Synopsis
A man is discovered by a scientist in a sideshow at Coney Island, who has the features of a Neanderthal and claims to have lived fifty thousand years.
History
First publication: Unknown June 1939
Review
This is an early work by de Camp, but not his first. He had been writing for a couple of years and it shows. Where most other sf writers at this time were amateurs and it showed in their writing, this story is quite professional. The main character is pretty well realized. The story is well-plotted and the idea thought through. The only issue here is just how impossible it is to believe that a neanderthal could live for fifty thousand years, even if he did survive a lightning bolt. But then this was published in the fantasy magazine Unknown. Recommended, but just don’t think too deeply about it.
Videos
We have the story in these editions:
The Great SF Stories 1 (1939), edited by Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, paperback, DAW Books, 1979-03-00
The Best of L. Sprague de Camp, paperback, Del Rey Books, 1986-05-00
Years in the Making: The Time-Travel Stories of L. Sprague de Camp, hardcover, NESFA, 2005-02-28
