Flames Rising » Nonfiction

Designers and Dragons Review

spikexan — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 15:35:28 +0000

Available at RPGNow.com

Let’s say you’re going to teach a course on the history of role-playing games. You have the diploma and teaching certification. You have the tweed jacket. You have everything, but a textbook. With Designers and Dragons, you have a hulking 442 page textbook that examines this specific gaming culture since its creation in 1974. You’re ready to teach.

I’ve been playing RPGs since 1987 put TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes: Advanced Set into my local Waldenbooks, which means, according to this book, that I missed a massive amount of gaming history. I’ve played lots of games, read lots more that were not worth playing, and read about tons more through reviews or blurbs. I know a bit about what is going on in the industry.

But not enough to write this book.

Let me start off with artwork/layout. This falls into the unsexy textbook, dissertation, book report genre when it comes to artwork and such. The layout is Spartan, but only because it should be. The images used within the book are classic cover images from various games, starting with what is credited as a 1974 Dungeons and Dragon’s cover.

This book is more than a series of release dates and creator names though. The author encapsulates history, well-researched quotes, brief game mechanic overviews, and more side information than you’d find in a Tim Powers novel. In short, the writing doesn’t just sound informative, it sounds intimate.

Not every gamer is going to appreciate this book. I doubt anyone in my gaming group would care enough. At the risk of straying too far from the “review” part of this article, I find myself bummed out by the fact this book might end up only on the bookshelves of really “into it” gamers. Maybe I need to teach a class at my local university and make this textbook required reading.

It wouldn’t be a bunny course either.

I think what the author of this book has done has perfect timing. He details several “waves” the industry has drifted through and the ramifications of each (the D20 boom and quick demise, for example). He even makes side notes on Adventure Games (Dungeon!), Collectable Card Games (Magic: the Gathering), and other related gaming options. They are not this book’s focus though and therefore get little attention beyond their establishment into the grand scheme of things.

Right now, one of the theme’s in this hobby seems to be an attempt to understand it better. There are books on the psychology of gamers, essays on games, and more on various markets right now (for example the selection of titles from McFarland Publishing at RPGNow). The recent indie-game book even has generated a change in how the game is played.

Gnomestew.com or the Forge site are terrific starting places for looks at gaming thought. If you want to pick up games to show how the industry has changed, pick up Margaret Weis Productions Serenity and Smallville. Both claim to use the same system, but you’ll see the evolution of the system that took less than a decade to occur.

There is quite a bit for readers within this book. There are heated egos that are both creative and destructive. There are stories of great games and games that should-have-been. A well-researched history into an industry chock-full of it. If you love the game, take a look at this book.

Review by Todd Cash

Chicks Dig Comics Review

Flames — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:25:41 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them

If someone had handed me a copy of Chicks Dig Comics when I was younger I would not have known what to do with it. Growing up as a comic book nut during the 80s and 90s I never saw girls reading comics so the title alone would have thrown me for a loop. While my brother and I devoured stories about the X-Men, Captain America and Superman my sister wanted nothing to do with them. I spent a lot of time in my local comic book shop and I cannot recall ever seeing a woman in that little hole in the wall.

It was not until I went to Ball State University in the mid-90s that I began to meet women who were interested in comics. Even then they were still very much outnumbered and it was not until sometime after the beginning of the new millennium I began to see a shift in the demographics. No one can deny that the comic book industry and its fans have changed and will continue to change in the future.

Chicks Dig Comics is a compilation of articles, essays and interviews surrounding the topic of women and comic books. Lynne M. Thomas and Sigrid Ellis have gathered an impressive array of writers, artists, critics, editors, businesswomen and above all else, fans of comic books to write about their introductions to comics, their inspirations and their work in the industry.

I found Chicks Dig Comics to be very entertaining, informative and quite moving all at the same time. Comic books have always had a way of affecting the lives of the people who read them. I believe many of you will enjoy these accounts of women who have been influenced by comics while also making a very important impact on the world of comic books as well.

Review by Michael Holland

The Hammer Vault Review

DecapitatedDan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:21:13 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Title: The Hammer Vault
Author: Marcus Hearn
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: 2011
Pages: 176
Price: $34.95

This remarkable journey through the Hammer vault includes props, annotated script pages, unused poster artwork, production designs, rare promotional material and private correspondence. Hundreds of rare and previously unseen stills help to create a rich souvenir of Hammer’s legacy, from the X certificate classics of the 1950s to the studio’s latest productions.

Written and compiled by the official Hammer Films historian Marcus Hearn, and featuring exclusive contributions from the actors and filmmakers associated with the company, this is the most lavish book ever published on the legendary House of Horror.

Dying Breath: 4.5 out of 5
I have to be honest and admit I am not a big horror movie buff. I grew up watching some great films in the 80?s and 90?s, but not the Hammer movies. So when I was presented with this amazing book to review I was looking for 2 things, history and a list of what movies were Hammer Horror. This book delivered on the list front, and man did it deliver. Out of the 176 pages over 160 of them are dedicated to the films. I will get to the page design in a second, but basically this book is a timeline from start to finish, giving some information on the movies and showing off some of the great press material that was put out. So in terms of history you don’t get too much, but you do get enough to be content with. It’s like a tease that will lead you to want to know more and more. The design of this book is GORE-Geous. As a Graphic Designer, I can spot a great layout and the way these spreads are put together is a work of art. I found myself spending so much time just taking in all the material presented. From the posters, to the press books, to the on-set photographs this was just a great collection of items. I know that any Hammer Horror or even Horror Movie buff will need to have this as a part of their collection, and I am happy to say it is now a part of mine. This book presents a visual history of the Hammer Franchise that will now be preserved forever. Now if you will excuse me I need to go watch about 100 different movies.

Layout: 4.5 out of 5
Story: 4.0 out of 5

If you would like to buy or know more about The Hammer Vault you can find it at Amazon.com.

Review by Dan Royer

Designers and Dragons Review

Megan — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 16:25:04 +0000

Available at RPGNow.com

This is a monumental work, a comprehensive and scholarly history of the role-playing industry from its inception in the early 1970s to the present day. The focus is interesting, concentrating on the individuals and companies that have made role-playing what it is today rather than looking at the games themselves.

Whilst detailed, the writing flows well, making it eminently readable and often entertaining, a fascinating survey of the companies and people who have shaped role-playing and are responsible for most of the books on my shelves (or, these days, lurking on the RPG hard drive) – and who have provided me with years of entertainment and passion. If your interest in role-playing goes anywhere beyond the next dungeon delve, if you like to know the background and history of the games you enjoy, you should find something here catches your attention… and once caught, be warned, it may be a while before you can tear yourself away!

The chosen approach gives an overview worthy of the most epic campaign showing how the waxing and waning of public interest in role-playing has affected and been affected by developments within the industry as a whole. Depending on your particular interests, you can follow a particular company’s or designer’s fortunes, explore the state of play of the industry at a time of your choice – an interesting place to start, perhaps, is what it was like when you first took die in hand – or see which developments or innovations in role-playing or even the world around it had the most significant effects.

There is even material here that could attract the sociologist or social historian, or the budding game designer who seeks to understand the heritage of his craft as well as learning the nuts and bolts of game design. Should anyone offer a course in role-playing games, this is likely to feature on the reading list! And if that isn’t enough, it does not presume any prior knowledge of the role-playing industry, introducing and explaining even the people who – to grey-haired ladies like me who grew up with role-playing and have been involved in it all their adult life – are notable industry personalities or even friends. None of the insider deigning to enlighten you here, but a clear exposition of the industry and those who shaped it.

For the scholar, there are quotes and references a-plenty – but entertaining and informative enough that the more general reader is not put off. If you delve far enough you can find out the context in which your favourite games or, often, individual books were published – fascinating insights that will ensure I return again and again as I develop my RPG Resource website.

Authoratative, entertaining, a fine and detailed survey of the development of this fine hobby from its earliest days to the present, filled with personalities and drama… this is a triumph of a work worthy of the highest praise.

Review by Megan Robertson

Taxidermied: The Art of Roman Dirge Review

DecapitatedDan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:47:37 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Book: Taxidermied: The Art of Roman Dirge HC
Writer: Roman Dirge
Artist: Roman Dirge
Publisher: Titan Books
Release Date: September 2011
Pages: 112
Price: $34.95

“A stunning full-color celebration of the eye-catchingly original artwork creator Roman Dirge, the first anthology of his work available anywhere. This lavish hardback includes an introduction and background commentary information on the imagery by Dirge himself, plus previously unpublished artwork, covers and strips, and paintings. The book also includes fold-out pages, displaying Dirge’s work in its full glory, and some brand-new pieces created just for this book!”

Artwork: 5.0 out of 5
I have never reviewed an art book before, so I guess it is only fitting that I start with an artist whose work I love. Now being an art book please note that this book contains tons of GORE-Geous pictures. From the start of page 1 my jaw was slowly opening, by the time I got to page 5 it was on the floor. What I really enjoyed about this collection was that it was not always full-page pieces. At times I was presented with the sketches that led to the final pieces, and that makes the visual experience more fun.

The Book is broken down into 5 sections; sketches, artwork, scarytales, monsters and funny bone. There was not a single one that I did not enjoy looking at. Each section is placed perfectly, because the books builds as it goes on. My favorite might have to be the monster section, but seriously reader, I loved them all. Being presented with all of the insane things that Roman has concocted over the year is fantastic, and I kinda want to see more turn into comics. I am left wondering one thing though, what is with all the veins and nerves?

Being a graphic designer by trade I have to take a paragraph to go over the layout of this book. One thing that plays into the artwork so well are the typefaces. A nice black-letter font for the titles was a perfect choice to fit the theme and still be easily readable. At times even the page backgrounds have this grunge look to them that enhances the visual tone for the artwork. Even the actual design on the hardcover, minus the slip cover is boo-tiful! Overall this book is so perfect for your eyes that you might cry a little, I know I did.

Story: 4.5 out of 5
Now you should know that there is no real story here since it is an art book, however Dirge is able to still inject his humor into this book. The intro has jokes in it and picture descriptions have jokes in them, so you can’t lose. The ability to add these subtle things enhances the entire experience of the book. It’s like getting your vanilla ice cream topped with sprinkles!

Dying Breath: 4.5 out of 5
I still can’t say that I would buy every art book out there, but I am so happy I got this one. I love what Roman brings to his comics with his story telling being the main focus over the art. When I can get a chance to check out a book that can showcase the opposite I will take it. This is a complete package that I am proud to put on my bookshelf. Visually stunning with a hint of humor, oh Roman we need a steadier stream of your work in out lives.

If you would like to buy or know more about Taxidermied: The Art of Roman Dirge you can find it at Amazon.com.

Review by Dan Royer

Zombies of the World Review

Kenneth Hite — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:25:35 +0000

Available at DriveThruHorror.com

Roleplaying game scenarist, short film maker, podcaster, and graphic designer Ross Payton adds a new laurel to his crown with Zombies of the World: A Field Guide to the Undead. At only 112 trade-paperback pages, Payton does not aim for completness, but for richness. And between his light authorial tone, his slamming graphic design chops, and his slavering hunger for the topic, he shoots his target square in the head.

Zombies of the World presents itself as a kind of all-in-one reference book, from a world in which the walking dead are, if not common, relatively well documented. If Dorling Kindersley published a zombie book, it might look something like this. Chapters cover the etiology and science of zombies, a brief history of notable outbreaks, and a simple guide to “Surviving Zombie Encounters,” all done nicely straight-faced.

The meat of the book is the largest chapter: a field guide to twenty zombie species from the Common Gray Shambler (Mortifera immortalis romeroi) to the common Asian fiend the Preta (M. immortalis gaki). It also covers two subspecies of mummy (Egyptian and Aztec) and a revenant (M. reverto vorheesi) among its examples of the walking dead. I personally think the New England Ghoul (M. immortalis pickmani) is misclassified (M. necronomicus, surely?), but that’s just nitpickery. The entries provide plenty of fodder for exactly that kind of nitpicky fun, including a description of the thing, its “habits and habitat,” and its reproduction and range (complete with handsome world map). Each entry additionally features a grand full-page illustration by Tom Rhodes and an icon indicating the thing’s “conservation status.”

Taken as a whole, the book is impressively professional. Payton published it himself through his Slang Design imprint, but it looks vastly better than the host of Lulu-Lightning books currently shambling through the post-apocalyptic world of print publishing. Paper stock, binding, and typography are of the highest quality, all important considerations in a book you buy sheerly to enjoy the existence of. Since it presents as an artifact of Payton’s specific zombie world, it doesn’t really work as a real-world compendium of zombie film and folk lore (although there’s a good amount of that in here, of course); likewise, adapting it for games will be slightly more difficult if you’ve already made basic decisions about your setting. But any book that carefully differentiates between the Italian Zombie (M. immortalis fulci) and the North American Cabin Lurker (M. necronomicus kandarian) is a book with brains enough to feast upon all night.

Review by Kenneth Hite

The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design Review

Megan — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:25:45 +0000

Available at RPGNow.com

In his Foreword, lead author Mike Selinker tells a tale about a rather hot Thai curry, and thus gives an insight into how his mind works. You may or may not like your curry hot, but reading this book will give you an insight into how a whole bunch of successful game designers go about designing games that people will buy and play. If you want to turn inchoate ideas into workable – and saleable – board games, or just want to know a bit more about how your favourite games came to be, and about the underlying concepts that make good games, read on.

The book is made up of four sections, and a mastery of ALL of them is necessary to create a successful game. Some fortunate souls may manage that for themselves, others need to develop the ability to find others who can fill in the gaps. First is actually coming up with a concept, which then has to be designed, developed, and finally presented: first to a publisher and then to the paying gamer public. Each section contains several essays by the people who made some of the games that sit on your shelves and which you enjoy playing.

Part 1: Concepting is all about what sort of games you might want to make, and who is actually going to play them. First, a board and card game designer called James Ernest (think Kill Doctor Lucky) draws the important distinction between a game and its rules. However vital they may be, a game’s rules are just one part of what makes up the whole; and if the whole package isn’t fun, that game won’t get played. Moreover, although you can break down a game into its component parts, and even take its ruleset apart to see how it works, that probably won’t help you design a different game – you need components for the game you are thinking of, and whilst you may well be inspired by something that works well elsewhere, you cannot guarantee that it will be as good with the concept you are kicking around. Right at the beginning you need a child-like imagination of what sort of game you want to play and why… but that needs to be the real reason. Some games make the players feel smart, some make you laugh, others let you imagine that you are something that you are not, some are familiar and comfortable because you don’t need to worry how to play them.

Next, Richard Garfield (Magic: The Gathering) states that the best way to understand games so as to design your own is to play loads and loads of other games, thinking about what works, and why, as you do so. And don’t just play the sort of game you’d like to make, play any sort you can get your hands on, watch game shows and more. Inspiration can come from the strangest and most unlikely places! (My family complain that I seem to reduce everything to ‘How would this work in a game?’…) Then Jeff Tidball muses on how each game tells a story, and gives guidance on how to develop it, drawing on classical influences. One thing that’s been mentioned is how game design has not been as subject to critical analysis and study as has music or literature. To understand and appreciate game design, you need a measure of such an academic approach. This is followed by Matt Forbeck comparing mechanics and metaphor, showing how both are important; and Mike Selinker discussing game ownership. This may sound woefully dull, the sort of class you might doze through, but it’s not. Each essay is well-written and entertaining as well as informative and thought-provoking.

Part 2: Design moves on from these underpinning but quite general comments to look at the methods of deciding how a given game is actually going to work (and how to determine if it actually does as intended!). It opens with Andrew Looney (Fluxx) describing his own thought processes, how he goes about that strange activity of designing a game. Oddly, it sounds a bit like what goes on in my head, then it turns out that he’s also a software designer which is one of the things I’ve done in real life… Fascinating stuff, though, even if your mind doesn’t work this way. Next up, Rob Daviau talks about intuitive design, how with many of the best games it’s just plain obvious how to play – even if you spend the rest of your life figuring out how to play it really well! Lisa Steenson next contributes a piece about ‘gateway’ games – the ones that sucker people into the hobby of game playing – and how to make them. Mike Selinker is next with a look at some of the all-out show-stopping game mechanics, a fine tour of what’s outstanding in gaming. It’s noticeable that most contributors (except Lisa Steenson) tend to spread their net wide and talk about other people’s games as much as they do about those they’ve written themselves. This is followed by James Ernest again, talking about strategy, skill and luck within your game mechanics; closely followed by a second piece from the same pen about decision-making in gambling games… which are not all to be found in the casino!

In some ways, Part 3: Development, is where it gets tough. Coming up with ideas, working out mechanics and testing them, those are fun activities and because we like them, we are reading this book. But this section looks at the grunt-work that takes something that’s fun and turns it into a robust game that’s ready for the final step to take it to the marketplace, the hard work that turns ‘good’ into ‘great’ and is why most ideas for games stay just that: ideas. Dale Yu kicks off by looking at the development of the game Dominion, for which he was part of the development team, and extrapolating from that to discuss the very essential role of ‘development – the honing of the original design – in the creation of games people will want to buy and play. Fascinating reading, as in the next piece by Paul Peterson about balance – and the creative uses of the lack thereof – in collectable card games. It is these details that make all the difference between something that is fun with your friends and something that can be sold to, and played by, gamers worldwide. Then Dave Howell focusses on the vitally-important point that must not get lost amidst the search for game perfection: it must remain FUN to play! He looks at some of the pitfalls that can spoil the game for at least some of the players. Delving deeper, Mike Selinker writes on the topic of writing precise rules: the sort that make sense at the first reading, and still do after hours of gameplay and a few beers. They don’t only need to be clear, they also have to enable the game to be played with minimal effort – you’re not there to apply rules, you’re there to play a game! Teeuwynn Woodruff finishes this section, with a look at playtesting and how to make sure it’s done to good effect.

Finally, we come to Part 4: Presentation. This is all about converting your fun, playable game into a saleable commodity, and then selling it. It opens with Steve Jackson (of GURPS and Steve Jackson Games fame) on the trials of prototyping. Your prototype is what you tout around publishers in the hope they’ll want to take your game on. Steve goes through some of the awful mistakes he’s seen in a long and profitable career, in the hopes that we’ll avoid them. Next, Dale Yu is back with some of the things that you should do with your prototype. So, with your nice prototype getting potential publishers slavering, read Richard Levy’s piece on pitching and turn the interest into an actual sale. Finally, Michelle Nephew writes on the processes involved in getting your game from proposal to print, all the tough (and expensive) things that it is far better for a game designer to have his publisher do for him. Stick to what you know and are good at, and let others contribute the things that they do well.

Even if you never design a game, you will look at every game that you play in a different light. If you really absorb the wisdom herein and apply it to your killer game idea… your game will be welcome on my review pile!

Review by Megan Robertsen

The Element Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols Review

Monica Valentinelli — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:35:04 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Published by Harper-Collins, The Element Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols: the Ultimate A to Z guide from Alchemy to the Zodiac is not one book, but several smaller books that range from the language of flowers to numerology and, of course, symbols.

Normally, I find there are two challenges a book like this has to overcome. First, there’s the issue of gravity. Books in this vein can either be lighthearted, with more of a pseudo-magical feel to them, or serious and grounded in fact. This particular tome is squarely in the middle. While it does offer an aura of mystery in some respects, The Element Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols also offers a comprehensive resource guide at the end of the book.

Second, a book about signs and symbols may also be problematic if the content is entirely focused on Western cultures. Some of the sections here are grounded in cultural myth from European and American superstitions. However, the first section includes several illustrated symbols from multiple cultures and religions from all over the globe. Some popular; some obscure. The pictures enhance the entries and help anchor each description.

The writing is clear and engaging, but the biggest selling point for me was the variety of information in this book for the price. In addition to the signs and symbols, you can find trees and plants, gemstones, colors, numbers, animals and three other subjects.

I’m primarily using this book as a resource for my stories, and there’s plenty of good material here to draw from. With ten, different books chock full of information and hidden meanings to read, The Element Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols is a great addition to any library.

Review by Monica Valentinelli

Diabolique Magazine Review

Nix — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:30:31 +0000

Available at HorrorUnlimited.com

I am not a horror movie fanatic. I enjoy them and I look forward to seeing a few of them, but my over-sensitized mentality takes quite a bit to shock while my natural sarcastic side urges me to quip, mock, and make other ‘witty’ comments on the movie as it plays. I blame hours of watching B, C, and D movies, including many episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, for this inclination. Thus, I am a movie fan, just not a fanatic. I do enjoy learning what happened behind the scenes on a set, the often turbulent process a movie takes to actually getting filmed and released, and the other details that surround such endeavors.

If you are of a similar mindset, then you would most likely enjoy Diabolique. Diabolique is a bi-monthly publication for the horror connoisseur and seems to cover everything from vintage horror, to recently released films, to works in progress. The layout was well done and the writers certainly seemed well informed and knowledgeable on the subject matter. As I expected, there was a plethora of screen shots and other peeks into what goes on on the other side of the camera. The front cover was quite inviting and reminiscent of the old 1950′s and 60′s horror movies which seemed to be the focus of this issue. Spread across the name of the magazine were horror icons in all their glory.

In the edition I received there film reviews, articles on classic horror and foreign horror, details on a couple of ground breaking directors, and other material. The article on how horror entertainment is changing with the times, and how the author feels the industry needs to continue to evolve was informative and included the trials and tribulations a new director or producer may face. The review on “Black Sunday” filled me with enough curiosity that I am actually going to try and find it, either dubbed or not as it was originally an Italian work. Perhaps the article I enjoyed the most was “the New French Extremity”. It, naturally, focused on French horror and mentions the general decline of American horror due to it’s trend to be bland enough for mass appeal. Unfortunately, the directors it mentions seem to be succumbing to the purgatory of Hollywood remakes. After having seen their work, “High Tension”, it is my hope they break from the remake trend and go back to their roots.

Diabolique was an intriguing look into the history of horror while also keeping readers abreast of current events. It is available both as an electronic product and as a print item. I was glad to see the print option as the chance to physically hold works such as this seems to be slowly dying off. At 9.95 it is not a cheap magazine, but it certainly seemed worth the price for the amount of work that goes into each publication. Although I enjoyed the magazine and found it quite insightful, I would not recommend it to younger readers, and by young I mean younger than teens. While the actual articles are not offensive the images displayed from the classic horror films might be rather revealing. As with modern horror, nudity and gore was prevalent so some discretion would be advised.

Review by Sean “Nix” McConkey

In the Footsteps Of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide Book Review

Jason Thorson — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:45:43 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

It’s lonely being someone who takes horror so seriously, it borders on being a clinically definable malady. It’s rare to come across another human being whose affliction rivals my own. But alas, I have found him and his name is Steven P. Unger, author of the book “In the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journey and Travel Guide (Second Edition)”. In fact, he and I could rightfully start a club for people like us, only I fear we’d spend our days arguing over who gets to be vice president, because being the president of such a club would be more than a bit embarrassing.

But I digress.

Unger’s book is a thorough analysis of the people and places that comprise Bram Stoker’s Dracula, both within the text and without. Unger retraces the journeys described in Stoker’s masterpiece as well as the true exploits of Prince Vlad the Impaler and the region in which he reigned, Stoker’s stomping grounds, and finally how Stoker took these elements and spun Dracula into the global pop cultural fabric.

The book is entertaining enough by virtue of its subject matter alone. However, “In the Footsteps…” is as ambitious an analysis of a subject as anything I’ve ever read. It’s part travel guide, part history book, part biography, part critique, part kitchen sink – I mean everything is in it! Some of the highlights include the first ever published review of Bram Stoker’s Dracula which first appeared way back on June 15^th, 1897 in the Manchester Guardian, as well as a multitude of photos taken along Unger’s travels, depicting the real life locations, buildings, and population as described in Dracula as well as their counterparts composing the haunts of Vlad the Impaler. And as we all know, pictures are neat!

The first part of the book is conveyed through Unger’s memoires as he travels “In the Footsteps of Dracula” going from place to place following along with the travels Jonathon Harker and later locations depicted in the novel. What’s most fascinating here is the number of places that Stoker had never seen, yet describes fairly accurately. While other places, such as modern day Bistrita have turned into Dracula-themed tourist attractions. Unger also weaves an accurate portrayal of Stoker’s inspiration and his process for what became the Dracula novel, as well as the context in which all this happened.

The second part of the book focuses on Vlad the Impaler. Unger discusses Vlad’s true, historical story arc. This is followed by more travel memoires depicting the notable locations relevant to the good Prince as well as more on Stoker’s environment. The remainder of the book takes a practical tact, describing other notable locations that are related to Dracula to varying degrees and then offering almost purely travel guide type information. It’s like Triple A for vampire fans. This includes information on currency exchanges, modes of travel and their costs, food and lodging, internet access and just about everything else one may need to know to repeat Unger’s exhaustive travels.

“Following in the Footsteps of Dracula: A Personal Journal and Travel Guide (Second Edition)” is exactly what the title implies it is. But what the title doesn’t imply is how rich this book is with information. It really is stunning. Steven P. Unger deserves high praise for the mere existence of his opus, but moreover, the book is well written and provides the ultimate tome of Dracula data for classic horror fans. You’ll be hard pressed to find a more entertaining nonfiction read.

Review by Jason Thorson

Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes Review

Eric Pollarine — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 14:45:04 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

So, just when you thought there wasn’t any room left in hell for yet another “definitive” book on the greatest zombie movie of all time, Citadel Press puts out their 200 plus page achievement called Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever.

Yes, that’s the whole title.

Anyway – written by Joe Kane billed on the cover as “the Phantom of the Movies,” which I believe hearkens back to his (Kane’s) movie reviewing days with the New York Daily News, the book stands now as possibly the definitive book on the original movie. I found it at a big box book retailer about two days ago and after quickly leafing through it was compelled to purchase it. I had seen it on my Amazon “recommended” list but neglected to go for the purchase, as I thought that would find it a complete bore.

Behind the scenes books are usually as such: A couple of never before seen set/obligatory behind the scenes photos, maybe a stray interview that had been buried for a long while, some other out of print or somewhat hard to find tidbits of info and the authors, most of the time, interesting but ultimately fan boyish take on said project, whatever that may be. But in this instance I found myself pouring through the chapters and selected contributors’ stories of how the original, original zombie movie moved, inspired, terrified or just flat out blew them away, I began to see that this book might just accomplish what it set out to do. Offer you the behind the scenes story of how, why and what Night of the Living Dead has become in the lexicon of pop culture, especially in the Horror genre.

It not only chronicles how the movie was made, with less money than what a used compact car sells for today, and how the idea of flesh starved ghouls who feast on the flesh of the living came to be the plot that almost wasn’t, but it gives you a first hand account to the inner workings of the movie itself. How it was edited, cut, the soundtrack was made, the styles which influenced George Romero, etc. With so many pluses, so many great qualities it was hard t find anything really to say other than it was a great book, but I found two areas that might stand out to the die-hard zombie fanatic.

First and foremost, the few pictures that are in the book are things that many flesh eating fans will have seen. There are, however, some really interesting pieces of advertising and promotional gags/products, most notably a complimentary barf bag and fake life insurance policies that were distributed to those who waited in line to watch the film, which shows the D.I.Y., almost punk aspect to the marketing plan, as well as a few shots of the cast and crew behind the scenes, but really it seems that the content was always meant to take center stage between the covers.

Second, it’s only around 200 pages of actual insight. This to me makes it seem like there was a lot more that was either cut out, or left out from the final draft. Some of which might have actually been better left in. I am sure that this could have been a far larger book, as the cultural aspect of Night of the Living Dead is still being discussed in the hallowed halls of higher education, to this day, but for whatever reason those aspects were glossed over. There are some really great contributors’ though to this book. Among some of the names are Peter Jackson, Wes Craven and Danny Boyle of 28 Days Later fame. Who offer some great little essays and paragraphs as to how NOTLD inspired them to make the movies they make, become directors or inspired the stories they have told.

One of the best things about this book is that it offers you some really great clips of and segments from interviews that the cast and crew, including Romero, Savini and John Russo. Also of worthy mention here are the really great pieces of trivia thrown throughout the book, the lists of zombie movies, like Zombie Comedies, Zombie movie milestones and a few more. But the real highlight to me, as a fan, as a life long fan of the movie, the genre it created both literary and cinema related-was the addition of the complete original screen play of the film. Yes nestled in the back of the book, among the citations and bibliography is the original script. The inclusion of this little gem was by far enough for me to purchase the book and right at 17 bucks it’s not that bad a price.

So, if you love the original movie as much as I do, or even if you’re just a casual fan of all things living dead, then go get Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes… but make sure you have a copy of the movie, because I guarantee that you’ll want to immediately watch the movie the moment you start it.

Review by Eric Pollarine

The Art of Top Cow Review

alanajoli — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:45:43 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

It makes a lot of sense for a small press like Top Cow, which has a lot of great titles on the market, to put everything together into an art book and showcase some of their best pieces. In The Art of Top Cow preview that I received from the publisher, I got to see thirty images of the more than 300 pages that will appear in the final book. Two of them, unfortunately, were nearly naked images of Sara Pezzini of Witchblade that look more like pinups than gallery images; another is a Top Cow poster that features three of the Top Cow women in all their busty glory. Hopefully those three images are not representative of a large portion of the included art (though certainly part of Top Cow’s target audience will surely appreciate them — just not my part of the market share!). In the preview, some of the pieces are really quite excellent, and I’ll highlight some of them quickly here.

Two images that struck me were, of course, by Stjepan Sejic, whose work on Witchblade I’ve been raving about for several reviews. His cover for Witchblade #116 features Sara and Dani, both in full Witchblade armor, ready to kick some butt. Another of his Witchblade images served as the back cover of the trade paperback, volume 7, and is a great profile of Sara with a broken NYC PD badge behind her. These images use the same hyper-realism that I’ve loved in Sejic’s work in the series, and I’m glad to see it here as well. Some of Sejic’s work also appears in two covers for the series First Born, which appears to be set in the Witchblade universe. Both images feature a full cast of characters ranging from dark to light — many of them somewhat more scantily clad than has been typical in most of the work I’ve noticed of Sejic’s on Witchblade. But the attention to detail and the sense of texture remains excellent, and these pieces are stand-outs among the samples.

Several pieces by David Finch also caught my eye — his style is dramatically different from Sejic’s and from the sort of “typical” super-hero comics style featured in some of the other artwork. With a more painterly flare on what has an almost canvas under-texture, Finch depicts the gritty facial expression of the man I presume is the hero of Universe, alongside a monster from the series. The shading is amazing, as he doesn’t use much in the way of color variety, instead giving the piece an almost sepia tone. Another of Finch’s pieces, this one from Ascention, features a dark-skinned demon with unbelievable muscle definition surrounded by skulls on pikes — the composition is incredibly effective.

David Petersen’s work on a cover variant for Dragon Prince again shows the variety of styles embraced by Top Cow. This image depicts a dragon standing in front of a young boy — we see the child’s back as he looks up at the large dragon, who takes up the majority of the frame. Almost stylized like an illustration from a children’s picture book rather than a comic, it’s a piece of artwork that I’d gladly take out of context and use as computer wallpaper — or an image to hang on the wall. The lack of context doesn’t seem to matter for this piece — it stands beautifully well on its own.

A book like this serves the purpose of trying to get readers interested in other titles by the publisher, and I’d definitely say my interest is piqued. I’d try out Weapon Zero, Arcanum, Dragon Prince, The Necromancer, and Rising Stars (which is represented by a phenomenal cover image with faces in what looks like a nuclear cloud behind a foreground of skeletons) based on the images included in the preview. With another 270-odd pages, I’m sure I’d find other titles I’d want to pick up.

Without seeing the complete book (which I assume is a hardcover and is a coffee-table quality volume) it’s hard to say whether this one is worth purchasing, but it’s definitely something I’d look for in my friendly local comic shop to browse through and see if I’d want to have at home. Since I’m not an art collector, nor a comics collector, it probably would not make the addition to my comic shelf, but I’d love to get a look through the whole thing to see what else Top Cow’s been putting out that I’ve been missing.

Review by Alana Abbott

Cthulhu 101 Review

Billzilla — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:14:01 +0000

Available at Amazon.com
Also available at DriveThruHorror.com

Written by Kenneth Hite
Published by Atomic Overmind Press
$8.95, 128 Pages

Have you repeatedly heard references to something called “Cthulhu” and wondered what it was all about? Are you already familiar with “the Big C,” know the signs and the secret handshakes, but are still looking for something to fill the great, gaping wound in your soul? Look no further, dear friends – Cthulhu 101 is good for what ails you!

Published by Atomic Overmind Press (www.atomicovermind.com), Cthulhu 101 is a witty overview of the Cthulhu Mythos, a world of pulp horror monsters from other dimensions and beyond the stars, created in the 1920’s and 30s by Howard Philips Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Robert Bloch and many others. It gleefully celebrates the tremendous influence of Lovecraft and the Mythos on modern-day consciousness. Atomic Overmind Press graciously provided me with a free copy for this review.

The first two chapters cover basic background on Cthulhu and H.P. Lovecraft, respectively. Next is a rundown of the Cthulhu Mythos, including many of the beasties most commonly occurring in fiction.

This section will be the most useful to those new to the Mythos. Lovecraft was extremely found of obscure adjectives – rugose and squamous both come to mind – and there is a section in this book — for those of us with more pedestrian vocabularies — specifically devoted to defining those more commonly utilized. Go ahead, look them up; I’ll wait.

After that, things get really interesting for those already familiar with rapid sanity loss. The next chapter covers appearances by the Big C in a wide variety of media. Hite cites examples of Cthulhu’s insidious influence; comics, films, music, television, games, and even toys. This is followed up by a series of useful lists recommending seven books to read to follow up on this new-found, sanity-blasting knowledge, a handy one-page guide helpful in determining which fiction collections would be a good fit for the reader, and finally, wrapping up with a list of ten interesting websites to check out for more information.

Despite years of an enthusiastic, personal interest in the Cthulhu Mythos, this reviewer learned a great deal from this book, especially about Cthulhu as referenced in comics and music. The book is missing a few things — for example, Skull Comics, published in the early 70s, contains a number of excellent treatments of Mythos-related short stories — but in all fairness, Cthulhu’s and Lovecraft’s influence on modern horror have been so profound and far-reaching in Western culture that it’s difficult to imagine anyone cataloging it all completely.

At 125 pages, Cthulhu 101 is a slim volume, but at only $8.95, it’s also packed with value. The compact nature of Cthulhu 101 makes it easy to carry around for those late-night sojourns into the realm of the macrbre. One small quibble: in several places, the first line of text in a paragraph appears to have no spaces between words (pages 86 and 91, for instance) made more obvious by the normally-spaced line beneath it. Probably this is a layout issue related to packing lots of stuff in a limited amount of space; it’s hardly a major problem, but I found it distracting. Still, it wasn’t distracting enough to prevent me from reading the entire book twice. In one day.

Hite’s acidic wit is on full display in Cthulhu 101; his sarcastic humor and pop-culture references on everything under the sun (and on some things that would be best to not see the light of day) drew laugh-out-loud reactions from this reviewer. It’s clear from the start that Hite takes great joy in his subject, a joy that is both unholy and infectious. Couple all that with the cartoony art style of the book’s illustrator, Drew Pocza, top it off with a foreword by John Kovalic, and you have a handbook to understanding Cthulhu that no self-respecting dilettante would be driven mad without.

Review by Bill Bodden

DragonArt Fantasy Review

teampreston — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 12:35:44 +0000

Available at DriveThruComics.com

DragonArt: How to Draw Fantastic Dragons and Fantasy Creatures.
By Jessica “NeonDragon” Peffer.
2009 PDF Version (Advance Review Copy)
130 Pages.

Since my day-job is that of an illustrator I have a lot of “How to Draw…” books. Some of my favorites are Impact Books. Mechanicka (Doug Chang), John Howe: Fantasy Art Workshop and Bold Visions, the Digital Painting Bible by Gary Tonge. Impact has a good lineup of art books available. Some better than others: I thought the art in Fantastic Realms was horrid, and in general I’m not a fan of the heavily stylized Manga-style art (artbooks). For people in to the Manga style, Impact certainly has it covered.

DragonArt is geared for the young adult reader/ artist. That’s ok. Just because it is a “young adult” book doesn’t mean an adult like me couldn’t get good use of it. Actually I find some of the young adult art books do a wonderful job at breaking things down in a manner anyone can understand. Trust me, while I love my more adult Doug Chang/ Mechanika…it’s far FAR more complicated. The young adult books aren’t “for dummies” but they certainly can work that way which is awesome.If you have ever read/ used How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (which as an illustrator it has a permanent place on my reference shelf. It’s where I started back in the 80′s) some bits will look familiar.

DragonArt covers all the nuts and bolts of basic critter illustration from what is functionally a stick figure, to basic shapes like cylinders/ tubes, boxes, etc. It gets in to anatomy in comparison to real animals (which is crucial in “selling” the image to viewers) as well as perspective and scale. Basic shading (stippling, hatching, cross-hatching, etc) as well as Ink and Color are touched on.

Not only is the basic “western dragon” covered from almost every angle, but so are other varieties. A sizeable portion is given to “other fantasy creatures” such as gargoyles, gryphons, pegasi and unicorns, etc. All of the foundations used previously apply here as well…stick figures, shapes, detailing, pencils, ink, and color.

Overall it’s a fun book with a wealth of good info for new as well as experienced illustrators who are interested in drawing fantasy critters. It definitely has a place on my shelf. The writing is solid and clear. Layout nice and crisp. Artwork is also good.

This isn’t Todd Lockwood-style illustration…it’s not that sort of book. I say the word “Basic” here a lot and it applies. This is a basic book geared for the young adult and beginner artist…and as such it does a perfect job at nailing down the subject matter in a clear, concise manner.

Overall I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Review by Jeff Preston

Tour de Lovecraft: the Tales Review

Billzilla — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:55:45 +0000

Available at DriveThruHorror.com

Howard Phillips Lovecraft is one of the few authors of the horror genre who has been dissected rather thoroughly (Edgar Allen Poe being another). Kenneth Hite, who’s made much of his living as both a critic and a Lovecraft enthusiast, has a few things to say on the subject, and they make for very interesting reading. Tour de Lovecraft — the Tales is an engaging breakdown of all 51 of Lovecraft’s mature prose fiction, from 1917’s The Tomb to Lovecraft’s last work, the Haunter of the Dark from late 1935.

This is not a book of literary criticism, as I first assumed, but rather criticism of literary criticism. Hite takes pains to offer quotes and examples of criticism from a number of noted Lovecraft scholars, and offers his own opinions that don’t always mesh with those notions. In effect, the book breaks Lovecraft’s work down into what might be considered Hite’s Top-10 list of Lovecraft’s work. Hite spends time analyzing Lovecraft’s most effective tales, ranking them in very loose terms by whether the story is effective and by its relevance compared to HPL’s body of work. Each bit of analysis runs from a half-page (In the Vault) to a full five-plus pages (The Dunwich Horror) of bite-sized renderings.

Hite’s analysis follows Howard Phillips Lovecraft from his early career through his most productive and most imaginative periods — the late 1920s and early 1930s. Lovecraft’s strength lies in his tremendous imagination; his wordiness is often off-putting to the dilettante reader, and his rather ineffectual protagonists tend to find ill-favor with fans of action tales. The true power of Lovecraft lies in imagining things that aren’t, or things that shouldn’t be, but are. During Lovecraft’s time, the Romantics held sway over popular philosophy, with the idea that humanity had a place in the universe, and that place was, if not THE center, then darn close to it. Lovecraft came along and with his stories shattered that illusion. Lovecraft’s cosmic sense of horror revolves around themes of decay and dilution of the pure; he was well-known for his racist sentiments, which, while certainly more generally accepted during his lifetime, still haunt us to this day. Horror of the alien, always one of the most paralyzing fears of humankind, is Lovecraft’s bread and butter.

Hite’s conclusions are that Lovecraft was an author of arguably unprecedented genius, but who also lacked a strong business sense. Had he been able to have his better work collected into an anthology during his lifetime, he may have fared better in the world of Serious Literature. As things stand today, nearly seventy-two years after his death, he remains a beloved author of hair-raising tales, his works most often discovered by adolescent boys and recalled fondly for decades after. He also stands as the inspiration for many luminaries in the horror and weird fiction fields today. That Lovecraft has had a tremendous effect on the world of fiction is beyond doubt; HPL is listed as an influence by such literary luminaries as Stephen King, China Mieville, and Tim Powers, among many others. His work spawned one of the top role-playing games produced to date — a game that shares its title with Lovecraft’s most influential and well-known work: Call of Cthulhu. Lovecraft’s writing has also been the source material for a large number of feature-length films, as well as episodic television programs such as Night Gallery and Tales from the Dark Side, some of which are quite solid adaptations.

Tour de Lovecraft is a book I would recommend for anyone wanting to learn more about the man many consider to be the father of the modern horror tale. It does belabor a point or two, and Ken delights in using big words that may confound those without a dictionary at hand, but overall this book provides a great deal of insight, not only into the man and his work but to how both have been viewed by critics and scholars to the present day. For the serious Lovecraft aficionado, Tour de Lovecraft – the Tales is a must-have.

Review by Bill Bodden

Play Dirty RPG Review

Flames — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:55:48 +0000

Available at IPR

Nearly all RPGs have a section devoted to the theory of how RPGs should be played. In fact, this is the part of a corebook I find myself rereading for inspiration. The skill of these chapters range from the banal to sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll goodness. If you want how-to theory that feels like Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, then John Wick’s Play Dirty is the book for you. Making connections between the two proves simple. Heck, both books have a series of rules to follow. While we won’t talk about the rules of Fight Club, I will share Wick’s two rules:

Rule One: There are no rules.
Rule Two: Cheat anyway.

Play Dirty (2006, 113 pages) is a collection of fourteen articles primarily designed to helping Game Masters make their games leave a lasting impression. An article or two in the book turn the tables in that they come from the Players perspective; however, the bulk of the book is about being a dirty playing GM. While there is an immense amount of discussion on how the author “Wicked” Players over the years, offing players isn’t the moral of this story. The author wants your gaming experience to transcend a little bit; he wants to make things uncomfortable.

Another anthem of the text is creativity. In one of the rare articles aimed at the player, Wick repeats the idea that keeping ideas moving will keep the game moving. He offers examples of planning your own character’s death, overhauling your character’s core persona, and using out-of-character knowledge to enrich the game. The author makes it clear that he is not talking about derailing campaigns just for the fun of it (No, Luke doesn’t just kill Princess Leia when he reaches the Death Star). It’s about making creative moves that liven up your gaming sessions.

Grammar and Style
Wick’s brisk conversational style hooks the reader. It is this gritty style that lends to why I read the book in one setting. You feel like the author is speaking directly to you (and he’s kinda in your face at times). After taking a barrage of grammatical punches and spin kicks, you find yourself wanting more. Sadly, you do reach the end. The Hemingway-crisp text is written and edited terrifically. Wick trims down what would be four pages in some books to four lines. In doing so, he makes more sense and leaves a more enduring impression on the reader.

Play Dirty also has a nice layout. In choosing a straightforward novel format that is barren of graphs and distracting sidebars, the author keeps the reader focused. Of course, this means there is little artwork to speak of expect for the cover art and interior design by Daniel Solis. All that can be said of the interior watermarks and borders is that they suit the book. Each chapter heading is written in what appears to be blood splatter. There are coffee rings on the blank pages, pages which really should have just been omitted. The visual breakdown looks nice and only adds to the writing. It’s intentionally messy at times because the ideas in the book are.

Meat
One problem with most books or chapters of books that provide a how-to section on gaming is the dreaded “Example-of-Play” section. This is the section of the book where a gamer describes what a typical gaming session is like. It always ends up a dry attempt at humor between friends with no apparent social skill at all (the worst example of this that springs to mind is The Book of Mirrors). In twenty-plus years of gaming, I’ve seen plenty cases of minimal social skills, but no existence of the kind of behaviors one sees in these EOPs. They are usually just the worst kinds of fluff one finds when reading RPGs.

Play Dirty doesn’t have this fluffy nonsense. The stories in his articles are not fictionalized accounts of a group of drone-like gamers. No, his tales are from his own life experiences, which makes the book all the richer. Again, John Wick talks to you through his book. You should listen.

His topics are laser-specific and range from using PCs’ disadvantages creatively to letting the players create the gaming environment for their characters (a term he calls the “Living City”).

Scattered throughout the book are ways to make up rules that are 90% anticipation and 10% BS. Wick wants to put the thrill back into your gaming session and he has solid ideas on how to do it through such novel concepts as egg-timers, veiled threats, and sheer reputation (the first two you can use out of the gate; you have to earn the third).

The advice in Play Dirty works. After reading the book, I couldn’t wait to try out Wick’s ideas and found that they could be recycled with minimal effort. I listened as my gaming group chattered on about Villain Dice, the Laws of the Table, and changes to Experience; furthermore, I realized just how much more intense the game became. This is the point of the book and it serves that point well.

The book doesn’t really stop with the last page though. No, the author maintains semi-regular video segments through both YouTube and his LiveJournal. These viral feeds are just as entertaining to watch as they are to read (some of the feeds are refreshers of these articles while others are total originals).

Play Dirty earns a 9 out of 10 for the sheer amount of ideas that can be mined from it. A reader can revisit this book time and time again and take something fresh from it. I want to give this book a 10 out of 10 because I so rarely find one that deserves it. The temptation to give it a perfect score cannot be denied, but John Wick is about pushing people to give a little bit more. It appears I am about that too.

Review by Todd Cash

Look for Wicked Dead Brewing Company RPGs at the Flames Rising RPGNow Shop.

One Who Walked Alone Review

Flames — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:45:15 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Introduction

Like a lot of folks ’round these parts, I’m a huge fan of Robert E. Howard. I think he had all the imagination of Tolkien, and for my money, was a better writer. Your mileage may vary, of course, but that’s all moot.

I own all of the Del Rey collections: The Coming of Conan, the Bloody Crown of Conan, the Conquering Sword of Conan, Bran Mak Morn: the Last King, Kull: Exile of Atlantis, The Savage Tales of Solomon Kane, Crimson Shadows,and Grim Lands. I eagerly look forward to the day when they finally release collections of his western stories, and would love to own collections of his letters (though I currently don’t).

I guess you could say that as a writer I hold the man in high esteem.

I always felt it a tragedy that he was taken (or took himself) from the world at the age of 30, when he was just starting to really crest. Anyone who has read his collections, in which the stories are included in publication order, can see his writing improve as he goes along. Who knows what he could’ve accomplished had he managed to write the western novel he always wanted to write?

In any case, I always wondered about Howard’s life. I knew he had an unhealthy attachment to his mother, and I knew that he killed himself after discovering she would never recover from a TB-induced coma. But what about him? What kind of man was he? Was he reclusive like Lovecraft? Was he a drunk like Poe? A bohemian like Byron?

Then, several years back, I stumbled upon a film called The Whole Wide World, starring Vincent D’Onofrio…as Robert E. Howard. I loved the film, but was left hanging due to a few odd choices made by the filmmakers (who do a very poor job of separating Cross Plains from Brownwood). Thus, when I found out it was based on an actual memoir by the one woman who knew him better than anyone in the world (save perhaps his mother), I had to read the book.

Bless my fiancee, who pays attention, and for Christmas last year I received a copy of One Who Walked Alone. Robert E. Howard: the Final Years. My last year of school interfered with my reading a bit, but the book has now at last been devoured.

The Review

One Who Walked Alone is, in simple terms, a masterpiece. For decades Novalyne Price kept silent about her relationship with Robert E. Howard in the last two years of his life, kept tucked away the journals she kept of their dates, their tumultuous friendship, and their conversations. In the early 80′s, when L. Sprague de Camp published Dark Valley Destiny a book that painted Howard as a wild psychopath who believed that his characters threatened his life if he didn’t tell their stories, she decided she’d had enough and wanted to set the story straight about who exactly Robert E. Howard was.

Throughout the work, Price does not pull punches, either with Howard or herself. She had the perfect opportunity to edit and excise the text to make herself appear more…I suppose “blameless” is the best word, though that’s not proper, either. What I mean is, Price does not make herself appear perfect. She doesn’t turn herself into what we gamers like to call a “Mary Sue.” Indeed, she presents herself as a not entirely likable person. As a youth, Price was extremely shallow and caught up in all the conformity and appearance upkeep of the 1930′s small town southwest. She is an individual clearly at war with herself, deeply loving, respecting, and admiring the clearly roguish Howard, but unable to embrace those feelings for fear of the social consequences such an embrace would create. At first, I didn’t like the woman very much at all.

But as I read, I came to deeply respect her willingness to show her warts in the interest of telling a complete story.

As for Howard, in this book we get a very clear portrait of a deeply conflicted and complicated man, a man far out of his time, and one wrestling with hard emotional problems that, in the 1930′s, were not nearly as easy to diagnose and treat as they are now. Anyone with any experience or knowledge of psychology can see the clear signs of severe bipolar disorder in Howard, and can see his downward spiral towards the end of his life. It is, in a word, heartbreaking. This man was a genius, a brilliant writer, and a true artist, but was utterly consumed by brooding moods that forced upon him a fatalistic outlook on the world. There are times in the book where, even though we know how this story ends, we still root for Price to say something different, to do something different, in hopes that this time, maybe, it’ll come out for the better. This is a nonfiction book that makes us forget we’re reading a story with a set outcome.

Bob Howard was a man who felt deeply and overwhelmingly. He was, like his seminal character Conan, a man of great melancholy and great mirth. He was not possessed of an Oedipal sexual desire for his mother, but was attached to her as the one person in the world who he felt understood him as a person and a writer. If anything, Howard’s love for his mother was akin to that of a child who would be lost without their parent. Some of the Freudian mold would certainly declare that this unto itself makes it an Oedipal relationship; I disagree, but then I’ve never given Freud much credence. I prefer Jung. In any case, I’ll leave it to Price to describe Howard’s opinion of his supposed “Oedipal” relationship:

“I could dismiss his words and remember Bob’s dislike of Freud. Bob insisted a clean relationship should not be damned with a dirty slur” (311).

What Howard did feel, however, was that he owed his mother everything for bringing him into the world, for supporting his writing unswervingly despite a society that shunned and frowned at men who made their living sitting in front of a typewriter rather than doing “Good, honest work.” And yes, he unfortunately came to feel that caring for his mother was all he had to live for.

Bob Howard was also a deeply spiritual man. He was unsure about organized religion, about what kind of God he worshiped, though he leaned heavily towards his Catholic roots. He took his own life, considered by Christians the worst of all sins, but prayed for forgiveness up until the moment he pulled the trigger.

Bob Howard was a paragon of contradiction and a study in paradox.

Even more intriguing, for writers, are the conversations about writing that Novalyne and Bob have. Their relationship begins with her seeking his help on writing, and he spends a great deal of time during their relationship discussing the subject. He talks about his method, how he works, what he thinks one needs to do to get published and make a career of the craft. But he also says time and again that it’s not his place to declare the One True Way. He gives advice, but just as quickly marks it as potentially worthless, because every writer must find their own way. And in these long speeches about writing, he includes a lot of great information, insight, and advice. I think this book should stand with Stephen King’s On Writing as a seminal work on the craft of fiction.

I can find no real fault in this book. It’s true that at times Price’s writing seems unsure and somewhat amateurish, but one has to remember that at least early on, she was an inexperienced writer. And watching her writing grow as the story progresses is alone worth the cover price, as is watching her grow and change as a human being–one argument she has with Howard that, decades later, she wins. Howard did not believe people could change, but there is no doubt that he changed Novalyne Price in a deep and fundamental way.

One Who Walked Alone is an absolutely brilliant book, and any fan or admirer of Robert E. Howard is cheating him or herself if they do not give this one a read.

Review by Jason Vey

Wisconsin Road Guide to Haunted Locations Review

Matt-M-McElroy — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:38:35 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

As a Wisconsin native I’ve heard more than a few local legends and campfire tales about haunted locations throughout the state. I’ve always had an interest in haunted houses and picked up the Road Guide for more information on some of the interesting stories I’ve heard.

The Road Guide is well written and it shows that some research went into each of the locations featured throughout each chapter. A typical entry will feature a photo of the location, brief driving directions, a bit of ghost lore (i.e. what sort of ghostly activity is rumored to haunt the place), some local history and lastly, details about the investigation into the haunting. Not every entry follows this exact format; some of them have section switched around a bit or include extra notes on the topic. Generally, however, the book is easy to read and the information is offered in a useful format.

There are over 90 locations detailed in this book. Plenty enough to keep any “ghost hunter” interested for some time. I’ve been to the Sheeley House (page 45) in Chippewa Falls many times over the years. There are a couple of other locations detailed in the book that I’ve either been to or at least heard stories about and it is quite interesting reading the details of the author’s investigation into the haunting.

One of the great things about this book is the mix of historical locations with new sites that have only recently started to gain a reputation for being haunted. Throughout the book you’ll find some great information on the culture and history of Wisconsin. By reading the history of Little Bohemia in Manitowash you’ll discover that John Dillinger and his gang managed to escape capture after a brief shoot-out. The Grand Opera House in Oshkosh certainly has plenty of history, dating back to 1883.

The authors are precise in their investigations and do not embellish their findings. They mention when they do not experience anything paranormal at locations and detail conversations with local residents. They are also quite helpful with notes on private property (do not trespass) and changes that have occurred to locations such as new construction.

The Road Guide is a light read with plenty of useful information. It certainly could have used another round of editing before publication however. The mix of typos and other errors are not enough to ruin the work, but they do occasionally make an entry more difficult to understand. Still, this book is a useful tool for anyone interested in studying the “ghost lore” of Wisconsin and can be a great guide to some of the state’s more interesting locations.

Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures Review

Monica Valentinelli — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 12:43:27 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

The ultimate A to A of fantastic beings from myth and magic.

Written by John and Caitlin Matthews

Whether you’re a gamer, a fiction writer, or you enjoy the fantasy genre, sometimes there are resources available that gather together everything you’re looking for in one place. The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures is one such book.

Spanning worldwide myths, this well-researched encyclopedia has monsters from A Bao a Qu to the creature called “Zu.” Like most well-respected reference works, there is a series of essays in the introduction, as well as at its conclusion. The copy I picked up from Barnes & Noble was in hardcover, and is a hefty book at over 650 pages of dense material covering unusual creatures I had never heard of to “common” monsters like the zombie.

Unlike other research materials, there is a definite and intentional desire in this work for you, as the reader, to easily reference and understand where the origin of these “creatures” began, from both a location and a mythological perspective. I found the stylistic entries to be exceptionally useful; creatures are cross-referenced throughout the work by being “bolded,” and their multiple names are included as separate entries.

Let’s look at an example of an entry, so you can see what I’m referring to:

Erqigdlit A group of blood-drinking monsters in the legends and traditions of the people of Greenland and Baffin Island. Among the Inuit people of Labrador and the Hudson Bay coastline of Canada they are considered the most fearsome and terrifying monsters of which they have knowledge. They are also known as the Adlet.

If this reference book could be improved, I would recommend the inclusion of a world map to cross-reference mythic locations – especially since my geography isn’t as good as what it used to be. I also found the packaging of this book to be quite amusing; this is not a reference work of fiction rather, this is a well-researched compendium of creatures, fairies, monsters, and other mythic gods and goddesses that have taken the form of an animal or hybrid. Published by Barnes & Noble this is one of those “overlooked” reference guides because, in my opinion, the title, the cover art, and its “occult” categorization do not represent the accuracy and the time it took to create this book that is only “magical” because it covers mythic creatures.

Of the other reference guides out there, I would highly recommend The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures; this is not a guide of how to summon, attract the attention of, or tame a magical creature like many works within the occult section claim to do. Instead, this is a thorough work (complete with a full bibliography) that spans global myth from African to East Asian and South American, shedding light on the beliefs and fears that unify us all. The book is not filled with pictures, so you’ll have to use your imagination if you want to see what the Peri look like or if, when you come across the Fei Lian, you’ll treat this commander of winds with kindness.

Great for writers and game designers, I’ve never come across a more thorough and massive work detailing creatures so rare you may not recognize them. There are two, other books in the series entitled, The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells and The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. If either of those two books are as down-to-earth and fact-filled as this one, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy either one to add substance to my fantasy stories.

Gothic Tarot Compendium Review

Monica Valentinelli — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 15:25:14 +0000

Available at Amazon.com

Written by Joseph Vargo and Joseph Iorillo

Illustrated by Joseph Vargo

This book is a complement to the The Gothic Tarot from Monolith Graphics. For those of you who research the occult for your writing or own interest, this compendium has everything you need to get the most out of this unusual deck.

Having read quite a few “compendiums” and “how-to” guides, some take a very emotionally-filled and visual approach, to tap into and encourage your belief in this form of divination. For me, I am attracted to a more pragmatic approach because I primarily use or research these tools for my writing. In my opinion, neither method is “bad” or “good” for, like all books, it depends upon what you want to get out of it.

I feel that this Gothic Tarot Compendium is really somewhere in the middle. Two essays at the beginning of the book were nice to see, for it removes some of the common myths surrounding the tarot and brings us back to reality.

The use of the Tarot as a means to predict a person’s future began in the late 1700s, when the occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette, also known as Etteilla, published a collection of divinatory meanings for Tarot cards, as well as ordinary playing cards.

Like much of our common mythological and magical beliefs today, most tropes originate from the Victorian era and the Tarot is not an exception. Highly romanticized by occultists of the age, Vargo and Ioriollo include the claims that the Tarot deck originated from Egypt and politely dispel those myths, citing that “There is no definitive archaeological evidence that ties the Tarot to ancient Egypt, nor is there evidence for any of the other theories that subsequently emerged regarding the Tarot’s origin.” In this way, Vargo and Ioriollo set the tone for the rest (and majority) of the compendium, setting the stage for a work that demands respect whether you’re a casual reader like myself, or a series student of this Art.

Illustrated by Vargo in his signature style, full color plates are devoted to each and every card in the deck. For each entry, a two-line synopsis of the card is at the top of the page, with a full divinatory meaning following in both bolded and expanded text. The third part of the entry is, to me, the most fascinating portion, for it describes in full detail every aspect of many of the cards from an artist’s perspective. Many Tarot card readers believe in creating a connection with the cards and, with as unusual as this deck is, the full descriptions give great explanations of the choice behind Vargo’s images and unique style to help connect the reader with the images in order to tap into his (or her) intuition.

At the end of the book, Vargo and Ioriollo offer a few tarot card “spreads” with instructions on how to read them. I felt that the spreads were good layouts, appropriate to the theme of the cards. There wasn’t a lot of commentary about the cards “entertainment value” or “warnings” related to actual readings and, for that reason, I feel that this Compendium is really for more serious Tarot card readers or for researchers like myself. Truthfully, though, not many guidebooks do; to take a light-hearted approach to such a dark-themed set would be a discredit to the artist and creator of The Gothic Tarot.

Whether or not you own the set, The Gothic Tarot Compendium can be purchased as a stand-alone work. With as unusual as this set is, I recommend the Compendium so you can truly appreciate Vargo’s works of art.

Visit MonolithGraphics.com for more information on the Gothic Tarot and other works.