Aristotle and the Gun

Aristotle and the gun : and other stories / L. Sprangue de Camp; with an introduction by Harry Turtledove.—

Waterville : Five Star, 2002.

240 p. ; xx cm.

ISBN: 0786243112

Contents: Aristotle and the gun – The gnarly man – A gun for dinosaur – The honeymoon dragon – The mislaid mastodon – Nothing in the rules – Two yards of dragon.

1. Fantasy fiction. 2. Science fiction. 3. Short stories. 4. Time travel – Fiction.

813.52

This is an excellent sampling of de Camp’s work. The original copyrights on these stories range from 1939 to 1993. There’s humorous fantasy about a knight with an entrepreneurial knight who’d much rather get ahead in the world by maximizing profits rather than slaying dragons, and a story of the havoc caused by entering a mermaid in a swim meet. There are also science fiction stories: a Neanderthal living in New York in 1946, a cautionary tale about going back in time to enlighten the ancient Greeks about the advantages of the scientific method, and – my favorites – three stories told by Reginald Rivers, de Camp’s time traveling Australian dinosaur hunting guide.

The only out of place thing in the whole package is the odd cover illustration, a flying charioteer with a lightning whip breaking through plate glass, which has no connection with any of the stories in the book.