DOCSLIB.ORG

Cosmopolis 23 • 2 (V.6) the Insu¥Erable Red-Headed Daughter of Comman- *** Der Tynnott, O.T.E

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Cosmopolis 23 • 2 (V.6) the Insu¥Erable Red-Headed Daughter of Comman- *** Der Tynnott, O.T.E COSMOPOLIS Number 23 February, 2002 Contents Scanners and Jockeys and Scanners and Jockeys and Imps, Oh My! . 1 Imps, Oh My! by Damien G. Jones by Damien G. Jones Some contributors from the trenches DD-Scanning, DD-Jockey and Implementation Coordinator Work Tsar Status Report . 2 by Joel Riedesel A few days ago Paul mentioned to me that it might be Text progress as of Jan. 27, 2002 nice, fitting even, that I write a little something in praise of those volunteers engaged in the less than glamorous task of feeding the VIE machine: the Scanners, Jockeys Project Report . 3 and Imps! (Actually being an imp is fairly glam- by Paul Rhoads orous…) Although I disguised my initial dismay with The CLS, the CRT, Marune: Alastor 933, The Mars toadying acquiescence, I was aghast! Write something Society and more about these people I hardlyknow? The names in my address book conjure up nebulous images, sometimes My VIE Story: Edition Andreas Irle. 10 blanks (my relatives), each representing a life rich in by Andreas Irle experiences of which I am completely unaware. Is X a Publishing Vance in Germany bizarre recluse? Would I trust Y to keep an eye on my lunch? Should I take the time to put real names in my address book? I don’t know. Security and SSH. 12 Yet each of these ‘shades’ has contributed to the VIE by Gan Uesli Starling in a very real sense. The texts for over half of the VIE A bit about butlers and commandos volumes have been scanned (monotonous work by any standard) and many of them jockeyed (tedious, yet You Have Done It! . 13 rewarding!). The Imps run where others walk, oµen by Hans van der Veeke providing turnaround within days, yet sometimes becom- Volunteer work credits for completed texts: Nigh t ing lost in the copious endnotes. All: Scanners, Jockeys Lamp and Cat Island and Imps, are dedicated to their tasks. Jocularity abounds, and playful cries of “No more!” are dismissed with a chuckle. Newcomers are oµen baptized in fire, Letters to the Editor. 15 their hard work criticized, sometimes even discarded Mike Ralston, Paul Rhoads, Derek W. Benson, Rob (only in the case of time pressure), yet they endure. Gerrand, James Jordan, David G.D. Hecht, Bob Should I meet any of the people I have worked with, I Lacovara, Alain Schremmer, and Till Noever would shake their hands, wonder at their tenacity, and thank them roundly. In the meantime please accept my Closing Words . 21 gratitude for the excellent work that has been complet- ed thus far, and for that which is sure to follow. VIE Contacts . 21 For those interested in such things, below is a list of ‘accomplishments’ by those involved. As any Imp, Jockey The Fine Print . 22 or Scanner will be able to tell you, the largest texts are not necessarily the most time consuming. However, on the whole the numbers do reflect the amount of e¥ort an Christian J. Corley 116 5 individual has been able to dedicate in a given area, and Mark Adams 68 2 it is obvious that there is a ‘core’ upon whom I rely heav- Joe Ormond65 1 ily. However, I would like to emphasize that any com- Rob Gerrand36 3 pleted assignment is very much appreciated. Mark Shoulder 25 2 Dave Peters 17 1 Paul Rhoads 5 2 completed assignments as of January 6, 2002 Implementatio n Volunteer KB Words # of assignments Scanning Mike Dennison 456 9 Volunteer KB Words # of assignments Derek W. Benson 449 9 Richard Chandler 2332 82 Hans van der Veeke 298 5 Peter Strickland888 14 John McDonough 216 8 Charles King 595 32 Donna Adams 215 8 John A. Schwab 543 16 Damien G. Jones 168 3 Dave Worden 434 26 Patrick Dusoulier 133 4 Thomas Rydbeck 349 11 Chris Reid86 3 Billy Webb 327 6 Paul Rhoads 61 2 Damien G. Jones 326 7 Herve Goubin 286 6 *** Paul Rhoads 285 14 Richard White 266 5 Work Tsar Status Report Joel Hedlund 251 8 Denis Bekaert 224 5 as of Jan. 27, 2002 Dirk Jan Verlinde 155 1 Jon Guppy 149 3 by Joel Riedesel Jurriaan Kalkman 147 3 Ian Jackson 144 2 We have some interesting and very promising statistics Erik Arendse 117 2 for this month. For Wave 1 work, we have approximate- Chris Reid114 4 ly a total of 2958.4 thousand words of text. As of now, John Robinson Jr. 95 2 493.4 thousand words have completed Post Proofing and Mark Adams 88 3 about 582.9 thousand words are active in Post Proofing David Mortimore 79 3 and will likely finish by the end of February. That’s a Huy Dinh 62 1 jump from 17% to 37% (of Wave 1 work). This repre- Koen Vyverman 59 1 sents text that is ready for Golden Master production for Olivier Allais 49 1 Wave 1 by the end of February, more than doubling the Theo Tervoort 46 1 total amount produced to date. Promising indeed! Some Mark Shoulder 40 1 details now follow. Suan Hsi Yong 17 1 Fiµeen texts have completed Post Proofing, an Axel Roschinski 10 2 increase of two since last month. However, Post Proofing Sean Rainey 3 1 is now completely active and we will be seeing rapid results from this moment forward. These texts repre- Jo c ke yi n g sent 493.4 thousand words and about 16.68% of the total Volunteer KB Words # of assignments for Wave 1. Three volumes are completely represented: Damien G. Jones 1303 27 1, 31, and 42. David Reitsema 225 6 (V.1) Mazirian the Magician Hans van der Veeke 216 6 (V.6) Masquerade on Dicantropus Richard Chandler 215 4 (V.6) Abercrombie Station Suan Hsi Yong 124 3 (V.6) Golden Girl Cosmopolis 23 • 2 (V.6) The Insu¥erable Red-headed Daughter of Comman- *** der Tynnott, O.T.E. (V.6) Meet Miss Universe Project Report (V.6) The World Between (V.7) Clarges by Paul Rhoads (V.7) The Lan guages o f Pao (V.9) The Las t Cas tle (V.17) Rumfuddle endorsements and questions (V.17) The Men Return The trickle is becoming a stream. This recently in from (V.17) Ullward ’s Retreat Paul Di Fillipo: “I read Coup de Grace and Other Stories (V.31) Wyst: Alastor 1716 last night, and of course it was magnificent. As a pure (V.42) Nigh t La mp biblio-object, the volume is wonderful as well. You guys are doing everything right, and I wish and predict big There are eighteen texts being Post Proofed or being success.” Paul Di Fillipo has been a reviewer for over ten composed for Post Proofing. These represent 825.6 years, who publishes regularly in The Washi n gto n Pos t as thousand words and about 27.9% of the total for Wave 1. well as The San Francisco Chronicle and science fiction (V.4) Va n d a l s o f t h e Vo i d magazines. But he is best known as a fiction writer. His (V.4) The Rappa ree latest book, Strange Trades, was published by Golden (V.6) Gold & Iron Gryphon Press, and a new novel, A Mouthful Of Tongues, (V.9) The Miracle Workers will appear this April, published by Cosmos Books. (V.9) The Drago n Mas ters In another recent letter a long time VIE (V.10) Strange People, Queer Notions volunteer/subscriberwrote:“MycopyofCoup de Grace (V.10) The Flesh Mask has finally arrived, and very handsome it is. It is pleas- (V.10) Bird Isle ing to see that the concerns expressed in the debate (V.11) The View from Chickweed’s Window about Amiante (including for a time my own) have not (V.11) The House on Lily Street been borne out—the font looks good, elegant, and is (V.12) Bad Ronald easy to read. The feel of the book, and the paper, is (V.17) The Kokod Warriors good, too. Congratulations to the team for a magnificent (V.17) Dodkin’s Job e¥ort.” The letter goes on to point out some formatting (V.17) Alfred’s Ark departures from standard practice, such as the copyright (V.17) Green Magic notice not being on the back of the title page, and the (V.26) The B o ok o f Dreams frontispiece not following. These choices were made (V.30) Marune: Alastor 933 long ago. They deliberately give the reader nothing but (V.38) Madouc Vance from the title page on. We call such items ‘front matter’ and restrict them to the area prior to the title The remaining 25 texts are in TI, of which six are in page. This would not exclude putting illustrations into a the review and implementation stages of TI. Those six text at the appropriate point, but in the case of the Gift represent 542.6 thousand words and 18.3% of the Wave Volume the illustration is a frontispiece, intended to 1 total while the remaining 19 represent 1096 thousand enhance the volume per se. Another query was w≈ we words and 37% of the Wave 1 total. The nineteen texts do not have a note giving when and where each story that remain in the throes of TI are all close to comple- was first published. We will have a front matter note tion, we hope to see most of them complete over the regarding changed titles, but in the volumes we will not course of the next month.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Asfacts July13.Pub
    ASFACTS 2013 JULY “H EAT WAVE & H UMIDITY ” I SSUE NEBULA WINNERS ANNOUNCED The 2012 Nebula Awards were presented May 18, 2013, in a ceremony at SFWA’s 48th Annual Nebula Awards Weekend in San Jose, CA. Gene Wolfe was hon- ored with the 2012 Damon Knight Grand Master Award for his lifetime contributions and achievements in the field. A list of winners follows: First Novel: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Novel: 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson, Novella: Ahmed, Young Adult Book: Railsea by China Miéville, After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall by Nancy Novella: After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall Kress, Novelette: “Close Encounters” by Andy Duncan, by Nancy Kress, Novelette: “The Girl-Thing Who Went Short Story: “Immersion” by Aliette de Bodard, Ray Out for Sushi” by Pat Cadigan, Short Story: “Immersion” Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation: by Aliette de Bodard, Anthology: Edge of Infinity edited Beasts of the Southern Wild , and Andre Norton Award by Jonathan Strahan, and Collection: Shoggoths in Bloom for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book: Fair by Elizabeth Bear. Coin by E.C. Myers. Non-Fiction: Distrust That Particular Flavor by Carl Sagan and Ginjer Buchanan received Solstice William Gibson, Art Book: Spectrum 19: The Best in Awards, and Michael H. Payne was given the Kevin Contemporary Fantastic Art edited by Cathy Fenner & O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award. Arnie Fenner, Artist: Michael Whelan, Editor: Ellen Dat- low, Magazine: Asimov’s , and Publisher: Tor. ROGERS & D ENNING HOSTING PRE -CON PARTY RICHARD MATHESON DEAD Patricia Rogers and Scott Denning will uphold a local fannish tradition when they host the Bubonicon 45 LOS ANGELES (Associated Press) -- Richard Pre-Con Party 7:30-10:30 pm Thursday, August 22, at Matheson, the prolific sci-fi and fantasy writer whose I their home in Bernalillo – located at 909 Highway 313.
    [Show full text]
  • By Title.Pdf
    Afton House Books Title Pic Language Format Condition Comment 13 Science Fiction Stories 2680 German paperback good A Maquina de Matar 2610 Spanish trade good Aanval op een stad 2768 Dutch trade good Alastor: Trilogia del cumulo estelar 2697 Spanish trade good Alastor: Trullion Marune 2729 French hardback good ? Alastor: Trullion, Marune, Wyst 2643 Dutch trade good Araminta 2 2806 French trade good Araminta Station (Cyrillic) 2779 Russian hardback good Asutra 2725 Italian hardback fair Asutra ! 2841 French paperback good Blauwe Wereld + De machines van Maz 2644 Dutch paperback good Bonne Vieille Terre (Ecce & Old Earth) 2757 French trade good Bonne Vieille Terre (Ecce & Old Earth) 2807 French trade good Charmants Voisins 2734 French pg good Chateaux en espace #6 2611 French paperback good Chroniques De Cadwal: Throy 2603 French paperback good Crimes et enchantements #7 2602 French paperback good Crociata spaziale 2675 Italian paperback good Cugel der Schlaue 2801 German trade good Cugel gewroken 2597 Dutch paperback good Cugel Gewroken 2699 Dutch paperback good Cugel saga 2673 French paperback good cycle de Tschai: le Wankh 2658 French paperback good Das Auge der Uberwelt 2682 German paperback good Das Buch der Traume 2790 German trade good Das Gesich (The Face) 2810 German trade good Das grobe Lesebuch der klassischen: Aus dem Hantemple 2771 German trade good Das Segelim Sonnenwind 2670 German paperback good Das Weltraum-Monopol 2600 German paperback good De Domeinen van Koryphon 2714 Dutch trade good De drakenruiters 2853 Dutch hardback
    [Show full text]
  • Cosmopolis#57
    COSMOPOLIS Number 57 January, 2005 And So It Ends SUBSCRIPTION know, we’re not done yet, but for someone who’s been I with the VIE for as long as I have (Volunteer # 76) the time remaining is vanishingly small compared to the eons DEADLINE is that have gone before. I’ve just received my last assign- JANUARY 25th! ment, and it’s like... well, the ‘last’. You know, like when you leave some place—house, employment, country—and lvl you’ll suddenly find yourself doing ‘last’ things. The deadline to order the complete set of ‘Last’ things that you’re aware of. ‘Last’ things that mat- VIE books is the 25th. ter; punctuation marks in the course of your life that add meta-meaning and frame its content. Punctuation we notice, You cannot procrastinate any longer! as if we were proofing the copy and wondering if that Order on the VIE website. comma really belongs here, or if it’s just a stylistic quirk, or if that colon should really be a full-stop. In contrast to this consider those sentence marks we don’t notice, because they, like someone wrote about Jack’s style, are Contents invisible, and by their implicitness serve to make limpid that which otherwise would be hidden. And So It Ends . 1 For everything in life, every action we take, is a ‘last’, at the same time as it is a first; only our urge to generalize, Till Noever simplify and abstract makes us believe otherwise. And, Work Tsar Report . .2 let’s face it, everything could just be ‘last’—because of our ignorance about what will be tomorrow, or maybe in the Joel Riedesel next few minutes, that will retroactively turn any given action into a ‘last’, by anybody’s definition.
    [Show full text]
  • Eiglophian Lodge
    Conceptualized by JACK VANCE and E. GARY GYGAX Additional Material by SHADRAC MQ Edited by GREG GORGONMILK Afterword by GREYHARP ABOVE ILLUSTRATION BY MOEBIUS EIGLOPHIAN LODGE E G L 0 0 3 M A R C H 2 0 1 3 This humble book of magical lore is hereby dedicated to BLAIR OF ALGOL, DAVID MACAULY and MATT SCHMEER and all the other OSR gurus who cast green fireballs on my imagination. FIGHT ON! 2 C O N T E N T S TURJAN OF MIIR 5 Fiction by JACK VANCE MAZIRIAN THE MAGE 20 Fiction by JACK VANCE THE D&D MAGIC SYSTEM 37 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX ROLE-PLAYING: REALISM VS GAME LOGIC 43 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX AD&D'S MAGIC SYSTEM: HOW AND WHY IT WORKS 52 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX 3 JACK VANCE AND THE D&D GAME 58 Non-fiction by E. GARY GYGAX DYING EARTH SPELLS FOR D&D 63 Optional Rules by SHADRAC MQ AFTERWORD 91 by GREYHARP SOURCES 92 ILLUSTRATION BY MICHAEL HUTTER 4 TURJAN OF MIIR by JACK VANCE TURJAN SAT IN HIS WORKROOM, legs sprawled out from the stool, back against and elbows on the bench. Across the room was a cage; into this Turjan gazed with rueful vexation. The creature in the cage returned the scrutiny with emotions beyond conjecture. It was a thing to arouse pity—a great head on a small spindly body, with weak rheumy eyes and a flabby button of a nose. The mouth hung slackly wet, the skin glistened waxy pink.
    [Show full text]
  • The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance
    The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance Table of contents • Introduction • CHAPTER 1 • CHAPTER 2 • CHAPTER 3 • CHAPTER 4 • CHAPTER 5 • CHAPTER 6 • CHAPTER 7 • CHAPTER 8 • CHAPTER 9 • CHAPTER 10 • CHAPTER 11 • CHAPTER 12 • Annotation • Document information Introduction HOW can one explain the relative obscurity of a writer whose work has twice won the Hugo Award for best science fiction of the year in its category? A man who has been writing and publishing science fiction for over a quarter of a century. A man whose prose style is so unique that a random paragraph taken out of almost any piece of science fiction or fantasy he has written is sufficient to identify itself as unmistakably the work of Jack Vance: In the first place, the Rhune is exquisitely sensitive to his landscapes of mountain, meadow, forest and sky — all changing with the changing modes of day. He reckons his land by its aesthetic appeal; he will connive a lifetime to gain a few choice acres. He enjoys pomp, protocol, heraldic minutiae; his niceties and graces are judged as carefully as the figures of a ballet. He prides himself on his collection of sherliken scales; or the emeralds which he has mined, cut, and polished with his own hands; or his Arah magic wheels, imported from halfway across the Gaean Reach. He will perfect himself in special mathematics, or an ancient language, or the lore of fanfares, or all three, or three other abstrusities. — Marune: Alastor 933, p. 41. Yet Jack Vance seems to be an invisible man. Academics have written at great length and Byzantine complexity about science fiction writers with a far less substantial body of work and far less stylistic interest than Jack Vance.
    [Show full text]
  • L'opera Di Jack Vance
    RETROSPETTIVA www.clubcity.info CITYcircolo d’immaginazione L’opera di Jack Vance 1982. Silvio Sosio con cappello e capelli (a destra); Paolo Pavesi (a sinistra) tiene in mano il primo numero de “La Spada Spezzata“, da loro appena realizzata. CITYcircolo d’immaginazione retrospettiva L’opera di Jack Vance di Silvio Sosio Quattro mondi di Jack Vance da City fanzine bimestrale n.10, anno II aprile 1983 Altri quattro mondi di Jack Vance da City fanzine bimestrale n.11, anno II, giugno 1983 Ancora su Jack Vance: I principi Demoni da City fanzine bimestrale n.18, anno III, giugno 1984 Vance: il Pianeta Gigante [e altro] da City fanzine bimestrale n.19, anno IV, ottobre 1984 Questi quattro articoli dedicati alla narrativa di Jack Vance furono pubblicati a puntate sulla fanzine periodica del club City. Silvio Sosio aveva solo vent’anni quando li scrisse e riletti adesso ci fanno capire che Silvio aveva già in sé capacità di analisi, di confronto e una scrittura ricca e scorrevole, da premio. Quando vennero pubblicati l’indice di apprezzamento fu altissimo. E poi … vent’anni, da invidia! Silvio è riuscito a penetrare nella narrativa di Vance cogliendone le caratteristiche e i valori predominanti: l’estro paesaggistico, l’ironia, gli schemi di potere, e soprattutto la fascinazione della scrittura, che nell’autore di San Francisco è stile artistico. I suoi personaggi possono sconfinare nel bizzarro ma mai nello stereotipo e Vance li arricchisce con pennellate di creatività e fantasia. Questo vale per gli umani e per gli alieni. Le note bibliografiche sono state aggiornate, sebbene molti testi non siano stati più ristampati e .siano reperibili solo in rete nel mercato di libri usati e da collezione.
    [Show full text]
  • 3. Jack Vance
    ! ! ! ! JACK VANCE The Prodigious Invisible Man of Science Fiction ! Jack Vance is burly with a no-nonsense look about him. Physically, he suggests the aging private eye on the late show who wears suspenders and sleeps in his fedora. He is the slower-than- syrup pinch hitter creaking off the bench to bang out the hit you need, the beer-bellied brawler who gets slugged, grunts and keeps !coming on. He is also one of the truly important science-fiction writers of our day, having produced some 50 books over the last 30 years. Beginning in 1945, Vance stories started showing up in science- fiction pulp magazines. His first novel, a paperback original, became available in 1950, but only to those cognoscenti whose reading material comes off drugstore racks. Yet somewhere along the way, Vance has picked up the prestigious Hugo, Nebula and Edgar awards for his work, a literary hat trick no one else has !matched. His name is one of the three or four that come up regularly when talking to aficionados of the genre. Yet outside of this inside world he has attracted about as much attention as an invisible man in a soundproof chamber. In a time when hype rather than quality of product often sells books, Vance refuses to promote himself, adhering to the old-fashioned notion that story, not personality, is what the reader deserves. He didn’t even want his picture on this page. “A reader is not supposed to be aware that someone’s written the story,” Vance said. “He’s supposed to be completely immersed, !submerged in the environment.” The offbeat variety of jobs he had before he began writing full time – fruit picker, carpenter, miner in Sierra towns, jazz cornet player – make for the kind of dust-jacket promo material publicity agents spend hours concocting for their authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Demon Princes: Vol 2 Free
    FREE DEMON PRINCES: VOL 2 PDF Jack Vance | 397 pages | 01 Sep 1998 | St Martin's Press | 9780312853167 | English | New York, United States The Demon Princes, Volume Two: The Face, The Book of Dreams by Jack Vance Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser Demon Princes: Vol 2 allow you to experience all the features of our site. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. Home 1 Books 2. Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Members save with free shipping everyday! See details. Overview Demon Princes: Vol 2 Vance is undoubtedly one of the most gifted and versatile authors of science fiction today. The winner of a Hugo, a Nebula, and a World Fantasy Award, Vance lays claim to a career that spans more than five decades of critical acclaim and devoted readership. The Demon Princes are a race of beings who disguise themselves as humans and delight in power and destruction. Three have already fallen in Kirth's hands, but there are two more names on his list, two more Princes who will live only long enough to regret their evil ways. He was personally ugly, startling vicious, and arrogant above all others. Howard Alan Treesong poisoned his friends, tortured his colleagues, and wrote his own horrific holy book, The Book of Dreams. About the Author. Jack Vance was was a sailor, a writer, an adventurer, a music critic, and one of the greatest masters of fantasy and science fiction.
    [Show full text]
  • Wortschmied Und Weltenschöpfer Jack Vance Wird Achtzig
    Andreas Irle Wortschmied und Weltenschöpfer Jack Vance wird achtzig 1996 2 Andreas Irle Wortschmied und Weltenschöpfer 3 Im August 1996 feierte Jack Vance seinen achtzigsten Geburts- tag. Ich kann ihn mir gut vorstellen, wie er vor einem Glas Granatapfelwein sitzt und über sein Leben und sein Werk nach- denkt. Achtzig Lebensjahre, davon über fünfzig als Schriftstel- ler: In der Tat, letztes Jahr jährte sich der Verkauf seiner ersten Geschichte zum fünfzigsten Mal. Grund genug (wieder) einmal über Jack Vance nachzudenken, zumal da auch sein neuer Ro- man »Nachtlicht« seine Schatten vorauswirft. Einige der Werkinhalte sind kurz skizziert, um jene, die Vance nicht kennen, neugierig zu machen; und jene, die ihn kennen und mögen, anzuregen, die ein oder andere Geschichte noch einmal zu lesen. Mann und Mythos Jack Vance (richtiger Name: John Holbrook Vance) wurde am 28. August 1916 als Sohn von Charles Albert und Edith (Hoef- ler) Vance in San Francisco geboren. Er wuchs auf einer Ranch im San Joaquin Valley in Kalifornien auf und besuchte die University of California in Berkeley, wo er Bergbau, Physik und Journalismus studierte. Während und nach dem 2. Weltkrieg fuhr er als Matrose der US-Handelsmarine zur See. Nach dem Krieg ging er mehreren Beschäftigungen nach: Er arbeitete in einer Konservenfabrik, als Zimmermann, als Obstpflücker und spielte in einer Jazzband Trompete. 1946 heiratete er Norma Ingold; 1961 wurde ihr Sohn John geboren. Die Vances leben in Oakland und haben im Laufe der Jahre nahezu die ganze Welt bereist. Eines von Jack Vances bevorzugten Magazinen seiner Jugend war Weird Tales, in dem er die Geschichten von Clark Asthon Smith und Edgar Rice Burroughs las.
    [Show full text]
  • Gary Gygax Phasms 8 Robin D
    The Excellent Prismatic Spray Being a Commodious Compendium of erudition, intelligence, advice, narrative and insight of inestimable value to those of a DISCERNING TEMPERAMENT and ADVENTUROUS INCLINATION TABLE OF CONTENTS Volume 1, Issue 2 Editorial 1 Jim Webster From our readers 2 An Opportunity 73 FEATURES Jack Vance & The D&D Game 4 Gary Gygax Phasms 8 Robin D. Laws ARCANA of Grashpotel 19 Peter Freeman Tweaks 28 Sasha Bilton & Phil Masters The Timeless Valley 33 Lynne Hardy COZENER’S EXPEDIENTS Three Cozener’s Expedients Sample file 68 Colin Speirs THE COMPENDIUM OF UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE The Air-cars of Ampridatvir 42 Nicholas H. M. Caldwell The Valley of Cages 53 Lizard Three Golden Swans 63 Steven S. Long THE PRIMER OF PRACTICAL MAGIC A Beginner’s Guide to Vat Creatures 47 Jim Webster Publisher: Simon Rogers Editor: Jim Webster Designer: Sarah Wroot Art Direction: Sarah Wroot, Simon Rogers Cover Art: Ralph Horsley Interior Art: Ralph Horsley, Hilary Wade, Dave Bezzina, Dover Books copyright-free resources, Sarah Wroot PRINTED IN THE UK • ISBN 0 9539980 2 9 Copyright ©2001 Pelgrane Press Ltd. Based on the Dying Earth book series by Jack Vance. Produced and distributed by agreement with Jack Vance c/o Ralph Vicinanza Ltd, New York. The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, Dying Earth Quick-Start Rules and The Excellent Prismatic Spray are trademarks of Pelgrane Press. All rights reserved. Editorial o now we proudly present for your cerebral improvement the Ssecond copy of the Excellent Prismatic Spray. It has been a matter of some delight to us that our experiment, publishing Scenario Supplements in a Magazine format, has been so well received.
    [Show full text]
  • JULY 25Th 2018
    July 25th We love you, Archivist! JULY 25th 2018 Attention PDF authors and publishers: Da Archive runs on your tolerance. If you want your product removed from this list, just tell us and it will not be included. This is a compilation of pdf share threads since 2015 and the rpg generals threads. Some things are from even earlier, like Lotsastuff’s collection. Thanks Lotsastuff, your pdf was inspirational. And all the Awesome Pioneer Dudes who built the foundations. Many of their names are still in the Big Collections A THOUSAND THANK YOUS to the Anon Brigade, who do all the digging, loading, and posting. Especially those elite commandos, the Nametag Legionaires, who selflessly achieve the improbable. - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - – The New Big Dog on the Block is Da Curated Archive. It probably has what you are looking for, so you might want to look there first. - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - – - - - - - - - - - - - - - - – - - - - - – Don't think of this as a library index, think of it as Portobello Road in London, filled with bookstores and little street market booths and you have to talk to each shopkeeper. It has been cleaned up some, labeled poorly, and shuffled about a little to perhaps be more useful. There are links to ~16,000 pdfs. Don't be intimidated, some are duplicates. Go get a coffee and browse. Some links are encoded without a hyperlink to restrict spiderbot activity. You will have to complete the link. Sorry for the inconvenience. Others are encoded but have a working hyperlink underneath. Some are Spoonerisms or even written backwards, Enjoy! ss, @SS or $$ is Send Spaace, m3g@ is Megaa, <d0t> is a period or dot as in dot com, etc.
    [Show full text]
  • Jack Vance: an Appreciation
    JACK VANCE: AN APPRECIATION George R. R. Martin here is only one Jack Vance. T I am sometimes asked which writers have most influenced my own work. That’s a tricky question, since the writers who have the most profound impact on you are the ones you read when you are young, and hardly aware of whatever influences it was you were absorbing. I will confess, however, that Jack Vance is one of only two writers that I have ever set out consciously to imitate (the other one was H.P. Lovecraft, for what it’s worth). Along about the mid 70s, I was a young writer with a couple dozen short story sales under my belt, still struggling to improve my craft. I would pore over every book and magazine that I could get my hands on, and try to dissect the stories that impressed me, looking for techniques that I could incorporate into my own reper- toire…and there was no one who impressed me as much as Vance. So one day I decided to try my hand at a Vance story, and wrote a novelette called “A Beast for Norn,” introducing Haviland Tuf, whose ancestry owed more than a little to Vance’s Magnus Ridolph. The story sold and Tuf went on to have a long and successful run, but the experiment convinced me that no one but Jack Vance could write like Jack Vance. You could say that Jack Vance is the Fred Astaire of letters. Astaire brought such grace and style to his dancing that he made it seem almost easy, just as Vance does when he writes.
    [Show full text]