in-
cluding hundreds of time travel romances, owe at
least a nodding debt to Twain’s classic.
Constantine, Storm (1956– )
Although Storm Constantine’s early fantasy novels
have only recently begun to appear in the United
States, she quickly accumulated a significant read-
ership when they first appeared in the early 1990s.
Constantine employs a rich prose style to describe
very elaborate fantasy worlds whose characters,
human and otherwise, have complex and believ-
able personalities. She mixes various archetypes—
angels and vampires among them—and some of
her fantasy worlds overlap into science fiction and
vice versa. Her Wraethu series, the early volumes
of which are essentially science fiction, are often
lumped with her fantasy because they read so simi-
larly, and more recent titles in the series blur the
distinction even further. Hermetech(1991) can also
be read as part of either genre.
Sign for the Sacred(1992) is more clearly fan-
tasy, a sometimes darkly humorous story in which
angels and vampires are blended into a somewhat
erotic, intensely mystical story about the role of re-
ligion in human life. The vampires are relatively
benevolent and are actually a race from another
world who have settled on a magical alternate
Earth in Burying the Shadow(1992). The protago-
nist of Calenture (1994), whose beautifully de-
scribed cultural setting is fascinating in itself, may
or may not be imagining the other characters in
the story. Two opposed groups of angelic creatures
battle each other over the destiny of the human
race in Stealing Sacred Fire(1995).
Stalking Tender Prey(1995), the first of the
Grigori books, covers somewhat similar ground. A
race of angels has long abandoned humanity, but
now one of their number has returned, and the
population of a small village falls under his hyp-
notic power. In the sequel, Scenting Hallowed Blood
(1996), a large number of angels have secretly
taken up residence in England, where they plan to
assert their authority over humanity at the coming
of the millennium. One of their number has had
second thoughts, however, and acts to preserve
human free will and independence.
Her most successful fantasy work to date is the
Magravandias Chronicles, consisting of Sea Dragon
Heir(2000), The Crown of Silence(2000), and Wa y
of Light(2001). The heir to the throne of Caradore
is magically bonded to the ruler of the people who
conquered his country. This is designed to enforce
loyalty, but the situation becomes fluid when the
current heir becomes passionately involved with
his own sister, an act that wakens old and danger-
ous magic. Prophecies and a magician raised from
the dead accelerate matters, which resolve them-
selves finally with a blend of treachery, intrigue,
and overt adventure. The underlying sexual im-
agery is powerful even in restraint, and Constan-
tine’s prose is invariably impressive, although it
may demand too much from some casual readers.
Much of Constantine’s short fiction is related
to her novels, usually embellishing her fantastic
worlds or providing sidelights to the histories of her
imagined nations. The best collection is The Oracle
Lips(1999), but Three Heralds of the Storm(1998)
and The Thorn Boy and Other Dreams of Dark Desire
(2002) are also quite good, the latter containing
stories related to the Magravandias Chronicles.Cook, Glen(1944– )
Glen Cook started his career writing science fiction
in the early 1970s, but by the end of the decade he64 Constantine, Storm