A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative Tales is a short story collection by science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 author L. Sprague de Camp

L. Sprague de Camp

Lyon Sprague de Camp was an American author of science fiction and fantasy books, non-fiction and biography. In a writing career spanning 60 years, he wrote over 100 books, including novels and notable works of non-fiction, including biographies of other important fantasy authors...

, first published in hardback by Doubleday in 1963, and in paperback by Curtis Books in 1969. It has also been translated into German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

Contents

• "A Gun for Dinosaur
  A Gun for Dinosaur
  "A Gun for Dinosaur" is a science fiction story written by L. Sprague de Camp as part of his Rivers of Time series. It was first published in the magazine Galaxy Science Fiction for March, 1956, and first appeared in book form in the anthology The World That Couldn't Be and 8 Other SF Novelets...
  
  "
• "Aristotle and the Gun
  Aristotle and the Gun
  "Aristotle and the Gun" is a classic time travel and alternate history science fiction story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science-Fiction for February, 1958, and first appeared in book form in de Camp's collection A Gun for Dinosaur and Other Imaginative...
  
  "
• "The Guided Man"
• "Internal Combustion"
• "Cornzan the Mighty"
• "Throwback"
• "Judgment Day
  Judgment Day (short story)
  "Judgment Day" is a classic apocalyptic science fiction story by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published in the magazine Astounding Science Fiction for August, 1955, and first appeared in book form in the anthology The Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels: 1956...
  
  "
• "Gratitude"
• "A Thing of Custom"
• "The Egg"
• "Let's Have Fun"
• "Impractical Joke"
• "In-Group"
• "New Arcadia"

Reception

Avram Davidson

Avram Davidson

Avram Davidson was an American writer of fantasy fiction, science fiction, and crime fiction, as well as the author of many stories that do not fit into a genre niche...

found the collection "a great disappointment," saying he could no longer enjoy de Camp's shorter work because the author typically "gets hold of a great idea -- and throws it away in playing for laughs of the feeblest conceivable sort."