The Adventures of Alyx

Appendix N is the literary wellspring of the DCC RPG. Discuss it here, along with related subjects: D&D history, pulp sci-fi/fantasy magazines, pre-genre literature, etc.

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dustle
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The Adventures of Alyx

Post by dustle »

I first read Joanna Russ's The Adventures of Alyx years ago, before I'd read much of the Sword & Sorcery stuff that inspired it, but I just read it again. Good stuff. It's all from the late 60's, early 70's, and it's more character-based rather than plot-based, compared to a lot of other Swords & Sorcery, but Russ is a good writer, and Alyx is a compelling character. One of the early stories has a nod to Fritz Leiber (Alyx apparently was romantically involved with Fafhrd at one point). It's an interesting collection, though, as it moves through different registers. The first couple stories are straight Swords & Sorcery, the third is Swords & Sorcery with a futuristic science fiction element introduced into the Swords & Sorcery world of the first two, the fourth is a futuristic science fiction world with an element of the Swords & Sorcery world introduced into it, and the final story is a metafiction set in the early 20th century with events from the other two eras affecting it. Out of print, but well worth looking into if you want some pre-Gygax fantasy that mixes unusual elements together in an interesting way.
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