There is no mistaking the dismay on the face of a writer who has just heard that his brain child is a deformed idiot.

The de Camps moved to Plano Texas in 1989. He also edited a series of early fantasy anthologies credited with helping to spark the renaissance of heroic fantasy in the late 1960s. De Camp eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant commander in the U.

He "was widely regarded as an imaginative and innovative writer and was an important figure in the heyday of science fiction from the late 1930s through the late 1940s. ". In a career spanning 60 years he wrote over 100 books including novels and notable works of non-fiction including biographies of other important fantasy authors.