Harold Shea

Harold Shea Stories/Enchanter series
"The Roaring Trumpet" in Unknown, May 1940
  • "Professor Harold and the Trustees" (1992)
  • "Sir Harold and the Gnome King" (1990)
  • "Sir Harold and the Monkey King" (1992)
  • "Knight and the Enemy" (1992)
  • "Arms and the Enchanter" (1992)
  • "Enchanter Kiev" (1995)
  • "Sir Harold and the Hindu King" (1995)
  • "Sir Harold of Zodanga" (1995)
  • "Harold Sheakespeare" (1995)
  • "Return to Xanadu" (2005)
AuthorL. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, various
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fantasy
Published1940–1954, 1990–2005
No. of books5 (original series), 10 (later series)

Harold Shea is the protagonist of five science fantasy stories by the collaborative team of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt, as well as later stories by de Camp alone, Christopher Stasheff, Holly Lisle, John Maddox Roberts, Roland J. Green, Frieda A. Murray, Tom Wham, and Lawrence Watt-Evans. De Camp and Stasheff collectively oversaw the continuations. The series is also known as the "Enchanter" series, the "Incomplete Enchanter" series (after the first collection of stories) or the "Compleat Enchanter" series.

In the original five stories, psychologist Harold Shea and his colleagues Reed Chalmers, Walter Bayard, and Vaclav Polacek (Votsy) travel to various parallel worlds where ancient myths or old literature are reality. In the course of their travels, other characters are added to the main cast, notably Belphebe and Florimel, who become the wives of Shea and Chalmers, respectively, and Pete Brodsky, a policeman who is accidentally swept up into the chaos. In the later continuations, the most notable additions to the cast are the recurring villain Malambroso and Voglinda, the young daughter of Shea and Belphebe.