coyote6 said:
Martin's piece was far, far better than any of the FR fiction I've read. Much the same holds for the Fool Wolf stories (they weren't part of any game setting, IIRC). If the fiction's not going to be really good, I'd rather have more articles.
I sympathize with this position. I'm not certain that I share it, however. On the one hand, I would very much enjoy editing a magazine that periodically offered a vibrant, even cutting-edge fantasy yarn. In the 1970s, when Dragon was born, its editors went to lengths to discuss and (in some cases) introduce the audience to seminal fantasists like Fritz Leiber (especially), Robert E. Howard, H.P. Lovecraft, and Jack Vance. An issue of The Strategic Review (Dragon's older brother) included a short article on IOUN stones, with a note that their creator (Vance) had approved of their inclusion in the game. Early Dragons featured a short piece on Fafhrd and Grey Mouser's reaction to modern roleplaying gamers (hilarious, by Leiber himself), a lengthy, serialized piece by Harry O. Fischer on the development of Lankhmar, and of course Niall of the Far Travels, star of several fantasy adventure stories penned by Gardner Fox (creator of the Justice Society of America, among countless other classic works).
I would have been honored and humbled to work with the luminaries listed above, and will always respect the pioneers of this hobby (Gary Gygax, Tim Kask, etc.) for including the living fathers of fantasy and for basing so much of what is _still_ Dungeons & Dragons upon their visionary ideas. The "spirit" of these early stories matches closely my personal D&D campaigns. Mine is a Dungeons & Dragons of Conan and Cugel, of Lankhmar and Ascolais.
But the Dragon of Fox, Leiber, and Fischer came well before the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons began to create multi-novel lines of books aimed squarely at the interests of D&D's players, using the company's beloved campaign settings as backdrops. Wizards of the Coast publishes scores of fantasy books every year. Some of them reach the New York Times best-seller list. Many of them are branded "Dungeons & Dragons" and hew to the conventions of the game.
If Dragon is to have fiction at all, doesn't it make sense to tie that fiction to the fiction-publishing branch of the Dungeons & Dragons business? There are several other magazines on the market (none of which existed in 1976) poised to publish fantasy by up-and-coming or already popular fantasy authors. But none of those magazines can publish a short story set in Eberron. None of them can run a yarn based on the Red Wizards of Thay. But I can.
If I only publish three or four short stories a year, does it make sense to publish any that aren't in some way tied to Dungeons & Dragons?
Isn't Dragon the Dungeons & Dragons magazine?
Like I said, Dragon is a trickier trick than Dungeon. Not everything is so easy to figure out. I honestly haven't decided which way to go, and probably won't make a final decision right away. A part of me would love to publish innovative non-gaming fantasy. I tried to get China Mieville to send us a story when I met him a couple years back, and oh, boy would it excite me to give people like him an audience for their absolutely brilliant work. I just read "Black Brillion," by Matthew Hodges, and would love to work with him on something for the magazine, too. I'd adore editing that magazine.
But I'm not yet sure that that magazine is Dragon.
Honestly, I'm very divided about including fiction at all. It's very tempting to just write it off as "not Dragon's problem," leaving fiction to the fiction magazines. The feedback on this thread suggests that that would be the most popular thing to do. I may do it still.
But another part of me remembers the 7-year-old who pretty much discovered fantasy through the lens of Dungeons & Dragons. The first edition Dungeon Master's Guide features a reading list that points to Lovecraft, Moorcock, Vance, and Leiber, who still rank as some of my favorite fantasy authors.
I sometimes wonder if D&D, and hence Dragon magazine, has a sort of responsibility to keep the flame of fantasy fiction alive. That publishing short fantasy fiction in Dragon is a legacy. A responsibility, if you will. If something I put in a magazine can lead a young reader to discover fantasy fiction. . . I dunno. I get sappy sometimes.
In the immediate future, we've got two or three short stories on the docket. One is a really fun Forgotten Realms murder mystery featuring a couple of characters from "The Rite," by Richard Lee Byers. Another is our first Eberron short story, which ought to be interesting. Beyond that is undiscovered country.
I don't anticipate publishing swear words, either way. If some greatly respected author wants to drop the F-bomb, we'll see what happens. But most of the fiction authors I greatly respect are dead, so it's not likely. I'm not worried about it, and TheSigil shouldn't worry about it either. And neither should you.
No matter what happens, I don't want to do more than a few stories every year. The focus on the magazine is on the game, after all.
By the way, Coyote, I really appreciate the fact that you subscribe. Thanks for posting your feedback.
I also sympathize with those of you eager to see my response post. I wrote it today, in a fashion, in the form of the editorial for #328. I'll post it here in full, as it serves as a general summary of where I want to take things. But that's tomorrow. Tonight, I sleep.
--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dragon & Dungeon
