When Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax published his now-classic Advanced D&D Dungeon Master’s Guidein 1979, he highlighted “Inspirational and Educational Reading” in a section marked “Appendix N.” Featuring the authors that most inspired Gygax to create the world’s first tabletop role-playing game, Appendix N has remained a useful reading list for sci-fi and fantasy fans of all ages.
In Advanced Readings in D&D, Tor.com writers Tim Callahan and Mordicai Knode take a look at Gary Gygax’s favorite authors and reread one per week, in an effort to explore the origins of Dungeons & Dragons and see which of these sometimes-famous, sometimes-obscure authors are worth rereading today. Sometimes the posts will be conversations, while other times they will be solo reflections, but one thing is guaranteed: Appendix N will be written about, along with dungeons, and maybe dragons, and probably wizards, and sometimes robots, and, if you’re up for it, even more. Welcome to the seventh post in the series, featuring a look at the stories of August Derleth.
August Derleth is a controversial figure in “spooky nerd” circles. On one hand, people often think that he diluted the horror of Lovecraft’s stories and put Lovecraft’s name on things Derleth himself had actually written. But on the other hand, Call of Cthulhu is still filled with pages of weird stuff he invented. Some of the charges I think are deserved, some I think aren’t, and some of his achievements are often overlooked, or are just tarred with the same brush of distaste. How many people would have read Howard Phillip’s writings if not for Arkham House? Ultimately, Derleth’s legacy is editorial. He was the one who pounded the Mythos into a shared universe rather than just a series of Weird Tales. Say what you will about the man, but without him we probably wouldn’t be talking about “Lovecraftian” horrors in the first place. Then, well, there are issues that I think really are totally petty—like calling the Lovecraft-o-verse “The Cthulhu Mythos” instead of “Yog-Sothothery.”
That is really the best you can do, grumble about branding? I’ll tell you what; Cthulhu might not be at the center of Lovecraft’s universe in a cosmological sense—that’d be Azathoth, right?—but he sure looms large in the public eye. He’s the “charismatic megafauna” of Lovecraft’s writing; you could argue that he became the brand because of Derleth’s naming of the milieu which I’ll grant is a decent theory, but I think there is just something there. I think old squiddy is just the most recognizable face for the “brand,” so to speak. Heck, I sympathize with Derleth on that topic: even Tim and I are calling this reread Advanced Readings in Dungeons and Dragons rather than something with “Appendix N” in the name, because we wanted people to know what it was just from the title alone.
The real bone of contention here, and one that I do very much sympathize with, is that Derleth basically got the major themes and “moral” of Lovecraft all kinds of wrong. And there’s his “posthumous” collaboration in which he pulled a Christopher Tolkien and fleshed out Lovecraft’s notes, only with less faithfulness and verisimilitude than Tolkien. Most crucially, he introduced a Manichean cosmology—a battle of good and evil, which is utterly anathema to the powerful overriding subtext of Lovecraft’s writing—in which the universe is so strange as to be incomprehensible, so uncaring and amoral as to be monstrous. Throwing some Hermetic elementalism on top of Lovecraft’s alien god-things isn’t cricket, and creating a whole category of “Elder Gods” to oppose the inscrutable malevolence of the Old Ones just isn’t very…lovecraftian.
You know what it does sound like, though? Dungeons and Dragons. The Elder Gods and a primal war between good and evil (and/or law and chaos) is exactly what Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson gave us. I’ve always said—heck, I said it in my musings on D&D Next’s cosmology—that the demons and devils and evil gods were the coolest part of Dungeons and Dragons mythology. Bahamut is okay, Saint Cuthbert is alright, but really who can compare with Demogorgon, Lolth, Vecna, Tiamat and their ilk? Nobody, that is who, but you can see how the dualistic viewpoint of Derleth (along with Elric and Poul Anderson) influenced both the development of divine alignment in D&D, the Inner and Outer Planes, and more importantly, the pantheon construction of their fantasy worlds (along with liberal borrowing from real world mythology).
How is his writing? Fine. He writes…well, he writes Lovecraft fanfiction, basically. Aptly, but that is what it is—and I mean no disrespect to fanfiction authors or Mister Derleth. His Mythos stuff was just one facet of his writing; I thought about reading some of his historical fiction or detective genre stuff, but I didn’t think it was really in keeping with the spirit of the thing, guessing that Gygax was almost certainly referring to his horror writing. Derleth’s horror is a little overly enthusiastic with the peppering of “name brand” Mythos stuff; if there is a creepy library there is certainly going to be a Necronomicon and Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and if there is a cult they are probably going to talk about Cthulhu and the Deep Ones, if there is a place it’ll be anchored between the landmarks of Miskatonic University and Arkham. There will probably also be mention of “le Comte d’Erlette,” who is a Mythos figure that Lovecraft created as an homage to his buddy August.
Derleth has his own quirks, his own little signature ticks. He loves talking about architecture; “gambrel” is his favorite word. You know how we all affectionately joke about Lovecraft’s overuse of “eldritch” and other pieces of vocabulary that he kept in heavy rotation? Well, in that lizard man story, for instance, Derleth doesn’t even use the word “squamous” once, but in probably half of his stories he makes sure we know what kind of roof the house has. “The Survivor” was the first story of his I read and I immediately thought of two things: the Spider-Man villain The Lizard and…the half-baked idea I’ve had for an antagonist in my game based on The Lizard. Derleth’s story helped me come up with some new angles of approach, so right there, right off the bat, I’m already finding something. Oh, plus I really dug the story about the Yithian—I won’t tell you which one that is, no spoilers; I’ll let you figure it out yourself.
My thesis on Derleth is this: it is easy to dismiss him for failing to “get” the cosmological and existential horror of Lovecraft, but there are other themes in H.P. Lovecraft’s work that Derleth is really on point about. Haunted houses, for instance; Derleth totally gets that. Actually, that is what a lot of his stories center around, and they rank right up there with Lovecraft’s “The Rats in the Walls.” “The Peabody Heritage” is more Judeo-Christian than most, being a pretty classic “black mass” story about witches—if you are interested in the real roots of the fiction of the witches esbat, I highly recommend Carlo Ginzburg’s work, by the way—but it is right on the money. Derleth “gets” Lovecraft’s ideas of decaying upper class families, of inherited destiny, of “bad blood.” There is plenty to enjoy here…it just isn’t as “first tier” as Lovecraft. The reason we have that tier in the first place is in large part due to Derleth, however, and just think of how much thinner the Call of Cthulhu book would be without him.
Mordicai Knode has an idea of mashing up Vecna with a lizard-man, so thanks for helping him flesh it out, Auggie. Now help me find Tim, he’s lost in the labyrinth!
Been loving these posts! Don’t stop until you finish Appendix N and then do a series of posts called “What Gygax Should’ve Been Included in Appendix N”.
Also, thanks for the balanced assessment of Derleth. There are far too many Derleth-haters out there (due largely to S. T. Joshi?). I agree with the ususal criticisms against him; but, like you, I think there is much to be appreciative about Derleth’s contributions to horror that help us “excuse”–at least to some degree–his Lovecraftian failings.
I’m more familiar with Derleth’s work through Call of Cthulhu than from reading his actual stories (though I read a couple a long time ago even if I can’t remember the names), but I think there’s been something of a reassessment of his work recently (this isn’t the only place where I’ve read such sentiments), especially in regards to his short stories that weren’t “co-written” with Lovecraft. Can anyone recommend any of his short story collections in particular?
Also, Derleth is from Sauk City, Wisconsin, which is just north of Madison. I always get a kick when I cross the US Hwy 12 bridge over the Wisconsin River at Sauk City, which is the August Derleth Memorial Bridge (there’s also a park named after him there). Locally, they seem to concentrate more on his regionalist writings (he was an important figure in that mid-century movement) than his genre fiction
1. lach7
Thanks! I had been thinking “A Modern Appendix N” but maybe “What Did Gary Miss?” would be a good idea too!
I didn’t hate Derleth…he’s just set up to fail. He’s not Lovecraft, so his adoption of Lovecraft’s style…& use of his name…is sketchy, at best, & a no-win scenario at worst. His haunted house stuff is fun though!
2. Tim_Eagon
Yeah, the fact that Derleth isn’t defined by his horror stuff help the case for him not being thrown out with the bathwater. Like you, mostly I knew him from Call of Cthulhu, & had the “he ruins everything!” bias going in.
BTW, “Cthulhu Mythos” is a far superior term than “Yog-Sothothery.” Derleth made a good editorial call ditching that one…
So are all the modern collections of H.P. Lovecaft based off the work and interpretation done by Derleth? Or are these specific collections of his that are clearly marked that way? I’ve only read a little Lovecraft and I’m interested to know which version I’m reading.
Thanks for all the work you guys have put into this series! It has been really fun to follow along.
@5: I think the Gutenberg texts of Lovecraft are the original versions and I haven’t noticed any differences between them and my Necronomicon.
4. Tim_Eagon
I would guess– I’m not a scholar on the subject– that Yog-Sothothery is a way of self-deprecation, of not taking homself too seriously, on H.P. Lovecraft’s part. That is how it reads to me.
5. JeremyM
No, just the stuff that says “BY H.P. LOVECRAFT (andalsoaugustderleth)” in the fine print. The rest of it doubtless passed through editorial hands but is the genuine article.
Glad you are enjoying it; it is fun to do!
@3: Also worth considering is Solar Pons, which is basically Sherlock Holmes fan-fiction. Derleth edited several general SF anthologies as well, including Far Boundaries which I remember fondly since it was the anthology where I discovered Fritz Leiber.
8. SchuylerH
“Solar Pons” is a pretty great name for a detective (Nero Wolfian) or a sci-fi character.
[Insert crude Pon Far joke here]
@9: The best part is that after Derleth’s death, the Solar Pons stories were controversially and extensively edited by Basil Copper.
10. SchuylerH
…& Basil Copper was re-edited by Rod Sterling…
Well, I can’t speak to Derleth’s (or Lovecraft’s) writing, because I am not much of a horror fan, but I second the idea of both follow-on series ideas–what did Gary miss in his original list, and what would he include if he was compiling the list today.
AlanBrown,
I second your second! Hear, hear!
The wikipedia page on Solar Pons is actually pretty interesting…
Gary Gygax used to respond to questions on EN World and of course the subject of additions or revisions to Appendix N came up. He said he wouldn’t change the list much but would add the Hiero sequel, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, Piers Anthony Split Infinity series, and Glen Cook’s Black Company series.
One of my favorite horror collections is Mr. George and Other Odd Persons, by ‘Stephen Grendon’ aka August Derleth.
Yeah, I think pegging Derleth’s as an essentially editorial legacy is smart. Say what you want about his prose style (and lots of people talk smack about Lovecraft’s prose too) but there was a real long time where he carried that torch all by himself.
14. Tim_Eagon
Is there a nice round-up of links on the subject? A revised N somewhere? That could be cool.
16. fordmadoxfraud
People who talk smack about Lovecraft’s prose are, I always think, missing the point. A super stylized & distinctive writing style is…a fine thing to have. It is weird & crazy but that is always just like, art school snobbery, all “well I mean sure it is spooky & the more you think about it the spookier it gets, but I don’t think his writing is contemporary with Modernism!”
Also worth mentioning that Derleth was a worthy successor to Lovecraft in that both men had incredibly creepy names and in fact “August Derleth” is even creepier, scoring at least 2.5 petercushings* for both first name and surname. HPL, though his surname gets a respectable 1.8, is let down by being called “Howard”, scoring a mere 0.21 petercushings.
There was a marital aids shop in London’s Soho for several years called “Love-Craft”. God, no, I never went in and had a look at the merchandise. Are you mad? Wild horses couldn’t have got me in there.
*The SI unit for creepiness. US readers should multiply by 7.2 to get an approximate conversion into frissons.
@17: There is! From 1992’s Dangerous Journeys: Mythus Magick, I bring you:
GENERAL FANTASY FICTION READING BY AUTHOR
(Author’s favorite authors or inspirational sources. Note that one or more stars after a name indicate a particularly high recommendation.)
Abbey, Lynn
Anderson, Poul ****
Anthony, Piers ****
Asprin, Robert
Barker, M.A.R.
Bellairs, John
Brackett, Leigh
Brooks, Terry
Burroughs, Edgar Rice
Carter, Lin
Chalker, Jack L.
Cherryh, C.J.
de Camp, L. Sprague
de Camp, L. Sprague & Pratt, Fletcher ****
Eddings, David
Farmer, Philip J. ****
Fox, Gardner
Gardner, Craig Shaw
Gygax, Gary
Haggard, H. Rider ***
Hambly, Barbara
Hardy, Lyndon
Hickman, Tracy & Weiss, Margaret
Howard, Robert E. *****
Lanier, Sterling ***
Leiber, Fritz ***
McCaffery, Anne
Merritt, A. *****
Moore, C.L.
Moorcock, Michael ****
Offutt, Andrew J.
Pratchett, Terry
Pratt, Fletcher
Saberhagen, Fred ****
St. Clair, Margaret
Sims, John
Springer, Nancy
Stasheff, Christopher
Stewart, Mary
Tolkien, J.R.R.
Vance, Jack ****
Wagner, Karl
Weinbaum, Stanley
Williamson, Jack
Weiss, Margaret
Zelazny, Roger ****
(I don’t know half of the new additions half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of them half as well as they deserve… )
Mordicai@17,part 2: Yes, exactly.
a1ay@18:lol and yes I had the same thought on the creepiness factor of their names.
@17 mordicai
Here’s a link that collects and excerpt’s Gary’s comments from EN World http://www.martinralya.com/reading-appendix-n/gary-gygax-s-2007-additions-to-appendix-n/ I think this just expands upon his Legendary Journey’s list.
BTW, two other interesting lists related to SF/F and D&D are the Suggested Readings in the Moldvay Basic D&D DM book and Appendix 3 of the Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide.
21. Tim_Eagon
Or the suggested inspirations from ye olde Vampire: the Masquerade! Ha ha ha so much Bauhaus.
I found the Star Frontiers suggested reading list!
http://exonauts.blogspot.com/2010/04/appendix-n-for-sci-fi-circa-1980s.html
Man, I need more of these bibliographies!
24. Tim_Eagon
I’ve tried to make one of these for my campaign, but I’ve eventually realized I was just writing down far, far too many books & films.
Actually…is there an Appendix N for movies? That would be awful fun.
@21: For those who haven’t seen it, Appendix 3:
Barker, Clive: The Hellbound Heart, Imagica, Weaveworld
Beowulf (anonymous)
Blackwood, Algernon: “The Willows,” “The Wendigo,” et al.
Brackett, Leigh: The Sword of Rhiannon, Skaith series, et al. Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Pellucidar, Mars, and Venus series
Campbell, Ramsey: Ryre the Swordsman series, et al.
Dunsany, Lord: The King of Elfland’s Daughter, et al.
Farmer, Philip José: World of Tiers series, et al.
Carter, Lin: ed. The Year’s Best Fantasy, Flashing Swords
Feist, Raymond: Riftwar saga, et al.
Gygax, Gary: Gord the Rogue series, et al.
Kuttner, Henry: Elak of Atlantis, The Dark World
Homer: The Odyssey
Howard, Robert E.: Conan series, et al.
Hugo, Victor: Les Miserables
King, Stephen: Dark Tower series
Leiber, Fritz: Fafhrd & Gray Mouser series, et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.: Cthulhu Mythos tales, et al.
Machen, Arthur: “The White People,” et al.
Martin, George R. R.: Song of Ice and Fire series
Merritt, A.: The Ship of Ishtar, The Moon Pool, et al.
Miéville, China: Bas-Lag series
Moorcock, Michael: Elric series, et al.
Moore, C. L.: Black God’s Kiss
Offutt, Andrew J.: ed. Swords Against Darkness
One Thousand and One Nights (traditional)
Poe, Edgar Allan: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” et al.
Saberhagen, Fred: Changeling Earth, et al.
Saunders, Charles: Imaro series, et al.
Shakespeare, William: Macbeth, et al.
Simmons, Dan: Hyperion series, The Terror, et al.
Smith, Clark Ashton: Averoigne and Zothique tales, et al.
Stoker, Bram: Dracula, Lair of the White Worm, et al.
Tolkien, J. R. R.: Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit
Vance, Jack: Dying Earth series, et al.
Wagner, Karl Edward: Kane series, ed. Echoes of Valor
Wells, H. G.: The Time Machine, et al.
Wellman, Manly Wade: John the Balladeer series, et al.
Zelazny, Roger: Amber series, et al.
(quite a few of the books on this list were also published by Paizo, in the Planet Stories imprint)
@25: We’ll have to make our own. My pick is Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Mordicai@25:A list of films would be fun. Is the criteria that they did or should have influenced a campaign?
For me, a start would be:
Monty Python and the Holy Grail Of Course
Time Bandits
Various Three Musketeers
The Wizard of Oz
The Lost World
King Kong
The Mummy
Dracula
Fantasia
The Thief of Baghdad
Buckaroo Bonzai
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Big Trouble in Little China
Highlander
26. SchuylerH
I don’t have my GM Guide in front of me, but didn’t Appendix 3 also have a list of films?
@28: There is a two-page appendix in quite small print in the Gamemastery Guide, covering books, non-fiction, music and films. Literature first…
Alighieri, Dante: The Divine Comedy
Barker, Clive: The Hellbound Heart, Imagica, Weaveworld
Barlowe, Wayne: God’s Demon
Beowulf (anonymous)
Blackwood, Algernon: “The Willows,” “The Wendigo,” et al.
Brackett, Leigh: The Sword of Rhiannon, Skaith series, et al.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice: Pellucidar, Mars, and Venus series
Campbell, Ramsey: Ryre the Swordsman series, et al.
Carter, Lin: ed. The Year’s Best Fantasy, Flashing Swords
Clarke, Susanna: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
Cook, Glen: Black Company series
Cook, Hugh: Chronicles of an Age of Darkness series
Dunsany, Lord: The King of Elf land’s Daughter, et al.
Epic of Gilgamesh (traditional)
Farmer, Philip José: World of Tiers series, et al.
Feist, Raymond: Riftwar saga, et al.
Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm: Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Gygax, Gary: Gord the Rogue series, et al.
Homer: The Odyssey
Howard, Robert E.: Conan series, Almuric, et al.
Hugo, Victor: Les Misérables
King, Stephen: Dark Tower series, et al.
Kuttner, Henry: Elak of Atlantis, The Dark World
James, M. R.: Ghost Stories of an Antiquary
Le Fanu, Sheridan: In a Glass Darkly
Leiber, Fritz: Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series, et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.: Cthulhu Mythos tales, et al.
Machen, Arthur: “The White People,” et al.
Malory, Sir Thomas: Le Morte d’Arthur
Martin, George R. R.: Song of Ice and Fire series
Merritt, A.: The Ship of Ishtar, The Moon Pool, et al.
Miéville, China: Bas-Lag series
Moorcock, Michael: Elric and Kane of Old Mars series, et al.
Moore, Alan: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, et al.
Moore, C. L.: Black God’s Kiss
Morgan, Richard: The Steel Remains
Offutt, Andrew J.: ed. Swords Against Darkness
One Thousand and One Nights (traditional)
Ovid: Metamorphoses
Poe, Edgar Allan: “The Fall of the House of Usher,” et al.
Rosenberg, Joel: Guardians of the Flame, et al.
The Ramayana (traditional)
Saberhagen, Fred: Changeling Earth, et al.
Saunders, Charles: Imaro series, et al.
Sapkowski, Andrzej: The Witcher series
Shahnameh (traditional)
Shakespeare, William: Macbeth, et al.
Simmons, Dan: Hyperion series, The Terror, et al.
Smith, Clark Ashton: Averoigne and Zothique tales, et al.
Sturluson, Snorri: Prose Edda
Stephenson, Neal: The Baroque Cycle
Stoker, Bram: Dracula, Lair of the White Worm, et al.
Tolkien, J. R. R.: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit
Vance, Jack: Dying Earth series, et al.
Verne, Jules: Journey to the Center of the Earth, et al.
Wagner, Karl Edward: Kane series, ed. Echoes of Valor
Wellman, Manly Wade: John the Balladeer series, et al.
Wells, H. G.: The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, et al.
Wilde, Oscar: The Picture of Dorian Gray
Zelazny, Roger: Amber series, et al.
References:
Aliens in Space, by Steven Caldwell
The Atlas of the World’s Worst Natural Disasters, by Lesley Newson
African Mythology, by Jan Knappert
Barlowe’s Guide to Fantasy, by Wayne Barlowe and Wayne Duskis
Battle: A Visual Journey through 5,000 Years of Combat, by R. G. Grant
The Book of Imaginary Beings, by Jorge Luis Borges
Bulfinch’s Mythology, by Thomas Bulfinch
The Cassell Dictionary of Folklore, by David Pickering
Cause of Death: A Writer’s Guide to Death, Murder & Forensic Medicine, by Keith D. Wilson
Castle, Cathedral, City, Mosque, Pyramid, by David Macaulay
A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology, by John Dowson
A Cthulhu Mythos Bibliography & Concordance, by Chris Jarocha-Ernst
Deadly Doses: A Writer’s Guide to Poisons, by Serita
Deborah Stevens with Anne Klarner
A Dictionary of Angels, by Gustav Davidson
The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi
Dictionary of Symbolism, by Hans Biedermann
The Encyclopedia of Cryptozoology, by Michael Newton
Encyclopedia Cthulhiana, by Daniel Harms
The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, by Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Great Tales of Jewish Occult and Fantasy, by Joachim Neugroschel
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond
The Illustrated Directory of Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Creatures, ed. Ingrid Cranfield
Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology, by Robert Graves
?
Mapping the World: An Illustrated History of Cartography, by Ralph E. Ehrenberg
Military History series, by Osprey Publishing
Minerals Encyclopedia, by Petr Korbel and Milan Novak
The Mythical Creatures Bible, by Brenda Rosen
National Geographic (periodical)
People’s Names, by Holly Ingraham
A Treasury of Irish Myth, Legend, and Folklore, ed. W. B. Yeats
The Voynich Manuscript (anonymous)
Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man, by R. G. Grant
Weapons: A Pictorial History, by Edwin Tunis
Music:
Arkenstone, David; Bush, Tracy; Duke, Derek; Hayes,
Jason: various Warcraft soundtracks
Beal, Jeff: Carnivale, Rome
Bell, Joshua: The Red Violin
Carpenter, John: Halloween, et al.
D’Ambrosio, Marco: Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Dead Can Dance: Dead Can Dance, et al.
Elfman, Danny: Red Dragon, Sleepy Hollow, et al.
Fiedel, Brad: Terminator
Giacchino, Michael: Cloverfield, Lost
Goldsmith, Jerry: The 13th Warrior, The Mummy, et al.
Grieg, Edvard: In the Hall of the Mountain King
Herrmann, Bernard: The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, et al.
Holst, Gustav: The Planets
Horner, James: Aliens, Avatar, Braveheart
In the Nursery: Engel
Jablonsky, Steve: Transformers
Jones, Trevor: From Hell, Merlin
Kilar, Wojciech: Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Kronos Quartet: Dracula, Ghost Opera, et al.
Kyd, Jesper: Assassin’s Creed 2
Mansell, Clint: The Fountain, Requiem for a Dream
McCreary, Bear: Battlestar Galactica scores, et al.
McKennitt, Loreena: The Mask and Mirror, et al.
Morricone, Ennio: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, The Thing
Navarrete, Javier: Pan’s Labyrinth
Newman, David: Serenity, The Phantom
Nine Inch Nails: The Fragile, et al.
Orff, Carl: Carmina Burana
Pelican: City of Echoes
Poledouris, Basil: Conan the Barbarian
Saint-Saëns, Camille: Bacchanale, Danse Macabre
Schubert, Franz: Death and the Maiden
Serra, Éric: The Fifth Element
Shore, Howard: Lord of the Rings
Uematsu, Nobuo: Final Fantasy series, et al.
Vangelis: Blade Runner, et al.
Williams, John: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, et al.
Yamane, Michiru: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
Zimmer, Hans: Batman Begins, Gladiator, et al.
Films:
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, dir. Nathan H. Juran
Aguirre, the Wrath of God, dir. Werner Herzog
Alice in Wonderland, dir. Tim Burton
Army of Darkness, dir. Sam Raimi
Big Trouble in Little China, dir. John Carpenter
Braveheart, dir. Mel Gibson
Brotherhood of the Wolf, dir. Christophe Gans
Clash of the Titans, dir. Desmond Davis
Conan the Barbarian, dir. John Milius
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, dir. Ang Lee
The Dark Crystal, dir. Jim Henson and Frank Oz
The Descent, dir. Neil Marshall
Dragonslayer, dir. Matthew Robbins
Elizabeth, dir. Shekhar Kapur
Excalibur, dir. John Boorman
The Exorcist, dir. William Friedkin
From Hell, dir. Albert Hughes and Allen Hughes
Gladiator, dir. Ridley Scott
Interview with the Vampire, dir. Neil Jordan
Jaws, dir. Steven Spielberg
Jason and the Argonauts, dir. Don Chaffey
House of Flying Daggers, dir. Zhang Yimou
Kingdom of Heaven, dir. Ridley Scott
Ladyhawke, dir. Richard Donner
The Last Winter, dir. Larry Fessenden
Lawrence of Arabia, dir. David Lean
The Legend of Boggy Creek, dir. Charles B. Pierce
Lord of the Rings Trilogy, dir. Peter Jackson
Master and Commander, dir. Peter Weir
The Mummy, dir. Stephen Sommers
The Name of the Rose, dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud
The Neverending Story, dir. Wolfgang Petersen
Night of the Demon, dir. Jacques Tourneur
Ninja Scroll, dir. Yoshiaki Kawajiri
The Omen, dir. Richard Donner
Pan’s Labyrinth, dir. Guillermo del Toro
Pirates of the Caribbean Series, dir. Gore Verbinski
The Princess Bride, dir. Rob Reiner
Princess Mononoke, dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Record of Lodoss War, dir. Akinori Nagaoka
Rogue, dir. Greg McLean
Seven Samurai, dir. Akira Kurosawa
Sleepy Hollow, dir. Tim Burton
Spirited Away, dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Stargate, dir. Roland Emmerich
Suspiria, dir. Dario Argento
The Thing, dir. John Carpenter
The Thirteenth Warrior, dir. John McTiernan
Trilogy of Terror, dir. Dan Curtis
The Wicker Man, dir. Robin Hardy
Yojimbo, dir. Akira Kurosawa
Vampire Hunter D, dir. Toyoo Ashida
31. SchuylerH
This should be on EVERY DM’s shelf.
Thanks to everyone who is posting lists, especially the indefatigable SchuylerH. They are all great collections of reading, listening, looking.
And a new appreciation of Mr. Derleth was published last year, A Look Behind the Derleth Mythos: Origins of the Cthulhu Mythos by John D. Haefele. It was well reviewed by Don Webb in the July 2013 issue of The New York Review of SF.
And if it is Carlos Ginzburg’s witches you want, the place to find them is Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Here’s an interesting note. In Dragon #4, Gary Gygax published a list of authors and books remarkably similar to Appendix N. There aren’t many differences between the two lists; mostly, authors such as John Bellairs, Lord Dunsany, and August Derleth were added. However, one author was dropped…that was Algernon Blackwood. It may be interesting exploring his work.
Many GURPS RPG books have lists of books, movies, comics etc. that are all available online:
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/biblios.html
@36: Some of Blackwood, including both “The Willows” and “The Wendigo”, has entered the public domain and is now available from Project Gutenberg. Lovecraft said in Supernatural Horror in Literature that one of his chief strengths was his ability to convey “the overtones of strangeness in ordinary things and experiences.”
35. Eugene R.
Yeah? Sold. I really like Ginzburg’s micro-histories, as they toe the line really well between “this is what the evidence is, this is what the evidence suggests, & this is what I speculate,” which…yeah! & if something else hits that sort of shamanistic sweet spot, I’m down.
36. Tim_Eagon
I’ve never read Blackwood, either!
The Dangerous Journeys updated reading list is interesting. Pleased to see that it included M.A.R. Barker and Karl Edward Wagner.
The one big omission I’m seeing in all of the lists is Michael Reaves — specifically The Shattered World and The Burning Realm. If you read those books and don’t immediately want to run off and create a campaign, well, I’m not sure if we have much to talk about.
40. hoopmanjh
A piece on MAR Barker is actually exactly what I was thinking of doing when this series is over, as sort of a “the other DnD you didn’t know about, with totally different influences.”
mordicai (@39): It was one of those moments of synchronicity; I was reading Le Roy Ladurie’s Jasmin’s Witch, in which he discusses Ginzburg’s work, and then picked up Kay’s Tigana, and went, “Oh, look, the Benandanti are off to have a night battle!”
And if you enjoy the “micro history” technique, then Emmanuel La Roy Ladurie is another historian for you, working in the south of France during the early modern (“ancien regime”) period of 15th-18th centuries CE.
I found a copy of August Derleth’s short story collection Not Long for this World at a church garage sale today for a quarter. It doesn’t look like there’s many Mythos stories in it, but I’m looking forward to reading it nonetheless.
Derleth was a great editor and a good writer; his literary sin, if he had one, was writing stories and signing them “H.P.Lovecraft”. But what’s done is done, and the fake stories have been pretty well identified and removed from the Lovecraft canon. He never really brought his best game to the Lovecraft pastiches, whether they were published under his own name or not, but his one great discovery was how well the Cthulhu Mythos lent itself to “dark adventure”, something quite different from “horror.” His patchwork novel “The Trail of Cthulhu” is very much dark adventure, and his occult adventurer Dr. Laban Shrewsbury is the prototype, perhaps, for Brian Lumley’s Titus Crow, another MythosBuster.
And if you want to read what Derleth could do in the horror field when he really put his mind to it, seek out the stories “The Lonesome Place” and “The Drifting Snow.”