In Remembrance of Lin Carter

On this day, in the year 1988, Linwood Vrooman Carter, creator of tales of science fiction, fantasy and sword & sorcery, died after a battle with cancer.

Some revile Lin Carter. It is said that his fiction was little better than amateur fan fiction. Critics panned him as an imitator. Indeed, he stated himself several times that he was an imitator of the authors he loved; most notably, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert E. Howard, Lord Dunsany and H.P. Lovecraft.

As an author, Carter never did write a great masterpiece. Instead, he wrote in quantity over quality. It is not for his writing that I remember him. I relish him as an editor. As an editor, he rescued many forgotten classics when he took the reigns of the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series. Including precursors to the series proper and a couple of "post" additions to the series, Carter pushed nearly 80 volumes in the series to publication. This number included six anthologies and three studies of the fantasy genre. He brought many classics to the public eye, including E.R. Eddison, Mervyn Peak, Fletcher Pratt, Lord Dunsany, William Morris, James Branch Cabell, George MacDonald, Hannes Bok, Evangeline Walton and George Meredith, amongst others. As editor of the Ballentine series, he also helped launch the career of Katherine Kurtz.

He was a founding member of SAGA (the Swordsmen and Sorcerer's Guild of America) where his editorship, and contributions, to the series Flashing Swords! helped bring attention to sword and sorcery writers such as Michael Moorcock, Poul Anderson, Fritz Lieber, John Jakes, Andre Norton and Jack Vance. His partnership with L. Sprague de Camp on Conan pastiche helped fuel the fire that would rescue the works of Robert E. Howard from obscurity.

He was prone to self-promotion, opinionated and unoriginal; however, he gave more to the fan community then he ever took. That alone is worth remembering him for.

Lin Carters Explorations in Fantasy - Part 1

I've mentioned before that while Lin Carter might not have been a brilliant author of fiction, he was one hell of a editor. He rescued many obscure masterpieces of fantasy while editor of the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series.

In his day, aside from numerous essays in journals and magazines, he wrote four non-fiction books.

Two earlier non-fiction works written by Carter were not considered part of the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series -Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings" was published in 1969 and Lovecraft: A Look Behind the "Cthulhu Mythos" saw print in 1972. Imaginary Worlds: The Art of Fantasy was published in 1973 as the 58th volume of the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series. Written by Lin Carter, it was the only non-fiction book to officially be included in the series. Later, in 1977, he published his fourth non-fiction book, returning again to J.R.R. Tolkien with Middle-Earth: The World of Tolkien Illustrated (with paintings by David Wenzel).

I have not had the good fortune of yet hunting down a copy of Carter's Lovecraft exploration nor have I yet unearthed a copy of Tolkien Illustrated, but I have had the very good fortune of finding Tolkien: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings" and Imaginary Worlds. Both are thoughtful, entertaining and educational looks at the genre of fantasy. When writing my Appendix N posts or posts on the fantasy genre in general, I find myself consulting both of these tomes.

Carter was perhaps one of the most well read fantasy scholars that I know of. I once read a quote from him alluding to the idea that he read an average of one novel per day. 300 plus books a year is a staggering amount, but one thing is for certain: the man read an amazing number of novels, non-fiction books and poetry from his earliest days, up until his death in 1988. He utilizes that vast knowledge, and opinion based upon careful study backed with proof, to entertain and educate his audience in his non-fiction books that I have read. I have uncovered many interesting reads based upon Carter pointing me in the right direction.

I plan on writing a lot about Lin Carter this next calendar year of 2011. How much? I'm not sure. I'm starting with this little admition: I love Linwood Vrooman Carter. At least as an editor. I've read a bit of his fiction. Mostly in my younger days when I devoured anything "Conan", lately, I've been reading his fiction out of respect for the man. No, he was not a master of fiction, but damn could the guy ever identify the good stuff.

Who was Lin Carter? Well, honestly, I'm still discovering that. I hope to answer that question as honestly as I can; however, I think it best to let him tell us. In his own words:

Well, I love dogs, and books, and swords, and Oz, and Barsoom, and collecting Egyptian antiquities, and art nouveau, and Chinese cloisonne. And Sax Rohmer, and Paradise Lost and The Three Imposters, and Talbot Mundy, and Ezra Pound. And huge old Victorian houses, and having books published--not quite in that order, of course! I like exploring through old, cobwebbed corners of literature, piecing together fragments of neglected Sumerian epics, finding gorgeousness in the Shah Namah, forgotten jewels in the Shi-King, or prowling the dusty pages of Per-m-hru (the Egyptian "Book of the Dead"), and in short, discovering wonder in old, old books nobody else bothers to read anymore.

That says a lot about Mr. Carter. Part 2 will be about his book Tolkein: A Look Behind "The Lord of the Rings".

Current Reading

As I've stated before, I am in the midst of reading the DMG Appendix N in its entirety. Thus far, I've made my way through Poul Anderson and John Bellairs. Next on my list, I'm reading alphabetically, is Leigh Brackett. I decided that before moving onto Brackett, who I have never read, I would re-read Burrough's A Princess of Mars, as it is my understanding that Burroughs' work had a large influence upon Brackett.

At the same time, I have a large stack of comics calling my name that I need to catch up on. Not to mention Literary magazines, bought yet unread and a growing number of books outside of the immediate interests of this blog that I've been meaning to get to; although, some of them are related and will turn up here.

I also have a number of posts I need to make concerning books I've read from the Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series and Paizo's Planet Stories, which do not cross paths with Appendix N. So it will be a few weeks before I get to Leigh Brackett in my Appendix N series.

Appendix N: John Bellairs "The Face in The Frost"

Moving on from the "A's" to the "B's" listed on the DMG's Appendix N, I had the pleasure of reading John Bellairs' The Face in the Frost.

Originally published in 1969, Bellairs has stated that he was inspired to write a book staring a wizard after reading Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Having a wizard as a protagonist, or in the case of Bellairs two wizards, is where most of the similarities end; both works are without a doubt grounded in High Fantasy.

Bellairs is better known for his Young Adult works. Initially, The Face in the Frost was billed as such; however, be that as it may, this is a novel easily enjoyed by any reader who loves fantasy, regardless of age.

I first became aware of this novel after having read Lin Carter's non-fiction book about fantasy, Imaginary Worlds: The Art of Fantasy. In his book, Carter discusses The Face in the Frost as the third of three works published since The Lord of the Rings, that in Carters own words: I have read three absolutely first class fantasy novels published since The Lord of the Rings first appeared in print in this country (the United States) during the mid 1950s. And only three.... The first two Carter wrote of were Peter S. Beagle's The Last Unicorn, and Joy Chant's Red Moon and Black Mountain; Katherine Kurtz and Ursula K. LeGuin get honorable mentions. John Bellairs' The Face in the Frost gets the nod from Carter as being worthy of being placed upon the book shelf alongside The Lord of the Rings.

I bring this forward as I would like to emphasize once more my love for Lin Carter as an editor and fellow fanatic of great literature. By many critics accounts, he had glaring faults as a writer, and if stories are true perhaps as a person as well, but as a lover of Fantasy/Sword & Sorcery fiction, Carter did much for the genre and his fellow fans with his editorship of The Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series, which I've spoken of before.

It's a mystery to me as to why some works made Gygax's Appendix N while others did not. For instance, John Bellairs' The Face in the Frost does, but neither Peter S. Beagle nor Katherine Kurtz do. My suspicions lean towards a theory that Dungeons & Dragons grew from Gary Gygax's love of pulp fiction, not the fantasy literature that exploded upon the scene after the publication of Tolkien. I believe this for Gygax names EC Comics and fantasy/horror/science fiction movies as inspiration as well. Gygax was known fan of Hammer Horror Films, which were pulpy in tone as were EC Comics.

It is again the old odd argument of D&D's inspirational material. The outsider looks into the gaming circle and sees the usual assortment of gamers seemingly reliving a Tolkien fetish as they hack their way through dungeons in the guise of elves, dwarves and halflings (hobbits). The fans of the game, or at least many, know that they are actually playing out their fantasies of yes kin akin to the kindred of Tolkien, but more in the vein of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories and nightmare tales from H.P. Lovecraft. Some, perhaps even Gygax himself, are angered at the simplification of The Lord of the Rings = Dungeons & Dragons and vice versa.

It is mystery. If Tolkien had not published his masterpiece, there would have been no boom of interest in the 1950s/60s/70s in the genre of fantasy. This resurgence of interest lead to a fan named Lin Carter who took the reigns of editing at Ballentine and reintroduced, and in some cases introduced for the first time, fantasy readers to such greats as William Morris, Lord Dunsany, Katherine Kurtz and John Bellairs. It should not be forgotten that Lin Carter as the men-tee of L. Sprague de Camp had a hand in reintroducing fantasy lovers to Howard's creations as well; although the manner in which it was done angers Howard purists to this day.

What I'm driving at is simply that Gary Gygax, having stated himself that he was ...an avid reader of all science fiction and fantasy literature since 1950...most likely was exposed to many great works by being a fan of the Ballentine Adult Fantasy series. For instance by reading the Ballentine paperbacks he could have been exposed to H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft was one of the authors re-introduced by Carter to the public in the Ballentine Adult Fantasy series. Most likely, with his age being taken into account, his exposure to Bellairs was the Adult Fantasy series.

Also, it is possible that Gygax never read the pure versions of Howard's Conan yarns. Gnomic Press published them prior to the altered versions that de Camp pushed onto the public, but the de Camp versions, along with Marvel Comics, were the stories that most readers in Gygax's age group would have been exposed to. After all, Gary Gygax was born two years after Howard's death, and wouldn't have come into his formative reading years until four years prior to the cancellation of Weird Tales.

The popularity of the character of Conan led to the formation of the sub-genre of Sword & Sorcery. I believe, and I have no proof there of, that Gygax's leisure reading was more geared towards Sword & Sorcery rather then the High Fantasy inspired by Tolkien. Many of the works included in the Ballantine series were more geared towards High Fantasy. So while Gygax certainly read some, perhaps many or even all of the titles in Carter's Adult fantasy series, he would have paid attention to other works more in the vein of Howard's Conan tales. I specifically point out the Conan tales, as Gygax specifically named them in Appendix N.

I find myself curious as to why, if H.P. Lovecraft got the nod in Appendix N, why not Clark Ashton Smith? Perhaps the answer to that lies in the proper full title of Appendix N, Inspirational and Educational Reading. The italics on "Educational" are mine. Perhaps I can only answer many of my own questions by reading the appendix in entirety with the goal of educating myself about Dungeons & Dragons.

I did not intend such a long ponderous entry, but it is interesting to see how reading Appendix N gets my gears turning about the origins of the game. Gary Gygax aptly named Appendix N. It can inspire great gaming and educate the reader about Gygax's creation.

Back to the work at hand, I really can not state more then has been stated elsewhere. The Face in the Frost is a joy to read and it reads quickly. The fact that Prospero studies his spells from a spell book prior to casting, has been pointed out as a possible influence upon D&D. I would also like to point out that there is a scene which may have been the introduction for the spell magic mouth as well.

In Carter's Imaginary Worlds, a prequel to The Face in the Frost is talked about and was to be published in a volume of literature aimed at young fantasy readers titles Young Magicians. That book never saw print, and the manuscript for Bellairs story is assumed lost. He did begin work on a sequel titled The Dolphin Cross. It was never finished, but the 150 pages of it which were written are available in print.

My copy is a used Ace printing (1981) that I found in a local used book store. I have seen multiple copies available. There is a current edition in print as well. As always, I encourage you shop locally and support your favorite non-corporate owned book store. Hopefully one that serves coffee not bought from Starbucks and has a lazy cat rolled up in a cozy corner.

Happy Reading. Good Gaming.

Appendix N: Poul Anderson's "The Broken Sword"

Published in 1954, the same year as Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring saw publication, it is tempting to compare Anderson's novel to the Ring Trilogy. Both works are influenced by Norse mythology, shades of the Poetic Edda are obvious in The Broken Sword; however, while Tolkien took Norse Mythology and molded it to fit his vision of Middleearth, Poul Anderson took a more literal approach with The Broken Sword. Perhaps a weakness of Sword is that it reads as if written by a writer trying too hard to emulate a story form he obviously holds in high regard.

There were moments while reading passages of the novel that I found myself doing an inward eye roll. That aside, it is a delightful read and is without a doubt a true classic of Sword and Sorcery literature. I am careful to not say Fantasy in the generic sense. While it is a novel that would fall under the large banner of Fantasy in the genre sense, I would consider it more in the vein of Sword and Sorcery. Not quite in the vein of the works of Robert E. Howard or Fritz Lieber, but more similar to that of Lord Dunsany or even William Morris.

I only make this distinction as Poul Anderson does not attempt to create his own world here; while Tolkien took his Norse influences and created his own world clearly outside of the boundaries of reality, Anderson's tale takes place in a fictionalized England during the period of Viking incursions. Populace superstitions of the realm of Faerie are real and can be sensed from time to time upon the margins of society. Anderson's Faerie realm is perhaps a dimension which shares our own. As are the realm of Jottenheim and the Norse Gods.

Anderson's elves are not Tolkien's elves. They are, in Dungeons & Dragons terminology, Chaotic. The affairs of mankind not only do not interest them, they are perhaps beneath them. Here is perhaps the first influence which can be seen upon the development of Dungeons & Dragons. Comparing this novel to Anderson's novel Three Hearts and Three Lions, in which a definite alignment system is developed by Anderson, the rudimentary beginnings of on alignment system may be viewed in The Broken Sword, although it is not clearly as drawn out. Perhaps also an early influence upon what would become the standard Troll in D&D is here as well:

...arms like tree boughs that hung to their knees...Their skin was green and cold and slippery...few of them had hair...eyes set far into bone-ridged sockets, were like skulls.

The realm of Fae as presented by Anderson in his novel is in tune with that of Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter or the many works of William Morris. In my own personal vision of Dungeons & Dragons, this vision of the realm of Faerie would have more heavily influenced the game.

I've read that Anderson was inspired by H. Rider Haggard's The Saga of Eric Brighteyes, but having not read it myself I can not speak to that. I have also read that the broken sword of Anderson's novel inspired Michael Moorecock to create Stormbringer the famous sword of his Elric stories. Having read those, I can see the influence.

My copy of The Broken Sword came from a local used book store. A quick search of Abe Books coughed up several copies ranging from .69 to 20 plus dollars. It should be noted that an earlier version of the novel appeared in 1954. The work was rediscovered by Lin Carter and printed as the twenty-fourth volume of his Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series in 1971. My copy is a fourth printing from Del Rey this is the same as the version printed by Lin Carter, but missing his introduction. Anderson says this:

...without changing the story, I did allow myself a number of textual emendations...I did not rewrite end to end...I have trimmed away a lot of adjectives and wordbrush, corrected certain errors and inconsistencies, and substituted one Person (in one brief though important scene) for another who didn't really belong there.

Also in Anderson's forward, he openly admits that this novel could not be written by the same author who would later write Three Hearts and Three Lions:

This young, in many ways naive lad who bore my name could, all unwittingly, give readers a wrong impression of my work and me.

As I stated earlier, this is not Poul Anderson's strongest work, but time spent reading it is time well spent for lovers of Fantasy and/or Dungeons & Dragons.

As a note for the purists out there, an edition by Gollancz was published in 2002 titled The Broken Sword (Fantasy Masterworks). I have not seen this edition, but from what I understand it is exactly as the story appeared in 1954 prior to the 1971 Ballentine edition. For myself, I enjoyed the novel enough that I am seeking out the Gollancz copy so I may compare the two; however, the Gollancz edition is no longer in print either. Amazon lists new copies from $48.67 and used versions (some in hardcover) from $5.62.

I encourage you buy local and buy often.

Appendix N: Poul Anderson to Roger Zelazny

I've tackled the task of reading the works listed in Appendix N of the AD&D 1st edition Dungeon Master's Guide. In the cases that Gygax has listed specific works, I am reading those. For those authors he has listed as all their works, I am selecting those works I feel would have most likely influenced Gary Gygax.

In some cases, this intersects with three other reading lists that I am working my way through: The Ballentine Adult Fantasy Series, The Planet Stories Library and Pre-Tolkien Fantasy Literature.

I am reading each work and assessing each work in two regards. The first is how well the novel stands as a Fantasy Classic (or Science Fiction/Horror/whatever the case may be). Does it feel dated? Is it well written? Entertaining. Of course I am measuring it against my personal prejudice.

Secondly, what was its influence upon the development of Dungeons & Dragons as a game? What elements of the work in question would I like to see adopted into my own games? The later of the two is more important to me.

I will also give an indication of the availability of each work. I'm finding that many of the works listed in Appendix N are out of print. I will state how I came across my copy, how much I paid, and where others might come across their own copies.

I would like to make two statements related to my last paragraph: First, don't ignore the public library system. Too often, the library is ignored in favor of the big box stores. Support your library, be a patron if you can.

Second, I implore you to buy from your locally owned and operated book stores, not to include Barnes & Noble or Borders. I have nothing against either stores and I occasionally buy from them myself; however, as much as possible my dollars go to my favorite locally owned non-chain stores. I heavily believe in investing in my community.

Reading Lists

I'm not sure when in life I decided it was necessary to assign myself reading lists, but I have for more years then I can remember. My problem is two-fold, one: I tend to have more then a single list going at once and two: I am a completionist, perhaps bordering on OCD.

I've mentioned my affection for Lin Carter as an editor before. His non-fiction book Imaginary Worlds: the Art of Fantasy, impressed me so that I have been snagging any book edited by him that I can. This has led me to really appreciate the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series.


While I am still actively reading pre-Tolkien fantasy, I have found myself relying heavily upon the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series (BAFS)as a treasure trove resource for this reading list and I have been actively trying to find and read as many titles in the BAFS as possible and has become another reading list for me.


At the same time, I have discoverd The Planet Stories volumes published by Paizo as well. This too has become another obsessive reading list of mine. I have thus far by so impressed with the volumes I have read, I've purchased a subscribtion with Paizo.


So the reading journey continues and while I need to go into further detail in the future, I must say that I wish I had read Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter prior to starting my Darkling Ways campaign, as I find the elven culture in the novel very inspiring.

My Absence, Lin Carter and my Appendix N.

Not that I have lots of followers, but to those few who do stop by here every now and then, and to those who have never been here until now, I want you to know I'm still here.

Sadly, there has not been much gaming in my life as of late. Summer is always difficult for me. I travel all year long, but summer is my busiest season, with often no rhyme nor reason as to when I will return home. Over the past five years, this has led to often several weeks, and sometimes months without gaming, which in turn often fuels my gamer ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and too frequently leads to the premature death of a campaign before its due time. It is often too hard to return to a game where that initial spark of energy is gone.

I don't think that will happen with my Darkling Ways campaign. The spark is still there for me; however, this summer bleeding too soon into fall (and I don't want to think about the looming Alaskan Winter just around the corner) it is not just my schedule which is hectic. One of my long time gaming buddies has returned to school, and can not make our regularly scheduled night (Tuesdays) for the foreseeable future. Another player is bogged down in school work as well, and working his ass off to graduate sooner versus later.

We've looked at changing the night in the past, but for some reason, Tuesday always pops up as the best night, so I'm not sure if we will investigate that proposal further. I would love to game on a Friday or Saturday night, but those are reserved as date nights for my wife and I (and as much as I love gaming, I love kindling our relationship even more); Sunday afternoons would be keen, but we always seem to have family stuff going on that day, as does everyone else. So Tuesday it will most likely remain. This means Osamu the Cleric of Solomon will be handed into my not-so-tender hands as an NPC (I've had a bad track record with NPCs and/or henchmen in this campaign, not intentionally, I have adopted a strict policy of "let the dice fall where they may"--this has also led to two character deaths). Osamu will, hopefully, be there for when his controlling player can join us again.

I'm still plugging away at world creation, but have not had the time nor inclination to post anything lately. More will come.

I have been busy reading. Initially, I was reading Appendix N from the DMG; however, by pure chance this has led more into an interest in literature "pre-Tolkien" and not necessarily Appendix N (although the two often collide). My sole inspiration for this has been Lin Carter. I picked up a copy of his "Imaginary Worlds" a non-fiction speculation of his written about fantasy and part of the famous "Ballentine Adult Fantasy" series of which he edited (1969 - 1974).

Carter is an author that I had always marginalized as a simple hack; and not unfairly. As an author, he rarely rose above the average author of fan fiction, and as a Robert Howard enthusiast, his name along side L. Sprague de Camp, lives in infamy for me. Carter had another side: he was amazingly well read, and had a love for the genre of fantasy that is inspiring and admirable.

This has led me into a side project. I'm exploring what fantasy was before Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings forever changed it. It is a not a slam against JRRT. I love LOTR and have a particularly soft spot in my heart for The Hobbit. It is undeniable that the genre of fantasy changed after the immense popularity of LOTR took the world by storm, and has degenerated (in my opinion) into the realm of Tolkien impersonation.

In effect, I'm building my own Appendix N. There is more to come on this in future posts.

As to gaming, the gang is getting together Labor Day for a board game. Talisman I believe and I hope to have a session of Darkling Ways as well.