D&D General Is Appendix N Still Relevant to D&D?

[nyvinter]

Man, the Science Fiction Book Club books are almost certainly big collector's items nowadays. If we had all only known.

This goes especially for some of the short story collections. Some of those have stories you can't find anywhere else still.

 

[Mannahnin]

No, it was more of a reminder to myself that one shouldn't draw conclusions based on own experiences. And honestly, if he can sell that amount, then D&D novels definitively should too. Twice as much even.

But bestseller lists is at the same time a weird metric to base anything on and that goes especially for the NY Times one — it's a curated list that use sales numbers as a guideline.

That's fair. TSR was apparently the #1 publisher in the category for a while there. They sold millions in fiction. James Lowder is occasionally active on these forums, and he was one of their main editors during that period. He's posted some really neat insights and awesome inside info about the publishing side.

 

[Willie the Duck]

Won't someone remember the vast Esperanto-reading audience?

La kio?

 

[Mannahnin]

Man, the Science Fiction Book Club books are almost certainly big collector's items nowadays. If we had all only known.

Maybe some from the earlier years? To the best of my knowledge the ones from the 70s and 80s we all had were printed in such vast numbers that they're still cheap on the secondary market. A bit less so than ten or twenty years ago, since the overhead for the businesses is higher. Inflation is a bugger.

One of my favorites and repeated re-reads is this collection of the first three Guardians of the Flame books by Rosenberg. Under $17 shipped from Amazon or Abebooks. $20 from Thriftbooks.com.

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www.amazon.com

Guardians of the Flame: The Warriors (The Sleeping Dragon / The Sword and the Chain / The Silver Crown) by Joel Rosenberg: Good Hardcover (1985) | ThriftBooks-Dallas

Free Shipping - ISBN: 9781568650616 - Hardcover - Nelson Doubleday / SFBC - 1985 - Condition: Good - No Jacket - Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less - Guardians of the Flame: The Warriors (The Sleeping Dragon / The Sword and the...

www.abebooks.com

Ender's War, this hardcover collection of Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead, where I first read them, is as low as $11 or $12 and change on Thriftbooks.com or Reachareader, and looks like $15-16 on ebay.

Ender’s Game book by Orson Scott Card

www.thriftbooks.com

Ender's War (Used Hardcover) - Orson Scott Card

Twice the buggers — as we call them — invaded our solar system and tried to annihilate us. We defeated them in the last war by a fluke. but we won't trust to luck again. When they return — and they will return. even if decades go by and the horror fades into myth — we must be ready..ENDER'S GAME...

reachareader.com

The last time I picked up books like this in a physical used book store they were still often more like $2-$5. But that was a few years ago.

This goes especially for some of the short story collections. Some of those have stories you can't find anywhere else still.

I'm sure that would definitely drive up prices.

Speaking of Appendix N, Peter Bebergal's excellent compilation of the same name features a little-known story by an author named David Madison, Tower of Darkness, which appeared in Swords Against Darkness III - which is on Gary's list. Apparently Madison died tragically young with no heirs and a friend of his wound up inheriting his literary rights, and Bebergal lucked into making contact with her and bringing that story back into print. It's a very cool swords & sorcery story, too.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Speaking of Appendix N, Peter Bebergal's excellent compilation of the same name features a little-known story by an author named David Madison, Tower of Darkness, which appeared in Swords Against Darkness III - which is on Gary's list. Apparently Madison died tragically young with no heirs and a friend of his wound up inheriting his literary rights, and Bebergal lucked into making contact with her and bringing that story back into print. It's a very cool swords & sorcery story, too.

That's the story I'm up to now!

 

[gnarlygninja]

Just to help anyone else avoid this mistake, if you just search "Appendix N" on Amazon intending to get that anthology make sure you don't accidentally get the other Appendix N book by Jeffro Johnson. This was not a pleasant mix up.

 

[mamba]

But bestseller lists is at the same time a weird metric to base anything on and that goes especially for the NY Times one — it's a curated list that use sales numbers as a guideline.

fine, leave the NYT out of it, the trilogy sold over 10M copies. I doubt it was bought by 3+M D&D players and 0 non-players

 

[Reynard]

One of my favorites and repeated re-reads is this collection of the first three Guardians of the Flame books by Rosenberg. Under $17 shipped from Amazon or Abebooks. $20 from Thriftbooks.com.

Loading…

www.amazon.com

Guardians of the Flame: The Warriors (The Sleeping Dragon / The Sword and the Chain / The Silver Crown) by Joel Rosenberg: Good Hardcover (1985) | ThriftBooks-Dallas

Free Shipping - ISBN: 9781568650616 - Hardcover - Nelson Doubleday / SFBC - 1985 - Condition: Good - No Jacket - Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less - Guardians of the Flame: The Warriors (The Sleeping Dragon / The Sword and the...

www.abebooks.com

This was my first foray into adult fantasy literature, in 4th grade.

And now you know everything you need to about why I am the way I am.

 

[Mannahnin]

This was my first foray into adult fantasy literature, in 4th grade.

And now you know everything you need to about why I am the way I am.

That would do it. I knew I liked you, but yes, perhaps a shade more jaded than I am.

Around that age I was reading Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, my first Heinlein (Starship Troopers), and was first reading Tolkien on my own (my dad read it to us younger). Katherine Kurtz' Deryni books shortly thereafter as well. Didn't get to that Rosenberg trade paperback for a few more years.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

That would do it. I knew I liked you, but yes, perhaps a shade more jaded than I am.

Around that age I was reading Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, my first Heinlein (Starship Troopers), and was first reading Tolkien on my own (my dad read it to us younger). Katherine Kurtz' Deryni books shortly thereafter as well. Didn't get to that Rosenberg trade paperback for a few more years.

That age I was reading McCaffrey and Niven, and a year or two later Robert Anton Wilson. I am probably on watch lists.