The Warlock in Spite of Himself

The Warlock in Spite of Himself is a science fantasy novel by American author Christopher Stasheff, published in 1969. It is the first book in the Warlock of Gramarye series. The title is a play on the title of Molière's Le Médecin malgré lui (The Doctor, in Spite of Himself).

As the Vietnam War continued, Stasheff's novel clothed his thinly-veiled commentary about the proper uses of government and democracy in a fantasy about interstellar travel, fairies, unusual flora and refugees fleeing persecution.

Sequels and spinoffs

The success of the initial volume led to a not particularly successful 1971 sequel called King Kobold, the first of what would eventually become a complex series of sequels and related works. In 1982, Ace Books published The Warlock Unlocked, in which the Gallowglass family accidentally go through a portal to an alternate universe, where magic really works. The success of this novel led to the publication of the 1983 Escape Velocity a prequel to the original series, recounting the events leading to the colonisation of Gramarye by members of the Society for Creative Anachronism. In rapid succession, these were followed by King Kobold Revived (1984) (a rewrite of King Kobold); The Warlock Enraged (1985); The Warlock Wandering and The Warlock is Missing (both 1986); The Warlock Heretical (1987); The Warlock's Companion (1988); The Warlock Insane (1989); and The Warlock Rock (1990).

Warlock's Heirs

The 1991 Warlock and Son, centered on Rod's eldest son Magnus, led to a spin-off series of sorts about the children of the Gallowglass family. These are put by the publisher into a separate Warlock's Heirs series, and include A Wizard in Absentia (1993); M'Lady Witch (1994); Quicksilver's Knight (1995); The Spell-Bound Scholar (1999); Here Be Monsters (2001); and The Warlock's Last Ride (2004)

Rogue Wizard books

Stasheff's 1979 novel A Wizard in Bedlam, written before most of the Warlock series, is set in the same universe, but is set on the planet Melange and involves the character Gar Pike, alias Magnus d'Armand. This was followed in 1995, with the novels A Wizard in Mind and A Wizard in War; A Wizard in Peace; A Wizard in Chaos (1997); A Wizard in Midgard (1998); A Wizard and a Warlord and A Wizard in the Way (2000); and A Wizard in a Feud (2001)

Interlacing

Stasheff gradually began to interlace the two series, with the story of the Rogue Wizard being continued in 2004 in The Warlock's Last Ride of the 'Warlock's Heirs' series. During the same period was the 2003 Mind Out of Time, an anthology of short stories, mostly set in the Warlock universe; and the 2005 episodic novel Saint Vidicon to the Rescue, recounting the fate of Saint Vidicon of Cathode after his martyrdom, and of a devout computer programmer who becomes his agent in the human world.

External links

• Christopher Stasheff's Official Website