Come on, folks, it’s Gary Gygax! He co-created DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, set us loose and allowed us to play in his world of Greyhawk, fathered the pencil-and-paper role-playing game, and spawned the universe in which I (and many, many others) grew up, sparking a love of medieval history and game playing that allowed us to proudly define ourselves as nerds. He is a cultural hero.
More than that, he’s a pretty darn good fantasy author. Oh, I knew he was a master at world building, at creating the logical mechanics (think 20-sided die and 700-page rulebooks) that would allow great stories to be told against its backdrop, but he was an excellent wordsmith as well. He wrote seven novels about Gord the Rogue, three novels about an Egyptian crime-solving priest, and this one-off — the last book before his untimely death — INFERNAL SORCERESS.
Likable pair of rogues Ferret and Raker have managed to stumble into a political scheme that threatens to overwhelm them. A local goldsmith has been killed, and they are framed for the murder. The town’s leader and the high priest give them an out: 11 days to find the real culprits and bring them to justice. And thus begins the adventurers’ quest — a traditional fantasy motif, and one that Gygax himself did much to foster in modern times.
Gygax excels in two areas: realistic, bantering dialogue and a luscious, descriptive narrative. His vocabulary is rich, but never overused to the point of pretentiousness. And he gets all the details right, as one could imagine. His thorough description of town and castle defenses is all spot-on, explained quickly and accurately, and gives you the necessary visual to fulfill the story.
This is classic fantasy, well within the lineage of Fritz Lieber, Jack Vance and A. Merritt, all names that meant so much to Gygax. His own is a name that means a lot to those of us of a certain age, who grew up on the game worlds he created. That should be enough to encourage you to buy these books, this one from the small Planet Stories/Paizo Publishing outfit. You won’t be sorry. —Mark Rose
Related posts:
- Exalted: The Carnelian Flame
- Return to Quag Keep
- Swamp Thing: Infernal Triangles
- The Wizard Lord
- The Prestige
