Among my many panels at this year’s (always) fantastic ArmadilloCon literary convention was my 40 Years of D&D panel. The room was packed thanks to the high charisma stats of my fellow panelists (listed in standard marching order): Mark Finn, Marshall Maresca, Barbara Ann Wright, and Patrice Sarath.
Mark Finn, friend, author, and Robert E. Howard scholar (that’s the guy who created Conan, for those not in the know), published his own brilliant blog post on the 40th anniversary of D&D. In it, he mentions the list of recommended reading in Appendix N of the 1st edition Dungeon Master’s Guide. Oh, how I wish I could go back in time and get my teenage self to just flip past all those awesome magic item charts and use that list as a guidebook of required reading.
And for those who don’t want to click over to read Finn’s brilliance, I’ve posted the list below. It’s a veritable who’s who of authors whose work I wished I’d discovered as a teen. Of course, I’ve read plenty of these books, like Lord of the Rings, Elric, Hawkmoon, Conan, Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser, etc., but there are plenty I still haven’t read. Looks like my reading list just got that much bigger!
Anderson, Poul: THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN
SWORD
Bellairs, John: THE FACE IN THE FROST
Brackett, Leigh
Brown, Frederic
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: “Pellucidar” series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin: “World’s End” series
de Camp, L. Sprague: LEST DARKNESS FALL; THE FALLIBLE FIEND; et al
de Camp & Pratt: “Harold Shea” series; THE CARNELIAN CUBE
Derleth, August
Dunsany, Lord
Farmer, P. J.: “The World of the Tiers” series; et al
Fox, Gardner: “Kothar” series; “Kyrik” series; et al
Howard, R. E.: “Conan” series
Lanier, Sterling: HIERO’S JOURNEY
Leiber, Fritz: “Fafhrd & Gray Mouser” series; et al
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A.: CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al
Moorcock, Michael: STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; “Hawkmoon” series (esp. the
first three books)
Norton, Andre
Offutt, Andrew J.: editor of SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III
Pratt, Fletcher: BLUE STAR; et al
Saberhagen, Fred: CHANGELING EARTH; et al
St. Clair, Margaret: THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS
Tolkien, J. R. R.: THE HOBBIT; “Ring trilogy”
Vance, Jack: THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al
Weinbaum, Stanley
Wellman, Manley Wade
Williamson, Jack
Zelazny, Roger: JACK OF SHADOWS; “Amber” series; et al