Book description
Acting sergeant Thorolf Zigramson of the Fourth Commonwealth Foot, an
aspiring scholar but a soldier by default, somewhat reluctantly rescues
Yvette, the beautiful countess of Grintz, from the soldiers set after
her by an evil duke who covets her body and her land. After elderly
magician Doctor Bardi mistakenly transforms Yvette into an octopus,
Thorolf turns to sinister Doctor Orlandus to restore her true form and
discovers that the Doctor Orlandus has invaded the minds of his
followers, including Yvette, and is slowly assuming control of the
government of Rhaetia. When Thorolf is accused of Doctor Bardi's murder,
he flees to the trolls, one of whom he must wed to gain sanctuary and
keep from being eaten. From their uncertain stronghold he mounts an
expedition to rescue his beloved countess and his country. Lyon
Sprague de Camp was born in 1907 and died in 2000. During a writing
career that spanned seven decades, he wrote over a hundred books in the
areas of science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, non-fiction and
biography. Although arguably best known for his continuation of Robert
E. Howard's Conan stories, de Camp was an important figure in the
formative period of modern SF, alongside the likes of Isaac Asimov and
Robert A. Heinlein, and was a winner of the Hugo, World Fantasy Life
Achievement and SFWA Grand Master awards.
