Midway in our life's journey, I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood...
First Post!
Why start a blog? Simple - I wished for a place to chronicle my projects. Right now, I have two gaming related projects: a megadungeon project and a reading project. We'll get to that megadungeon project in a bit; the reading project is below. I'm also a game master for a couple of games; I expect I'll post some game reports here too. Most importantly, this blog exists to give me a safe place to ramble on about the philosophy of gaming, my reading interests, reviews, game reports, and ideas, without endangering innocent bystanders or boring my spouse.
About that reading project. Earlier this year I was inspired (by this guy) to peruse works of fantasy fiction I had overlooked for too long; I started with "Tales from the Dying Earth" and quickly developed a sizeable list of fantasy and horror fiction that had been left unread, or that deserved a second read to admire the works with a new perspective. While most of these are from the AD&D DMG list, I've added a few horror selections to round out my Lovecraft list, and will likely add a few more as well.
I expect I'll be updating this list often; books with strikethroughs have been completed since the project began.
The List:
Jack Vance, Tales of the Dying Earth
Mervyn Peake,Titus Groan, Gormenghast
Lord Dunsany, The King of Elfland's Daughter
Lord Dunsany, The Gods of Pegana
HP Lovecraft, various collections
Poul Anderson,Three Hearts and Three Lions, The Broken Sword
ER Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros
Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber
JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings
TH White, The Once and Future King
Robert E Howard, Conan Stories (various)
Clark Ashton Smith, Return of the Sorceror (collection)
Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melniboné, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked this Way Comes
Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan, The Novel of the Black Seal
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
Gene Wolfe, Book of the New Sun
Fritz Leiber, Swords and Deviltry and others
L Sprague De Camp, The Compleat Enchanter
John Bellairs, The Face in the Frost
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Pellucidar, Barsoom
Gardner Fox, Kothar
M R James, Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories
Margaret St Clair, Sign of the Labrys, The Shadow People
Richard Tierney, Simon Magus
Algernon Blackwood, Best Ghost Stories
Abraham Merrit, The Face in the Abyss, The Moon Pool
Sterling Lanier, Hiero's Journey
Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Crusade
Andre Norton, The Witch World
TED Klein, Dark Gods
Tanith Lee, Night's Master
Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory
William Hope Hodgson, The House on the Borderland, The Night Land
Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, A Wizard of Earthsea
Leigh Brackett, Mars or Skaith
Lloyd Alexander, Prydain series
Alan Garner, The Weirdstone
MJ Harrison, Viriconium
What am I missing?
First Post!
Why start a blog? Simple - I wished for a place to chronicle my projects. Right now, I have two gaming related projects: a megadungeon project and a reading project. We'll get to that megadungeon project in a bit; the reading project is below. I'm also a game master for a couple of games; I expect I'll post some game reports here too. Most importantly, this blog exists to give me a safe place to ramble on about the philosophy of gaming, my reading interests, reviews, game reports, and ideas, without endangering innocent bystanders or boring my spouse.
About that reading project. Earlier this year I was inspired (by this guy) to peruse works of fantasy fiction I had overlooked for too long; I started with "Tales from the Dying Earth" and quickly developed a sizeable list of fantasy and horror fiction that had been left unread, or that deserved a second read to admire the works with a new perspective. While most of these are from the AD&D DMG list, I've added a few horror selections to round out my Lovecraft list, and will likely add a few more as well.
I expect I'll be updating this list often; books with strikethroughs have been completed since the project began.
The List:
Mervyn Peake,
Lord Dunsany, The Gods of Pegana
Poul Anderson,
Michael Moorcock, Elric of Melniboné, The Sailor on the Seas of Fate
Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked this Way Comes
Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan, The Novel of the Black Seal
Walter Miller, A Canticle for Leibowitz
Gene Wolfe, Book of the New Sun
Fritz Leiber, Swords and Deviltry and others
John Bellairs, The Face in the Frost
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Pellucidar, Barsoom
Gardner Fox, Kothar
M R James, Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories
Margaret St Clair, Sign of the Labrys, The Shadow People
Richard Tierney, Simon Magus
Algernon Blackwood, Best Ghost Stories
Abraham Merrit, The Face in the Abyss,
Sterling Lanier, Hiero's Journey
Karl Edward Wagner, Dark Crusade
Andre Norton, The Witch World
TED Klein, Dark Gods
Tanith Lee, Night's Master
Thomas Ligotti, The Nightmare Factory
William Hope Hodgson, The House on the Borderland, The Night Land
Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness, A Wizard of Earthsea
Leigh Brackett, Mars or Skaith
Alan Garner, The Weirdstone
MJ Harrison, Viriconium
What am I missing?
Looks solid to me; no list will be all-inclusive. If I were making a list for someone, I'd add William Hope Hodgson (either The House on the Borderland or The Night Land), Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea books, and some Leigh Brackett (either Mars or Skaith). I'd probably opt for Barsoom over Pellucidar if you've never read either, but I've no idea if that's the case.
ReplyDeleteI won't recommend Eddison's Zimiamvia books, even though they serve as perfect companions to and refinements of the themes in Ouroboros, because by the end of the latter, you'll either sigh in relief or immediately seek them out with no prompting. :)
That's right! I saw William Hope Hodgson over on the Literature Tournament Bracket - duly added.
ReplyDeleteI read some Le Guin when I was younger (loved The Lathe of Heaven) and am intrigued by The Left Hand of Darkness; not sure about reading Earthsea after seeing the Sci Fi series.
The Sci Fi thing is nothing like the books. Le Guin shit her pants when she saw it.
ReplyDeleteAh, good to know! The list is long, but I'll keep Earthsea on the radar. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteYes, Le Guin is excellent, Earthsea included. THANKS for sharing your list!
ReplyDeleteFinished CAS Return of the Sorceror, and added Lloyd Alexander to the list (I still read some stories to my 8 year old and figure Prydain would be perfect, and would clear it off the list).
ReplyDeleteWow, has it really taken that long to finish The Worm Ouroboros? whew. On to The Moon Pool.
ReplyDelete