Books
See also: Dungeons & Dragons (novels)Independent fiction derived from the Dungeons & Dragons game appeared with the Endless Quest series of books, published by TSR, Inc between 1982 and 1987. These provided a form of interactive fiction in the style of the Choose Your Own Adventure series. The success of the game then sparked an extensive series of authorized novels, initially published by TSR, Inc. The first of these were based upon the Dragonlance campaign setting, released in 1984. There proved to be a lucrative market for these works, and by the 2000s a significant portion of all fantasy paperbacks were being published by Wizards of the Coast, the American game company that acquired TSR in 1997.
Some works have been inspired by the impact of the game upon players and the role of the game in culture:
- Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms, by journalist and gamer Ethan Gilsdorf; a travel memoir about D&D, role-playing games, and other fantasy and gaming subcultures.
- The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange, by novelist Mark Barrowcliffe; a memoir of playing D&D and other role playing games in the 1970s.
- Author Shelly Mazzanoble wrote a humorous self-help guide called Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Dungeons & Dragons: One Woman's Quest to Trade Self-help for Elf-help. This followed her guide book, Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game.
- American Nerd: The Story of My People is Time magazine writer Benjamin Nugent's study of the history and culture of people labeled nerds. It includes insights into why people play and enjoy D&D.
Several characters created for playing Dungeons & Dragons, or games derived from D&D, have later spawned popular fantasy series. Other novels make off-hand references to the game:
- In City of Bones, a novel by Cassandra Clare in her The Mortal Instruments series, the character Simon Lewis makes reference to Dungeons & Dragons.
Read more about this topic: Dungeons & Dragons In Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the word books:
“Americans will listen, but they do not care to read. War and Peace must wait for the leisure of retirement, which never really comes: meanwhile it helps to furnish the living room. Blockbusting fiction is bought as furniture. Unread, it maintains its value. Read, it looks like money wasted. Cunningly, Americans know that books contain a person, and they want the person, not the book.”
—Anthony Burgess (b. 1917)
“If some books are deemed most baneful and their sale forbid, how, then, with deadlier facts, not dreams of doting men? Those whom books will hurt will not be proof against events. Events, not books, should be forbid.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“Ideas are only lethal if you suppress and don’t discuss them. Ignorance is not bliss, it’s stupid. Banning books shows you don’t trust your kids to think and you don’t trust yourself to be able to talk to them.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)