The Author In Spite Of Himself

One of my favorite series of novels is Christopher Stasheff’s Warlock, which started with The Warlock in Spite of Himself in 1969. With ten books based on the adventures of the Warlock himself and another sixteen about those of his children (a round dozen of them focusing on his eldest son), it is certainly one of the most prolific series by a modern-day author adhering to a cohesive central storyline. It is even more remarkable when you consider that Stasheff has also found the time to write another nineteen novels in four other series, as well as serving as editor of a number of anthologies and books of collected stories.

The theme that Stasheff started out with over three and a half decades ago was simple enough; centuries in the future, interstellar colonization has spread Man throughout the galaxy. Over time, with the rise and fall of repressive governments (and occasionally with deliberate intent), many of these colonies have fallen out of contact with Earth and the rest of the “civilized” galaxy, forgetting their origins and reverting to pre-industrial societies. To one such world, named by its inhabitants Gramarye, comes our hero, Rodney d’Armand, second son of a second son of a noble family and now an agent of an organization that seeks out these lost worlds with the intention of bringing them back into fold, and his faithful (though epileptic) robot servant Fess. It doesn’t take long for them to discover that on Gramarye, which hosts a Medieval European culture, magic, not science, is apparently the norm. Assuming the nom de guerre Rod Gallowglass, he soon encounters witches, elves, werewolves and a host of other supernatural creatures, and discovers that the science he takes for granted (including the life-like mechanical horse’s body that houses Fess’s cybernetic brain) has labeled him as a warlock, and a very adept one at that. As one of the elves he meets puts it, “Nay, thou’rt a warlock, whether thou knowest it or not.” Rod has to discover how magic has come to work on this strange world, protect the Queen from assassination attempts so that he can help her establish a constitutional monarchy, and find out who is fomenting rebellion against the Crown, all while trying not be killed by various factions himself.

Stasheff’s books, especially The Warlock in Spite of Himself, are full of puns and bad jokes, which to me make them even more entertaining. I know that several reviewers have considered this a reason for dismissing his work as juvenile or puerile (or both), and the dated technology used in the first book is also called into question. In my opinion, neither the humor (if you don’t care for it) nor the technology detracts seriously from the entertainment value of the first book or its successors. While some of the later books in the series were less enjoyable than others, and at least one appeared to me to have been written to satisfy a contractual deadline, the overall continuing story has remained one that I not only enjoyed reading, but have read several times over. My original paperback copy of The Warlock in Spite of Himself, which brand-new cost 75 cents, is tattered and falling apart, having been read nearly to pieces. Hopefully the replacement copy, purchased at Half Price Books, will last for the next thirty years and all the subsequent re-readings.

While Stasheff is probably not considered one of the great or influential writers of modern science fiction/fantasy, I believe he has been vastly underrated both in terms of his popularity and in his impact on the genre. His book sales number in the millions, and his works have been translated into several other languages. (I’m sure Stasheff cries all the way to the bank when critics who can’t claim such sales figures pan his writing efforts.) His tales contain realistic heroes, human beings who surmount their own shortcomings and long odds to triumph over enemies determined to see them fail. He mixes idealism, adversity and sacrifice like a master, and puts in highlights of romance, adventure and religion just to spice things up a bit. If you enjoy science fiction/fantasy that is entertaining, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, easy to read yet with ideas that pop up from time-to-time to make you go “hmmm”, you will probably enjoy this series. One word of caution: start with The Warlock in Spite of Himself, not Escape Velocity, though some lists will put Escape Velocity first. Escape Velocity is a prequel, written some fourteen years after The Warlock in Spite of Himself, and although it takes place earlier in the history of Stasheff’s universe, it is much better understood when read second, if not after the other two books which preceded it, King Kobold Revived and The Warlock Unlocked. Happy reading!