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<title>Alex Schroeder: Books</title>
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<pubDate>Sat, 18 May 2013 11:50:08 GMT</pubDate>
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<title>Alex Schroeder: Books</title>
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<item>
<title>Spending Time With Books</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2011-08-16_Spending_Time_With_Books</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2011-08-16_Spending_Time_With_Books</guid>
<description>&lt;div class="right" style="float: right"&gt;&lt;p&gt; &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kensanata/5261468559/" class="url http"&gt;&lt;img class="url http" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/5261468559_4a8c5e8748.jpg" alt="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5006/5261468559_4a8c5e8748.jpg" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;I sometimes think that &lt;b&gt;every type of media has its own way of telling a story&lt;/b&gt;. If you watch a movie, sometimes good movies have snappy dialog, visual splendor and a soundtrack. Books, on the other hand, have a vast array of characters, multiple parallel plot lines, a lot of details. When taking a story first published as a book and turning it into a movie, one needs to pay attention to these media preferences.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As readers, we learn to experience stories in particular ways, depending on context. I expect snappy dialog in movies. If it doesn&amp;#x2019;t deliver, I&amp;#x2019;ll note.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;When it comes to Fantasy books, it seems to me that the books written have changed and our expectations have similarly changed. The &lt;em&gt;Conan&lt;/em&gt; stories by Robert E. Howard  were just short stories. Other people started to write novels. Successful novels got follow-up novels and got turned into a series. As a kid, I loved the &lt;em&gt;Pern&lt;/em&gt; books by Anne McCaffrey and the &lt;em&gt;Darkover&lt;/em&gt; books by Marion Zimmer Bradley. &lt;b&gt;Every book was a self-contained story.&lt;/b&gt; Every story shared its world with all the other stories in the series.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As I grew older, expectations changed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wanted a lot of value for my money and that meant that I wanted thick books. I loved books with five hundred pages and more. I loved to read &lt;em&gt;more&lt;/em&gt; about the people and places I loved.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The market went farther than that, however. Authors started telling epic sagas that required &lt;em&gt;trilogies&lt;/em&gt; to tell. These &lt;b&gt;trilogies got extended by appending another trilogy&lt;/b&gt;. I&amp;#x2019;m thinking of &lt;em&gt;Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever&lt;/em&gt;, for example. Sometimes, I didn&amp;#x2019;t understand how trilogy after trilogy got added after the first. Hello, &lt;em&gt;David Eddings&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;What had happened? Authors no longer tried to tell the story of a single protagonist. I&amp;#x2019;m not sure where this all started. Was it &lt;em&gt;The Lord of the Rings&lt;/em&gt;? It was published as a trilogy. It featured multiple protagonists. Their respective story lines diverged. The rest of the story was &lt;b&gt;told using interleaved chunks&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I loved J.R.R. Tolkien but I did not get into David Eddings. I started to read less. I just could not keep up. The turning point was reached when Robert Jordan wrote &lt;em&gt;The Wheel of Time&lt;/em&gt;. At first, I hated it. It seemed like such a cheap Tolkien rip-off. Then I started to like it. But when I reached book six I realized that there was another problem. The author just wanted to tell &lt;b&gt;too many damn stories, all at the same time&lt;/b&gt;. He introduced more people, more plots, more stories, and in order to tell them, he started to interleave the shrinking segments more and more until I felt that the story had hardly progressed over a thousand pages.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And then he died. Ever since Robert Jordan&amp;#x2019;s death, the phrase &amp;#x201c;pulling a Robert Jordan&amp;#x201d; has turned into a short hand for a series that just keeps on growing and one has &lt;b&gt;to fear that the author won’t live long enough to tell the entire story&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have started to notice the same ennui with &lt;em&gt;A Song of Ice and Fire&lt;/em&gt; by George R.R. Martin. I think I stopped around book three. There just wasn&amp;#x2019;t any progress because too many stories were being told at the same time.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recently I discussed this with some friends after we had begun talking about &lt;em&gt;A Song of Ice and Fire RPG&lt;/em&gt; campaign and the latest book in the series, &lt;em&gt;telenovelas&lt;/em&gt; and TV series like &lt;em&gt;Lost&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Six Feet Under&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It seemed to me that my expectations had fallen out of sync with what authors were publishing. I still expected stories to be self-contained. I was expecting a climax and &lt;em&gt;closure&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The market, however had moved on. It seems to me that many successful authors now expect to &lt;b&gt;keep adding to their corpus for as long as they live&lt;/b&gt;. Instead of reading a short story, a book, a trilogy, or a ten volumes series, readers are now expected to keep on sharing a part of their reading life with the living and breathing world of their favorite author.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In a way, I don&amp;#x2019;t mind. Perhaps the same thing is true with Arthurian romance. There&amp;#x2019;s the story of the love triangle, the grail and Merlin. But if you want to, you can add Tristram and Isolde. You can add Parcival. You can focus on Morgaine Le Fay. The older versions of King Arthur&amp;#x2019;s story is in the public domain and therefore anybody can add to the whole. People can rewrite, retell, edit, merge or highlight aspects of the whole. If you are interested, you can spend a part of your life with Arthurian romance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am a traditionalist in many things and I find this sort of explanation soothing. Spending a part of your life with an ever growing tree of related stories is not new after all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comics work the same way&lt;/b&gt;. You can spend a part of your life with Superman or Batman. A gazillion stories are told about the various protagonists. Sometimes authors change, sometimes there is a reboot (&lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011%20DC%20Universe%20reboot"&gt;2011 DC Universe reboot&lt;/a&gt;). It&amp;#x2019;s all good (unless you are talking to nerds).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps I just have these two problems:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;I wasn&amp;#x2019;t expecting this to happen to Fantasy books. I didn&amp;#x2019;t expect George R.R. Martin and Steve Erickson to keep on writing until I fear they&amp;#x2019;ll &lt;b&gt;pull a Robert Jordan&lt;/b&gt; on me.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The book is &lt;b&gt;no longer a useful reading unit&lt;/b&gt;. These are not stories that stand on their own. These are collections of story fragments.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;I cannot help but wonder if &lt;em&gt;A Song of Ice and Fire&lt;/em&gt; would be &lt;b&gt;more palatable if I could just read the various plots in separate books&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sure, the main events of the story will be revealed in the first book, but it seems that &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110810093735.htm"&gt;spoilers don't reduce the reader's enjoyment of a book&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wow, this post wasn&amp;#x2019;t short at all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wanted to add a final, &lt;b&gt;role-playing related thought&lt;/b&gt;: I&amp;#x2019;m suspecting that there is a similar divide in expectations when it comes to typical campaigns. In one of my games the characters can have followers (&lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://shamsgrog.blogspot.com/2008/05/entourage-approach.html"&gt;Entourage Approach&lt;/a&gt;). These followers can earn experience as the older characters turn into NPCs (or die), players continue playing the followers. Thus, barring a &lt;abbr title="total party kill"&gt;TPK&lt;/abbr&gt;, the campaign can go on forever. My wife told me so: &amp;#x201c;I could keep playing in this campaign forever!&amp;#x201d;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It wouldn&amp;#x2019;t make a good book with a climax and closure, but it obviously is &lt;b&gt;a good way to spend a part of your life with an ever growing tree of related stories&lt;/b&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Further reading:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The excellent series of blog posts reviewing Fantasy from 1977 to the present starting with &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://caffeinesymposium.blogspot.com/2011/07/state-of-fantasy-in-1977.html"&gt;The State of Fantasy in 1977&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/feed/full/Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Fantasy"&gt;Fantasy&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/feed/full/Fantasy"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/feed/full/RPG"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 16 Aug 2011 23:59:22 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2011-08-16_Spending_Time_With_Books</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2011-08-16_Spending_Time_With_Books</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2011-08-16_Spending_Time_With_Books</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
<category>Fantasy</category>
<category>RPG</category>
</item>

<item>
<title>Books</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2010-11-05_Books</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2010-11-05_Books</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;Claudia hat vor einiger Zeit angefangen mit uns D&amp;amp;D 3.5 zu spielen. Gleichzeitig fing ihr Bruder an, in einer Bibliothek zu arbeiten. Plötzlich bekamen wir ganze Fantasy Serien geschenkt! Claudia begann wie wild zu lesen. Die Malazan Bücher von Steve Erickson, Eis und Feuer von George R. R. Martin, Eragon von Christopher Paolini&amp;#x2026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Als sie mich nach Buchempfehlungen fragte, musste ich an die Zeit zurückdenken, in der ich Fantasy Bücher entdeckte. Ich muss so zwischen 10 und 14 Jahre alt gewesen sein, als ich den Herrn der Ringe und die Nebel von Avalon verschlang. Mein Mutter war mit jemandem befreundet, der hatte eine ganze Büchewand voller Perry Rhodan, Darkover von Marion Zimmer Bradley, Pern von Anne McCaffrey, Welt der Ebenen von Philip José Farmer, &amp;#x2026; Und ich hatte gerade eben wieder ein paar Buchempfehlungen online gesehen. Also habe ich mich hingesetzt&amp;#x2026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Was wir uns also besorgen werden:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Der dunkle Turm von Stephen King&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;First Law von Joe Abercrombie&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Schwarzen Juwelen von Anne Bishop&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ich war etwas enttäuscht, als ich merkte, dass die Bücher meiner Jugend nicht mehr aufgelegt werden. Aber Amazon Deutschland bietet ja einen ziemlich guten &amp;#x201c;Marketplace&amp;#x201d; an, wo man &lt;em&gt;2nd hand&lt;/em&gt; kaufen kann. Man muss in der Schweiz einfach nach dem ersten Anbieter suchen, wo das Wort &amp;#x201c;international&amp;#x201d; vorkommt. &lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/smile.png" alt=":)" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gerade habe ich ein paar Stunden online verbracht&amp;#x2026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Songs of the Dying Earth&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A Deepness in the Sky&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Book of the New Sun: Sword and Citadel Vol 2&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Book of the New Sun: Shadow and Claw Vol 1&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tales of the Dying Earth&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Dying Earth 1. Cugels Irrfahrten&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Chronicles of the Black Company&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Books of the South: Tales of the Black Company&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Many Deaths of the Black Company&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Welt der Drachen. Die Suche der Drachen. Drachengesang. Drei Romane in einem Band&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Drachenmeister (= Drachentrommeln)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Drachendämmerung (= Drachensinger)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Moreta. Die Drachenherrin von Pern&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Weyr von Pern&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Monde von Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Erben von Hammerfell&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Winde von Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Schwarze Schwesternschaft&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Tänzerin von Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Das Zauberschwert&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Rote Sonne über Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Gildenhaus Thendara&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Der Preis des Bewahrers / Freie Amazonen von Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Herrin der Falken&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die Zeit der Hundert Königreiche&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sharras Exil&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Die zerbrochene Kette&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Landung auf Darkover&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Herrin der Stürme&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Das Wort des Hastur&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gebrauchte Bücher kaufen &lt;i&gt;rockt&lt;/i&gt;! &lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/grin.png" alt=":D" /&gt; &lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/rocks.png" alt="rocks" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Was ich auch empfehlen kann sind die Artikel von &lt;i&gt;old school&lt;/i&gt; B/X Blackrazor Blogger JB zum Thema &lt;i&gt;Darkover&lt;/i&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-marion-zimmer-bradley-taught-me.html"&gt;What Marion Zimmer Bradley Taught Me (Part 1)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://bxblackrazor.blogspot.com/2010/10/what-marion-zimmer-bradley-taught-me_07.html"&gt;What Marion Zimmer Bradley Taught Me (Part 2)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Was habe ich wohl gelernt? Vor allem eines: Ich bin damals zu einem beinharten Feministen geworden und nie mehr davon weggekommen.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Hierzu kann ich auch noch einen Blog empfehlen:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://gomakemeasandwich.blogspot.com/2010/10/mixed-messages-in-d-4th-edition.html"&gt;Mixed Messages in D&amp;amp;D 4th Edition&lt;/a&gt; &amp;#x2013; ein Blog mit dem Untertitle &lt;i&gt;How not to sell games to women&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Uhm&amp;#x2026; Warum heisst die Seite eigentlich &amp;#x201c;Books&amp;#x201d; und nicht &amp;#x201c;Bücher&amp;#x201d;!? Ich war wohl überzeugt, ich würde wieder einen englischen Artikel zum Thema &lt;a class="local" href="http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt; schreiben.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/feed/full/Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RSP"&gt;RSP&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/feed/full/RSP"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:15:38 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2010-11-05_Books</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2010-11-05_Books</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2010-11-05_Books</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
<category>RSP</category>
</item>

<item>
<title>Arms and Armor Source Books</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2010-01-05_Arms_and_Armor_Source_Books</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2010-01-05_Arms_and_Armor_Source_Books</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;Looking around for some books on medieval arms and armor &amp;#x2013; including details about polearms, and not necessarily with gaming application &amp;#x2013; I found the following books via Amazon. What do you think? Other books you want to suggest? Warnings? Is this series from St. Martin&amp;#x2019;s Press good?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Fighting+Techniques+of+the+Ancient+World+(3000+B.C.+to+500+A.D.)%3a+Equipment%2c+Combat+Skills%2c+and+Tactics+James+R.+Ross"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Fighting Techniques of the Ancient World (3000 B.C. to 500 A.D.): Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;James R. Ross&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Fighting+Techniques+of+the+Medieval+World+500+-+1500+AD+Matthew+Bennett"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World 500 - 1500 AD&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Matthew Bennett&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Fighting+Techniques+of+the+Early+Modern+World%3a+Equipment%2c+Combat+Skills%2c+and+Tactics+Christer+Jorgensen"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Christer Jorgensen&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt; (1500 to 1763)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Fighting+Techniques+of+the+Napoleonic+Age+1792-1815%3a+Equipment%2c+Combat+Skills%2c+and+Tactics+Robert+B.+Bruce"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1792-1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Robert B. Bruce&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Fighting+Techniques+of+the+Oriental+World%3a+Equipment%2c+Combat+Skills%2c+and+Tactics+Michael+E.+Haskew"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Fighting Techniques of the Oriental World: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Michael E. Haskew&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Weapon%3a+A+Visual+History+of+Arms+and+Armour+(Military)+Richard+Holmes"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armour (Military)&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Richard Holmes&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Or start with some books from other lists? &lt;a class="url http number" href="http://www.amazon.de/%C3%9Cberblickswerke-zur-griechisch-r%C3%B6mischen-Kriegsf%C3%BChrung/lm/R3UGG506Y2SWIW/ref=cm_lmt_dtpa_f_1_rdssss0"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span class="bracket"&gt;[&lt;/span&gt;1&lt;span class="bracket"&gt;]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I got recommendations for &lt;em style="text-decoration: underline; font-style: normal;"&gt;Gary Gygax’s World Builder&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em style="text-decoration: underline; font-style: normal;"&gt;The Palladium Book of Weapon and Armour&lt;/em&gt; via Twitter. What do you think of these?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed für diesen Tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:RPG"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=History"&gt;History&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed für diesen Tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:History"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed für diesen Tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:48:45 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2010-01-05_Arms_and_Armor_Source_Books</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2010-01-05_Arms_and_Armor_Source_Books</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2010-01-05_Arms_and_Armor_Source_Books</wiki:diff>
<category>RPG</category>
<category>History</category>
<category>Books</category>
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<title>The Secret of Sinharat</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-06-02_The_Secret_of_Sinharat</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-06-02_The_Secret_of_Sinharat</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x2019;ve subscribed to &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://paizo.com/"&gt;Paizo&lt;/a&gt;’s &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://paizo.com/store/paizo/planetStories"&gt;Planet Stories&lt;/a&gt; and just finished &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Secret of Sinharat"&gt;The Secret of Sinharat&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leigh Brackett"&gt;Leigh Brackett&lt;/a&gt;. I enjoyed the book. It had a nice &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate"&gt;Stargate&lt;/a&gt; meets Conan vibe to it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I liked it better than the collected &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jirel of Joiry"&gt;Jirel of Joiry&lt;/a&gt; stories by &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C. L. Moore"&gt;C. L. Moore&lt;/a&gt; in &lt;em style="text-decoration: underline; font-style: normal;"&gt;Black God’s Kiss&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed für diesen Tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:35:19 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2009-06-02_The_Secret_of_Sinharat</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2009-06-02_The_Secret_of_Sinharat</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2009-06-02_The_Secret_of_Sinharat</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
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<title>Literary Grounding</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-05-08_Literary_Grounding</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-05-08_Literary_Grounding</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;What I really like about Scott&amp;#x2019;s campaigns (real name?) is his literary grounding. It seems that he picks a number of books that will act as inspiration for a particular campaign, and exclude all others. Here are his two lists:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://vologes.blogspot.com/2009/04/welcome-to-ordained-dominion-of-vologes.html"&gt;Welcome to the Ordained Dominion of Vologes&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://worldofthool.blogspot.com/2008/12/hyperlinked-literary-canon-for-world-of.html"&gt;Hyperlinked Literary Canon for World of Thool&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;So many unread books and so little time!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Update&lt;/b&gt;: It turns out that Zachary has been thinking of a very similar topic &amp;#x2013; instead of asking the per-campaign question, he just asks the per-judge question.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Zachary Houghton&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://www.rpgblog2.com/2009/05/friday-discussion-whats-your-appendix-n.html"&gt;Friday Discussion: What’s Your Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Mishler&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://jamesmishler.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-appendix-n-fantasy.html"&gt;My Appendix N (Fantasy)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mike Hensley&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://www.hackslash.net/?p=519"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Maliszewski&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-appendix-n.html"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Jeff Rients&amp;#x2019; &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://jrients.blogspot.com/2009/05/oldschool-blogmeme-n.html"&gt;OldSchool Blogmeme N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Update&lt;/b&gt;: Even more&amp;#x2026;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Matthew Conway&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://arcona.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/my-appendix-n/"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Vulcan Stev&amp;#x2019;s (?) &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://vulcanstev.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/my-appendix-n-whats-yours/"&gt;My Appendix N. What’s Yours?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Jukka Särkijärvi&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://nitessine.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/my-appendix-n/"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Brother Clary&amp;#x2019;s (?) &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://cleireac.livejournal.com/65658.html"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mark Meredith&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://dicemonkey.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/my-appendix-n/"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;James Edward Raggi IV&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://lotfp.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-appendix-n.html"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Joshua Macy&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://webamused.com/bumblers/?p=1027"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Mike&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://symptomsofmadness.blogspot.com/2009/05/appendix-newb.html"&gt;Appendix Newb&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Doug Easterly&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://swordsofathanor.blogspot.com/2009/05/my-appendix-n.html"&gt;My Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Wyatt Salazar&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://spiritsofeden.wordpress.com/2009/05/10/wyatts-appendix-t/"&gt;Wyatt’s “Appendix T”&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Chad Perrin&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://sob.apotheon.org/?p=1039"&gt;recommended books (fiction)&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A thread on &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://www.enworld.org/"&gt;EN World&lt;/a&gt; called &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/252495-appendix-n-reading-list.html"&gt;Appendix N Reading List&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;gnom-bientus&amp;#x2019; (?) &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://gnombient.wordpress.com/2009/05/08/fun-with-appendix-n/"&gt;fun with Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Paizo&amp;#x2019;s &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/tags/appendixN"&gt;The Fabled Appendix&lt;/a&gt; interview series&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:RPG"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=thoughts"&gt;thoughts&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:thoughts"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=journal;full=1;search=tag:Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 May 2009 09:28:45 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2009-05-08_Literary_Grounding</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2009-05-08_Literary_Grounding</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2009-05-08_Literary_Grounding</wiki:diff>
<category>RPG</category>
<category>thoughts</category>
<category>Books</category>
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<item>
<title>Exsila vs. Bookmooch</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-02-20_Exsila_vs._Bookmooch</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-02-20_Exsila_vs._Bookmooch</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x2019;ve accumulated lots of points on &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://bookmooch.com/"&gt;BookMooch&lt;/a&gt; &amp;#x2013; more than 180 points at the moment. But I&amp;#x2019;m having two problems:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ol&gt;&lt;li&gt;Sending books to the states is expensive.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;They never seem to have the books I&amp;#x2019;m looking for.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ol&gt;&lt;p&gt;There&amp;#x2019;s a local exchange site here in Switzerland called &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://www.exsila.ch/"&gt;Exsila&lt;/a&gt;. The problem there is that I have to assign a price to my books. While adding the book to your inventory, the site suggests to use the retail price (?), but I&amp;#x2019;m sure nobody wants to pay that much. This was easy for &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://bookmooch.com/"&gt;BookMooch&lt;/a&gt;: Every book is two points; sending outside your country is an extra point.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So what happened is that I entered a dozen books and looked at my listing. Ten of my books were listed as &amp;#x201c;best price&amp;#x201d; but two samples revealed that I was also the only one with the book in question. The two books were I was not &amp;#x201c;best price&amp;#x201d; seemed to be going for 10% or 20% of the price the system had suggested to me. Damn. Go back and edit those prices? Hope to score? Compare with Amazon?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Gaaaah!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=rss;rcfilteronly=tag:Books"&gt;&lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:07:49 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2009-02-20_Exsila_vs._Bookmooch</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2009-02-20_Exsila_vs._Bookmooch</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2009-02-20_Exsila_vs._Bookmooch</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
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<item>
<title>The Broken Sword</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-02-19_The_Broken_Sword</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-02-19_The_Broken_Sword</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;Instead of reading the books for the English &lt;a class="local" href="http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/BookClub"&gt;BookClub&lt;/a&gt;, I&amp;#x2019;ve been reading the series &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malazan Book of the Fallen"&gt;Malazan Book of the Fallen&lt;/a&gt; for a while now. I decided to take a break and read one of the pulp books I&amp;#x2019;ve been quietly collecting recently. Inspired by the &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2008/12/pulp-fantasy-gallery-broken-sword.html"&gt;review in the Grognardia Pulp Fantasy Gallery&lt;/a&gt; I picked &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Broken Sword"&gt;The Broken Sword&lt;/a&gt;, where a human changeling raised in elven courts battles trolls and giants at the side of elven hunters, his human love, and faery gods. I&amp;#x2019;m approaching the end, and I really like it up to now.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Recommended&lt;/b&gt;. &lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/ok.png" alt="ok" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=rss;rcfilteronly=tag:Books"&gt;&lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:34:50 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2009-02-19_The_Broken_Sword</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
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<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2009-02-19_The_Broken_Sword</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2009-02-19_The_Broken_Sword</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
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<item>
<title>BookMooch</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-01-06_BookMooch</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2009-01-06_BookMooch</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;I thought I was doing fine:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre class="real"&gt;Points: 178.8
Books received: 37
Books given: 72
Feedback: +73&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;p&gt;But today I saw this guy:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;pre class="real"&gt;Books received: 5306
Books given: 4930
Feedback: +4931&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;img class="smiley" src="http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/goggle.png" alt="goggle" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="feed tag" title="Feed for this tag" rel="feed" href="http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/feed/full/Books"&gt;&lt;img src="http://alexschroeder.ch/pics/rss.png" alt="RSS" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:52:42 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2009-01-06_BookMooch</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2009-01-06_BookMooch</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2009-01-06_BookMooch</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
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<item>
<title>Planet Stories and other Sword and Sorcery Books</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2008-08-11_Planet_Stories_and_other_Sword_and_Sorcery_Books</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2008-08-11_Planet_Stories_and_other_Sword_and_Sorcery_Books</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;A new delivery of books has arrived:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Almuric+Robert+E.+Howard"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Almuric&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Robert E. Howard&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Elak+of+Atlantis+Henry+Kuttner"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Elak of Atlantis&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Henry Kuttner&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=The+Secret+of+Sinharat%3a+And+the+People+of+the+Talisman+Leigh+Brackett"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;The Secret of Sinharat: And the People of the Talisman&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Leigh Brackett&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Northwest+of+Earth%3a+Complete+Northwest+Smith+C.+L.+Moore"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Northwest of Earth: Complete Northwest Smith&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;C. L. Moore&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=The+Conan+Chronicles%3a+Hour+of+the+Dragon+Vol+2+Robert+E.+Howard"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;The Conan Chronicles: Hour of the Dragon Vol 2&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Robert E. Howard&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;The last one is the only book not from the &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://paizo.com/store/paizo/planetStories"&gt;Planet Stories&lt;/a&gt; but from &lt;a class="near" title="Wikipedia" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy Masterworks"&gt;Fantasy Masterworks&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I really enjoyed the first volume of the Conan Chronicles. I was less enthusiastic about &lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=Black+God%e2%80%99s+Kiss+C.L.+Moore"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;Black God’s Kiss&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;C.L. Moore&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;. In fact I haven&amp;#x2019;t finished the last story in that book.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As time allows I&amp;#x2019;ll try going through some of the books in the &lt;a class="local" href="http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List"&gt;Old School Fantasy Reading List&lt;/a&gt; recently &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://kellri.blogspot.com/2008/08/old-school-inspirational-reading-list.html"&gt;published by Kellri&lt;/a&gt;. (Real name Scot Hoover?)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am excited! And my collector&amp;#x2019;s heart also laments the fact that I already gave away some books in these two series via &lt;a class="near" title="Names" href="http://bookmooch.com/"&gt;BookMooch&lt;/a&gt;:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=The+Iron+Dragon%e2%80%99s+Daughter+Michael+Swanwick"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;The Iron Dragon’s Daughter&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Michael Swanwick&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a class="book" href="http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;oe=UTF-8&amp;amp;q=The+Anubis+Murders+Gary+Gygax"&gt;&lt;cite&gt;The Anubis Murders&lt;/cite&gt; by &lt;cite&gt;Gary Gygax&lt;/cite&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p&gt;Then again I also got some fantasy and science fiction books via the same service, so I guess it evens out.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:57:44 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2008-08-11_Planet_Stories_and_other_Sword_and_Sorcery_Books</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>new</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>1</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2008-08-11_Planet_Stories_and_other_Sword_and_Sorcery_Books</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2008-08-11_Planet_Stories_and_other_Sword_and_Sorcery_Books</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
<category>RPG</category>
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<title>Old School Fantasy Reading List</title>
<link>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List</link>
<guid>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List</guid>
<description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://kellri.blogspot.com/2008/08/old-school-inspirational-reading-list.html"&gt;Old School Inspirational Reading List&lt;/a&gt; by Kellri is over sixty pages of short author bios and blurbs for books or short stories &amp;#x2013; and any obvious influences they may have had on D&amp;amp;D. I guess it&amp;#x2019;s inspired by Gygax&amp;#x2019; reading list in the famous Appendix N of the AD&amp;amp;D 1st ed Dungeon Master Guide. Then &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://unclebear.com/?p=792"&gt;Uncle Bear suggested a wiki&lt;/a&gt;. Now, creating a dedicated wiki is easy. I did just that and called it &lt;a class="url http outside" href="http://campaignwiki.org/wiki/AppendixN/HomePage"&gt;Appendix N&lt;/a&gt;. But it really needs people willing to &lt;em style="text-decoration: underline; font-style: normal;"&gt;step up and adopt it&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x2019;m not sure I want to act as a founder for that wiki. &lt;a class="near" title="Community" href="http://www.communitywiki.org/cw/WikiFounding"&gt;WikiFounding&lt;/a&gt; is a tricky business and involves lots of &lt;a class="near" title="MeatBall" href="http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?SeedPosting"&gt;SeedPosting&lt;/a&gt;. I&amp;#x2019;m not sure I&amp;#x2019;m up to it. We need a &lt;a class="near" title="MeatBall" href="http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?CommittedFounder"&gt;CommittedFounder&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Tags: &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=Books"&gt;Books&lt;/a&gt; &lt;a class="outside tag" title="Tag" rel="tag" href="http://www.emacswiki.org/alex?action=tag;id=RPG"&gt;RPG&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>
<pubDate>Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:15:03 GMT</pubDate>
<comments>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki/Comments_on_2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List</comments>
<dc:contributor>AlexSchroeder</dc:contributor>
<wiki:status>updated</wiki:status>
<wiki:importance>major</wiki:importance>
<wiki:version>2</wiki:version>
<wiki:history>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=history;id=2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List</wiki:history>
<wiki:diff>http://alexschroeder.ch/wiki?action=browse;diff=1;id=2008-08-11_Old_School_Fantasy_Reading_List</wiki:diff>
<category>Books</category>
<category>RPG</category>
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