A Dispute with Sanctum Secorum and a Review from Bob Brinkman! (5/9/17)

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     For those of you who are not aware of this, Sanctum Secorum is a podcast reviewing Appendix N literature (the books that inspired the creation of D&D and thus RPGs in general) and the awesome Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG. I am a huge fan. Recently they reviewed Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, and to my horror, none of the reviewers had enjoyed it! They said they were expecting hate mail. I wrote to say that I wouldn't stoop to writing hate mail, but I passionately disagreed with them about the book. Apparently, this got them (or at least Bob Brinkman) curious, and they checked out my work! Pretty cool to find people whom you admire reading your stuff! 

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     They posted THIS in response (which was very cool of them, and I appreciate the good publicity - especially the idea that fellow gamers may hear of my work through this!), which sparked a cool dialogue about some of the specific points of disagreement (mostly what they see as borrowings from Tolkien, I am fairly certain are independent borrowings by Tolkien and Anderson from Old Norse and Old English myth). 

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     Then I found that Bob Brinkman had posted a REVIEW of "The Tale of Halfdanur the Black" on Sanctum Secorum. I don't know if he realizes how awesome that was for me - I've been inspired by Appendix N all my life, or at least since about 1985, and now something I wrote was just reviewed on a website dedicated to Appendix N! That's one of the best compliments I could have received! Here is the text of his review:

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Author Colin Brodd disagreed with our opinion on Three Hearts and Three Lions. We told our listeners to “punish him” by “buying his books – lots and lots of his books.” Now, we didn’t really think that he should be punished (or even scolded)… but we still think folks should check out his books. Of course, I put my money where our mouth is and bought the lot. I am not disappointed.

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Having now read the short story, the Tale of Halfdanur the Black, I’ll go on record as saying that I personally enjoyed this a lot more than I did the book that inspired the discussion. First off, I’m a sucker for oral tradition-style storytelling and this tale certainly qualifies. The author’s tone (Colin…can I call you Colin?) reads in an almost… grandfatherly fashion. It reads like an old Norseman telling the tale, not as if telling a children’s story, but as if telling the story around a roaring fire. I’ve heard my share of stories around the fire, this one would fit right in. This style gives the tale an even more authentic flavor than Brodd’s usage of language (which is often saga-worthy spot on).

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I think my only complaint is that I feel this story would benefit from being heard as opposed to read…and there is no audio available. There are readers who can be scared off by Norse spellings and pronunciations (to them I’d say – you are missing out), but even for those familiar, I think the style of the story is one best heard – although certainly enjoyable as read. This is a story to read aloud to someone, whether your children or your spouse, after you brush up on your pronunciations. Save it for a cold winter’s night.

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The tale itself is imminently satisfying and often quotable. I’m not going to spoil it here. Instead, I urge you, shell out the $1 for the kindle version and introduce yourself to the literary works of a member of our community. You can find Colin on Google+, as well as in the DCCRPG community over there. So, support your local gamer. Especially one as vested in the materials as Colin Brodd. $6 gets you his works (set in Midhgardhur) for Kindle, $21 gets you both of his books in hard copy, and $1, a single dollar, gets you a taste via this short story for Kindle (which is also included in Tales From Midhgardhur, Volume I).

 

     Seriously, spend the $1. It is a small price to pay to discover a new author and make your own decision. For less than the price of a cup of coffee you can be transported away to Noregur – the lands of the Northmenn. Me, I’m thinking that you’ll enjoy it and it might even give you some inspiration for the table.