Joseph’s Comments (group member since Oct 24, 2012)

Joseph’s comments from the Sword & Sorcery: "An earthier sort of fantasy" group.

Yeah, that's a favorite that I need to revisit one of these years.

Interesting ... I know there was also a point when I was getting lots of friend requests from nice young ladies who seemed unable to afford much in the way of clothing; now I'm wondering if it was around the time I was reading some Gotrek & Felix novels ...

Myself, I kind of started with sword & planet, when Dad gave me a copy of A Princess Of Mars back when I was in junior high. (I think that would've been after I was introduced to Tolkien, to say nothing of Narnia and Prydain.)

And also Dungeons & Dragons played a huge role -- not so much with Appendix N per se, but D&D led me to Dragon Magazine, which back then actually had an excellent book review column, plus character write-ups of classic literary figures.

Sadly, I didn't write down the names & dates of EVERY SINGLE BOOK I EVER READ. Seriously -- I regret that. But some of my first "real" sword & sorcery would've probably been Michael Moorcock (the Elric and Corum books initially) and Fritz Leiber (I had a copy of Swords and Deviltry but that was my only Fafhrd & Gray Mouser until I got the SFBC omnibus editions years later.)

As I think I've said elsewhere, I didn't come to Robert E. Howard until relatively late -- I knew about Conan, but didn't pick up any of the books until I was in college.

(And it looks like the release dates have been pushed back by a couple months for all three volumes.)

There was also an updated list (Appendix E) in the 5e PHB:

https://stepintorpgs.wordpress.com/20...

Already preordered!

Last time I read Elric, it was the Del Rey editions, which put everything in publication order rather than internal chronology, but honestly this is one case where I'd kind of prefer to read things in internal order. Well, plus the Skrayling trilogy, which is going to be in the third volume, and most of which I've never read.

Wonder if they'll be bringing over any of the additional materials (film & comic scripts, etc.) from Del Rey.

On to Absolution Gap, the third Revelation Space book.

Here's his listing from ISFDB. Unfortunately, it looks like most of what he published was just in 70s-era fanzines and hasn't ever been collected elsewhere. Maybe this would be a good project for DMR Books ...

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1...

And I was happy with the wider inclusions, especially David Madison, whose story (from Swords Against Darkness IΙΙ, I believe) was a previously undiscovered gem.

Yes, there is! And they'll shortly be releasing an episode where they're joined by Peter Berbegal (the editor of this book) to talk about Elric of Melniboné.

https://appendixnbookclub.com/

Plus Bebergal specifically said that he was limiting himself to short stories only, which would at a minimum mean no Burroughs. And there may well have been licensing/rights issues for some of the other exclusions.

Still SF: I finished Revelation Space and started Redemption Ark, both by Alastair Reynolds

Richard wrote: "The city of Yethlyreom, in the Clark Ashton Smith story, sounds like the ideal place for some rogues to ransack. After the conclusion of the story of course."

I see no possible way in which that could go wrong.

OK, a little late to the game, but here's the full contents, courtesy of ISFDB:

3 • How Sargoth Lay Siege to Zaremm • (1972) • short story by Lin Carter
7 • Tales of the Hawk • short fiction by Poul Anderson
31 • Jewels in the Forest • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • novelette by Fritz Leiber (variant of The Jewels in the Forest 1939)
71 • Empire of the Necromancers • [Zothique] • short story by Clark Ashton Smith (variant of The Empire of the Necromancers 1932)
81 • Turjaan of Miir • short fiction by Jack Vance
99 • A Hero at the Gates • [Cyrion] • (1979) • short story by Tanith Lee
115 • Tower of the Elephant • [Conan] • novelette by Robert E. Howard (variant of The Tower of the Elephant 1933)
145 • Song of Swords • short fiction by Fred Saberhagen
151 • Dreaming City • [The Elric Saga] • novelette by Michael Moorcock (variant of The Dreaming City 1961)
185 • The Doom That Came to Sarnath • [Dream Cycle] • (1920) • short story by H. P. Lovecraft
193 • Tower of Darkness • [Marcus & Diana] • (1975) • novelette by David Madison
217 • Straggler from Atlantis • [Kardios] • (1977) • novelette by Manly Wade Wellman
245 • The Man Who Sold Rope to the Gnoles • (1951) • short story by Margaret St. Clair
251 • Pit of Wings • [Ryre] • short story by Ramsey Campbell (variant of The Pit of Wings 1978)
267 • Black God's Kiss • [Jirel of Joiry] • (1934) • novelette by C. L. Moore
299 • The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth • (1908) • short story by Lord Dunsany
319 • Sword of Dragons • short fiction by Frank Brunner
327 • Afterword (Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons) • essay by Ann VanderMeer
331 • Notes on the Stories (Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons) • essay by Peter Bebergal
335 • Appendix N: Inspirational and Educational Reading • essay by Peter Bebergal
337 • Acknowledgements (Appendix N.: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons) • essay by Peter Bebergal

Not yet, but not for lack of trying.

I love the Chronicles of Prydain! I wish I'd actually kept track of things when I was young, but that was one of my first introductions to fantasy. (Red Planet and The White Mountains were my first introductions to SF.)

I'm getting increasingly far from S&S at the moment -- just started Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space.

Growing up, I'm not sure if I read a whole lot of actual sword & sorcery -- I was aware of Conan, but didn't read any of the books or comics at the time (1970s/1980s) -- John Carter of Mars was much more my jam, or Lord of the Rings. The closest I probably got was stuff like Moorcock (Corum and Elric &c.) and Clark Ashton Smith. And I think I had just the first Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser in paperback.

Time for some Mexican Gothic.

And Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons was a pretty great anthology. A lot of it was stories I'd already read, but I can't hold that against the editor.