The Purple Pterodactyls

Book information

Meet W. Wilson Newbury, ensorcelled financier ...

"Just why the esoteric seeks out a conventional, upright family man like W. Wilson Newbury, I cannot imagine; but somehow dwellers from the realms of metaphysical worlds beyond worlds keep tangling up the strands of his life. It may be that whatever prescience or intuition lets him separate a trustworthy loan applicant from a deadbeat opens the shutters of his mind wider and makes him more psychically aware than the rest of us; but this gift— or curse—is not something a banker can discuss with the average run of mankind ... I have been one of the few people in whom Willy could confide."

—L. Sprague de Camp From his Foreword

To Jocelyn Hazard Darling

whose Pink Panther

inspired the title story

THE PURPLE

PTERODACTYLS

The Adventures of W. Wilson Newbury,

Ensorcelled Financier

L.SPRAGUE DECAMP

SF

ace books

A Division of Charter Communications Inc.

A GROSSET & DUNLAP COMPANY

360 Park Avenue South

New York, New York 10010

THE PURPLE PTERODACTYLS

Copyright © 1979 by L. Sprague de Camp

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without permission in writing from the publisher.

All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

An ACE Book

First Ace printing: April 1980

Manufactured in the United States of America

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Lamp first appeared in the March 1975 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science; copyright ©1975 by Mercury Press, Inc.

Balsamo's Mirror first appeared in the June 1976 issue, The Purple Pterodactyls in the August 1976 issue, and Tiki in the February 1977 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; copyright© 1976 by Mercury Press, Inc.

Far Babylon first appeared in the May 1976 issue of Fantasy Crossroads; copyright ©1976 by Jonathan Bacon.

Algy first appeared in the August 1976 issue of Fantastic Stories; copyright ©1976 by Ultimate Publishing Company, Inc.

The Menhir first appeared in the May 1977 issue, Dead Man's Chest in the September 1977 issue, and United Imp in the December 1977 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; copyright© 1977 by Mercury Press, Inc.

The Figurine first appeared in the February 1977 issue, and Priapus in the December 1977 issue of Fantastic Stories; copyright ©1977 by Ultimate Publishing Company, Inc.

Darius first appeared in the Fall 1977 issue of Escape!; copyright ©1977 by Charles W. Melvin.

The Huns first appeared in the May 1978 issue, and The Yellow Man in the December 1978 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; copyright© 1978 by Mercury Press, Inc.

A Sending of Serpents first appeared in the August 1979 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction; copyright© 1979 by Mercury Press, Inc.