My Own Appendix N (Sort Of)

Last weekend, I looked at Gygax's Appendix N on p. 224 of the Dungeon Master's Guide and was a bit taken aback by how few of those works I have actually read. Here's his list:

Anderson, Poul. THREE HEARTS AND THREE LIONS; THE HIGH CRUSADE; THE BROKEN SWORD
Bellairs, John. THE FACE IN THE FROST
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. "Pellucidar" Series; Mars Series; Venus Series
Carter, Lin. "World's End'' Series
de Camp, L. Sprague. LEST DARKNESS FALL; FALLIBLE FIEND; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" Series; CARNELIAN CUBE
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" Series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" Series; "Kyrik" Series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" Series
Lanier, Sterling. HIEROS JOURNEY
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd &Gray Mouser" Series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A. CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP; MOON POOL; DWELLERS IN THE MIRAGE; et al.
Moorcock, Michael. STORMBRINGER; STEALER OF SOULS; "Hawkmoon" Series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre.
Offutt, Andrew J., editor SWORDS AGAINST DARKNESS III.
Pratt, Fletcher, BLUE STAR; etaf.
Saberhagen, Fred. CHANGELING EARTH; etal.
St. Clair, Margaret. THE SHADOW PEOPLE; SIGN OF THE LABRYS
Tolkien, J. R. R. THE HOBBIT; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. THE EYES OF THE OVERWORLD; THE DYING EARTH; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade.
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. JACK OF SHADOWS; "Amber" Series; et al.

And now, true confessions --

I have read: Burroughs, Farmer, Tolkien, Zelazny.

I have not read: any of the others.

In my defense, I just picked up my first Lovecraft collection, Penguin Classics' The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories, a few weeks ago -- I am six tales into it and am absolutely LOVING it!

As for improving my "fantasy classics" batting average overall, I feel fortunate to have other better-read RPG bloggers with whom to consult. Synergistic occurrences are frequent in the OSR blogosphere, and lately the topic of "reading lists" or at least some important-seeming reading suggestions seem to be turning up everywhere I look.

First, Cyclopeatron made a book giveaway offer, and I was the lucky respondent to claim a free copy of Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.  Thanks again Cyclopeatron!  Shortly thereafter, Cyclopeatron posted this list of the ten most influential fantasy works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As I commented, this was a helpful list for a guy like me who came of age in the post-Tolkien "hack fantasy" era, exposed to Brooks, Eddings, et. al., while missing out on most of the works and authors on Cyclopeatron's list and in Gygax's Appendix N.

James at Grognardia has been on a Fritz Leiber kick of late (see this Pulp Fantasy Library post and this Open Friday post), and I am embarrassed to say that I have never yet read a single book or story by Leiber. Amazon.com wish list, take note!

Lastly, a couple nights ago I came across this post by Beedo, listing the works that constitute his own personal Appendix N. His is more lengthy and ambitious than mine would be, but that is largely because I have difficulty adhering to a list or plan that is too extensively mapped out; in fact, despite the suggestive title of this post, I do NOT plan to make a long list of books I plan to read this year. Listing them in advance would almost definitely ensure that I would not read them all. That's just a quirk of mine; I have to feel my way through a thing, NOT plan it out.

But I am thoroughly enjoying the Lovecraft collection, and my Amazon.com wish list makes clear that I will soon have HPL's The Thing on the Doorstep and Other Weird Stories in my possession, along with two books from Cyclopeatron's list (William Hope Hodgson's The Night Land and E. R. Eddison's The Worm Ouroboros), as well as Fritz Lieber's Swords and Deviltry. All that plus the free Dunsany book adds up to a very respectable start toward amending my deficiencies in the realm of old-school high fantasy, pulp fantasy, and weird tale reading. THANKS to all you folks in the blogosphere for once again helping me shape my vague intuitions (i.e., that I should read some "classic" fantasy works and weird tales that I have never read before) into something fruitful and productive (i.e., "here are some great books to read, Carter").

Happy Reading!