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General Tabletop Discussion
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How many books/authors of the original AD&D Bibliography have you read? Do you feel you see D&D differently than people who have not read any?
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<blockquote data-quote="Mannahnin" data-source="post: 8776741" data-attributes="member: 7026594"><p>Yeah, lots of big names in TW, and some lesser ones.</p><p></p><p>As I recall Offutt also wrote at least one spin-off novel about Hanse Shadowspawn, though I haven't read it and I remember the reviews being negative.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.amazon.com/Shadowspawn-Thieves-World-No-4/dp/0441760392/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=[/URL]</p><p></p><p>He also edited the Swords Against Darkness series of anthologies in the 70s.</p><p></p><p>He also wrote a lot of erotic fiction under pseudonyms for cash, and his son wrote a pretty strange and touching piece about his father's life and work for the New York Times back in 2015.</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/my-dad-the-pornographer.html[/URL]</p><p></p><p>[ISPOILER]</p><p>"My father, Andrew Jefferson Offutt V, grew up in a log cabin in Taylorsville, Ky. The house had 12-inch-thick walls with gun ports to defend against attackers: first Indians, then soldiers during the Civil War. At 12, Dad wrote a novel of the Old West. He taught himself to type with the Columbus method — find it and land on it — using one finger on his left hand and two fingers on his right. Dad typed swiftly and with great passion. In this fashion, he eventually wrote and published more than 400 books. Two were science fiction and 24 were fantasy, written under his own name; the rest were pornography, using 17 pseudonyms.</p><p>In the mid-1960s, Dad purchased several porn novels through the mail. My mother recalls him reading them with disgust — not because of the content, but because of how poorly they were written. He hurled a book across the room and told her he could do better. Mom suggested he do so. According to her, the tipping point for Dad’s full commitment to porn, five years later, was my orthodontic needs.</p><p>When I was a kid, my teeth were a terrible mess: overlapping, crooked and protruding like fangs. Mom wanted to work part time and pay for braces. Dad suggested that if he quit his job as a salesman and she typed all his final drafts, they could finance my dental care. Over cocktails in the woods of eastern Kentucky, they formed a partnership to mass-produce porn.</p><p></p><p>Many of the early publishers used a “house name,” a pseudonym shared by several writers. It concealed identity, which writers preferred, while allowing the publisher to give the illusion of a single prolific author. This was an early attempt at branding, with proven success in other genres: westerns, romance and mystery. Dad didn’t mind. He had experimented with a literary mask at the University of Louisville, using different names for articles in the school paper, as well as in his own short fiction. A pseudonym for pornography provided literary freedom while also protecting the family’s reputation in our conservative Appalachian community.</p><p></p><p>My father’s first published novel was “Bondage Babes,” released by Greenleaf under the name Alan Marshall in 1968. His pay was $600. The plot was a clever conceit. Someone had murdered a model for a bondage shoot, and the model’s sister was investigating the crime by posing as a model herself, which allowed for soft-core descriptions of restrained women. Greenleaf published his next novel, “Sex Toy,” a book Dad referred to as “sensitive,” under the name J. X. Williams, followed by three other books under three other names.</p><p>His primary pseudonym, John Cleve, first appeared on “Slave of the Sudan,” an imitation of Victorian pornography so precisely executed that the editor suspected my father of plagiarism. Dad found this extremely flattering. He concocted his pen name from John Cleland, author of “Fanny Hill,” considered the first erotic novel published in English. Over time, John Cleve evolved into more than a mere pseudonym. Dad regarded John Cleve as his alter ego, a separate entity, the persona who wrote porn. Dad was adamant that he did not have 17 pen names. Dad had John Cleve, to whom he referred in the third person. It was John Cleve who had 16 pseudonyms, in addition to his own wardrobe, stationery and signature."</p><p>[/ISPOILER]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mannahnin, post: 8776741, member: 7026594"] Yeah, lots of big names in TW, and some lesser ones. As I recall Offutt also wrote at least one spin-off novel about Hanse Shadowspawn, though I haven't read it and I remember the reviews being negative. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.amazon.com/Shadowspawn-Thieves-World-No-4/dp/0441760392/ref=tmm_mmp_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=[/URL] He also edited the Swords Against Darkness series of anthologies in the 70s. He also wrote a lot of erotic fiction under pseudonyms for cash, and his son wrote a pretty strange and touching piece about his father's life and work for the New York Times back in 2015. [URL unfurl="true"]https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/08/magazine/my-dad-the-pornographer.html[/URL] [ISPOILER] "My father, Andrew Jefferson Offutt V, grew up in a log cabin in Taylorsville, Ky. The house had 12-inch-thick walls with gun ports to defend against attackers: first Indians, then soldiers during the Civil War. At 12, Dad wrote a novel of the Old West. He taught himself to type with the Columbus method — find it and land on it — using one finger on his left hand and two fingers on his right. Dad typed swiftly and with great passion. In this fashion, he eventually wrote and published more than 400 books. Two were science fiction and 24 were fantasy, written under his own name; the rest were pornography, using 17 pseudonyms. In the mid-1960s, Dad purchased several porn novels through the mail. My mother recalls him reading them with disgust — not because of the content, but because of how poorly they were written. He hurled a book across the room and told her he could do better. Mom suggested he do so. According to her, the tipping point for Dad’s full commitment to porn, five years later, was my orthodontic needs. When I was a kid, my teeth were a terrible mess: overlapping, crooked and protruding like fangs. Mom wanted to work part time and pay for braces. Dad suggested that if he quit his job as a salesman and she typed all his final drafts, they could finance my dental care. Over cocktails in the woods of eastern Kentucky, they formed a partnership to mass-produce porn. Many of the early publishers used a “house name,” a pseudonym shared by several writers. It concealed identity, which writers preferred, while allowing the publisher to give the illusion of a single prolific author. This was an early attempt at branding, with proven success in other genres: westerns, romance and mystery. Dad didn’t mind. He had experimented with a literary mask at the University of Louisville, using different names for articles in the school paper, as well as in his own short fiction. A pseudonym for pornography provided literary freedom while also protecting the family’s reputation in our conservative Appalachian community. My father’s first published novel was “Bondage Babes,” released by Greenleaf under the name Alan Marshall in 1968. His pay was $600. The plot was a clever conceit. Someone had murdered a model for a bondage shoot, and the model’s sister was investigating the crime by posing as a model herself, which allowed for soft-core descriptions of restrained women. Greenleaf published his next novel, “Sex Toy,” a book Dad referred to as “sensitive,” under the name J. X. Williams, followed by three other books under three other names. His primary pseudonym, John Cleve, first appeared on “Slave of the Sudan,” an imitation of Victorian pornography so precisely executed that the editor suspected my father of plagiarism. Dad found this extremely flattering. He concocted his pen name from John Cleland, author of “Fanny Hill,” considered the first erotic novel published in English. Over time, John Cleve evolved into more than a mere pseudonym. Dad regarded John Cleve as his alter ego, a separate entity, the persona who wrote porn. Dad was adamant that he did not have 17 pen names. Dad had John Cleve, to whom he referred in the third person. It was John Cleve who had 16 pseudonyms, in addition to his own wardrobe, stationery and signature." [/ISPOILER] [/QUOTE]
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General Tabletop Discussion
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How many books/authors of the original AD&D Bibliography have you read? Do you feel you see D&D differently than people who have not read any?
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