Free Appendix N Sword and Sorcery Download - Avon Fantasy Reader 05 (1948) For Your Old School Campaigns

So good afternoon its a bit after one here in Connecticut and today I wanted to bring to your attention The Avon Fantasy Reader # 5. They don't get any more important then this one folks. So over the last two years there's been a huge uptick in interest in Swords & Sorcery fiction & science fantasy. There is a ton of stuff here that can be mined here & much of it ties directly in with what I've been doing for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. The Avon Fantasy Readers were always a cut above the rest of the run of the mill stuff back in the Forties & Fifties.
"The Avon Fantasy Reader was a magazine (sometimes classed as a series of anthologies) which re-published science fiction and fantasy literature by now well know authors. Avon strived to bring readers little known stories by then little recognized writers such as H. P. Lovecraft, Ray Bradbury, C. L. Moore, A. Merritt, Murray Leinster and William Hope Hodgson. The Avon Fantasy Reader was published from 1946 to 1952 and had 18 issues in full. A short lived sister publication, Avon Science Fiction Reader, had three issues featuring just science fiction."
This issue has it all! Classic material from across the spectrum of  the science fantasy & sword & sorcery authors.

• "Scarlet Dream" (Northwest Smith series) by C. L. Moore
• "Sambo" by William Fryer Harvey
• "Fane of the Black Pharaoh" by Robert Bloch
• "The Random Quantity" by Carl Jacobi
• "The Gold Dress" by Stephen Vincent Benét
• "The Miracle of the Lily" by Clare Winger Harris
• "In the Court of the Dragon" by Robert W. Chambers
• "A Study in Amber" by Frank Owen (as Richard Kent)
• "The Words of Guru" by C. M. Kornbluth (as by Kenneth Falconer)

Now I mentioned Robert Bloch in my Mythos Memory Wrap Up Commentary For Adapting I5 Lost Tomb of Martek Adventure For The Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns.Well, here's the Robert Bloch tie in with Fane of the Black Pharoah, this one's got it all & its perfect material for mining for your old school sword & sorcery adventures set against HP Lovecraftian mythos.  Ready for a North West Smith tie in for that Astonishing Swords Men & Sorcerers of Hyperborea/ Warriors of the Red Planet campaign? C.L. Moore's Scarlet Dream makes the grade with great Martian retro future action! Carl Jacobi is a master of the Weird Tale and his work with Arkham House was top drawer stuff.  "The Gold Dress" by Stephen Vincent Benét 

is a first rate ghost story with a twist but there's a lot of adventure potential here. 

Then we dive into  "The Miracle of the Lily" by Clare Winger Harris

this is a very important story which is a part of a science fantasy world of lots of adventure potential but one that gets seldom mentioned in D&D circles?!

Robert W.Chambers doesn't need any introduction on this blog and his 'In the Court of the Dragon' ties directly in with several threads running through my OSR adventures.

Players of mine stay the hell out of that link or you will lose experience points!  Frank Owen is a name that's seldom bandied about today in pulp circles and that's too bad because he was good journeyman pulp writer. 

His work has some potential for old school adventures. There are hidden things in the woods and only the Words of Guru by Cyril M. Kornbluth can reveal them. This tale is a gem and first appeared in Stirring Science Stories in 1941. This same author also revealed a certain doctor's bag that  Rod Serling used  for an episode of his Night Gallery series 'The Little Black Bag' . This dramatization starred Burgess Meredith.   

Scene from Night Gallery episode "The Little Black Bag. "

YOU CAN GRAB
The  Avon Fantasy Reader 05 (1947)
RIGHT  HERE

So that's all for today and keep em rolling folks we've got more to come!