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JoeGKushner		#681	[-]
Posts: 7488 (06/07/09 19:28:03) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Let's see... Book One of the Year of Rogue Dragons. Pretty good. I've been reading a lot of FR stuff for inspiration as I DM the setting. Don't know if I mentioned Sword Mage. That wasn't bad and it's in the 'new' setting.... Reading the second book of that other series... m'eh. So m'eh I started reading Elak of Atlantis, one of Paizo's Planet stories. The first one I had a real hard time with. The main character seemed to be there for the Druid to rescue in his war against the warlock Elf. Yeah, that name kept dragging me out of the book every time it came up. The second story was much better though. I'm glad Paizo is doing these old stories. Gives them a chance to met with a brand new audience. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
leadjunkie		#682	[-]
Posts: 2656 (06/21/09 15:33:59) Necromancer Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	leadjunkie wrote: Under the category of hard to believe, I have never read Fritz Leiber. Discussion on Grognardia and TheRavyn's blog, Beyond the Black Gate, prompted me to cobble together the set of seven books. I am half way through book one, Swords and Deviltry. I have been introduced to Fafhrd and am now meeting the Gray Mouser. I'm liking it so far. On to book two, Swords Against Death. Games I am... Judging - Wilderlands: The Pagan Coast Playing - Damien the Bloodfeaster's Red Hand of Doom & kenmckinney's Savage Tide "Virtual" Lich ('cuz Yuku's lame)
Sen the Collector		#683	[-]
Posts: 3159 (06/21/09 19:17:10) Dark Walker of the Planes Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	So what do you think of them, leadjunkie?
leadjunkie		#684	[-]
Posts: 2664 (06/23/09 21:20:11) Necromancer Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I am enjoying them very much. It is so interesting to read the bits that sound like they come straight from a D&D game. Clearly it is the other way around (ala apendix N to the 1e DMG). It easy to see how Lankhmar influenced Bob Bledsaw's City State of the Invincible Overlord. I have to remind myself that these stories were serails before being collected into books, so I have to forgive Leiber for repeating descriptions of the characters. So far I do not find Fafhrd or the Gray Mouser as compelling as REH's Conan or Le Guin's Sparrowhawk by way of comparison. Perhaps that will change as I get deeper into the series. I also find the plots a bit predictable. Games I am... Judging - Wilderlands: The Pagan Coast Playing - Damien the Bloodfeaster's Red Hand of Doom & kenmckinney's Savage Tide "Virtual" Lich ('cuz Yuku's lame)
Sen the Collector		#685	[-]
Posts: 3165 (06/23/09 21:34:04) Dark Walker of the Planes Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	I just finished C. J. Cherryh's "Collected Short Fiction." Wow! I had somehow forgotten just how talented she is. A brilliant, creative mind and a talented storyteller. A mix of sci-fi and fantasy. No actually bad stories, IMO, and very few that were even less than good. I particularly enjoyed the fantasy stories, since I'd never read any of her fantasy stuff before. Very much in the classic swords & sorcery type tradition. leadjunkie, I read Leiber's stuff way back in 8th or 9th grade. That's when I read most of the classics of fantasy and sci-fi. I plan on revisiting a lot of the stuff since that was quite some time ago. I just recently reread Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" and Zelazny's original Amber series and thoroughly enjoyed them. Probably even more than when I first read them all those years ago. A few of the old books didn't fare as well the second time around, however. "The Hobbit" was clearly written for kids, and it shows. I found that Xanth doesn't amuse me nearly as much as an adult. And though I did enjoy the classic Dragonlance trilogy, I also noticed some significant flaws in the books the second time around. I think I'll (re)read either the Elric stuff or the Thomas Covenant series next.
JoeGKushner		#686	[-]
Posts: 7504 (06/25/09 16:22:05) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	http://modernappendixn.blogspot.com/ where I discuss the three books in the first Cale trilogy. Good stuff. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
Mister Frau Blucher		#687	[-]
Posts: 563 (06/26/09 03:59:10) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	leadjunkie wrote: I am enjoying them very much. It is so interesting to read the bits that sound like they come straight from a D&D game. Clearly it is the other way around (ala apendix N to the 1e DMG). It easy to see how Lankhmar influenced Bob Bledsaw's City State of the Invincible Overlord. I have to remind myself that these stories were serails before being collected into books, so I have to forgive Leiber for repeating descriptions of the characters. So far I do not find Fafhrd or the Gray Mouser as compelling as REH's Conan or Le Guin's Sparrowhawk by way of comparison. Perhaps that will change as I get deeper into the series. I also find the plots a bit predictable. You are about to get into the best stories. Lean Times in Lankhmar, Stardock, Lords of Quarmall and the novel the Swords of Lankhmar are fantastic. But I think the fond opinions of his stories is one of accumulated effect, if that makes sense. While there aren't any absolute home run, best-story-I-ever-read stories, the quality of the story telling is consistently high. The exception to this are the very last stories; though many disagree. Rime Isle is good, but the series should have ended there. The contrast with Conan is interesting. Leiber mentioned in a few articles that his characters were kind of anti-Conans, in that they were closer to human than superhuman. Right now reading a '70's short story collection, Savage Heroes. It has a few obscure gems, more historical than quality, like Clifford Ball. He wrote a half-dozen or so stories in Wierd Tales after Howard died, trying to fill that void. Not particularly good, but it is interesting, like going back and reading third party D&D stuff from the earliest days. The genre was fleshing itself out then. Official Killer DM #0853 Programmed adventures for TFT/LAW: http://www.darkcitygames.com/ The Beggar's Street Bravos - you cannot stop us, you can only hope to contain us.
JoeGKushner		#688	[-]
Posts: 7505 (06/30/09 16:06:56) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Reading Shadowstorm, book II in the Twilight War series. Paul S Kemp is quickly becoming one of my favorite FR authors. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
JoeGKushner		#689	[-]
Posts: 7507 (07/03/09 08:55:19) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Just finished off Shadowrealm. I'm a bit torn. The ending felt... very forced. Huge nod to 4e's new timeline there. Some interesting potnetial in it all though. I'm going to let it digest a day or so before throwing it onto the old appendix n blog. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
meomwt		#690	[-]
Posts: 1155 (07/04/09 10:10:13) Mighty Eater Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	In honour of the late David Eddings, I'm re-reading The Belgariad and am about one-quarter the way through Book 3 Magician's Gambit. I remember reading it for the first time, as a teenager. I read the first book over the Easter Holiday weekend and had to wait for the local bookshop to open on the Tuesday to buy Book 2! Orcus wrote: Meomwt is a cool guy. ----------------------------------- Accuracy is our watchwurd.
JoeGKushner		#691	[-]
Posts: 7514 (07/14/09 02:33:36) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Fortress of Solitude featuring Doc Savage! e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
gondolin		#692	[-]
Posts: 2037 (07/14/09 02:47:23) Necromancer Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Wow! Doc Savage! Brings back memories. For me it's an anthology of vintage Lovecraft tales. Smash the barbarian say's : Save our trees, eat beavers!
Geleg		#693	[-]
Posts: 1548 (07/14/09 10:51:08) Lurker Above Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	just finished the second Scot Lynch tale featuring Locke Lamora (Red Sails under Red Skies?). Good. started a bit slow, but ended well. prior to that it was David Benioff, "City of Thieves". An excellent novel set during the siege of Leningrad in 1941.
JoeGKushner		#694	[-]
Posts: 7515 (07/14/09 13:29:02) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Yeah, I haven't read any Doc Savage before and I figured for my little blog experiement, I should try to 'flex' my reading muscle by reading something really old! e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
Sen the Collector		#695	[-]
Posts: 3192 (07/15/09 09:28:33) Dark Walker of the Planes Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Michael Moorcock "The Elric Saga, Part I". This book is comprised of the novellas "Elric of Melnibone", "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate", and "The Weird of the White Wolf". It was quite the enjoyable read, and refreshing to visit some classic swords and sorcery fiction. I originally read this book back in my freshman or sophmore year of high school, which was about 20 years ago. I'm glad to say that I enjoyed it just as much now as I did back then. Of the three tales, "The Sailor on the Seas of Fate" is my favorite. Very creative, and the battle against the twin alien sorcerers is classic. On the other hand, the main event in "The Weird of the White Wolf" felt very forced, and didn't seem quite in keeping with Elric's character. I was interested to note an obvious Lovecraft influence via the unnameable colors mentioned as well as sanity distorting angles and hyper realities.
TheRavyn		#696	[-]
Posts: 2197 (07/22/09 12:57:44) Vampire Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Recently finished "Tales of the Dying Earth", by Jack Vance, and am now re-reading ERB's "A Princess of Mars", strictly for research purposes, of course... Beyond the Black Gate - Yer Old-School Gaming Blog O.A.F. - Kickin' wimps outta the Treehouse since 2008! My other car is a Flail Snail.
JoeGKushner		#697	[-]
Posts: 7524 (07/25/09 01:14:24) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	In terms of Elric, it may help to know that the series was written in short stories, out of order, and has continued to be published and refined. There have been two graphic novels from DC and three more novels of Elric's 'dream quest' sequence as well as other numerous little bits here and there. It's quite a mess in trying to read it all in chronological order as it continues to be published but it can be worthwhile. I finally got around to finishing off Doc Savage Fortress of Solitude. I'm debating reading the next one or going to something a little different. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
JoeGKushner		#698	[-]
Posts: 7530 (07/26/09 11:41:16) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Finished off the Devil Genghis, the second book in the Doc Savage reprint. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
JoeGKushner		#699	[-]
Posts: 7533 (08/01/09 08:53:17) Demi Lich Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	Finished off Stardeep, a FR novel by Bruce Cordel. I suspect that much like Ed Greenwood, Monte Cook, and Gary Gygax, Bruce is another author whose game work I enjoy and his fiction I find m'eh. e-bay Sales Updated 3/24/2009: , Miniatures, Ultramodern Firearms, The Hunt d20 setting, Legends of Excalibur d20 setting, Legends of the Samurai d20 setting, Midnight books, 4e Points of Light, and more!
NunWithAShovel		#700	[-]
Posts: 109 (08/06/09 19:18:43) Shadow Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts	The Stand by Steven King ^_^ Loving it, so far! Nun

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