Cookbooks

 We have been surprised at how well themed cookbooks have sold in the store, well except for the Manga Cookbook, which has sat on the shelf for years. We restock the D&D and Critical Role cookbooks regularly and have had to restock the Stardew Valley cookbook 3 times in the past month.

Storyteller's Thesaurus

 If you like writing fantasy and/ or science fiction, you should take a look at the Storytellers Thesaurus and Storytellers Dictionary. Both of them are books designed to help fantasy and SF writers looking for the perfect words.

Monsters of Illinois

 In stock now, Monsters of Illinois is a 122 paperback looking at reputed monsters of Illinois. Written by ntoe paranormal Troy Taylor, Monsters of Illinois looks at the Mad Gasser  of Mattoon, Big Muddy Monster, phantom Kangaroos, out of plce panthers and the Piasa Bird. For only $13, this is a great introduciton to Illinois cryptids.

Used Books

We are going to hold off on expanding our used book section for now. As the staff pointed out, we really do not have room for them in the store without doing some major shifting of products and the used graphic novels move extremely slowly, which does not auger well for expanding further into used product. For now, we will stick with TCG singles and used board and role playing games, though we will take a look at computer and video games if they are in the original box and have the original documentation (and are not sports games).

Dragons of Autumn Twilight Backstory

For those fans of the Dragonlance series, Margaret Weis has reminisced on her Facebook page about the start of the books and some of the backstory behind the publication of Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

TSR, which published the Dragonlance series originally commissioned an author, whose name Weiss does not (or will not) remember to write the books.. The unnamed author did such a poor job on the book that Weis feared TSR would drop the series. She and Hickman wrote the first five chapters over a weekend and turned it over to their editor, Jean Black, who read it only so that she would not hurt their feelings. Black loved what they had written, though, and gave them a contract.

However, Random House, which was TSR's distributor to the book trade, did not have high expectations for the book, telling TSR that, because Weis and Hickman were unknown authors, to not expect more than the first book to sell. TSR, taking this to heart, then pushed Weis and Hickman to end the book on an upbeat note with the wedding of Goldmoon and Riverwind instead of the planned ending, the discovery of the Hammer of Kharas.

Game Design Book

For anyone interested in game design, coming later this fall:

PLG0006

Boardgames That Tell Stories

$32.99 SRP

$19.32 NPI

The Funniest Guide to Game Design & Game Publishing with special guests: Bruno Cathala, Mike Selinker, Vlaada Chvatil, Antoine Bauza, Michal Oracz, and Many Others.

A group of the finest boardgame designers answered Ignacy Trzewiczek’s invitation to take part in creating the book. They shared their anecdotes, tips and memoires, making the book a unique trip over different designing styles,a formidable guide to the world of boardgame creation. Learn about the process of designing such games as Robinson Crusoe, Pathfinder, Hanabi, neuroshima Hex and many others!

268 pages

Of Dice and Men

Of Dice and Men could be subtitled "A Personal History of Dungeons and Dragons".  I have not read a copy yet but will pick one up the next time I am in a bookstore.  One interesting point the author makes is that today's video game industry has its roots in the hours and hours developers spent playing Dungeons and Dragons in their younger years.

The Nazi Occult

Not a new Indiana Jones movie, this is the second entry in Osprey's Dark Osprey line.

A follow up to Zombies:  A Hunter’s Guide.  June of 2013 will see the release of The Nazi Occult, written by Kenneth Hite and illustrated by  Darren Tan.    As the Indiana Jones movies indicate, there is a lot of interest out there still in WWII and Hitler’s reputed fascination with the occult (among other stories, Hitler reportedly ordered the water in the canteens of  his most elite troops come from the werewolf haunted Black Forest, in order to increase their savagery, and Himmler’s Ahnenerbe SS spent untold amounts of time and money in search of the Ark, Spear, Holy Grail or what have you).   There is enough weirdness in the records of the Third Reich that a good book could be written about it (and has, though not recently. Check J. H. Brennan’s The Occult Reich, published in 1974).  Hite, not satisfied with that, at least account to the promotional blub, fictionalizes the story, incorporating Nazi pacts with diabolic entities and the deployment of the first flying saucers, known to American pilots during the war as Foo Fighters (and you thought they were just a band).  Though I would have found a historical retelling of the Nazi interest in the occult, I am looking forward to see what Hite incorporates into the story.

Osprey Myths and Legends LIne

Osprey Myths and Legends should really appeal to the fantasy RPG player who looks to add more “historical” material to their game as, from the promo material, it examines well known mythological and legendary concepts and figures with the attention to detail and array of illustrations that readers expect from Osprey.  First up is Jason and the Argonauts, written by Neil Smith with illustrations by Jose Daniel Cabrera Pena, releasing next March.  Unfortunately, Greek myth while extensively taught in high school and colleges, has never occupied a huge swath of the RPG or boardgaming field.  I don’t have much hope for May’s War of Horus and Set either as  interest in Egyptian mythology, much like Greek, has always proven stronger academically than gamingwise.