The Warlock in Spite of Himself

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

Rodney Gallowglass is a spy whose job is to discover unknown planets that need to be brought into the fold of the enlightened democratic intergalactic system. When he lands on the backward planet of Gramayre in his spaceship disguised as an asteroid, Rod and his epileptic computer Fess discover a world of fantasy creatures ??? witches, ghosts, werewolves, dwarves and elves. Gramayre was originally settled by a group of humans who wanted to revert back to a feudal society. Now it???s a benevolent monarchy that???s threatened by anarchists, witches, and a man who wants to be dictator. Rod suspects that the agitators are being provoked and funded by an off-world interest. He decides that setting up a constitutional monarchy will be the best way to prepare Gramayre for moving on to a real democracy. Meanwhile, the people of Gramayre think Rod is a warlock because he???s got technology they can???t understand.

The Warlock in Spite of Himself, published in 1969, is a humorous science fantasy. I picked it up because I like science fantasy, I knew that Christopher Stasheff collaborated with L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt whose humorous HAROLD SHEA stories I enjoyed, and, lastly, an audiobook version of The Warlock in Spite of Himself has just been released by Wild Voices.

According to the publisher, The Warlock in Spite of Himself is ???sword-and-sorcery with a witty, edgy, wry twist.??? Though the story is fun and action-packed, I found that The Warlock in Spite of Himself, especially this audio version, didn???t live up to the publisher???s promise. It was often funny, but I wouldn???t call it ???witty,??? ???edgy??? or ???wry.??? There was nothing remarkable about the prose and I thought the humor was often juvenile and most likely to be enjoyed by teens (though The Warlock in Spite of Himself, because of the sexual content, is not marketed to teens).

Besides attempting to entertain us, Stasheff also uses his story as a platform to promote democracy and a representative government. I???m all for democracy and representation but, unfortunately, Stasheff???s treatment of different governmental systems is rather superficial and simplistic ??? democracy=good, Marxism=bad ??? without any serious discussion or explanation about what makes this so. This makes the story feel not only shallow, but also dated.

Another issue that makes The Warlock in Spite of Himself feel dated is Rod Gallowglass???s attitude toward women. For a future spaceman from an enlightened intergalactic confederation, it???s suspicious that his attitudes about women are congruent with those found in most 1950s American science fiction. He instantly falls in love with a woman just because she???s beautiful, laughs at the idea of asking a woman for help, thinks that men need to comfort women with lies about their relationship (???for a woman lives on love???), expects women to be weak and afraid, thinks they should be spanked when they misbehave and (if beautiful) ???claimed??? after a man proves his worth to himself.

The Warlock in Spite of Himself is over 40 years old, so I???m not asking it to fit my 21st century sensibilities (though plenty of old SFF does), but rather I???m explaining why the novel doesn???t hold up very well. I have no doubt, though, that it will be a fun and comfortable read for readers who originally encountered it and loved it a few decades ago, for readers who get nostalgic about old-fashioned science fiction, or for readers who occasionally (or always) enjoy a light, shallow, slightly silly adventure story.

The audio version of The Warlock in Spite of Himself was produced by Wild Voices and performed by a full cast. Unfortunately, this was not a good production and this may have contributed to my disappointment with the story. There are bad sound effects, inconsistent volume levels, and intrusive background music ??? all of these obscure the narration. The main narrator, Dennis F. Regan, was fine (though he pronounced ???demesnes??? like it looks), but some of the voices for the secondary characters were difficult to understand, sometimes because it felt like they were at the far end of a long tunnel. I couldn???t even hear some of what Fess the computer said, even with the volume on my Audible app turned all the way up. Needless to say, I won???t be trying any more Wild Voices productions. If you decide to read The Warlock in Spite of Himself, I suggest that you read the paperback or Kindle version.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I volunteer at a secondhand bookstore where we get a lot of volumes from this series, so I figured I'd see what it was all about. The set up, I thought, was very clever: we have a sci-fi setting (robot sidekick, space travel) blended with a lost colony of medieval enthusiasts (sounded basically like a Ren Faire, haha). So the inhabitants of the colony have now forgotten all about the advanced technology they left behind, and now the adventuring astronaut (our main character) and his knowledge come across as magical to them. Hence, warlock. :)

Overall, I liked the setting, which allows the author to play with lots of medieval references. The narration, too, was amusing, often tongue-in-cheek. The portrayal of the female characters doesn't hold up with what I would expect from a book written today; there are two active women in the story, and they fall into very distinct, rather pejorative roles. One's motivation is attributed simply to her unlikable arrogance, and the other's motivation is that she fell in love with the hero . . . for reasons that aren't entirely clear (to a female reader). Descriptions of all women are a bit single-minded. That said–it's a fantasy adventure written decades ago. So, grains of salt must be taken with character portrayals.

The plot is very active and political, and ends up with several character reveals, etc. It was intriguing, definitely, and came together satisfactorily–though occasionally our main character would hash out a new development with his robot just a little too repetitively (leaving me thinking, ‘Yes, but didn't we already know that?'). It ended up being pretty easy to follow, which is good because I don't have much of a head for drama. ;) A couple of explanations came rather suddenly at the end of the story, including one I particularly liked about witches and why everyone was interested in the colony in the first place. But, as a primarily mystery reader these days, perhaps I've become picky about my reveals. :)

Overall, I enjoyed the story and its twists, especially for the creative world-building. If you're into funny, clever fantasy–and especially if you're familiar with that sort of classic, swashbuckling hero adventure from decades past–you'll probably have fun reading it.