“A Sending of Serpents”
First Published in Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1979
Collected in The Purple Pterodactyls
L. Sprague de Camp was born today, November 27, in 1907. Today would have been his eleventy-first birthday.
Rather than rehash biographical details, you can see last year’s post for that, I thought I would take a look at one of de Camp’s short stories. Last year I looked at three of de Camp’s short pieces the day after his birthday, but this year I’ve only got time for the one.
In the mid to late 70s de Camp published a series of short stories about W. Wilbury Wilson, a middle aged banker who has a number of fantastic adventures. Many of them were published in Fantasy & Science Fiction. It may be nostalgia, but I think that period in F&SF‘s history was one of its high points. I found about a seven year run covering that time period in a second hand shop when I was in high school, but that’s a post for another day.
The story I read was one of the later ones. In this one, a number of the elderly members of the bank are withdrawing their savings to give to a cult leader who claims to be from the planet Zikkarf. Yes, that’s a nod to Clark Ashton Smith’s Xiccarph stories. The cult leader has a passing resemblance to L. Ron Hubbard. Meanwhile the president of the bank has a nephew who has joined a rival cult leader. He reminded me of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, whose Unification Church was prominent in the late 70s when this story was written.
When Willy makes a speech at a public event criticizing the first cult by saying he’d rather pick up a rattler and trust it not to bite him than give money to the cult, snakes start showing up at his house. It seems that flyers have been posting offering money for snakes. Anonymous letters also start circulating around the neighborhood warning about him. I seem to recall reading somewhere years ago, and I can’t find the reference now, that de Camp criticized Scientology and got a similar treatment for his efforts.
Things come to a head when Willy receives a box, opens it, and finds a twelve foot cobra. A very unhappy twelve foot cobra. That’s when he turns to the rival cult for help, the one his boss’s nephew has joined. I have to wonder if the bit about taking part in nude ritual has any basis in fact. Read it, and you’ll see what I’m referring to.
“A Sending of Serpents” was something of a light fantasy rom-com, only without the rom. It wasn’t de Camp’s best, but he did play to his strength’s in writing it. There is wit and humor. The dialogue is smooth and crisp. I was amused and entertained, which was my goal in reading the story.
“A Sending of Serpents” was collected in The Purple Pterodactyls, which I’ve had sitting the shelf for years. Years, I say. I’ve been meaning to read it, so I took advantage of the opportunity. I’ll be reading more of them. This story had a tip of the hat to CAS. Other stories acknowledge H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard. I’m going to check them out.