Tunnels & Trolls, Lost Worlds, Ace of Aces, Grimtooth’s Traps, Illuminati PBM are among the more famous fantasy gaming products made by Flying Buffalo - but did you know they published their very own magazine called “Sorcerer’s Apprentice”?
The Kane stories are pretty amazing. I've got the Centipede Press hardcovers and the old SF Book Club anthologies. That Flying Buffalo was able to get Wagner to print a story with them speaks a lot about the short fiction market. I highly recommend the documentary about his life. He was a creative force, but his life is pretty tragic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/296318
What's really interesting is that he was part of a "circle of friends" that included David Drake and Manly Wade Wellman. All of whom are very talented writers, but who have very different world views. For example, in an essay on his site Drake had this to say (https://david-drake.com/2010/manly-wade-wellman/):
"Manly was a lot smarter than I in my arrogance (my stupid arrogance) gave him credit for. As one example that can stand for many (this, by the way, is a peril of a memory as good as mine is: I remember many things that embarrass me with the eyes of hindsight), Manly was adamant that cocaine was an addictive and destructive drug, based on his experience as a police reporter in Wichita. Karl was sneeringly certain of the medical opinion that cocaine was non-addictive.
I bought into the ’scientific truth’. Now, after watching a very close friend as well as a number of acquaintances in the writing community (including Stephen King) lose years and nearly their lives to cocaine, I can only nod to Manly’s memory. Now I know there’s psychological addiction as well as physiological addiction. Manly was right; I was wrong. And that was generally true when we differed on matters of opinion."
Your reaction to finding Wagner stories in Sorcerer's Apprentice reminds me of the reaction I had when I found out that Gary Gygax's company was the first company to public David Gemmell's novel LEGEND.
🤯 Consider my mind blown, AGAIN! Gygax first published Gemmell?! David Gemmell wrote some of my favorite fantasy works that I didn't discover until an adult - another underrated fantasy great that died way too young.
Thank you for the extra info on Karl Edward Wagner. His writing in just the opening paragraphs of that Kane short story drew me in so completely that I've been itching to learn more about him.
Yep. Gygax first published Gemmell (in the US). From Gemmell's Wikipedia page, "Legend (1984) (Originally published in the United States by New Infinities Productions as Against the Horde in 1988,[17] re-released as Legend)."
New Infinities was Gygax's company after TSR and where he published his Gord the Rogue novels. It was likely Don Turnbull, who became CEO of New Infinities, who was responsible for bringing Gemmell over but I don't have a source for that and since Turnbull died in the early 00s I cannot interview him on a podcast.
The Kane stories are pretty amazing. I've got the Centipede Press hardcovers and the old SF Book Club anthologies. That Flying Buffalo was able to get Wagner to print a story with them speaks a lot about the short fiction market. I highly recommend the documentary about his life. He was a creative force, but his life is pretty tragic. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/296318
What's really interesting is that he was part of a "circle of friends" that included David Drake and Manly Wade Wellman. All of whom are very talented writers, but who have very different world views. For example, in an essay on his site Drake had this to say (https://david-drake.com/2010/manly-wade-wellman/):
"Manly was a lot smarter than I in my arrogance (my stupid arrogance) gave him credit for. As one example that can stand for many (this, by the way, is a peril of a memory as good as mine is: I remember many things that embarrass me with the eyes of hindsight), Manly was adamant that cocaine was an addictive and destructive drug, based on his experience as a police reporter in Wichita. Karl was sneeringly certain of the medical opinion that cocaine was non-addictive.
I bought into the ’scientific truth’. Now, after watching a very close friend as well as a number of acquaintances in the writing community (including Stephen King) lose years and nearly their lives to cocaine, I can only nod to Manly’s memory. Now I know there’s psychological addiction as well as physiological addiction. Manly was right; I was wrong. And that was generally true when we differed on matters of opinion."
Your reaction to finding Wagner stories in Sorcerer's Apprentice reminds me of the reaction I had when I found out that Gary Gygax's company was the first company to public David Gemmell's novel LEGEND.
🤯 Consider my mind blown, AGAIN! Gygax first published Gemmell?! David Gemmell wrote some of my favorite fantasy works that I didn't discover until an adult - another underrated fantasy great that died way too young.
Thank you for the extra info on Karl Edward Wagner. His writing in just the opening paragraphs of that Kane short story drew me in so completely that I've been itching to learn more about him.
Yep. Gygax first published Gemmell (in the US). From Gemmell's Wikipedia page, "Legend (1984) (Originally published in the United States by New Infinities Productions as Against the Horde in 1988,[17] re-released as Legend)."
New Infinities was Gygax's company after TSR and where he published his Gord the Rogue novels. It was likely Don Turnbull, who became CEO of New Infinities, who was responsible for bringing Gemmell over but I don't have a source for that and since Turnbull died in the early 00s I cannot interview him on a podcast.
I love learning that kind of deep history - thanks! 🕵️♂️
Really wish you hadn’t said “Dungeons & Dragons” and “escape room” in the same sentence...because now I have to track down and buy a copy.
Haha! I was hoping that statement would pique someone's interest (it sure did for me!) 🕵️♂️
I love all the pen-and-ink illustrations. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Patrick! There's just something about pen-and-ink fantasy illustrations that I can't get enough of. ✒