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mask131 · 11 months

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A fantasy read-list: A-3

Fantasy read-list

Part A: Ancient fantasy

3) Medieval fantasy - the Arthuriana

While one root of the fantasy genre lies within the mythologies of the world, the other is coming from numerous medieval tales and supernatural stories, most of them being centered around what we call today the “Arthurian myth” or the “Arthuriana”. Though, in truth, the genre of these texts is a bit bigger - it is the “Matter of Britain”, which is larger than the Arthurian texts themselves.

And we will begin our list with... French texts! It might surprise you - you might say “But aren’t Arthurian texts all English?”. No. The Matter of Britain designates all the medieval texts that are not the “Matter of Rome” or the “Matter of Thebes” (aka coming from the texts and topics of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece). Britain is, of course, England, as in “Great-Britain”. But if there is a GREAT Britain, it means there is a “Little Britain”... And this Little Britain is none other than the Bretagne region of France, aka the north-west of France. The Arthurian myth is half-rooted in England, yes, but another half of the origins and founding texts of the Arthurian legend come from France. The famous Broceliande forest is in France, not in England.

# The founding texts of the French Arthurian literature are without a doubt the novels of Chrétien de Troyes. Considered the very first French novel of history, they created many of the well-known “Arthurian legends” of today. There is a total of five of these novels. Two are indirectly tied to the Arthurian world - Eric and Enide, Cligès. Two are right at the heart of the Arthuriana: Yvain or the Knight of the Lion, as well as Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart. And his final novel is incomplete, but it is the one that created the most famous part of the Arthurian literature: Perceval or the Story of the Grail, the first literary apparition of the famous “Holy Grail” (fun fact: the Grail wasn’t originally a cup, but a fish-plate. Go read the book, you’ll understand Xp).

# Equating and rivaling Chrétien’s novels, we find the lais of Marie de France. A “lai” is actually a short fiction typical of the Middle-Ages, something halfway between a narrative poem and a fairytale, telling short, concise, but very efficient stories. We have a LOT of lais that came to us anonymously, carrying numerous literary stories or folktales of medieval times - but in France the most famous lais are those attributed to a certain “Mary of France”. She wrote twenty or so VERY famous lais that are seen as one of the defining feature of old medieval French literature. We are talking Bisclaveret, one of the oldest werewolf stories, we are talking of the supernatural romance of Guigemar, we are talking about the twin-shenanigans of Le Fresne, about the tragic love of Chevrefoil, and about the Arthurian lai of Lanval, about a man in love with a fairy but wooed by Guinevere herself.

Mind you, there are other lais not composed by Marie de France, such as the one of Guingamor or the one of Sir Orfeo, but they are mostly anonymous.

# The works of Robert de Boron. Robert de Boron continued the work started by Chrétien de Troyes (and also took inspiration from the poet’s Wave semi-historical semi-fictional work, such as the Roman de Brut, a historical chronicle where Merlin and dragons appear), and built the next “step” in the Arthurian myth in France. Unfortunately we do not have his full work anymore, merely a fragment of his poem “Merlin” (where he presents the famous story of the “born of a demon” episode), a short “Perceval” story, and his full “Estoire du Graal ou Joseph d’Arimathie”, which is where the background of the Grail as the cup that collected Christ’s blood appears. Together they are considered as “le Petit Cycle du Graal”, “The Small Cycle of the Grail”, preceeding the following item...

# More interestingly, after the enormous success of Chrétien de Troyes’ work, there was an entire series of books that were created, remembered today as the Lancelot-Graal, or the Prose Lancelot, the Vulgate Cycle. These are five texts in prose (in opposition to Chrétien and Boron’s verse works), who continue or rewrite the previous author’s texts - these are L’Estoire del Saint Graal (L’Histoire du Saint Graal/The History of the Holy Grail), L’Estoire de Merlin (L’Histoire de Merlin/Merlin in prose), Le Lancelot (also called Lancelot in prose or Lancelot proper), La Queste del Saint Graal (The Quest of the Holy Grail), and La Mort d’Artu (The death of Artu). This cycle was followed by three prose texts known as “The Post-Vulgate Cycle” (Histoire du Saint Graal, Merlin, Queste-Mort Artu) which are merely the transcription in prose of some of Boron works, mixed with a rewrite of the “Tristan en prose”, an old novel of the Tristan and Iseult cycle (and the first that links the legendary duo with the Arthurian world).

# The Roman de Perceforest is a quite unique work designed to unite the “romans d’Alexandre” (Alexandrian novels, a big branch of medieval French literature centered around the adventure of Alexander the Great) and the Arthurian novels - more importantly, Perceforest is the oldest known literary version of the fairytale Sleeping Beauty.

# A section should be left here for the various novels involving the fairy Mélusine, one of the main characters of the French medieval legends. In fact, she is recognized (by Georges Dumézil’s work and those that continued it) as one of the two archetypal fairies of the middle-ages (the Melusinian fairy being the fairy entering the human world to live with humans, opposing the Morganian fairy who snatches humans into the otherworld). The legend of Mélusine was most notably recorded in Jean d’Arras “Roman de Mélusine”, and in Coudrette’s own “Roman de Mélusine”.

# There are many, MANY more literary works of medieval France, but to stay in the angle of “ancient fantasy” I will merely quote two more. On one side, la Chanson des quatre fils d’Aymon, a famous medieval epic which notably depicts the figure of Maugis the Enchanter, the other main sorcerer of medieval texts alongside Merlin (he has his own poem, La Chanson de Maugis d’Aigremont). On the other, the one one, the classic, the best-seller, the unavoidable Roman de Renart, the Novel of Reynart, the tentacular set of texts depicting the numerous adventures of the most famous European trickster in an animalistic parody of the Arthurian world.

If we jump outside of France to England, we have a different set of texts:

# The works of Geoffrey of Monmouth. This man wrote some of the earliest works part of the “Arthurian myth”, and from which a lot of elements were taken to create the “Arthuriana”. While his most famous work is “Historia Regum Britanniae”, a semi-historical chronicle of the kings of Britain which contains one of the earliest appearance of King Arthur as we know him today, he also wrote two texts fundamental to the figure of Merlin: Prophetiae Merlini, and Vita Merlini.

# Otia Imperialia, by Gervase of Tilbury. It was a work created as a gift to emperor Otto V, and it was supposed to be an encyclopedia of geographical, historical and scientific matters - but it is actually containing a LOT of mythical and legendary elements, including entire part of the “Arthurian myth” presented as historical facts - hence its latter name “The Book of Marvels”.

# Of course, we can’t list the major Arthuriana English works without talking about the most famous one: “Le Morte d’Arthur”, the final result of the “evolution” of the Arthurian myth. Thomas Malory’s attempt at creating a complete legend uniting all of the English and French Arthurian texts (though heavily inspired by the Lancelot-Graal cycle I described above). This text became the “definitive Arthurian text” in England for a very long time - and in more recent days, it was the main inspiration for the famous Arthurian novel “The Once and Future King” by T. H. White.

And while the Arthurian corpus is mostly made of English and French texts, you also have Arthuriana sources in other European countries - such as in Germany, where you can find Lanzelet, by Ulrich von Zazhikhoven, which marks the first apparition of Lancelot in German literature.

#fantasy read-list #read list #fantasy #read-list #arthurian myth #medieval literature #medieval fantasy #arthurian texts #french middle-ages #french literature #arthuriana #arthurian literature #ancient fantasy

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loviewer · 2 years

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read list

omniscient reader’s viewpoint

trash of the count’s family

solo leveling

s classes that I raised

debut or die

return of the mount hua sect

weak hero

tower of god

once again idol

#read list #read as in past tense #or present tense depending on how complete these are #well honestly it’s just a list of the ones I read that I really liked and will probably talk about #orv #totcf #sl #sctir #debut or die #dmj #return of the mount hua sect #weak hero #tog #once again idol #mine

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tilthemockingjaysings · 21 days

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The Secret History - Donna Tartt (5/5⭐)

me at the start: what on earth could bunny have done to deserve death??

*bunny exists*

me: understandable, please continue

#books #books and reading #book recommendations #book review #read list #2024 reads #donna tartt #the secret history

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arataka-reigen · 4 months

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Two different mutuals posting abt yohaji today. Is this a sign for me to read it.

#yohaji #read list #gi talks animanga

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himbohargreeves · 4 months

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River’s Top Ten of 2023

These aren’t in any particular order because it would take me too long to try and rank them. Honorary mention to Misery, The Tommyknockers, and the various short story collections I read which aren’t on the list because I don’t think Stephen King needs me to sell his books for him, but Misery was easily my favourite book of the year <3

1) The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Hidden across England and Scotland live six old Book Eater families. The last of their lines, they exist on the fringes of society and subsist on a diet of stories and legends. Children are rare and their numbers have dwindled, so when Devon Fairweather’s second child is born a dreaded Mind Eater – a perversion of her own kind, who consumes not stories but the minds and souls of humans – she flees before he can be turned into a weapon for the family… or worse. Living among humans and finding prey for her son, Devon seeks a cure for his hunger. But time is running out – for her family want her back, and with every soul her son consumes he loses a little more of himself…

My rating:

Woah it's vampires but with books! The world-building in this is so gorgeous and such an original creature design. I just wish it was a little longer as the ending felt a bit abrupt.

4.75 ⭐️

2) The Collector by Laura Kat Young

Sorrow is inefficient. It’s also inescapable. Lieutenant Dev Singh dutifully spends his days recording the memories of people who, struck with incurable depression, will soon have their minds erased in order to be more productive members of society. At night though, hidden in the dark, Dev remembers and writes in his secret journal the special moments shared with him--the small laugh of a toddler, the stillness of a late afternoon. The first flutter of love. But when the Bureau finds out he's been recounting the memories–and that the depression is in him, too– he’s sent to a sanitarium to heal. After all, the Bureau knows what’s best for you.

One of the best dystopias I've read for a while because of how believable the whole thing felt. Main character is really easy to root for and so real (love the way his toes are always cracking when he's trying to sneak around. me too brother.) The ending was a little bamboozling but I kind of like that.

My rating: 4.5 ⭐️

3) The House at Phantom Park by Graham Masterton

St Philomena's military hospital has been abandoned for over three years. Now Lilian Chesterfield is in charge of developing it into a luxury-housing complex. But as soon as she and her colleagues start work in the mansion, they hear screaming from wards full of empty beds and see faces peering at them from the mullioned windows. Lilian doesn't believe in the supernatural. But just when she's put her mind at rest by scouring the mansion from top to bottom, a warning arrives. The hospital is haunted. And it is haunted by something a thousand times more terrifying than ghosts...

I read a few books by this author but this was easily my favourite. A really unique take on the haunted hospital trope and the gore was splendid.

My rating: 4.25 ⭐️

4) Inkmistress by Audrey Coulthurst

Asra is a demigod with a dangerous gift: the ability to dictate the future by writing with her blood. To keep her power secret, she leads a quiet life as a healer on a remote mountain, content to help the people in her care and spend time with Ina, the mortal girl she loves. But Asra's peaceful life is upended when bandits threaten Ina's village and the king does nothing to help. Desperate to protect her people, Ina begs Asra for assistance in finding her manifest--the animal she'll be able to change into as her rite of passage to adulthood. Asra uses her blood magic to help Ina, but her spell goes horribly wrong and the bandits destroy the village, killing Ina's family. Unaware that Asra is at fault, Ina swears revenge on the king and takes a savage dragon as her manifest. To stop her, Asra must embark on a journey across the kingdom, becoming a player in lethal games of power among assassins, gods, and even the king himself.

Beatiful. Outstanding. Showstopping. I have no notes. I read Of Fire and Stars last year and really enjoyed it but this was even better. Every single character is compelling, the world is written beautifully, the romance hit me where I live. I cried about five times while reading.

My rating: 5 ⭐️

5) Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

Marlinchen and her two sisters live with their wizard father in a city shifting from magic to industry. As Oblya's last true witches, she and her sisters are little more than a tourist trap as they treat their clients with archaic remedies and beguile them with nostalgic charm. Marlinchen spends her days divining secrets in exchange for rubles and trying to placate her tyrannical, xenophobic father, who keeps his daughters sequestered from the outside world. But at night, Marlinchen and her sisters sneak out to enjoy the city's amenities and revel in its thrills, particularly the recently established ballet theater, where Marlinchen meets a dancer who quickly captures her heart. As Marlinchen's late-night trysts grow more fervent and frequent, so does the threat of her father's rage and magic. And while Oblya flourishes with culture and bustles with enterprise, a monster lurks in its midst, borne of intolerance and resentment and suffused with old-world power. Caught between history and progress and blood and desire, Marlinchen must draw upon her own magic to keep her city safe and find her place within it.

This book is STUNNING. I don't even have anything else to add. There are some heavy topics so might be wise to seek out a trigger list before reading but I highly recommend.

My rating: 5 ⭐️

6) Leech by Hiron Ennes

In an isolated chateau, as far north as north goes, the baron’s doctor has died. The Interprovincial Medical Institute sends out a replacement. But when the new physician investigates the cause of death, which appears to be suicide, there’s a mystery to solve. It seems the good doctor was hosting a parasite. Yet this should have been impossible, as the physician was already possessed – by the Institute. The Institute is here to help humanity, to cure and to cut, to cradle and protect the species from the horrors their ancestors unleashed. For hundreds of years, it has taken root in young minds and shaped them into doctors, replacing every human practitioner of medicine. But now there’s competition. For in the baron’s cold castle, already a pit of secrets and lies, the parasite is spreading...

The imagery in this book is so vividly well-written and horrible (pos) and I really hope the author writes more of this world in the future because there was so much more I want to explore. The evolution of the main character is so good and has you constantly switching between rooting for and against them.

My rating: 4.5 ⭐️

7) The Lighthouse Witches by CJ Cooke

A deserted lighthouse Upon the cliffs of a remote Scottish island stands a lighthouse. Strange and terrible events have happened here. It started with a witch hunt. Now, centuries later, islanders are vanishing. A lost family Liv Stay and her children don’t believe in witches or curses. But within months of arriving on the island, her daughter Luna is the only one of them left. An impossible child Twenty years later, Luna’s missing sister turns up out of the blue. She is exactly the girl Luna remembers. Same face. Same smile. Same age. Faced with the impossible, it’s up to Luna to find out what really happened at the lighthouse all those years ago.

A really fun and creative take on changelings and a great story that kept me guessing right up to the end reveal! The character/timeline switches work really well, but I feel like the character povs being written in different tenses a bit jarring at times without adding much.

My rating: 4.5 ⭐️

8) Night Train by David Quantick

A woman wakes up, frightened and alone - with no idea where she is. She's in a room but it's shaking and jumping like it's alive. Stumbling through a door, she realizes she is in a train carriage. A carriage full of the dead. This is the Night Train. A bizarre ride on a terrifying locomotive, heading somewhere into the endless night. How did the woman get here? Who is she? And who are the dead? As she struggles to reach the front of the train, through strange and horrifying creatures with stranger stories, each step takes her closer to finding out the train's hideous secret. Next stop: unknown.

Very surreal with some great and creative gore elements. What does it all mean in the end? Couldn't really tell you, but man I had a great time reading it!

My rating: 4.75 ⭐️

9) Tender is the Flesh by Augusta Bazterrica (translated by Sarah Moses)

Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - only no one calls them that. He works with numbers, consignments, processing. One day, he's given a specimen of the finest quality. He leaves her tied up in an outhouse, a problem to be disposed of later. But she haunts Marcos. Her trembling body, and watchful gaze, seem to understand. And soon, he becomes tortured by what has been lost - and what might still be saved...

Another really great dystopia though maybe a little less believable, and at times maybe going a bit too literal with the commentary on the meat industry but man. That fucking ending. My jaw hit the floor and I had to spend ten minutes staring at a blank wall afterward to recover.

My rating: 4.75 ⭐️

10) What Moves The Dead by T Kingfisher

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruritania. What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves. Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

Fall of the House of Usher is one of my favourite stories and this is easily the best take on it I've ever read. Really lovely imagery and just a great, creative spin on a classic. And there are mushrooms!

My rating: 4.75 ⭐️

#read list #book recommendations #book reccs #book review #horror #horror recs #river reads #fun new tag for us

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fayestardust · 3 months

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Books read and films/shows watched in 2024

I'm gonna be sharing some of the things I watch and read on here. Books

Wool by Hugh Howey - 9/10 - The only reason it didn't get 10/10 is the ending. Maybe just the fact that it ended. Or, at the very least, too soon.

Currently reading

Shift by Hugh Howey Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Films/shows

Oppenheimer - 8.5/10 Love Again - 4/10 Saltburn - 7/10 - I enjoyed it, but slightly too unhinged for my taste. Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightley version) - 10/10 - Rewatch, but it always brings me joy. My life with the Walter boys (show)- 7/10 - Teen drama. Always my favourite. Everyone is stupid. Sanditon (show)- 7.5/10 - Everyone is stupid. Just communicate, that would help. Fleabag (show)- 10/10 - Rewatch. Love it. It'll pass. Normal People (show) - 10/10 - Just fantastic, binged it all in one night. Foe - 7.5/10 - Film enthusiasts and critics alike think this is a boring film. I just really enjoyed it. Maybe I'm slightly obsessed with Paul Mescal, though. And I love things that are depressing af. A Man Called Otto - 9/10 - Rewatch. Both hopeful and very sad. Love it. Bodies (show) - 7.5/10 - Fun premise, odd pacing. Masters of the Air (show)- 8.5/10 - Gets better with every rewatch. The Boys In The Boat - 8/10 - Sports make me cry. The Creator - 7/10 - Great premise, mediocre execution. The Gentlemen (show) - 7/10 - It is a fun story, but the stylistic choices are perhaps not as much my thing anymore. Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret - 8.5/10 - Was growing up like this? I can't remember, it's been too long. Fate, The Winx saga (show) - 6/10 - Remind me why I watched this? I recall liking the first season, but the second season is just... Slow Horses (show) - 9.5/10 - There is not much to critique. I love it. Severance (show) - 8.5/10 - Takes a while to get into, but it's GOOD.

#about me #watch list #read list

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thequid · 1 month

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even though it's from a mahwa and the story js different from real life, it still hits hard.

#your eternal lies #manhwa #read list #image #manhwa recommendation #quotes #women quotes #women #witch #the witches of the past were misunderstood intelligent women #comics

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lavendarneverlands · 4 days

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whygalaxy · 1 month

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PLEASE. I need a qauckity x Male reader NSFW I'M HUNHGRYYY aRFHDFGDS

I'm sorry, but I don't write for male readers :/

I know this seems kind of obvious, but it's worth remembering. Please read the list of what the writer writes and doesn't write before placing an request! In addition to avoiding requests about things that make the writer uncomfortable, or requests that will be deleted.

I don't want to sound rude, but it seems so obvious...

#quackity x reader #request #read list

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kendoll05 · 5 months

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finally finished my reading challenge for the year!! it’s only 20 books but i’m proud of myself :] i hope to read a few more b4 the year ends and i’ll share my read list when i’m finished !!

#reading challenge #read list #tbr list #goodreads

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theresthesnitch · 10 months

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Honestly didn’t read enough of that list so freeform - can you rec some recent fav fics? Wolfstar, Wolfstarbucks, jily, honestly idc but I’m so curious to know what you’ve been reading <3

Lol, this is the emoji ask game, but I'll also take random questions. 🤣

Oh, I've honestly recently been in a bit of a reading slump. And by slump, I mean I'm interested in reading exlusively the fics that I'm writing and it's so rude that the author hasn't updated the next chapter yet. (Anyone else get this feeling?)

However, here's some of the fics that I've read recently, am currently reading, or have on my TBR list.

(just a weird note: my reading is very chaotic. Typically, if I have both hands free amd free time, I pick writing over reading. Sometimes I start something and then move on to writing, and that doesn't make those fics any less amazing because of it. it's just my own version of being scatterbrained, and regardless of how quick I read it, these fics live in my head.)

Recently read:

Neon Moon by @krethes - if you're not reading this fic, shame on you. It's so good. And catch up now before we get James Potter goes to the Farm

Prey by @tracingpatternswrites - I told her this in the comments, so I'll tell you here too: I opened this, read the tags, and was pretty sure this was not a fic for me. (to which I mean, read the tags and believe them. they're very necessary.) However, it really goes to show you how good of a writer she is that I genuinely enjoyed this fic.

Reading:

Super Nature by five_ht - This fic came highly recommended to me on discord, and I've started it (and inevitably got distracted)

Chained to the Moon by MsAlexWP - I started this when I had to fly on a plane a few weeks ago, and I'm about halfway through it. I already love it so much, and I can't wait to catch up with all the hype on it.

Heaven is here if you want it by @r33sespieces - Also started on a plane (because I was an idiot who only downloaded chapter 1s of a few fics to read on the plane) and I'm very excited to catch up on this one too.

(also, I've done some alpha/beta reading for Reese's @marauders-omegaverse-fest, and I'm going to throw that on this list too, because IT'S GOING TO BE SO GOOD)

To be read:

Black Moon by @heartofspells - Padfoot/Moony fic? Hell yeah. Definitely TBR.

And Then The Symphony Starts by @mppmaraudergirl you know everything MPP writes is golden. Saving this for a relaxing moment to read.

Evan's Guide to Quidditch (and seducing James Potter) by @charmsandtealeaves - I've been eagerly awaiting this one and will defintiely be reading it when I get the chance.

..... I've just realized I listened to a bunch of podfics that didn't fall in my AO3 recent reads, but I'm not redoing the list. Maybe that's a separate list. 🤣

#snitch answers asks #read list #tbr #fic recs

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mask131 · 4 months

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Read-list for an "old school D&D" fantasy (plus bonus)

This is a remake of an earlier post of mine, that I decided to update (some additional books were suggested to me, others I found out about later).

This is a reading-list of various literary works that heavily inspired or were heavily used in the creation of the first editons of Dungeons and Dragons - and thus, reading them will allow you to plunge back into what the original D&D was meant to look what/what it tried to emulate.

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit". No surprise here, Tolkien's works were the start of modern fantasy and thus the main source of old-school D&D. In fact, D&D was originally created to be just a Lord of the Rings role-playing game - or to be precise a LotR wargame. This was the original intention. Which is why, quite famously, the very first version of D&D included elements such as the hobbits, the mithril and the balrogs. And when the Tolkien Estate pointed out the consequences of what was plagiarism, D&D changed these concepts to... "halflings", "mithral" and "balors". The only Tolkien-element D&D could preserve vaguely unchanged were the orcs, because the Tolkien Estate could not prove Tolkien had invented the term "orc". But even beyond that, D&D's dwarfs and elves and ents (sorry, treants) and wights and rangers all were heavily inspired by Tolkien - the gods of the orcs even use symbols such as an "eye of fire" and a "white hand"...

Poul Anderson's "Three Hearts and Three Lions". Poul Anderson was quite influential on early 20th century fantasy, and this specific book influenced D&D in three ways. On one side, it was one of the two sources for the "Order versus Chaos" conflict of D&D (the other being Moorcock). On the other the D&D trolls were inspired by the Three Hearts and Three Lion trolls. And finally the Paladin class was inspired by Anderson's Holger Carlsen character (the same way the Ranger was Tolkien's Aragorn). [This book also seems to have had some influence over the Fey of D&D?]

Michael Moorcock's "The Elric Saga". With Anderson's work, it was the other main source of the Order vs Chaos, Lawful vs Chaotic division of the D&D game. It also served as the main inspiration behind the D&D Drows, due to the Elric Saga shaping the original image of "Dark Elves" in fantasy, through its Melnibonéan Empire. D&D also originally collected references to the Elric world - creating many variation of Elric's evil magical sword Stormbringer through a variety of cursed soul-drinking weapons.

Robert E. Howard's "Conan the Barbarian". The source of heroic-fantasy the same way Lord of the Rings influenced epic fantasy, the world of Conan was also a huge source of inspiration for D&D - the most obvious reference being the Barbarian class, shaped for those who wanted to play Conan.

Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser". Originally intended as a parody of the Conan-style heroic fantasy, but promptly becoming a serious and admired work that created its own sub-genre of fantasy (the "sword and sorcery" genre), they also were inspirational for the first editions of D&D. Sometimes it is indirect - the "Thief" or "Rogue" classes were inspired by Leiber's Gray Mouser character - other times it is MUCH more direct. For example, among the numerous pantheons you could choose to use in early D&D, one was the various gods of Newhon and the city of Lankhmar, the universe of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. And the fantasy trope of "Thieves' Guild" made famous partially by D&D was originally an invention of Leiber.

Jack Vance's The Dying Earth. This emblematic series of the "science-fantasy" genre offered to D&D its magic system, which is generally known as "vancian magic". It was Jack Vance who had the idea that a wizard had to learn/store spells in their mind, with a limited number of spells they could carry in their brain, and that once cast the spell had to be re-learned or restored. Several spells and items of early D&D were also directly taken from the Dying Earth books - the "prismatic spray" or the "ioun stones".

H.P. Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos". No need to explain how Lovecraft's brand of eldritch horror and alien-fantasy shaped the creatures and deities of early D&D, to the point that early on the deities and monsters of the Cthulhu Mythos were part of the pantheons you could chose to use - listed alongside the Newhon gods of Leiber, or the gods of the Conan universe.

While not fantasy works, the most famous creations of Edgard Rice Burroughs - Tarzan on one hand, and John Carter of Mars on the other, were claImed by Gygax to have been very influential to his creation of D&D.

Another author Gygax mentionned as being a huge influence for D&D was Fletcher Pratt - through his Harold Shea fantasy series, about a main character being carried away in various magical and fantastical worlds very different from each other, in which he has to adapt himself to new settings and learn new rules to avoid dangers and threats... Sounds familiar? The idea of world-travelling might also have been inspired by the science-fiction series by P.J. Farmers' World of Tiers: the rules of travel in D&D between the various planes of reality seem to have been inspired by Farmers' own rules for dimension-travel.

One of the lesser known influences of D&D is the fantasy series "Kothar" by Gardner Fox: Gygax explicitely said that the idea of the "Lich" as a D&D monster came from Fox's Kothar series.

Not a book, but movies: the Sinbad movies of the mid 20th century were influential on early D&D. Various monsters and creatures referenced pictures such as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" or "The Golden Voyage of Sinbad".

"The House on the Borderlands" by William Hope Hodgson was explicitely referenced by Gygax's 1979 module "The Keep on the Borderlands", and it might have heavily influenced the original depiction of the D&D orcs as pig-men...

The Shannara series by Terry Brooks has also been pointed out as an influence on D&D - while not on the very first edition, elements of the Shannara world seem to have influenced later ones...

Mind you, this is but a fragment of a much longer list known as the "Appendix N" composed by Gygax, and that lists all the books and pieces of work he took inspiration from when designing D&D. Beyond the most famous works evoked above he also listed:

Poul Anderson's "The High Crusade" and "The Broken Sword"

John Bellairs' "The Face in the Frost"

Leigh Brackett's works

Fredric Browns' works

I evoked before Burrough's Mars series, but Gygax also listed his "Venus series" and his "Pellucidar series".

Lin Carter's "World End" series

L. Sprague de Camp's "Lest Darkness Fall" and "The Fallible Fiend" and "The Carnelian Cube"

August Derleth's continuation of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Lord Dunsany's writings, of course.

Gardner Fox's "Kyrik" series

Sterling Lanier's "Hiero's Journey"

A. Merritt's "Creep, Shadow, Creep", "Moon Pool" and "Dwellers in the Mirage"

Michael Moorcock's "Hawkmoon" series (which is technically part of the wider universe of which the Elric Saga is the central piece)

Andre Norton's works

Fletcher Pratt's "Blue Star"

Fred Saberhagen's "Changeling Earth"

Margaret St. Clair "The Shadow People" and "Sign of the Labrys"

Stanley Weinbaum's works

Manley Wade Wellman's works

Jack Williamson's works

Roger Zelazny's "Amber" series, and "Jack of Shadows".

In 2007, Gygax even updated his Appendix N with a handful of new titles reflecting elements added to later editions of D&D:

Sterling Lanier's "The Unforsaken hiero"

Piers Anthony's "Split Infinity" series

And of course, Terry Pratchett's Discworld series

And since this post is all about updates, I will also include a list of works that were used as inspiration for current day/modern D&D - especially the fifth edition. Like that, you'll have the evolution of "old school D&D versus new school D&D". This list is taken from fragments here and there of interviews given by Mike Mearls, the Appendix E "Inspirational Reads" of the fifth edition, and Rodney Thompson's interviews.

Appendix E replaces several elements Gygax talked about in interviews or in his Appendix N: Leiber's work, Burroughs's Mars series, Howard's Conan, etc...

Appendix E adds among other things China Mieville's "Perdido Street Station", and Elizabeth Bear's "Range of Ghosts".

Mike Mearls said that what inspired him in his design work of modern D&D was Ursula LeGuin's "Earthsea" series, Patrick Rothfuss "The Name of the Wind", Saladin Ahmed "Throne of the Crescent Moon" and Octavia E. Butler's "The Parable of the Sower".

But Mearls also repeated several of the picks already used by Gygax. He invoked again The Elric Saga, and Roger Zelazny's Amber series, and Tolkien's Legendarium of course...

Rodney Thompson rather insisted on returning to the Anderson roots of the D&D fantasy: mostly "Three Heart and Three Lions", but also "The Broken Sword".

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