| "Ka the Appalling" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Short story byL. Sprague de Camp | |||
 | |||
| Country | United States | ||
| Language | English | ||
| Genre(s) | Fantasy | ||
| Publication | |||
| Published in | Fantastic Universe | ||
| Media type | Print (Magazine) | ||
| Publication date | August,1958 | ||
| Chronology | |||
| Series | Pusadian series | ||
| |||
"Ka the Appalling" is afantasy story by American writerL. Sprague de Camp, part of hisPusadian series. It was first published in the magazineFantastic Universe for August, 1958, and first appeared in book form in the anthologyThe Young Magicians, edited byLin Carter (Ballantine Books, 1969). It was first brought together with other works of de Camp in his collectionThe Reluctant Shaman and Other Fantastic Tales (Pyramid Books, 1970). It has also been translated intoFrench,German,[1][2] andItalian.[2]
Gezun of Lorsk is saved from a mob in the city of Typhon by the larcenous wizard Ugaph, and enters his service as a hunter to help supply the bats consumed by the wizard's familiar Tety. He is warned away, inevitably futilely, from Ugaph's daughter Ro, his instructor in bat-hunting. After Ugaph is nearly caught attempting to rob the Temple of Ip, he and Gezun plot to con the fanatical Typhonians by pretending to represent a new god, Ka the Appalling, who requires offerings. Unfortunately, they do much too good a job at making their invented god real in the minds of their credulous marks.
Chronologically, "Ka the Appalling" is the sixth of de Camp's Pusadian tales, and the fourth to feature his protagonist Gezun of Lorsk. Gezun is about nineteen at the time of this story.
In common with the other Pusadian tales, "Ka the Appalling" takes place in a prehistoric era during which a magic-basedAtlantian civilization supposedly throve in what was then a single continent consisting ofEurasia joined withAfrica, and in the islands to the west. It is similar in conception toRobert E. Howard'sHyborian Age, by which it was inspired, but more astutely constructed, utilizing actualIce Age geography in preference to a wholly invented one. In de Camp's scheme, the legend of this culture that came down to classicGreece as "Atlantis" was a garbled memory that conflated the mighty Tartessian Empire with the island continent of Pusad and the actual Atlantis, a barbaric mountainous region that is today theAtlas mountain range.
| Preceded by | Pusadian series "Ka the Appalling" | Succeeded by |
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