I’ve said multiple times in my prior columns that good tie-in fiction does exist, and that tie-in is a great place to find certain styles of fantasy. I said this in reference to Sword & Sorcery, in particular, but there’s great tie-in fiction of all sub-genres.
Well, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is. Or my fingers, given that I’m typing this. Limiting myself specifically to fantasy, I thought I’d actually recommend a few authors and works, for those of you interested in taking a gander. Unfortunately, some of these are currently out of print, but I don’t think they’re too hard to find.
As always, with me, a couple of quick caveats. One, there are a few authors, such as R. A. Salvatore, that I’m not going to point you to. Salvatore is already a huge name and bestseller both inside and outside of tie-in fiction; odds are you’ve already heard of him, and he certainly doesn’t need any help from me. I’d rather stick to at least slightly smaller names, that you might not already be aware of.
Second, just because something doesn’t appear on this list doesn’t automatically mean I don’t think it’s good tie-in. In addition to the zillions of tie-in books I just haven’t read, I’m very specifically looking for fantasy tie-in that’s not only well done, but also doesn’t require much, or any, preexisting familiarity with the property in question. Since I’m looking at enticing a few of you over, it wouldn’t do you or me any good if I pointed you to a book that wouldn’t make any sense if you didn’t already know Dungeons & Dragons (or whatever property we’re talking about), would it?
So, that said…
Paul S. Kemp’s The Erevis Cale Trilogy. I mentioned Paul in my earlier column, as the guy whose comment got me thinking about tie-in fantasy as a bastion of S&S. Well, he’s also a great contributor to that fact, thanks to his work in the Forgotten Realms series of novels. The character of Erevis Cale has appeared in other works, both short fiction and novel, but his eponymous trilogy is the standout (and, if I’m not mistaken, the most successful). While readers unfamiliar with the Forgotten Realms might miss a few references here and there, they’re quite secondary; the series itself is an excellent gateway, and accessible to most fantasy readers. Even better, Wizards of the Coast is re-releasing the trilogy in omnibus form later this year.
Paul Kidd’s Greyhawk novels, White Plume Mountain, Descent into the Depths of the Earth, and Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Several years back, Wizards of the Coast released a series of novels based–to a greater or lesser extent–on some of their most famous classic D&D adventures. The series had its high points and low points, but far and away the most enjoyable were these three. Kidd’s fantasy is humor-filled, light hearted (without stinting on the darker elements where necessary), and very much a sort of “high-magic/woo-hoo” style. (It’d have to be, given that two of the characters are a kleptomaniac faerie and a sentient hell hound pelt.) It’s not to everyone’s tastes, and I certainly wouldn’t want all the fantasy I read to go that route, but for some books–including these–it works. The books are just a blast to read.
P. N. Elrod’s Ravenloft novels, I, Strahd and I, Strahd: the War Against Azalin. For those who don’t know, Ravenloft was a setting published by TSR (the company that owned D&D before Wizards of the Coast); it was their attempt at creating a horror setting for the fantasy property. Like most D&D lines, the Ravenloft line had some very high points and some very low ones, but I’d say that these are among the highest. They detail the story of Count Strahd von Zarovich, vampire lord of Barovia. And while yes, Strahd began existence as a blatant Dracula pastiche, Eldrod’s novels made him something at least a little bit more–and they did so via some very well-written stories. I actually prefer the sequel to the first one, but they’re both very good (and anyway, you wouldn’t want to read ‘em out of order.
Say, what’s with the first initial “P” when it comes to these things? Just noticed that; weird…
I’ve heard some good things about some of the latest novels based on the Warhammer property (another fantasy RPG with a much darker, grittier bent than D&D), but I can’t speak to that personally, as I haven’t read them yet. I’ve also recently learned that Paizo is going to be publishing fiction based on their Pathfinder RPG. Again, I can’t speak to the books–given that they’re, y’know, not out yet–but I have high hopes. Some of the authors include the aforementioned Paul Kemp, as well as Elaine Cunningham (the author of some of the best Forgotten Realms novels, and who didn’t make the above list solely because, at least as I remember them, her novels require a bit more preexisting knowledge of the setting than Kemp’s). Given that, and the word on the grapevine that the Pathfinder novels are going to be relatively narrow in scope, focusing on more personal/local stories and less on world-shattering events, I have every reason to believe that these books will be both worth reading and readily accessible to newcomers.
Finally, while it wouldn’t have been at all appropriate for me to mention it as one of my “main” suggestions above, since we’re talking about “gateway books” I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my own Agents of Artifice, written as a tie-in to Magic: the Gathering. Obviously, I can’t speak without bias to the quality of the book, but I will say that it was specifically and deliberately written to serve as a jumping-on point for people unfamiliar with MtG. People who have never even heard of the game should have little if any difficulty picking it up and enjoying it.
Give any of the above a shot, and I really don’t think you’ll be disappointed. They certainly put the lie to any claim that “all tie-in is bad.” And as I said, there are plenty that I haven’t yet read (or, alas, neglected). So those of you who have read and enjoyed gaming fantasy tie-in novels–specifically those that’d be accessible to newcomers without knowledge of the game–what are they? Who wrote ‘em? Help spread the word and expand my list.
Next Tuesday marks the release of The Conqueror’s Shadow, my own first non-tie-in publication. So depending on what comes to mind, I may talk about that a little bit next weekend, rather than more RPG-related stuff. Or I may not. I’m wacky that way.
