Chief Technical Officer
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We've just announced our March 2010 Planet Stories release, The Walrus & the Warwolf, by Hugh Cook, with an introduction by China Miéville.
The cover image is a mockup.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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We've just announced our March 2009 Planet Stories release, The Walrus & the Warwolf, by Hugh Cook, with an introduction by China Miéville.
The cover image is a mockup.
A bit late, neh?
Sounds interestin though.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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I really like Cook's series. It's definitely quirky, and a bit more "Dying Earth than Conan the Barbarian, but it's pretty interesting.
Only the first three (of 10) were ever released in full in the United States, so you can be forgiven for never having heard of it.
The first book was a minor hit in the early 80s from Questar, entitled "WIZARD WAR."
The books can be read in any order, and share only a common setting and some minor characters.
It's a really interesting series, and it would be cool to find a new audience for Hugh Cook here in the States.
Huh, never even heard of this one before. But it'll be sweet to see some rare fantasy novels and short story collections get republished for what's probably the first time in years.
Huh, never even heard of this one before. But it'll be sweet to see some rare fantasy novels and short story collections get republished for what's probably the first time in years.
'Rare'? Hugh Cook? 'The Walrus And The Warwolf'? I don't know about America,but 50 cents would get you a copy of that in a charity store in Australia no problem (or maybe $2 at a bookfair etc.) This series was apparently planned to be a 60 (yes,sixty!) volume series...but was cancelled after disappointing sales of the first 10,'Walrus' was the 4th one I think.
I'm really looking forward to this one now!
The Planet Stories books have not only been fun for me to read, it's re-ignited my interests in many other fantasy stories too.
I'm just about to start reading the Dying Earth series for the first time, and may tackle Clark Ashton Smith after that, before trying to track down all the Edgar Rice Burroughs I've missed over the years - I've only read his Mars books, so may try to dig up good editions of Tarzan and all the rest.
I honestly haven't had this much fun reading in years! (academia is largely responsible, but I definitely tip my hat to Eric and the gang for reviving these gems!)
New Planet Stories in March 2010. I just want my fix now. I have not had a new one since Robots Have No Tails in like June, my September Paizo shipment has arrived and still no new Planet Stories. The Ship of Ishtar is listed for October, but that is a month away.
I would not complain if you sneaked a little 1960s 60cent paperback into my subscription box when you are going to go this long. You could even put one of the "abridged" versions so I could appreciate your unabridged versions more when I read them later.
Signed,
A victim of Erik Mona, I will be "forced" to read "The End of the Story" a collected set of fantasies by Clark Ashton Smith tomorrow while riding the bus to and from work and probably for the week after.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Oh, dear dear me.
_Forcing_ someone to read Clark Ashton Smith.
I am a beast, aren't I?
(In all seriousness, The Ship of Ishtar ships to us from the printer tomorrow, and I am currently looking at final galleys of Steppe before sending that to the printer too. We'll be back up to speed shortly.)
Oh, dear dear me.
_Forcing_ someone to read Clark Ashton Smith.
I am a beast, aren't I?
(In all seriousness, The Ship of Ishtar ships to us from the printer tomorrow, and I am currently looking at final galleys of Steppe before sending that to the printer too. We'll be back up to speed shortly.)
Was it Smiths stories that they based the Castle Amber module on. I had a lot of fun running that one especially the colossus. My god that must have been in late 80's as I was still in high-school. I am getting old.
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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Yes. Castle Amber was based on several CAS short stories, including the Colossus of Ylourgne, from the story of the same name (i.e. the guy on the cover busting up the castle).
Clark Ashton Smith is in the upper tier of pulp horror writers, and according to some people (perhaps even including me) his talents outshine those of HPL himself.
Yes. Castle Amber was based on several CAS short stories, including the Colossus of Ylourgne, from the story of the same name (i.e. the guy on the cover busting up the castle).
Clark Ashton Smith is in the upper tier of pulp horror writers, and according to some people (perhaps even including me) his talents outshine those of HPL himself.
'CAS - intelligence and a genuine love of language,an almost playful relish for the exotic,a carelessness of spirit,in great contrast to...HPL - unreadable neurotic drone' (Moorcock,'Wizardry And Wild Romance'). Lovecraft himself said,'In sheer demonic strangeness and fertility of conception,Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer,dead or living'. I absolutely agree with both of these quotes!
Yes,anyone who hasn't read the Dying Earth books is definitely in for a treat!
Erik,I just found a Merritt story called,'The Last Poet And The Wrongness of Space'. Do you have that? I'd never even heard of it before. It's another classic!
Yes. Castle Amber was based on several CAS short stories, including the Colossus of Ylourgne, from the story of the same name (i.e. the guy on the cover busting up the castle).
Clark Ashton Smith is in the upper tier of pulp horror writers, and according to some people (perhaps even including me) his talents outshine those of HPL himself.
'CAS - intelligence and a genuine love of language,an almost playful relish for the exotic,a carelessness of spirit,in great contrast to...HPL - unreadable neurotic drone' (Moorcock,'Wizardry And Wild Romance'). Lovecraft himself said,'In sheer demonic strangeness and fertility of conception,Smith is perhaps unexcelled by any other writer,dead or living'. I absolutely agree with both of these quotes!
Yes,anyone who hasn't read the Dying Earth books is definitely in for a treat!
Erik,I just found a Merritt story called,'The Last Poet And The Wrongness of Space'. Do you have that? I'd never even heard of it before. It's another classic!
I definitely agree with you both! I am now part-way through The Dying Earth, and *love* it! I had a brief detour over the weekend to finish Stealer of Souls - Elric - and then a biography of Rick Rubin, but am now back into fantasy reading mode full steam ahead!
I bought the Tales of the Dying Earth omnibus volume - which includes The Dying Earth, Tales of the Overworld, Cugel's Saga, and Rialto the Marvellous. Are there more that come highly recommended?
Any opinions on how William Hope Hodgson compares to Clark Ashton Smith and HP Lovecraft?
Erik,I just found a Merritt story called,'The Last Poet And The Wrongness of Space'. Do you have that? I'd never even heard of it before. It's another classic!
I have read The Last Poet and the Robots, which was poor - is this the same thing?
I have read The Last Poet and the Robots, which was poor - is this the same thing?Erik,I just found a Merritt story called,'The Last Poet And The Wrongness of Space'. Do you have that? I'd never even heard of it before. It's another classic!
Yes,that's it I think. I thought it was cool.
Check this...http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2008/01/merritt.html
hmm,that doesn't work,how do you put a link on here?
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Chief Creative Officer, Publisher
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It's the same story, possibly with some editing. I can check to make sure when I get back home from vacation next week, as I have both versions of the story.
This one probably reads a little strangely because it is one of something like 33 chapters in a 1930s "round robin" novel called COSMOS published in an old fanzine.
The full thing is almost impossible to assemble (though, of course, I have managed to do so).
Other participants included Edmond Hamilton, Otis Adelbert Kline, and LOTS of other prominent pulpsters of the era, plus some no-namers.
I plan to read the whole thing soon, and will be very public with my reaction to it. :)
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hmm,that doesn't work,how do you put a link on here?
Short answer a <url="url"> tag enclosing the text you want to show....</url>
Just started Dying earth last night...thanks mostly to this thread, (got the book for £2.75 from amazon, + £3 P&P!! shipped and here in less than 2 days...)
Not entirely sure what I think yet, it hasn't grabbed me in the same way most of the stuff in the planet stories line has.
hmm,that doesn't work,how do you put a link on here?** spoiler omitted **
Just started Dying earth last night...thanks mostly to this thread, (got the book for £2.75 from amazon, + £3 P&P!! shipped and here in less than 2 days...)
Not entirely sure what I think yet, it hasn't grabbed me in the same way most of the stuff in the planet stories line has.
Ok,thanks...well I must be doing it wrong,I can't put a link here like I often do on emails and things...copy and paste the thing...doesn't work here. This happens...
http://www.scifi.darkroastedblend.com/2008/01/merritt.html
Anyway,the story of this very strange collaboration is on that site, www.scifi.darkroastblend.com ... (The Challenge From Beyond)
C.L.Moore AND Robert Howard!! I will definitely buy this if Paizo publishes it in one volume. Go on!!
re.'The Dying Earth'...wait for 'The Eyes of The Overworld'!!
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hmm,that doesn't work,how do you put a link on here?** spoiler omitted **
Just started Dying earth last night...thanks mostly to this thread, (got the book for £2.75 from amazon, + £3 P&P!! shipped and here in less than 2 days...)
Not entirely sure what I think yet, it hasn't grabbed me in the same way most of the stuff in the planet stories line has.
Ok,thanks...well I must be doing it wrong,I can't put a link here like I often do on emails and things...copy and paste the thing...doesn't work here. This happens...
Anyway,the story of this very strange collaboration is on that site, Site link ... (The Challenge From Beyond)
C.L.Moore AND Robert Howard!! I will definitely buy this if Paizo publishes it in one volume. Go on!!
re.'The Dying Earth'...wait for 'The Eyes of The Overworld'!!
Fixed the links for you.
Fixed the links for you.
Cool,I'm hopeless at all this mumbo jumbo...thanks!
re.'The Dying Earth'...wait for 'The Eyes of The Overworld'!!
I'm halfway through this part now! The sense of humor is overwhelmingly awe-inspiring!
... and how most of his plans backfire in an unexpected and amusing way ... :)
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Cool,I'm hopeless at all this mumbo jumbo...thanks!
Then seriously, clue yourself in. The button is on *every* page you use to post. Click it, and it will show you exactly how to format the link, in a way we *can't* because the markup would be read and changed....
That sounds really harsh, but but Paizo have made it as easy as possible to get this information, and you are just ignoring it now....
Cool,I'm hopeless at all this mumbo jumbo...thanks!Then seriously, clue yourself in. The button is on *every* page you use to post. Click it, and it will show you exactly how to format the link, in a way we *can't* because the markup would be read and changed....
That sounds really harsh, but but Paizo have made it as easy as possible to get this information, and you are just ignoring it now....
Quoted material here....
'This is bold and italics.
Go to Paizo Publishing.
Contact customer.service@paizo.com
- one
- two
This is and this is smaller.
This is for play-by-post threads.
This is a dice expression.'
No,it's not harsh,but not everyone understands this computer stuff...this info above from the 'BBCode tags you can use' button means nothing to me at all I'm afraid. Is this what you mean? (what are BBCode tags?!)Everywhere else on the internet,I just copy the link and paste it on wherever,why is it different here? Anyway,thanks for the help! I wasn't ignoring it,I don't understand it.
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Yes, that's what I mean.
Look at what you copied, and pasted, and look at the results. What you copied and pasted, is in effect instructions on how to bold text, how to create links etc etc. Stuff some boards do for you.
The answer for why you have to do it yourself is......The boards here use custom software, so that the store can be integrated into the boards, and you can have threads on the product page. That means that Paizo can't just use the other software that does the fancy stuff, and they have only two full time programmers.....Other things get priority.
Yes, that's what I mean.
Look at what you copied, and pasted, and look at the results. What you copied and pasted, is in effect instructions on how to bold text, how to create links etc etc. Stuff some boards do for you.
The answer for why you have to do it yourself is......The boards here use custom software, so that the store can be integrated into the boards, and you can have threads on the product page. That means that Paizo can't just use the other software that does the fancy stuff, and they have only two full time programmers.....Other things get priority.
Ok,thanks again. It's understandable about the programmers,the software etc. I know I must seem incredibly stupid,but I still have no idea about the links! I can't see any instructions there on how to do anything at all,just a list of things that mean nothing to me. As I said,I don't even know what a BBCode tag is! Hey,it's not a problem at all,but I'll have another look later and try to understand it anyway! Cheers
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Ok,thanks again. It's understandable about the programmers,the software etc. I know I must seem incredibly stupid,but I still have no idea about the links! I can't see any instructions there on how to do anything at all,just a list of things that mean nothing to me. As I said,I don't even know what a BBCode tag is! Hey,it's not a problem at all,but I'll have another look later and try to understand it anyway! Cheers
Ok....A BBCode Tag, is.... Well, BB comes from Bulletin Board, the things that predated webforums when the internet existed and the world wide wed didn't.... Code, well, is a code that the server understands, and "tag", means you can stick the code around soem text, to tag it, and the server will apply the code to the text.
So, a bbcode in a simple fashion, make text bold. So if I wand to make this text bold I simply type it, and then put [b] before it, and after [/b] after it. That tells the server to make what I type between appear bold.
As for URLS, some of the tags, take arguments in the case of a url, you put the url in quotes (") after an equals sign, after the [url and before the ]. So url="paizo.com" (but enclosed in square brackets again....) Then stick some text (possibly even the url again and this a [/url] after it. Which is a lot harder to explain than to do.
These boards have a preview function....just play with it, copy the code like you did before, and tweek it, and hit preview, and see what happens. You'll get the hang of it.
P.s. Any chance of getting these posts split off into a separate thread? :)
Ok,thanks again. It's understandable about the programmers,the software etc. I know I must seem incredibly stupid,but I still have no idea about the links! I can't see any instructions there on how to do anything at all,just a list of things that mean nothing to me. As I said,I don't even know what a BBCode tag is! Hey,it's not a problem at all,but I'll have another look later and try to understand it anyway! CheersOk....A BBCode Tag, is.... Well, BB comes from Bulletin Board, the things that predated webforums when the internet existed and the world wide wed didn't.... Code, well, is a code that the server understands, and "tag", means you can stick the code around soem text, to tag it, and the server will apply the code to the text.
So, a bbcode in a simple fashion, make text bold. So if I wand to make this text bold I simply type it, and then put [b] before it, and after [/b] after it. That tells the server to make what I type between appear bold.
As for URLS, some of the tags, take arguments in the case of a url, you put the url in quotes (") after an equals sign, after the [url and before the ]. So url="paizo.com" (but enclosed in square brackets again....) Then stick some text (possibly even the url again and this a [/url] after it. Which is a lot harder to explain than to do.
These boards have a preview function....just play with it, copy the code like you did before, and tweek it, and hit preview, and see what happens. You'll get the hang of it.
P.s. Any chance of getting these posts split off into a separate thread? :)
Thanks,I think I get it now! ;)