Episode Details

Thanks for joining us! This week is a bit of a breather: we're talking about ten books that inspire us for Changeling: the Dreaming. The show notes are therefore pretty straightforward, as we'll just have the list below with a few notes. (You are encouraged to find, borrow, or purchase these books at a library or bookstore, for we will not be linking to a certain bookselling megacorp on this post.) In a more general sense, we're opening a conversation here about media as inspiration; we anticipate talking about another stack of books in the future, but also graphic novels, television, film, even artwork. Given that the game is to some extent about inspiration and story, it seems fitting to think about more than just "books about faeries." How can players and STs get the most out of the media they encounter for their games? What qualifies as a narrative that has something to do with Glamour and Banality, or the other themes of the game? Things to consider for future iterations of this series of episodes...

(Also, we threw in three honorable mentions at the end, because stopping at ten books just wasn't going to happen.)

the list

• Emma Bull, War for the Oaks — Blurb: "Eddi McCandry sings rock and roll. But her boyfriend just dumped her, her band just broke up, and life could hardly be worse. Then, walking home through downtown Minneapolis on a dark night, she finds herself drafted into an invisible war between the faerie folk. Now, more than her own survival is at risk—and her own preferences, musical and personal, are very much beside the point." There was some talk long ago about adapting it for film (to the point that a low-budget trailer got made), but alas, it has not yet come to be...
• John Crowley, Little, Big; or, the Fairies' Parliament — A truly magnificent 25th anniversary edition just came out...which actually makes it a 40th anniversary edition, so how's that for a publishing delay? But anyway, even though that version is frighteningly expensive, you can at least get a sense for the book by reading the first couple chapters here: https://littlebig25.com/.
• Charles de Lint, The Wild Wood — Blurb: "A young artist returns to her cabin in the deep woods of Canada to concentrate on her illustrations. But somehow, strange and beautiful creatures are slipping into her drawings and sketches. The world of Faerie is reaching out to her for help--and she may be its last chance for survival." See an example of the Brian Froud art paired with this book below (used for the cover, in fact).
• Cory Doctorow, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town — This one is freely available for download, presumably because Doctorow is a big proponent of Creative Commons and whatnot: https://craphound.com/category/someone/
• Joanne M. Harris, Honeycomb — Author's website with some Q&A and other information: http://www.joanne-harris.co.uk/honeycomb/
• Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere — Multimedia moment: Neverwhere was actually a TV series first, some of which you can watch for free because some kind soul has put it online (start with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKlsXquUKdA). So technically the novel is a novelization, and we might cover this again for when we talk about TV... but then, it's also been made into a stage play, and a radio drama, and a g