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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 12:22:39 GMT -5
Speaking of the Gygax list, here is an updated version of it from the new edition of D&D here's a look at the original I believe Goblin Tower was mentioned in the basic set list not the DMG one but I have to dig mine out to double check edit: here's the only image of the basic set list I can find, and it's only a partial, it cuts off part of the page including the deCamp entry... -M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 12:33:00 GMT -5
Ok found the full list, this was actually compiled by Tom Moldvay, the editor of the Basic set, based off of Gary's list... and here is the full text of it... So Goblin Tower was mentioned here. so much of my reading in jr high and high school was inspired by this list. So many of the books still on my shelf are on this list as well. -M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 12:39:14 GMT -5
I got the lists form the site of a podcast dedicated to fiction and rpgs called Fictoplasm. This was a new discovery for me, the serendipity of a google search turning up something of interest previously unknown. Can't say what the quality is a sI haven't listened to any yet, but thought it might be of interest to some here. -M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 6, 2017 12:50:41 GMT -5
That original list in the DMG was a huge influence on my reading in junior high and high school as well. I do find the caveat as to who was the most influential interesting because the influences of Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and Moorcock's work (especially Elric) are just blatant in AD&D.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2017 12:53:11 GMT -5
That original list in the DMG was a huge influence on my reading in junior high and high school as well. I do find the caveat as to who was the most influential interesting because the influences of Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and Moorcock's work (especially Elric) are just blatant in AD&D. As was Jack Vance hence the term Vancian magic to describe D&D's magic system. -M
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Post by Rob Allen on Dec 6, 2017 19:15:54 GMT -5
de Camp had an earlier anthology that had a similar purpose, which I only acquired much later, The Spell of Seven Looks like we have an entry for the "Homage covers" thread. This is the first issue of Marvel's digest-size prose fiction magazine Haunt of Horror:
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 6, 2017 22:32:28 GMT -5
I had no idea there was an early D&D reading list! Very cool. (I only came upon D&D as a teen and adult, sadly)
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Post by berkley on Dec 7, 2017 0:51:51 GMT -5
My first non-Conan de Camp stuff was the Reluctant King trilogy (Goblin Tower, Clocks or Iruz, and The Unbehaded King) which I sought out because the Goblin Tower was listed in Gary Gygax's list of suggested reading in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide (or the abridged list that came with the D&D Basic Set) and the title sounded cool, but was nothing like what I was expecting. Another de Camp offering I read early on was the Compleat Enchanter co-written with Fletcher Pratt which feature the magical misadventures of Harold Shea. I also encountered the short story The Owl and the Ape in high school, it was included in the Lin Carter edited anthology Kingdoms of Sorcery... which, along with its companion volume Realms of Wizardry served as my deep introduction to the world of heroic fantasy (aka sword and sorcery) beyond Conan (which along with LotR was my entry point into fantasy fiction), at least from Lin Carter's viewpoint. de Camp had an earlier anthology that had a similar purpose, which I only acquired much later, The Spell of Seven which included de Camp's novelette The Hungry Hercynian. I had a bunch of other de Camp stuff but never really delved into it much as it always seemed to get pushed down the to read pile farther and farther until eventually they got purged in prep for the move to Ohio. When it came to the Conan pastiche writers/editors, I preferred Lin Carter's non-Conan stuff to de Camp's, but like Karl Edward Wagner's stuff better than either of them. -M Love the cover on that Spell of Seven paperback. I think I'll have to look for a copy just for that alone. I still haven't read Karl Edward Wagner, or indeed much other sword & sorcery apart from REH (edit: and Moorcock; forgot how much of the very S&S Eternal Champion stuff I read), but I've been slowly picking up a few KEW paperbacks and others over the last few years and look forward to getting into them one of these days. Also, I've never read any Gygax or played those games, but that "Inspirational List" looks like a great resource and I'll definitely be combing through it to see if there's anything I want to hunt down. Thanks for posting it!
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Dec 7, 2017 13:22:18 GMT -5
My first non-Conan de Camp stuff was the Reluctant King trilogy (Goblin Tower, Clocks or Iruz, and The Unbehaded King) which I sought out because the Goblin Tower was listed in Gary Gygax's list of suggested reading in the back of the Dungeon Master's Guide (or the abridged list that came with the D&D Basic Set) and the title sounded cool, but was nothing like what I was expecting. Another de Camp offering I read early on was the Compleat Enchanter co-written with Fletcher Pratt which feature the magical misadventures of Harold Shea. I also encountered the short story The Owl and the Ape in high school, it was included in the Lin Carter edited anthology Kingdoms of Sorcery... which, along with its companion volume Realms of Wizardry served as my deep introduction to the world of heroic fantasy (aka sword and sorcery) beyond Conan (which along with LotR was my entry point into fantasy fiction), at least from Lin Carter's viewpoint. de Camp had an earlier anthology that had a similar purpose, which I only acquired much later, The Spell of Seven which included de Camp's novelette The Hungry Hercynian. I had a bunch of other de Camp stuff but never really delved into it much as it always seemed to get pushed down the to read pile farther and farther until eventually they got purged in prep for the move to Ohio. When it came to the Conan pastiche writers/editors, I preferred Lin Carter's non-Conan stuff to de Camp's, but like Karl Edward Wagner's stuff better than either of them. -M Love the cover on that Spell of Seven paperback. I think I'll have to look for a copy just for that alone. I still haven't read Karl Edward Wagner, or indeed much other sword & sorcery apart from REH, but I've been slowly picking up a few KEW paperbacks and others over the last few years and look forward to getting into them one of these days. Also, I've never read any Gygax or played those games, but that "Inspirational List" looks like a great resource and I'll definitely be combing through it to see if there's anything I want to hunt down. Thanks for posting it! I really can't recommend enough both "The Broken Sword" and "Three Hearts and Three Lions" by Poul Anderson. I consider them among the best stand-alone fantasies.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 7, 2017 20:58:10 GMT -5
The Overlook by Michael Connelly
I've seen this series alot with various people on goodreads and elsewhere, so I thought I'd give one a shot. Connelly seems a pretty good writer, as this is definitely a page turning mystery that a can very clearly see as being an entertaining episode of a CSI-ish TV show.
I didn't find Bosch to be particularly engaging though, he seems grumpy for the sake of it, and his intuitive leaps seem to be kinda out of nowhere in some cases, and blind luck in others. There didn't seem to be much of a supporting cast, either. The book featured a new partner who seemed to just be Bosch's opposite in every way, and a sort of love interest that had no particular defining characteristics. Perhaps I'd have found some of them more interesting if I'd read so of the others, but they definitely didn't do anything to motivate me to do so.
I would certainly be willing to read another of the series if I was presented one, but I'm not sure I'd go too far out of the way to do so.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2017 18:34:14 GMT -5
I love Bosch.
He’s probably one of my top 10 favorite literary characters. Devouring each new book in the series in a couple days is one of the best joys in my life.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2017 11:16:01 GMT -5
I finished reading Slugfest: Inside the Epic 50 Year Battle Between Marvel and DC by Reed Tucker last night. It was an interesting read, more a synthesis of years of other's people research and writing than anything original though. Tucker has a lively writing style and presents a fairly cohesive narrative (it does skip around a bit and jump back and forth in time as he tries to organize each chapter thematically but present the overall flow chronologically which tend to work against each other. He presents a lot of info, but it's mostly other people's research. It reads like a well-organized and written research paper done by an undergrad (complete with footnotes for every quote he used, which is essentially what each chapter is, a collection of quotes or paraphrases of quotes taken from other sources pieced together with commentary and connective tissue provided by Tucker. I don't know if Tucker brought anything new to the conversation, but he did collect a boatload of info on the topic printed in various sources over a large span of years and put them together in one centralized location in a readable and interesting manner forming a solid starting point for anyone exploring the topic or wishing to discuss it. If you're interested in the topic and are not steeped in years of fanzines and other material about comics, it's well worth reading; if you are already familiar with the material, it's a good overview, but you won't really learn anything new. The last couple of chapters (on the rise of super-hero movies & television and the the installation of corporate culture in the comics industry) may be the only place where Tucker puts forward any kind of original thesis (annotated and supported by quotes from other sources as any research paper does of course) that super-heroes may have outgrown monthly print comics and will transcend that medium for others, as will Marvel and DC, leaving those print comics as an artifact of comics history, not the medium it moves forward into the future with, and that is a sign of growth not something to be lamented. -M
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2017 20:24:55 GMT -5
Any book lovers looking to adopt some books?
We will be purging a couple of bookcases worth of books here over the next month or two and I would rather not just drop them off at Half Price Books to get pennies for them, I'd rather they find a home with some book lovers. There will be a lot of history, general fiction, occult/new age, general reference and non-fiction. There might be some sci-fi/fantasy, but that's iffy until I can tear through stuff to see what all is there. There might be some kids books too, but those we can find a home for more easily through various charities here. Essentially it's most of the stuff that used to make up a reference library that neither of us ever reference any more (either because it is easier to use the net or because I am not doing academic writing any longer) or read for pleasure. If folks are interested, let me know via PM or here, and I will put together a list of what we are going to purge. Let me know, and we will figure out cost effective means of shipping (likely media mail in the US).
-M
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Post by wildfire2099 on Dec 10, 2017 22:24:23 GMT -5
I love Bosch. He’s probably one of my top 10 favorite literary characters. Devouring each new book in the series in a couple days is one of the best joys in my life. Wow.. high praise indeed... I'll have to give him another shot. Any particular favorite that would be a good one to sell me on the series?
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Post by berkley on Dec 11, 2017 0:59:36 GMT -5
Love the cover on that Spell of Seven paperback. I think I'll have to look for a copy just for that alone. I still haven't read Karl Edward Wagner, or indeed much other sword & sorcery apart from REH, but I've been slowly picking up a few KEW paperbacks and others over the last few years and look forward to getting into them one of these days. Also, I've never read any Gygax or played those games, but that "Inspirational List" looks like a great resource and I'll definitely be combing through it to see if there's anything I want to hunt down. Thanks for posting it! I really can't recommend enough both "The Broken Sword" and "Three Hearts and Three Lions" by Poul Anderson. I consider them among the best stand-alone fantasies. I'm very keen to get to the two of those. Right now, my fantasy reading is focused on an earlier era - I'm just getting into some of William Morris's stuff from the early 1890s, for example. It's very tempting to jump ahead when I read posts like this and MRP's with the Gygax list, but I'm going to try to stick to my plan for now.
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