Lest Darkness Fall
Written by: | L. Sprague de Camp |
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Central Theme: | |
Synopsis: | |
First published: | 1941 |
Martin Padway is struck by lightning in 1938 and finds himself in sixth-century Rome, on the verge of its ruin at Justinian's hands and the onset of the Dark Ages. He may be able to save civilization, if he can only get the ruling Goths to grasp the value of his innovations...
Lest Darkness Fall was written by L. Sprague de Camp.
- Alternate History
- Changed My Jumper - Martin's wearing a light wool suit, necktie, modern shoes and hat. No one seems to particularly notice.
- Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence
"You don't like the Goths?" |
- Giving Radio to the Romans - Notable in that one of the first and most important inventions he introduces is brandy. In itself, useless. For making money and building a place in society, invaluable.
- One-Man Industrial Revolution - Distilleries, the telegraph, the printing press, the telescope...
- Trapped in the Past
- What Year Is This? - Martin tries to ask people the date in his shaky Latin, and at first gets the year in the old Roman calendar, then has to ask how many years since Christ was born to get the proper year.