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Stasheff, Christopher

(1944-2018) US author with a PhD in theatre, a subject he taught at university level; his writing career began with and has remained almost wholly dedicated to the variously interconnected Science Fantasy Warlock series, the first being the Warlock/Rod Gallowglass sequence, whose internal chronology begins with a book several titles into the sequence, Escape Velocity (1983), then continues untroubled with The Warlock in Spite of Himself (1969), Stasheff's first book (and perhaps his best), and ending with The Warlock's Last Ride (2004). With decreasing joie de vivre, and an increasing sense that lessons of religious import were being incongruously imported into a play universe, the sequence follows the zany adventures of Rod Gallowglass and his clumsy Robot steed-cum-sidekick named Fess, casually hired agents of a galactic confederation hoping to reunite various lost human colonies (see Colonization of Other Worlds), have found themselves on the planet of Gramarye, where Magic works (thinly rationalized as an expression of Psi Powers); they settle into this Medieval Futurist world, and flourish. There is some Time Travel, excursions into Alternate Worlds; many creatures of Faerie are comically rendered. Further Warlock series include the Warlock/Rogue Wizard sequence beginning with A Wizard in Bedlam (1979) and ending with A Wizard in a Feud (2001); the Warlock/A Wizard in Rhyme sequence beginning with Her Majesty's Wizard (1986) and ending with The Feline Wizard (2000); and the Warlock/Warlock's Heirs sequence. [For Rationalized Fantasy see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below.]

More recently Stasheff ventured into new territory. The Starship Troupers sequence – comprising A Company of Stars (1991), We Open on Venus (1994) and Starship Troupers #3: A Slight Detour (1995) – follows a theatre company from twenty-third-century New York to various planets, where Stasheff's own love for the theatre invigorates the Planetary Romance format. Mind Out of Time (coll 2003) assembles light fiction, at some points heavy with puns. With Bill Fawcett he edited a Shared-World series about the Crafter family of magicians, The Crafters (anth 1991) and The Crafters #2: Bellsings and Curses (anth 1992); no further volumes appeared. [JC]

see also: Fantasy; Humour; Supernatural Creatures; Sword and Sorcery.

Christopher Boris Stasheff

born Mount Vernon, New York: 15 January 1944

died Champaign, Illinois: 10 June 2018

works

series

Warlock/Rod Gallowglass

Warlock/Rogue Wizard

Warlock/A Wizard in Rhyme

Warlock/Warlock's Heirs

Starship Troupers

Star Stone

individual titles

Including collections, stories, contributions to Shared Worlds.

works as editor

series

Crafters

individual titles

links

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 17:04 pm on 13 January 2025.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/stasheff_christopher>