Monday, November 18, 2013

Used Treasures

Amazon Marketplace sellers delivered onto me several used books this week, a few of which I hope will provide some game inspiration:

The Book of the Weird by Barbara Ninde Byfield periodically comes to my awareness, but this recent post by perdustin finally made me quit procrastinating and order it. Head over there and read the post, but suffice it to say, it's just as charmingly pre-D&D as I had hoped. Well worth the time to track down.

Star Barbarian and Lord of Blood by Dave Van Arnam form a science fantasy duology. I haven't heard much about them (I was drawn them by the title of the first and the Steranko cover on the second volume.)


but check out this cover blurb on Star Barbarian:
Centuries before the multiwave-drive ships had come to Morkath of the Caravan Stars--bringing colonists, empires, confederations of plunderers. Finally, the planet was exhausted and left to descend into barbarism. 
Now, savage tribal leaders fought over the blighted lands. Among those warriors was the young hunter Jamnar, who vowed to reclaim Morkath from the demonic powers that gripped it--the dark god Shaphath, the priestesses of Astaphar, the evil priests called Kvununun... 
The mighty Jamnar would have aid in his quest. Prosperon, the interstellar castaway, would lead him to the forbidden temple of Telshasoth. But only if Jamnar himself dared to enter the temple's portals--and therein seize the 3000-year-old secret of a lost civilization--could he hope to save his people and a planet plunged into infamy and terror...
How could I pass that up?

9 comments:

Jack Guignol said...

That last cover looks like when Battle Cat finally turns on He-Man.

Gothridge Manor said...

You can't pass that up. You just can't and if you did I would have been ashamed of you. That sounds like a night of very fun reading indeed. I'm curious about that Book of the Weird. I've had so many versions of those kind of books through the years, I wondering whether its its a rehash your typical stuff or if it into new territory and things.

David said...

"You can't pass that up. You just can't and if you did I would have been ashamed of you."

Ha, exactly what I was thinking. And now, *I* can't pass them up....

Jay Exonauts said...

Just bought "Star Barbarian" on those two words alone! Warning, shamless plug.

Stefan Poag said...

I was about to run off to Amazon and plunk down 2.99 for "The Book of Weird" but as I was about to place it in my shopping basket, I realized that it was retitled edition of "The Glass Harmonica" by the same author.
Strong reccomendation. I guess people would classify it as a "kid's book," but it's one of those books I like as much or more than when I first picked it up. It was probably originally written in the 1960s or 1970s and hasn't aged at all.

Anonymous said...

A lot of the tropes and cliches that The Book of Weird cites and makes light of have arguably been "done to death" in the decades since its publication, but there's a lot to be said for its earlier, fresher approach to them. The artwork is likewise endearing. I've had my copy since a few years before I started playing D&D in the '70s, and its images remain my benchmark for imagining things like ogres (one vs. three-eyed varieties) and wyverns (a wonderfully dynamic, if wingless, image in the "Dragons" section)

Greg Gorgonmilk said...

Nice finds!

Star Barbarian has some great cover art by Jeff Jones, and I am loving that Steranko piece on Lord of Blood. Never heard of Dave Van Arnam but I am intrigued.

garrisonjames said...

Star Barbarians is kind of fun. Glad you found a copy. The Steranko cover is probably the best part...but it is worth taking a look...and it does fairly reek of interesting gaming ideas like that temple with the 3,000-year-old secret, etc. Fun stuff!

Tallgeese said...

I had never seen Star Barbarian before this post, but am seriously digging that curved polearm (bigass almost an Exalted style naginata?) on the Jeff Jones cover.