Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sorcerer's Apprentice : Issue 9/10 - Winter/Spring 1981

Editorial

TROLL TALK: by Liz Danforth

Fiction

Thelinde's Song : by Roger Zelazny

God & Golem, Inc. : by Al Sirois

Endgame : by Victor Milan

Articles

Farmers, Chieftains, Bards, & Pirates : by Keith Taylor

The Cruelest Cut of All : by David F. Nalle

The Heroic Barbarian : by L. Sprague de Camp

In Alien Tongues : by C.J. Cherryh

Valkyries : by Laurence Gillespie

Them Black Powder Blues : by J. E. Coplin

Gaming

Wild Ride: T&T mini-solo adventure : by Bob Webber

Time in the Campaign : by Dean H. Judson

The Rainbow Wood and More : by Larry DiTillio

If You Can't Trust Your Banker : by Paul O'Connor

The Tomb of Axton: T&T GM Dungeon : by Paul O'Connor

Features

Arcane Graffiti : by Michael Stackpole et. al.

Queries & Quandaries

Letters

Weapons Shop : by L.J. Harris

Puzzle Answers

Contest Results

Khazan Attitude Survey : by Ken St. Andre

Troll Talk by Liz Danforth - Winter/Spring 1980

Why a double issue? One you had to wait almost six months for? Well, it's not because we were running behind time on #9. That was all ready to go on schedule. And not because we were feeling lazy or because we were too crushed under other projects (though it seems we always are). The reasons are a bit too twisted to go into any detail, but the end result was that it was considerably advantageous not to publish an issue between December and March. So we saved up everything that had already been done for SA9, and arranged to print this double issue instead - and here we are (finally)!

Speaking of "crush of projects" . . . in the last editorial I mentioned we had quite a few projects on the burner. Several people asked what the projects were, when they'd come out, how much everything was going to cost, and when could they buy them! Unfortunately, I can't write up a list like that. It would be out of date and criminally erroneous within weeks. Moreover, that's what "Arcane Graffiti" is all about - news and new releases from other companies and from us. But our plans often go astray - if you look in AG this issue you'll see a note that Sea of Mystery (Solo 14) won't be out until April. When we noted it in SA8, it looked like there would be no stopping a January release . . .

Things should start improving, though, now that we have two more people helping out part-time. We ought to be able to dig down to the layers labelled "get to these when you can" . . .

On another subject, one of our fellow gaming magazines recently asked (albeit indirectly), "I wonder what happened to the relationship between Flying Buffalo and Ken St. Andre?" Apparently this question came up in response to the news that Ken had written Toughest Dungeon in the World for Judges Guild, and is in the middle of two projects for the Chaosium. The answer is perhaps disappointingly simple: nothing has happened. Ken is a prolific and capable writer/designer and because he lives in Phoenix, he brings a lot of his material here. He has a vested interest in T&T, naturally. But he does not submit everything he writes to Buffalo, nor does anyone here expect him to. Neither is Buffalo under any obligation to print what any of us write (except my editorial soapboxing, of course! That comes with the costume . . .). Anyway, we have always been happy with Ken's writing, and there's no question we'll publish more from him in the future. For starters, SA11 is slated to contain an article from Ken on Arduin-derived T&T character types. He has also mentioned that he's in the throes of a new solo for us: a murder-mystery/adventure on the streets of Khazan! I suspect there would be even more in the works (for whatever publishers) were it not for his pbm Khazan game which is well underway, but guzzling his free time, all the same. So there you have it - all the gory details. Big deal, right?

That's about it for this issue. Until the next one . . . may your dice always fall face up!

-Liz Danforth

Liz Danforth is an artist, writer, and game developer. Her fantastic art and editing skills are a prime shaper of Tunnels & Trolls.
Visit Liz Danforth's website:
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In This Issue

To start with what's not in this issue: the advertised John the Balladeer story from Manly Wade Wellman. It is with considerable distress that I decided not to print the story in this issue - but by the eleventh hour, the artwork still had not arrived. Lee Brown Coye illustrated the tale for us, and despite the most professional precautions, it seems the US Postal misService has devoured the originals. Out of consideration for the unique talents of an author-artist pairing that stretches back to the original Weird Tales, and forward to the award-winning Carcosa edition of Worse Things Waiting, and because I have this naive and childlike fantasy that the USPS will cough up the artwork between now and the publication of issue 11, the story isn't printed here. The story will appear in SA11 - with Lee Brown Coye's incomparable artwork. I hope.

Even without the John story, I think you will enjoy this issue. In the way of fiction, you'll find three short-short tales, all a bit strange. Roger Zelazny's Dilvish is a familiar character in these pages, once again illustrated by the powerful but delicate touch of Stephan Peregrine. Having achieved acclaim in the past as a twisted humorist with pen and ink, AI Sirois has more recently turned his talents to fiction. God & Golem, Inc. is his latest production and bears the traces of someone all too familiar with FRP gaming! Finally in the fiction department is a dark piece of SF - End Game - dealing with an entirely different sort of gaming. The author is Victor Milan, who has co-authored the War of the Powers trilogy with Robert Vardeman.

C.J. Cherryh is well known for her Faded Sun novels, and her uncanny ability to depict a reaIistic, believable, but utterly alien people. One aspect of this is explored in her article, In Alien Tcmgues. L. Sprague de Camp is another name with which I'm certain you are all familiar - needless to say, he has more than a passing familiarity with "barbarians" as found in fiction and in the real world. His article, The Heroic Barbarian, may upset a few fond fantasies. Keith Taylor is an Australian, but his heart is firmly planted in the soil of Erin. Many of our fantasy traditions derive from the Celtic mythos, and Farmers, Chieftains, Bards & Pirates provides a long look at the Celtic peoples. His familiarity with the time period has supplied the background for his fantasy novel Bard, forthcoming from Ace.

The list goes on and on, and my recommendation is to jump into the issue - there's a look at the introduction of firearms into sword-and-steel Europe by J.E. Coplin, two Know Your Foe offerings, another dramatization from Larry DiTillio's Greysmoke dungeon, and some comments on the gold standard in T&T. A little of something for everyone. Good reading!