Same. The monsters of the Fiend Folio hit very differently. D&D monsters books have always had their weird critters, but I feel like Fiend Folio had a higher percentage of weirdos. And they were a distinctly different kind of weird. I mean, just look at the Tirapheg!
In a perfect world, back in the day the Monster Manual 2 was followed by the Fiend Folio 2. With even more glorious Russ Nicholson art and weird monsters.
I read a ton of RPG-based fiction back when I was a kid. I've re-read a lot of it as an adult, and yeah, it's mostly bad-to-mid. A lot of it I have profound nostalgia for, but still.
I think brand recognition back then was even more important than it is today. There are so many amazing books...
Hmmm...Holly Black's Tithe (or any of the Modern Faerie Tales series, really). Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone. Maybe Blazewrath Games, by Amparo Ortiz? Would it be too soon for The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle?
For you, if you're looking for non-fiction, I might suggest any of Barry Strauss'...
Yeah, isn't the point of art to make us feel?
An author that is dead does not have the opportunity to change. A living author, does, and certainly in the case of Rowling, chooses not to.
At this point, I prefer making drinks at home to going out for drinks, unless it's a bar that I know makes good drinks. Some place I know that I'm not paying $12 for a tiny drink, or one that's too sweet, or mostly just juice.
I finished reading Snow Crash. Can't believe it took me this long to get to it. Super-prescient in how it depicts the absurdity of late-stage capitalism. Also, there was this short paragraph about how as library collections include more multimedia, more digital media, they will become these...
I think every book is a conversation between the author and the reader. I also think about Lex Luthor's quote, delivered so well by Gene Hackman "Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it's a simple adventure story. Others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and...
My liquor cabinet is...not small. I am glad that the Benedictines are still making plenty of Benedictine. I would be sad to not be able to do a proper B&B.
The Boulevardier is such a classic! As for Galliano, it seems to be a love it or leave it liqueur. For me, it's always got a place in my liquor cabinet...especially now that it comes in a smaller size than the ridiculous tower it used to.
If you like the Boulevardier, I'd recommend the Lena, a sadly forgotten cocktail from the 1970s:
2 oz. Bourbon
1 oz. Sweet Vermouth
1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth
1/2 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. Galliano
Stir with ice and strain into a cocktail glass with a cherry.
Very lucky, that. There's not a single bottle of Chartreuse for sale within a hundred miles of where I am (and I live in a city).
It works fine. I think it's slightly drier, and lacks the orange notes I get from Green Chartreuse. I didn't even notice those were there until I tasted the two...
Genepy is what I use to sub for Green Chartreuse. Allorino (bay leaf liqueur) isn't a bad option either. For Yellow Chartreuse, I use Strega.
The Chartreuse shortage is a bummer. I don't see it changing anytime soon, so there are going to be all these cocktails that just don't taste the way...