Author: Gary Gygax Publisher: TSR, 1985, 348 pages I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons since the late 1980s. I knew who Gary Gygax was, of course, but somehow I never knew he wrote books. Until one day at my local Goodwill, I happened to come across the first four books in the Greyhawk world with the first two written by Gygax. I was surprised and excited. … [Read more...]
Reading for Pleasure, Not Judgment
Pleasure reading, which I’ll define as reading when not required to, seems to be a niche activity. Either people are doing it and not talking about it or not doing it at all. Or maybe my introvert circle is too small. Within the pleasure reading community there are, apparently, as I’ve recently discovered, those who only read nonfiction books. I’m not here to tell … [Read more...]
Author Highlight: Andy Weir
This is a tough highlight to debut a new column because Andy Weir is a newcomer and he’s only published two books and one graphic novel so far. But, I’m sure there is more to come. Born in 1972 to parents who loved reading, Weir grew up surrounded by science-fiction literature such as the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. I’ve seen a couple of interviews … [Read more...]
Book Review: The Martian
Author: Andy Weir Publisher: Self/Crown Publishing, 2011/2014, 369 pages There’s a chance you’ve seen the movie The Martian starring Matt Damon and might think, “Why would I read the book if I already saw the movie?” In most cases, you would read the book after the movie to get more information from the source because they always leave out details from the books … [Read more...]
Book Review: Spellfire
Author: Ed Greenwood Publisher: TSR, 1988, 382 pages I was done with high school in 1990, which means I was DONE with being forced to read books I didn’t want to read. I took a couple of years off from novels and focused more on comic books. Then, in 1992, I decided I wanted to read “real” books again. But where to start? Where better than good old Dungeons and … [Read more...]