Books & Stuff (NS, No 9) - Reading in Dec 2020

 Finished Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

In which our heroes Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser (strangely) transfer from the fantasy world of Newhon to the (equally fantastic) Ancient Near East.

Atomic-Age Cthulhu: Mythos Horror in the 1950s

A series of seven 1950s-set Call of Cthulhu scenarios.  Most are based in the United States (the one exception follows a US Army tank crew in the Korean War) and tackle 1950s bugbears: - communist villains, nuclear power, juvenile delinquency,  rock and/or roll and Stuff from Outer Space.

It's always hard knowing a scenario just from reading it, but these seem an interesting, if mixed, bunch.  There's also a brief over-view of the 1950s (in the US) and how one might set mythos RPGs there.  

I read some very mixed reviews online, but at the moment it's in warehouse clearance for UK buyers, and worth the £7.34 they're asking for softback copy and pdf.  But you'll need the pdf - the reproduction of the (not great) artwork in the hardcopy isn't very good.

Currently Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords Against Wizardry

After a tedious mountain-climbing story with a shaggy-dog of a climax (and which I was surprised to see was nominated for a Hugo Award in 1966), the heroes get down to some proper Swords and Sorcery adventures.

MR James, Collected Ghost Stories

What would the period between Christmas and New Year be without the genius of Montague Rhodes James?  Dull, that's what.

Books & Stuff (NS, No 8) - Reading in Nov 2020

Finished Reading

Susanna Clarke, Piranesi

A very good book: a beautiful book.  A book about isolation and being at peace with that: it’s perhaps fitting that I read it on the eve of 2nd Lockdown.  I liked it.  

A lot of fans of Jonthan Strange and Mr Norrell – who've been looking forward to this book for years - will be disappointed that it’s not set in their 'verse.  I think, from the hints about the subject matter that have emerged from time-to-time, that there was some expectation that it would be set on Strange’s Faerie Roads.  That's certainly what I expected.  It's refreshing to get something different.  If anything, it reminds me of books by David Mitchell: and that’s not a bad thing. 

I’d deliberately avoided reading any reviews or anything that might have given a synopsis; and I’m glad.  Not that I like to read reviews anyway (at least for fiction).  I’m not terribly interested in what other people think, preferring to form my own opinion on something as subjective as fiction.  Professional reviews are bad enough, but Goodreads is the worse.  I use it as a useful tool, but the reviews!  When they’re not just gushing fans, they’re people churning out half-remembered and never-fully-understood concepts from High School: talk of ‘poor characterisation’ and ‘crass diction’, etc. 

HP Lovecraft, The Case of Charles Dexter Ward

A young scholar becomes obsessed with an ancestor who practiced the Dark Arts.  A newly-discovered portrait shows an uncanny likeness between the two.  What could possibly go wrong?

Despite everything about Lovecraft, it must be admitted that he writes well.  Although the reader has a pretty good idea of what's going on from the very beginning, tension is held as the protagonist gradually uncovers the dreadful truth.

Simon Harris, The Other Norfolk Admirals: Myngs, Narbrough and Shovell

It took me a while to get into this (a couple of months on these round-ups!), but having done so, it was very interesting.  

It could have done with a stronger editorial hand, which surprised me as it was published by the excellent Helion & Co.  But though it's a strong piece, it doesn't pretend to be an academic work and, as a labour of love by an enthusiast a lot can be fogiven.

Bayt al Azif: A Magazine for Cthulhu Mythos Roleplaying Games, Issue 2 (Aug 2019)

Another thing (along with the Norfolk Admirals) which has been languishing by my bedside for months.  I decided to finish it off on finding out that Issue 3 is now out (in pdf  at least).  

I keep half-promising to do proper reviews of these: for now, I'll just say that if anyone is interested in Mythos Roleplaying they are must-reads.

Quintin Barry, From Solebay to the Texel: The Third Anglo-Dutch War, 1672-1674

A very good summary of the naval side of the Anglo-Dutch Wars - despite the title, almost the first half of the (short) book deals with the first two (which is fair enough, they can't be taken in isolation).

Purely narrative: don't come to it expecting any analysis.

Currently Reading

Fritz Leiber, Swords in the Mist

A collection of some of the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser stories, which are quickly becoming favorites of mine.

An Unboxing (In which I coin the term 'Dolmenesque')

I got a couple of parcels today, which is always fun.

First up was The Second Book of Lanhmar.  I really shouldn't be buying new books at the moment as I'm supposed to be in the process of downsizing in advance of a house move.  But someone recommended Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories and I've really enjoyed the ones I've read so far.  Their light tone and understated humour mixes well with the darkness of some of the story matter.

More excitingly perhaps was a draft of the new Dolmenwood Player's Book by Necrotic Gnome., creators of Old-School Essentials.  I've mentioned it before, but Dolmenwood is their weird, fairy-tale  campaign setting.

I've signed up to provide playtesting and feedback, so received the pdf last week.  I sent it to be printed off and spiral-bound by doxdirect.  This was a bit of an experiment for me, and I'm pleased with the results.  It was reasonably priced and only took two days to get to me from placement of the order.  It's certainly better that I could have produced at home.  The spiral binding will allow for some flexible use at the table.  I must say that I always prefer hard-copies over pdfs, which I find almost impossible to concentrate on.

I would say that I'll give you my impressions when I've read it, but as this is a pre-publication version, I'm not supposed to!  Let's just leave it with the overwhelming impression of clear lines and good lay-out (which is something of a trademark of Necrotic Gnome's).  This is more than cosmetic:  having recently had a very frustrating session with some other rulebooks, I do appreciate the utility of having a reference that can be used at the table.

Some of you may remember that before Christmas I ran a couple of sessions of the Hole in the Oak module for what I called 'The Home Group' (I also ran a less successful session for my regular RPG group).  Anyway, Christmas, New Year and diaries intervened and we haven't played since: I was a little surprised when at our last meeting (for board-games) people were keen to pick up where we left off and even to carry on after the module.  Hole in the Oak isn't set in Dolmenwood, but it's as near as damn!  It will only take little tweeking to insert Dolmenesque elements.  I will digest the Player's Book and then decide how many to put into our game and whether we will go whole-hog into the 'Wood.

As a final aside, all of doxdirect's packing material was recyclable.  Very good to see.