I listen to audiobooks while commuting to and from the day job, and I just finished listening to SABRIEL by Garth Nix. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve never really been into the necromantic craze that seems to be a sort of ongoing thing. Nevertheless, I did enjoy listening to this book, at least in part due to the great performance by reader Tim Curry.

After receiving a cryptic message from her father, Abhorsen, a necromancer trapped in Death, 18-year-old Sabriel sets off into the Old Kingdom. Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow Hands. Unlike other necromancers, who raise the dead, Abhorsen lays the disturbed dead back to rest. This obliges him–and now Sabriel, who has taken on her father’s title and duties–to slip over the border into the icy river of Death, sometimes battling the evil forces that lurk there, waiting for an opportunity to escape into the realm of the living. Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible exhaustion, violent confrontations, and terrifying challenges to her supernatural abilities–and her destiny.

There are additional titles in the series, though I’m not sure that I’ll listen to them right away. I’ll probably keep them in the back of my mind as stand-bys for when the things I have on hold haven’t arrived yet. My son heard part of the story and is now listening, and he says he’s liking it.

I can maybe see a sort of “undead campaign” based on some of these ideas and themes, though I fear I would weary of it rather quickly. There’s only so much zombies and such that I can take.

Tags: literature

From Hal Foster's PRINCE VALIANT by Gianni and Schultz

Not sure what Prince Valiant is up to, but momma is hot on the trail of her baby.

Tags: literature

I was thinking back through the books I’ve read in the past few years (quite a few, though not nearly as many as I would have liked) and it occurred to me that THE TERROR by Dan Simmons would probably appeal to a lot of gamers.

I got it for Christmas a couple of years ago and read it right away, enjoying it immensely. It is a fictional account of the fate of the real-world arctic expedition of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus in 1845. The two ships were searching for the Northwest Passage, became trapped in the ice, and the ultimate fate of the ships and the crews is still mostly a mystery.

Here’s the Publisher’s Weekly write-up:

Hugo-winner Simmons brings the horrific trials and tribulations of arctic exploration vividly to life in this beautifully written historical, which injects a note of supernatural horror into the 1840s Franklin expedition and its doomed search for the Northwest Passage. Sir John Franklin, the leader of the expedition and captain of the Erebus, is an aging fool. Francis Crozier, his second in command and captain of the Terror, is a competent sailor, but embittered after years of seeing lesser men with better connections given preferment over him. With their two ships quickly trapped in pack ice, their voyage is a disaster from start to finish. Some men perish from disease, others from the cold, still others from botulism traced to tinned food purchased from the lowest bidder. Madness, mutiny and cannibalism follow. And then there’s the monstrous creature from the ice, the thing like a polar bear but many times larger, possessed of a dark and vicious intelligence. This complex tale should find many devoted readers and add significantly to Simmons’s already considerable reputation.

Emphasis mine.

Apparently there’s a Cthulhu campaign based on a search for the lost expedition called Walker in the Wastes.

I really enjoyed the novel and am hoping to listen to it on audiobook in the near future. If you’re looking for something to read this summer, maybe the reading about the deep cold these guys found themselves trapped in will help keep you cool.

Policy Note: Once in a while my links to books, DVDs, or other stuff for purchase may include referral program links, such the Amazon Associates code in my links to Amazon in this post. This doesn’t mean that I’ve been compensated to include that link. If I post on something because I’m being paid to, I will make note of it in the post.

I’ve added a note on this to my About page (such as it is).

Tags: literature

The giant lizard story in Prince Vailiant continues:

From Hal Foster's PRINCE VALIANT by Gianni and Schultz

This has been going on for two months now, but it appears that things may be close to wrapping up. Prince Valiant has determined that the lizard is after an egg that was apparently taken some time back, and he’s now confronting the guy with the egg.

Tags: literature

A great image for Twelfth Night by Underground Shakespeare

DUKE ORSINO
    That face of his I do remember well;
    Yet, when I saw it last, it was besmear’d
    As black as Vulcan in the smoke of war:
    A bawbling vessel was he captain of,
    For shallow draught and bulk unprizable;
    With which such scathful grapple did he make
    With the most noble bottom of our fleet,
    That very envy and the tongue of loss
    Cried fame and honour on him. What’s the matter?

First Officer
    Orsino, this is that Antonio
    That took the Phoenix and her fraught from Candy;
    And this is he that did the Tiger board,
    When your young nephew Titus lost his leg:
    Here in the streets, desperate of shame and state,
    In private brabble did we apprehend him.

Not really game-related, but I’m a bit of a Shakespeare fan. Not any sort of expert or student of the art, but a casual fan who enjoys reading, listening to, and watching the plays of the great Bard.

Like many gamers, I imagine, my favorite History is Henry V and my favorite Tragedy is Hamlet. However, I haven’t met a lot of folks who name Twelfth Night as one of their favorite Comedies. It is certainly mine. And, to heap blaspheme upon heresy, I happen to enjoy Trevor Nunn’s film adaptation of the play not only more than any other Shakespeare film, I enjoy more than most other films, period.

From Gustav Dore's illustration of Dante's Inferno

A passing knowledge of the various classics can, I think, make playing and refereeing games much more vibrant and enjoyable. So many great lines, so many dramatic (or funny) moments, so many compelling characters and stories are all there, ripe for the picking. Used almost word-for-word or only as inspiration, the great stories of ages past can enrich any role-playing experience. And I don’t mean the pulps from the early part of the 20th century, though those, too, are obviously a treasure trove waiting to be looted.

Inspired by Conan the Barbarian or John Carter of Mars? Even Wagner’s “The Ring Cycle”? Of course, you are. We probably all are, at least a little bit. But inspired by the likes of Shakespeare or Sophocles or Dante? Though the spirit of their work permeates nearly everything that came after, maybe there’s some good material to be had by directly pulling it from the source.

We just watched Twelfth Night again this evening, and I thought I’d share. Hopefully, you can look at some things in a slightly different way and pick a few tidbits to spice up your own game.

Tags: literature

The antediluvian horror is in Camelot and headed upstairs - From Hal Foster's PRINCE VALIANT by Gianni and Schultz

They’ve figured out the lizard wants an egg stolen by Gawain some time back. Gawain is using the egg to woo a woman, which should earn him bonus experience points.

Tags: literature

I didn’t get many chances to see this as a kid, but I do remember thinking it was pretty exciting at the time.

We watched the first episode last night on Hulu and my kids had a good laugh. It’s got the same old-time charm for me as Ark II and Space Academy.

One thing I noticed is that they refer to “Grumpy” as a “Tyrannosaur.” This is always how I’ve referred to Tyrannosaurs, though I think it was the standard until Jurassic Park started everyone calling them “T-Rex.” Which I’ve always thought was pretty lame.

UPDATE: Fixed the video.

Tags: literature

The antediluvian horror rampaging in Camelot doesn’t seem fazed by the three beastmen who leaped atop its back last week:

From today's Hal Foster's PRINCE VALIANT by Gianni and Schultz

Despite this setback, one of the beastmen thinks that he’s figured out what the creature is after: an egg taken some time back by Gawain.

Obviously, it never occured to Prince Valiant to get the giant komodo to fight a giant cobra.

Tags: literature