Col_Pladoh said:
That is so, but the name and stats were created by Tim Kask, then editor of Dragon Magazine.
Ah, that's good to know! I'm in the middle of editing a Masters and Minions book centered on the ecosystem of the bulette; one of the things we like to do is to present the history of each monster, and I'm thus glad to have record straight.
Col_Pladoh said:
The stirge I made up frm whole cloth, vaguely inspired by the myth of Strygea. I haven't read any of Swann's yarns.
I think you'd like Swann. I got turned on to him by David Pringle's
Modern Fantasy: The Hundred Best Novels, which has considerable overlap with Appendix N (although your selection is more to my taste than Pringle's). He describes
Day of the Minotaur as a "light and charming historical fantasy". I'd be honored to send you a copy; the few hours of enjoyment it might bring you are small recompense for the many thousands of hours your work has brought us! If you're interested, send me your mailing address at tav (at) behemoth3.com.
Col_Pladoh said:
Durned if I can recall. The best I can offer is to answer on a case by case basis.
The remorhaz Creature Feature was Erol Otus's, I believe, since you thanked him for preliminary work on the monster in the acknowledgments to the
Monster Manual. I'm particularly interested in its possible literary antecedent - Carter & DeCamp's "Lair of the Ice Worm" (published in
Conan of Cimmeria) describes an artic worm called the remorla, which radiates cold whereas the remorhaz radiates heat. Might you be able to shed any light on the subject?
Col_Pladoh said:
It was Van Vogt's
Voyage of the Space Beagle when i read it...but I suspect the story is the same, yes
You are quite correct! The novel grew out of the short story "Black Destroyer", but there ain't no such beast as a "Voyage of the Black Destroyer" (and the beast in the story was named Coeurl, not Couatl). I am appropriately humbled.
Col_Pladoh said:
Thank you very much, and happy you are making good use of the list! Hope you also enjoy the more recent work of Glen Cook and Terry Prachett. How I admire Terry's creation "luggage" and the manner in which he describes it in his novels
You've cleverly answered a question I hadn't even asked yet, which is what inspirational and recommended literature you'd add to the list today! Many thanks.