Mr. Gygax,
As so many have said before, thank you for this game. It has brought me so much joy over the past 27 years. Additionally, your list of suggested reading was invaluable to those of us with no peer group to make such recommendations in the dark days of 1980. East Tennessee in those days was not exactly chock-full of fantasy literature fans.
I'm curious about the origins of a few of the original monsters from the MM; the Gnoll in particular and later, the Flind. I've heard that these have an origin in fantasy literature, but for the life of me I can't imagine which series one might find them featured in. As a follow up to that question, of the monsters in that early tome, and in fact quite a few beasties of OD&D and AD&D, there are a good number which were entirely made from whole cloth, name and all. Of those, is there one, or a group, which you're particularly pleased with? I've always found the idea of the Puddings to be just wildly imaginative and appreciate the way that such strange, original creatures have become part of our shared experience.
And finally, one last question concerning level-draining, the latest edition makes this setback considerably less problematic than in the original. Personally, I prefer something closer to the original ruling, but I'm wondering, did your original players detest this rule as much as one might imagine (God knows my players always loathed it)? And, was this simply a very real method of instilling a sense of dread and fear into the players when confronted by powerful Undead? It always seemed cruel to me, but boy, it made those encounters tense and perhaps that was the point all along.
Continued good health to you Sir and looking forward to what you and the Trolls do w/ Castle Xagyg.