On this day, August 7, 1960, American actor David Duchovny was born in New York City. Beloved as FBI agent Fox Mulder on the long running television series The X-Files, Duchovny inspired audiences worldwide to want to believe in the supernatural. With the congressional UFO hearings fresh off the news cycle, if there was ever a moment to lean into Mulder’s ethos, it’s now!
As part of Special Collections' extensive comic collection, we hold several of The X-Files comics (a gift from our friend James Lowder) published by Topps Comics between 1995-98. The comics are a spin-off of the first season of the television series and are packed with all the dramatic pauses, spooky plot twists, and witty banter viewers are accustomed to. Topps intended to adapt every episode, but never made it into season two citing challenges with The X-Files creator Chris Carter who diligently scrutinized rough drafts.
The X-Files comics had a renowned staff of artists including Gordon Purcell (known for his Star Trek work), Charles Adlard, and cover artist Miran Kim. Our issues were written by Stefan Petrucha, John Rozum, and Wisconsinite Kevin J. Anderson. Their artistic interpretations of the series capture the actors’ deadpan humor and Scooby-Dooish stories, staking their claim within the comic world and placing The X-Files within publishing history. There is no shortage of collectibles for The X-Files fandom, but we are happy to share our few contributions with you in celebration of David Duchovny’s birthday.
We couldn't resist placing this David Duchovny action figure on the moon. The figure belongs to our department head Max, who keeps it in his office along with other dorky items, and the backdrop is a chromolithographic page spread from our copy of Bilder-Atlas der Sternenwelt, published in Esslingen bei Stuttgart by J. F. Schreiber in 1888. Photoshop credit goes to our department manager Alice.
Weird fiction lovers. Cosmic horror aficionados. Call of Cthulhu cultists!
The fine folks at Chaosium Inc. and I are offering my story "Stained Windows" (from the anthology Madness on the Orient Express) for free reading.
It's train caper. It's a gentleman thief story (in the Arsène Lupin tradition). It's a lot of Cthulhu Mythos references and a dip into the surreal. It's also a little nod to the film Dark City. Check it out!
We have jam packed episode for you this time around! We kick things off with a couple of unusual Beginning Readers books from Chaosium, R. J. Ivankovic Dr. Seuss-esque adaptations of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Call of Cthulhu and Dagon. We also discuss the new Call of Cthulhu Starter Set, a box set packed with short scenarios and an introductory version of the rule meant to be a gateway for beginning RPG players. Finally, we have a long chat with James Lowder (Ring of Winter, Prince of Lies) about his work at Chaosium, as well as his long history in the RPG industry as an author, fiction line editor and game designer. Interesting anecdotes abound!
[[ A new title appeared on publication websites today. Timeless by R. A. Salvatore is slated to be released on Sep 18, 2018 through HarperCollins. Earlier, a book synopsis was posted with the page count, book dimensions and ISBN on Edelweiss’ entry for Timeless, but it has since been taken down at Salvatore’s request.
Before it disappeared, the synopsis read:
At long last, New York Times bestselling author R. A. Salvatore returns with one of fantasy’s most beloved and enduring icons, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden, in an all-new trilogy full of swordplay, danger, and imaginative thrills
Centuries ago, in the city of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, the City of Drow, nestled deep in the unmerciful Underdark of Toril, a young weapon master earned a reputation far above his station or that of his poor house.
The greater nobles watched him, and one matron, in particular, decided to take him as her own. She connived with rival great houses to secure her prize, but that prize was caught for her by another, who came to quite enjoy the weapon master.
This was the beginning of the friendship between Zaknafein and Jarlaxle, and the coupling of Matron Malice and the weapon master who would sire Drizzt Do’Urden.
R. A. Salvatore reveals the Underdark anew through the eyes of Zaknafein and Jarlaxle—an introduction to the darkness that offers a fresh view of the opportunities to be found in the shadows and an intriguing prelude to the intriguing escapes that lie ahead in the modern-day Forgotten Realms. Here, a father and his son are reunited and embark on adventures that parallel the trials of centuries long past as the friends of old are joined by Drizzt, Hero of the North, trained by Grandmaster Kane in the ways of the monk.
But the scourge of the dangerous Lolth’s ambitions remain, and demons have been foisted on the unwitting of the surface. The resulting chaos and war will prove to be the greatest challenge for all three.
There’s still much uncertainty, and the many questions abound can only be answered definitively with officially released information as the release date draws closer. Salvatore and anyone else in the know are bound by NDAs to not reveal anything, be it confirmation or denial. When asked about the appearance of this new title, Salvatore had this to say:
This kind of placeholder has been put up a dozen times before for me (even in negotiations, a publisher will often slot a potential book) and I've never heard a peep.
Furthermore, James Lowder added:
To further emphasize that nothing can be known for certain currently, Lowder explained:
When asked why the placeholder already has a name, Lowder further explained:
However, here is what we do know, some of which are recaps of things that I’d already shared in the past:
- Wizards of the Coast stopped renewing novel contracts in 2016, leading many to believe that the Forgotten Realms novel line was officially dead. The total number of novel releases had already been massively cut down from what they were in the past. There was no news of anything on the horizon following the “final” book releases from Erin M. Evans, Ed Greenwood, and R. A. Salvatore. Furthermore, these books had conclusive tones, which further supported the theory that novels were being stopped. It wasn’t until late last year, October 6, 2017, did D&D Director Nathan Stewart reveal in a Fireside Chat session that new fiction was definitely forthcoming. Aside from this, there’s been no information.
- Timeless will be published by HarperCollins, whose website includes “drizzt” in the URL (see above screenshot from HarperCollins’ website, Harper Voyager). This would be the first time that we’re seeing an official Forgotten Realms novel published by someone other than WotC. While WotC and TSR before it published their own novels, WotC is owned by Hasbro, which is a game company that probably isn’t the best suited for (or most interested) in novel publication. WotC has licensed its intellectual property through other publication companies in the past, and it’s not unusual for a game company to license its novels to other publishers.
- In the past, there had been Forgotten Realms novels that were similarly previewed and set up for publication, but ended up never released to the public (i.e. Shores of Dusk). Work had always been put in to the point of draft manuscripts first.
- Hero was released on October 25, 2016, and along with Maestro, released on April 5, 2016, offset the March/September release schedule for the biannual Drizzt book releases by a month. Timeless, slated to be released on September 18, 2018, would recommence the original publication schedule. Salvatore takes a little under a year to write a novel, and the release date is for 7 months from now.
- Salvatore has long expressed interest in writing a Jarlaxle and Zaknafein prequel, however publication of such a work had been rendered difficult by both the termination of the novel contracts as well as WotC’s stance on focusing in the current timeline moving forward and not backtracking to revisit older lore. However, workarounds to this policy do exist, in which past lore was revisited alongside present lore, as seen in Ed Greenwood’s Elminster in Hell.
So, what does all of this mean? Here is my personal take on it. Please note that the following is SPECULATION. While I try to make my most educated guesses, I don’t know any more than what I’ve presented already in this post.
I believe that we are indeed seeing the return of the Drizzt franchise. The drow ranger generates revenue, and so long as people continue buying the books, which it looks like they will for the foreseeable future, it would make good business sense to milk the franchise for all that it’s worth. Salvatore also likely wouldn’t need to prepare as much as he usually does when writing a new book, he probably has Jarlaxle and Zaknafein prequel material already written, so it’s just a matter of splicing that into new material that he writes of Jarlaxle, Zaknafein and Drizzt adventuring together, which the now-deleted synopsis suggests will happen in Timeless.
The fact that a release date and a plotline have both been announced most likely means that there is a legally binding contract that exists. Whether Salvatore has signed it yet or not is another matter. It also makes a lot of sense for WotC to contract an experienced book publisher to handle their future novel releases. This allows them to satisfy the consumer base that demands more novels, gather revenue from this consumer base, and not have to delegate as many resources to handling something that they’re not as well-equipped to handle as a company that’s completely set up for it. It’d be a win-win all around for them.
The timeline for the “present time” as described in the synopsis for Timeless is a little odd, because while the mention of demons aligns with the Rage of Demons storyline and where Hero left off, it’s pretty old as far as the current Forgotten Realms setting is concerned. The world has moved far away from the threat of the demon princes to frost giants and then the death curse in Chult. While it isn’t unusual for the Drizzt books to drag behind the “current” campaign setting of the Realms, and it even makes sense for it to do so especially with two years away, it’s still a little strange, given WotC’s stance. Furthermore, a lot of loose ends were wrapped up, some of them all too cleanly and conveniently, that the thought of starting anew is a bit awkward and contrived. For instance, when we last saw, Catti-brie is pregnant with Drizzt’s child, and to me, it seems unlikely that he’d leave her side even if it is to fend off the threats to the world. The Companions of the Hall have their own lives now, with Regis settling down with his beloved Donnola Topolino and Bruenor ruling Gauntylgrym with his twin queens at his side. The Companions of the Hall might not assemble, for the synopsis suggests that it’s only Jarlaxle, Zaknafein and Drizzt going out and about, but if the CotH were to rise and be the heroes they were once more, they, like Drizzt, would be uprooting themselves to once again pursue the habits of a previous life, which I think is very unlikely. But, much of Salvatore’s plot choices have stopped making sense to me for a while now, so I suppose we’ll just have to wait to see how that goes.
I can’t help but feel a sense of dread at how much this new endeavor is an act of fan service. Similar to Drizzt’s fight with Grandmaster Kane, in which he shouldn’t have had a chance at all, Drizzt, Jarlaxle and Zaknafein traveling together to fight the forces of evil seems to be more of that cool thing that people want to see rather than making logical sense. As always, I hope that I’m proven wrong. ]]
Knight of the Black Rose is the second Ravenloft novel and mainly serves the function of transporting the most interesting character from the Dragonlance novels, Lord Soth, from Krynn to the Demiplane of Dread. In this, it is a bit of a fish out of water story and you could probably hold it up as the kind of cross-selling that would eventually doom TSR. Thankfully, it is also, essentially, a what-if novel pitting Darth Vader against Dracula. If that prospect doesn’t excite you, I suspect you are dead inside.
[[ Hey look, it’s a Drizzt novel! But probably a title that you’ve never seen before, right? The reason for this is that Shores of Dusk was cancelled before it was ever published, despite having been fully readied for publication, including being advertised in the Dragon magazine. Below is the original promotional blurb for this book:
In the years between Siege of Darkness and Passage to Dawn, the legendary Drizzt traveled Faerun before returning to Icewind Dale. Though he didn't go back to Menzoberranzan, he did journey through the underdark... and found that the evilness of drow was not exclusive to the land of his birth.
So, you’re probably wondering, why was the plug pulled on this book before it ever saw the light of day? The simple answer: it was a Drizzt book not written by Salvatore, assigned instead to Mark Anthony during a time when Salvatore and TSR had a falling-out. The publication was cancelled at the last minute because if it had gone through, it would’ve meant that Salvatore would’ve never wrote Drizzt again.
In the words of Mark Anthony:
I'm constantly surprised how many emails I still receive regarding SHORES OF DUSK. It seems a number of people remain curious about what happened to the book. So, yes, feel free to post this reply to your mailing list, if you think others will be interested.
The story behind SHORES OF DUSK and its eventual cancellation is really pretty simple, at least from my end of things. A few years ago, after he began writing for Del Rey, R. A. Salvatore was unable to come to an agreement with TSR to keep writing the Drizzt series. I'm not aware of the exact reasons for this--you'd have to ask Bob about that. One factor might have been a "no-compete" clause in his contract with Del Rey. (This is quite common--publishers usually want their authors to write only for them.) There may have been other factors, such as compensation. (At the time, TSR was in pretty dire financial straits.)
Regardless, Brian Thomsen, then Executive Editor at TSR, approached me to write a new novel starring Drizzt. Brian was of course familiar with my writing, as I had done several novels for TSR, and I he had previously assigned me to write a novella set in the Drizzt milieu as a sort of test, which I apparently passed ("The Fires of Narbondel" in REALMS OF THE UNDERDARK). I'll be honest--writing about Drizzt was not my idea, and it was not something I would have sought out myself, but Brian asked me, and so I accepted.
I wrote what I thought was a fun and interesting novel, trying to be as sensitive to the characters and worlds Bob Salvatore had created as I possibly could. It was without doubt the most difficult book I had ever written for TSR, as I worked hard to stay true to Bob's earlier novels. It was also made difficult by the fact that Bob was clearly unhappy that someone else was writing a novel about Drizzt. Not that I could really blame him--but therein lies the danger of writing in a licensed world like the Forgotten Realms.
Anyway, as things turned out, just months before SHORES OF DUSK was to be published, TSR was bought (and saved from bankruptcy) by Wizards of the Cost. Brian Thomsen was replaced as editor by Mary Kirchoff (who had headed up the book department before him). She managed to work out a deal with Del Rey that allowed Bob Salvatore to write for both publishers, and Bob was still interested in writing Drizzt novels. With Bob back, there was no need for my novel, and so the project was canceled. I did get paid for it, but obviously only a fraction of what I would have gotten had it seen publication.
It was disconcerting, of course, to have the book canceled so close to publication. Ads for it had already appeared in Dragon Magazine! But I can't blame Mary for her decision. The Drizzt novels were TSR's biggest asset, and a Drizzt novel by Bob Salvatore is certainly worth more than one by anyone else, no matter how well written or researched it might be. So I certainly bear TSR/WotC no hard feelings in the matter.
In fact, later on, Mary Kirchoff offered me a Forgotten Realms trilogy, which was very kind of her. However, I had to turn the project down. By that time, I had sold my own fantasy series to Bantam Spectra, and I had neither the time to write a trilogy for TSR, nor could I legally do so, given the no-compete clause in my own contract with Bantam. And the fact is, I'd much rather write novels set in my own worlds starring my own characters.
So everything turned out well in the end. Bob Salvatore got to keep writing Drizzt, which I'm sure his fans appreciate. And I got to write my own fantasy series. It's doing well by the way. The third of six books, THE DARK REMAINS, is due out February 27th. I'm glad to hear people enjoyed the books I wrote for TSR, and I believe my current books are a big leap above those in quality, so I hope you'll check them out. You can learn more at my web site: http://www.thelastrune.com
Well, I hope that answers your questions. Feel free to pass the word along to others. And if you have any further questions about SHORES OF DUSK, please direct them to Mary Kirchoff at TSR/WotC.
Anthony’s story is an incomplete one, as it was apparently the case that all the involved parties did not have the chance to compare notes on this project. TSR editor James Lowder clarified:
Mark is incorrect in both his "guesses" here--that the reason Salvatore and TSR had parted ways for a time was either because of a non-compete clause or because of financial demands on anyone's part. The non-RAS Drizzt book assignment was offered to writers as a way for TSR mgmt.to punish Salvatore over a non-financial business disagreement.
Meanwhile, years later Salvatore had this to say on the subject:
Furthermore, Lowder revealed:
I personally would’ve liked to read Shores of Dusk, in no small part due to the disillusion that I personally feel over Salvatore’s handling of the franchise that he helped create. If you’re like me, you can sort of experience that in Anthony’s “The Fires of Narbondel”, which does exist in publication in Realms of the Underdark. If you’re looking for a more complete representation of a non-Salvatore Drizzt, you’re unfortunately out of luck, for as Philip Athans, another Forgotten Realms author and editor for Wizards of the Coast, explained:
Prince of Lies is James Lowder’s D&D masterpiece and, perhaps, the best D&D novel ever written. The novel is a follow-up to the not very good Avatar trilogy (sorry) and deals with the divine fallout of the events in those books. It is primarily concerned with the machinations of two humans turned gods, with Cyric, the god of death and strife, attempting to visit revenge on Mystra, the goddess of magic. As befits divine politics, there’s a lot going on in the book, with many characters providing a number of perspectives, some of which verge on omniscience. In this, it is very similar to the grand narrative approach Lowder took with Spectre of the Black Rose.
Gods crop up a lot in D&D, but rarely are we provided, as both players and readers, a clear insight into how they think and operate. That’s the real magic of Prince of Lies – these gods seem to act in a way removed from the mortal characters in the novel, yet in a way that remains comprehensible to readers. Lowder’s attempt at portraying omniscience is particularly fascinating and perhaps the best I’ve encountered. And while Troy Denning’s Lady of Pain novel is also fascinating, I can think of no book that does justice to the themes of Planescape and the D&D cosmology as well as Prince of Lies.
