I HAD been reading Tigana up until today. But it’s such a slog I just couldn’t continue any longer. So I completely switched gears and started I, Strahd, which I’ve never read before.
Seriously, you like what you like and that's cool. My mother and I have learned not to give each other recommendations, because I can't stand what she loves and vice versa.
But otherwise, you're dead to me and off my Christmas card list, you heathen.
I have a rule regarding lists of Best Fantasy Novels: if they don't contain at least one of
Tigana;
Bridge of Birds; or
Little, Big, it's a shite list. (And yes, all three rightfully make regular appearances on said lists, and yes, my formative years were 1985-1995; Gen X all the way).
(If you found Tigana slow, I do not recommend
Little, Big. Maybe
A Song for Arbonne though.)
I finished Rome is Burning. While it's meticulously researched, it gets lost too frequently in the weeds of digressions and citations. Bummer, because Nero and the fire of Rome in 64 AD should've been a fascinating subject.
Next up is Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.
An excellent choice.
I read
Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith, and have started
Tatiana (same). I realized after she bought these that I already had
Tatiana, and I'm finding that I read it fairly recently but cannot for the life of me remember if I finished it or not. It's agonizing, because every sentence feels like a retread but I have to keep going. A reminder of why I so rarely reread books.
Found TWO decent used book stores yesterday; one only took cash and we were rushed for time at the other, but return trips are planned. I need more books like I need a hole in the head, but at least it's not drugs? I think that's what I'm supposed to say. (Note: One had quite a collection of TSR books - Dragonlance, FR, and the like. I might pick up a few for nostalgia and kicks & giggles. Recommendations?)
In gaming stuff, I've gotten
Blackmarsh and
The Majestic Fantasy RPG (both from Rob Conley) in print; something called
Wardlings Campaign Guide, which is a 5e campaign rules/setting where only kids are magical;
Old School Essentials by Normal Gavin (6/5 for layout, though it's a both amazing and potentially visually overwhelming in presentation); and delivered yesterday,
My Dad's Monster Manual (5/5 straight up), by James Introcaso (based on material by Lucian Introcaso);
The Green Witch for Swords & Wizardry and
The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry, both by Timothy S. Brannan;
Filling in the Blanks - A Guide to Populating Hexcrawls by Todd Leback;
The Grand History of the Realms, by Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood; and
Elminster's Forgotten Realms, by Ed Greenwood.
My Dad's Monster Manual deserves a special mention because it does what I've really only seen one, maybe two other D&D products do before, which is present a fairly complete set of monsters that sketch out a really different sort of campaign world. Brief backstory: James showed his dad pictures from the 5e
Monster Manual; his dad made up names and details of the creatures. Beholders become tiny creatures that move by rolling; ankhegs are friendly-ish humanoids; bulettes are small pink humanoids that grow armor to protect themselves.
Quite a few of the creatures become intelligent and, if not always friendly, at least not overtly hostile. There is also a network of relationships and history: potentlings create scorpdillos as servants (missed opportunities too; why aren't ugoths immature potentlings?); granino are birthed from stratonians who hurl pieces of themselves at trespassers; gordaans are genie empowered by angels; Donafur is a rebel archdevil.
Pars Fortuna achieved something similar, creating a ecosystem of monsters that bypassed the Old Standards in a convincing manner, but otherwise nearly every book since the mid-80s leans on the assumed presence of goblins, orcs, dragons, and so forth. (Yes, Dark Sun is the potential exception to the rule...).
