Author: Scott Casper

Compiled by Scott Casper (scvolstagg@visto.com), 1999-2001
From the original by Gary Gygax, 1979
Used with Permission. Do not repost without obtaining prior permission from the author.

The following is drawn from the inspirational reading list at the back of the Dungeon Masters Guide by Gary Gygax. While intended at the time for a general audience of D&D players, the Bibliography was in fact a telling glimpse into the mind of the creator of the World of Greyhawk. A devout reader and science fiction fan, much of what Gary Gygax read in the 1970's found its way in some form or another into the D&D rules, the AD&D rules, and his own, the original, Greyhawk campaign.

Inspiration generally fell into two categories -- specific ideas that made their way into game mechanics, and story ideas that became the templates for most game scenarios. Specific ideas can be found in Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions, from which the D&D concepts of paladins, gnomes, and trolls were directly taken from. Jack Vance's magic system became D&D's magic system. Story ideas would come from the works of Andre Norton, whose books were always about personal quests (Gygax typically DMed for small groups when running Greyhawk) and Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars series (Barsoom was even the setting for one famous Greyhawk solo adventure, and Barsoomian monsters cameoed in the original D&D rules).

Sadly, this is not a comprehensive bibliography of every work, or even every author, cited in the original bibliography. I have limited it to what stories I could easily acquire from my local libraries, though admittedly I could have acquired much more in time through interlibrary loan. There are some glaring errors that I can only shrug at. My library has an appalling lack of Jack Vance novels. I have had to leave Fred Saberhagen off the list, as I cannot tell what books he would have written before 1978 that could have inspired D&D. He had not yet written the Book of Swords books, and the Beserker series is too "hard sci-fi" for D&D. At the opposite extreme, I have snuck Clark Ashton Smith onto the list. Although curiously missing from the Bibliography, Smith's short stories undoubtedly inspired Greyhawk features like Wastri, the hopping prophet.

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1961, 1953. 191p.
"When Holger Carlsen, Danish-born...returned to his homeland in 1943....What he did not know was that he would become involved in...the struggle between the forces of Law and the forces of Chaos..."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. A Princess of Mars. New York: Ballantine, 1979, 1912. 159 p. Mars series, book 1.
"Suddenly projected to Mars, John Carter found himself Captive of the savage green men of Thark. With him was Dejah Thoris, lovely Princess of Helium. And between them and rescue lay a thousand miles of deadly enemies and unknown dangers."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Gods of Mars. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, 1913. 190 p. Mars series, book 2.
"After the long exile on Earth, John Carter finally returned to his beloved Mars. But beautiful Dejah Thoris, the woman he loved, had vanished. Now he was trapped in the legendary Eden of Mars -- an Eden from which none ever escaped alive."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Warlord of Mars. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, 1913. 158 p. Mars series, book 3.
"Far to the north, in the frozen wastes of Polar Mars, lay the home of the Holy Therns, sacred and inviolate. Only John Carter dared to go there to find his lost Dejah Thoris. But between him and his goal lay the bones of all who had gone before."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Thuvia, Maid of Mars. New York: Ballantine Books, 1981, 1916. 158 p. Mars series, book 4.
"When unknown raiders seized Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth, the chief suspect was Cathoris, son of the Warlord of Mars. Yet only Cathoris could rescue the woman who had spurned his love."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Chessmen of Mars. New York: Ballantine Books, 1979, 1922. 341 p. Mars series, books 5.
"Held captive by grotesque bodiless heads, Princess Tara of Helium was rescued by a warrior who dared not reveal his name. But escape led the daughter of the Warlord of Mars into even more loathsome peril -- as the prize in a bloody game of living chess."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. A Fighting Man of Mars. New York: Ballantine, 1989, 1930. 239 p. Mars series, book 7.
"Warrior Tan Hadron's hunt for the abductors of the woman he loved led him to a conquest-crazed warlord in command of an invincible weapon that threatened all of Barsoom. There was only one defense against it -- and the man who held the secret was insane."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Swords of Mars & Synthetic Men of Mars. Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1966. 345 p. Mars series, books 8 & 9.
"...John Carter...travels to the city where the dreaded assassins' guild has its headquarters. There he encounters the brilliant and evil inventor Fal Siva....And there John Carter learns that Ur Jan, the...leader of the assassins, has abducted the...princess Dejah Thoris..."
"John Carter sets out to find Ras Thavas, the only man on the planet able to heal the broken body of his beloved wife....Carter braves all...dangers before he...finds Ras Thavas -- only to discover that the scientist is trapped by a horror he himself created..."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. At the Earth's Core. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1914. 152 p. Pellucidar series, book 1.
"...Dr. Abner Perry built 'The Iron Mole,' a huge rocket-powered burrowing machine...Along with David Innes, the...backer of the project, Perry set the giant machine in motion...only something went... wrong....the pair cut clear through to the center of the earth -- breaking into Pellucidar, a hidden land....Just out of their craft...the two...explorers were taken prisoner by a tribe of...creatures who held all humans as slaves. But Perry and Innes learned...their...captors were controlled by a greater power...the Mahars. Half-bird, half-lizard, the Mahars kept their savage world in a grip of icy fear through...mass telepathy."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Pellucidar. New York: Ballantine, 1990, 1915. 182 p. Pellucidar series, book 2.
"David Innes had left...Pellucidar in search of weaponry that could free the natives from the rule of the...Mahars. But when he returned, he found that his beloved Dian, the beautiful empress he was sworn to protect, had been kidnapped."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Tanar of Pellucidar. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, 1929. 229 p. Pellucidar series, book 3.
"After fifteen years of war, Pellucidar's slavemasters, the dread Mahars, had been conquered. But the young Pellucidarian Empire, ruled by David Innes, was unprepared to face a new menace, the deadly Korsar pirates."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Tarzan at the Earth's Core. New York: Ballantine Books, 1974, 1930. 191 p. Pellucidar series, book 4 (and Tarzan series, book 13).
"...Tarzan and David Innes discover an inner world of perpetual daylight, rolling oceans and vast land surfaces peopled with monsters of unbelievable size and ferocity....Because of the stationary sun and the lack of proper horizons, Tarzan's usually infallible sense of direction is confused, and when he becomes separated from the rest of his party, the Lord of the Jungel, for the the first time in his life, discovers that he is lost...lost in a primeval land teeming with gigantic killers!"

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Back to the Stone Age. New York: Ballantine, 1990. 230 p. Pellucidar series, book 5 (previous title: Seven Worlds to Conquer).
"When the dirigible...left Pellucidar....Lieutenant Von Horst was left behind....Lost and alone, hunted by man-eating reptiles, he managed...to stay alive, only to be enslaved by a tribe of savages."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Land of Terror. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, 1944. 186 p. Pellucidar Series, book 6.
"While returning home from the land of Lo-har, Innes and his men clashed with the warrior women of Oog--and lost. Even if they escaped they would have to face the giant ants of Azar and the vicious slavers of the mysterious Floating Islands of the Ruvans."

Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Savage Pellucidar. New York: Ballantine Books, 1990, 1963. 231 p. Pellucidar series, book 7.
"In a test flight of Abner Perry's new hot-air balloon, Dian...had drifted into the Land of Awful Shadow, where she had been proclaimed the captive goddess of the Lolo Lolo. But her beloved David Innes was unable to help her. The evil king Fash...had captured Innes..."

de Camp, L. Sprague and Fletcher Pratt. The Complete Compleat Enchanter. New York: Baen Books, 1989, 1941-1954. 532 p.
"The Twilight of the Gods is no place for a well-bred young man, not even one like fencing champion Harold Shea, who would try anything once...and magic spells masquerading as a college professor's symbolic logic won't help once they've dumped you in some ridiculously dangerous land of myth and magic..."

de Camp, L. Sprague. The Hostage of Zir. New York: Berkley Pub. Corp., 1977. 213 p.
"Reith...is to take a party of tourists on a guided tour of Krishna, to culminate in a visit to Dur, the capital of the most advanced kingdom on the planet....At the construction site, the party of tourists is caught in an attack by the Witch of Zir and her forces, who are in rebellion..."

de Camp, L. Sprague and Fletcher Pratt. The Land of Unreason. New York: Baen Books, 1987, 1942. 237 p.
"U.S. diplomat Fred Barber is vacationing in Yorkshire when he's kidnapped by a drunken elf -- and wakes up in Fairyland, confronted by King Oberon and Queen Titania! Fairyland...is plagued by a mysterious series of shapings' whereby familiar and charming objects or scenes transform into the grotesque or dangerous..."

de Camp, L. Sprague and David Drake. Lest Darkness Fall & To Bring the Light. Riverdale, New York: Baen Books, 1996, 1939. 336 p.
"Could a man from the 20th century prevent the fall of Rome? When lightning struck and he was hurled backward into the sixth century, the question became anything but academic to Martin Padway..."

de Camp, L. Sprague and David Drake. The Undesired Princess & The Enchanted Bunny. New York: Baen Books, 1990, 1942. 263 p.
"Rollin Hobart thought he was a logical, sensible man -- until he was transported to a world that was perfectly logical but not sensible in the least. Joe Johnson thought he had his hands full ghostwriting a Senators memoirs -- but that was before he fell into the middle of a fairy tale..."

Derleth, August William. The Trail of Cthulu. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1996, 1962. 248 p.
"Starting in legend-haunted Arkham, Massachusetts, Dr. Shrewsbury's occult investigations take him and his companions on voyages of mounting terror to fog-bound London, the Nameless City of Irem in Arabia, the Inca Ruins of Machu Picchu, and finally the drowned city of R'lyeh...."

Lord, Dunsay. The Book of Wonder. 1912.

Lord Dunsany. The Gods of Pegana. 1905.

Lord Dunsany. The King of Elfland's Daughter. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 1999, 1951, 1924. 240 p.
"...[A] book about magic; about the perils of inviting magic into your life; about the magic that can be found in the mundane world, and the distant, fearful, changeless magic of Elfland. It is not a comforting book...and one comes away, at the end, unconvinced of the wisdom of the men of Erl..." (from Neil Gaiman's Introduction, p. xii).

Farmer, Philip Jose. The World of Tiers: Three Complete Novels of Wonder and Adventure; The Maker of Universes, The Gates of Creation, and A Private Cosmos. New York: Tor, 1996, 1965, 1966, 1968. 443 p. World of Tiers series, books 1-3.
"Lord Jadawin, ruler of The World of Tiers, was transported between levels as well as other world by means of transgravitational gates. But now those gates were being sabotaged to permit the entry of alien invaders--Their goal: conquest of The World of Tiers and all the universes created by the Lords" (taken from a separate copy of A Private Cosmos).

Farmer, Philip Jose. The World of Tiers Volume Two: Three Complete Novels of Wonder and Adventure; The Lavalite World, Behind the Walls of Terra, and More Than Fire. New York: Tor, 1997, 1977, 1970, 1993. 544 p. World of Tiers series, books 4, 5, 7.
"...Kickaha, an Earthman, travels, fights, loves his way across the pocket universes. He is the implacable enemy of the decadent and arrogant Lords....And Kickaha's greatest and most deadly foe is the Lord, Red Orc. Now...Farmer concludes this epic series with the ultimate battle between Kickaha and Red Orc, with the entire existence of the pocket universes at stake" (taken from a separate copy of More Than Fire).

Farmer, Phillip Jose. To Your Scattered Bodies Go. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1971. 217 p. Riverworld series, book 1.
"He remembered his death....Then his eyes opened.... Richard Francis Burton had never believed in a life-after-death, but he had dies, and now he was here. The question was, where...and why?"

Farmer, Philip Jose. The Fabulous Riverboat. New York: Berkley, 1986, 1971. 256 p. Riverworld series, book 2.
"Samuel Clemens...dreams of building a great paddlewheeled riverboat on which to travel up The River to its source. He can't start...for a long time because the planet is poor in iron....X arranges to divert a large iron-nickel meteorite into The Valley..." (taken from the Afterword to Gods of Riverworld).

Farmer, Philip Jose. The Dark Design. New York: Berkley, 1986, 1977. 403 p. Riverworld series, book 3.
"Clemens finishes his second boat after many hardships and attempts by others to steal this one....After he leaves, another group at the base builds a dirigible and flies it to the tower. Only one of the crew can get inside the tower..." (taken from the Afterword to Gods of Riverworld).

Leiber, Fritz. The Three of Swords (includes Swords and Deviltry, Swords Against Death, and Swords in the Mist). New York: Nelson Doubleday, 197-?, 1970, 1970, 1968. 496 p. Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series, books 1-3.
"Civilization....All his young life Fafhrd had hungered for it....Cold Corner was no fit place for a man with adventure in his soul. Its women chained men to their will, destroying inner fire with spells....He never expected opportunity to present itself in the form of a seductive actress from the south....Mouse had tried to be all that his master wished, but his spirit did favor swords over wands....The Master was gone now--betrayed by one he'd trusted...and Mouse's darker nature had asserted itself....Only then Mouse, too, was betrayed..."

Leiber, Fritz. Swords' Masters (includes Swords Against Wizardy, Swords of Lankhmar, and Swords and Ice Magic). New York?: Guild America Books, 198-?, 1968. 536 p. Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser series, books 4-6.
"It was a cryptic verse that sent them north to conquer the mountain called Stardock--to 'win...a pouch of stars"....They never anticipated the perils...wonders and horrors of the subterranean sorcerous realm of Quarmall... "When Fafhrd and the Mouser were commissioned to help guard some grain ships...they became caught up in one of the oddest adventures of their careers...one involving intelligent, well-armed white rats, the rodents' strange and lovely mistress, Hisvet, and a man from another world... "Death had a quota to fill--two heroes to dispatch....But Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser managed to escape immediate doom...and then another doom...and another...."

Leiber, Fritz. Fritz Leiber's Farewell to Lankhmar. Clarkston, GA.: White Wolf, 1998, 1988, 1983, 1978, 1977. 271 p. (Previous title: The Knight and Knave of Swords)
"In two short stories, a novelette and a complete novel, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser--both together and in solo adventures--navigate all manner of strange waters. Fafhrd goes sailing through the clouds, and the Mouser as merchant captain saves his wares through forethought that lifts his laden vessel from a watery grave..."

Lovecraft, H. P. Dagon and Other Macabre Tales. Arkham House Publishers, 1965, 1917-1926, 1933, 1936. 448 p.
"All the remaining fiction by H. P. Lovecraft is collected in this...volume, which includes every type of imaginative story in which the author excelled--Dunsanian fantasies, Gothic horror, and tales of the Cthulu Mythos."

Lovecraft, H. P. At the Mountains of Madness. Arkham House Publishers, 1964, 1919, 1924, 1926, 1927, 1931-1933. 458 p.
"Of the...short novels included in the present volume,....'The Case of Charles Dexter Ward' is perhaps Lovecraft's most precisely wrought masterpiece....'The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath' presents an odyssey through the byways of dreamland..."

Lovecraft, H. P. The Dunwich Horror and Others. Arkham House Publishers, 1963, 1920, 1921, 1923, 1925-1928, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935. 433 p.

Lovecraft, H. P. The Lurking Fear and Other Stories. New York: Ballatine Books, 1971, 1924-1926, 1936, 1939. 182 p.
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth, One of Lovecraft's most famous stories. 'A doomed Massachusetts fishing-town whose population is obscenely corrupted....The Lurking Fear, an entire upstate New York clan degenerates into thunder-crazed, shocking creatures..."

Lovecraft, H. P. The Horror in the Museum. Arkham House Publishers, 1989, 1919, 1921- 1924, 1926, 1927, 1928-1936. 450 p.
"...this final...collection includes all known revisions and collaborations undertaken by Lovecraft on behalf of his friends and clients....including such notable contributions to the Cthulu Mythos as 'The Electric Executioner,' 'Out of the Aeons,' and 'The Diary of Alonzo Typer.'"

Moorcock, Michael. The Bull and the Spear. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1973. 158 p. Book of Corum series, book 4.
"A great Winter fell across the earth, and a new age spawned new lords who would be gods: the Fhoi Myore who yearned for death yet could not be slain. Man's only chance to defeat the Cold Gods rested in the hands of one man, he who possessed the spear Bryionak..."

Moorcock, Michael. Elric of Melnibone. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1972. 181 p. Elric Saga, book 1 ( A version of this novel...was published under the title The Dreaming City ...)
"In the ancient land of sorcerous Melnibone, Elric sits upon the Ruby Throne. An albino kept alive by drugs and magic, he is cursed with a keen and cynical intelligence that forces him onto a path few would take willingly eternal adventure."

Moorcock, Michael. The Sailor on the Seas of Fate. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1976. 160 p. Elric Saga, book 2.
"Fleeing through slate hills barren of even the promise of life, Elric and his blade Stormbringer find a dark ship at the edge of a black sea: and thus begins a voyage that will challenge all the champions Time and summon, and more..."

Moorcock, Michael. The Weird of the White Wolf. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1967. 159 p. Elric Saga, book 3 (part of this book originally appeared in ... The Stealer of Souls).
"Now sword and man are one. Elric's awesome loneliness, ironically, is ended. And the Eternal Champion and his blade Stormbringer must go forth through havoc and horror to carve out their Destiny."

Moorcock, Michael. The Vanishing Tower. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1970. 175 p. Elric Saga, book 4 (a version of this novel...was published under the title The Sleeping Princess).
"Elric, cursed and beloved of the Gods, follows his black blade Stormbringer into the Vanishing Tower, gateway to the myriad planes of Earth and time and to the countless h 's that are his destiny."

Moorcock, Michael. The Bane of the Black Sword. New York: Berkley Books, 1984, 1977. 157 p. Elric Saga, book 5.

Moorcock, Michael. Storm Bringer. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1977, 1963. 220 p. Elric Saga, book 6.

Moorcock, Michael. Elric at the End of Time. New York: Daw Books, 1984, 1981, 1978, 1977, 1975, 1964, 1957. 221 p. Elric Saga, book 7.

Moorcock, Michael. Elric: The Stealer of Souls. White Wolf, 1993, 1991, 1977, 1971, 1965, 1962. xii, 625 p. Elric Saga, book 11. Reprinting The Sleeping Sorceress, The Revenge of the Rose, The Stealer of Souls, Kings in Darkness, The Caravan of Forgotten Dreams, and Stormbringer.
"Elric, haunted sorcerer king, albino prince of ruins, faces at last the Armageddon of the multiverse. Chaos and Law have finally tipped the Great Balance, and no mortal hand may restore it. Yet the Eternal Champion holds the key to the future, the new age..."

Moorcock, Michael. The Eternal Champion: A Fantastic Romance. Harper & Row, 1978, 1970. ix, 181 p.
"John Daker...an ordinary human...of the 20th century, is called back...to the land of Necranal by the prayers of King Rigenos. Once there John is dismayed...as he comes to learn that he is the fabled Erekose. His mission is to save the human population from the dreaded Eldren..."

Moorcock, Michael. The Silver Warriors. New York: Berkley Books, 1986, 1973. 220 p.
Sequel to The Eternal Champion
"The black sword is the Champion's sword/The word of the sword is the Champion's Law/The Blade of the sword has the blood of the sun/The hilt of the sword and the hand are one."

Moorcock, Michael. The Sword of the Dawn. New York: Ace Books, 1990, 1968. 173 p. The History of the Runestaff series, book 3.
"In Earth's dim future the Dark Empire had grown more powerful: so powerful that it threatened to destroy even the well protected province of Kamarg....To battle the Dark Empire, Hawkmoon must seek out the legendary Sword of Dawn..."

Norton, Andre. The Crystal Gryphon. New York: Tom Doherty Assoc., 1985, 1972. 255 p.
"Here begins the saga of Kerovan of Ulmsdale, born with the amber eyes and cloven hooves of the Old Ones, who seeks his rightful heritage as Lord-heir of Ulmsdale -- and Lady Joisan of Ithkrypt, proxy-wed to Kerovan, who wears about her neck Kerovan's precious and powerful gift...a small crystal globe..."

Norton, Andre. Exiles of the Stars. New York: Viking Press, 1971. 256 p.
Sequel to Moon of Three Rings.
"As crew members of the Free Trader ship, Maelen, in the furred body of Vors, and Krip Vorlund, who now walked as a Thassa, had put down on the planet Thoth to find themselves in the midst of an explosive civil war..."

Norton, Andre. Ice Crown. New York: Viking Press, 1970. 217 p.
"Service had given a rare order in directing Offlas Keil to land on Cli-o in search of Forerunner treasure; and Keil had given a more startling one in attaching his Roane to the expedition. For Clio was a closed planet..."

Norton, Andre. Iron Cage. New York: Viking Press, 1974. 185 p.
"Thousands of years in the future, a simple tribe of intelligent animals wanders the earth with a young boy, Jony, in their care, until the landing of a spaceship shatters their peaceful lives. Using his wits against sophisticated weapons, Jony defends the People..."

Norton, Andre. The Jargoon Pard. New York: Atheneum, 1974. 194 p.
"Kethan, heir to the House of Car Do Prawn- and all its holdings,- was deeply aware of the unrest and foreboding that filled the ancient land of Arvon. He was aware, too, that something had always set him apart from other men, though he knew not what. Increasingly he longed for freedom..."

Norton, Andre. Trey of Swords. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1977. 180 p.
A Witch-World adventure.
"It is the story of Yonan, half breed warrior and liege to Lord Hervon. On patrol against the gathering Forces of Darkness, Yonan uncovers a strange sword. This, our hero learns, is an ancient sword of mystic power, and he discovers the extent of its strength when he uses it..."

Norton, Andre. The X Factor. Fawcett Crest, 1965. 191 p.
"His name was Diskan Fentress. Son of one of the most famous First in Scouts in the galaxy. But fate had dealt him a cruel blow...it had made him a mutant, an outsider among his own people. And when the studied tolerance of his own kind...became too much to bear..."

Norton, Andre. Ralestone Luck. New York: TOR, 1966, 1938. 245 p.
"Rupert Ralestone is officially the Marquess of Lorne -- but with no family money or prestige, the title is worthless. He and his younger brother and sister return to the old family homestead -- Pirate's Haven. Their only hope is to find the sword that was the family's talisman for generations, the Ralestone Luck..."

Norton, Andre. Year of the Unicorn. New York: Ace Books, 1983, 1965. 281 p.
Witch World, book 3.
"In the year of the Unicorn, the Were Riders came out of the Waste to help the men of the High Hallack beat the Hounds of Alizon from their borders. The Were Riders wore the shape of men, but they were not human. The price of their aid was thirteen beautiful maidens of High Hallack to be taken as brides. Gillan was one of the thirteen. This is her story."

Norton, Andre. Warlock of the Witch World. New York: Ace Books, 1967. 249 p.
Witch World, book 5.
"Kyllan the warrior, Kathea the untried witch, Kemoc, whose powers could surpass all others -- these are the half-Earthling, half-witch-brood family menaced by the sorceries of an unknown enemy. The burden of the struggle fell to Kemoc, who was forced to summon his untested powers in the battle..."

Norton, Andre. Zarsthor's Bane. New York: Ace Books, 1978. 204 p.
Witch World, book 8.
"It bound them all in a mystic web of ancient peril: the man whose madness drove him to seek it; the boy who followed him; the girl and her cat who crossed their path in the wild and lonely reaches of High Hallack -- and the confrontation of magic with magic, power with power..."

Smith, Clark Ashton. "The Seed from the Sepulcher." 1933.

Smith, Clark Ashton. "The Garden of Adompha." 1938.

Smith, Clark Ashton. "Mother of Toads." 1938.

Smith, Clark Ashton. "The Double Shadow." 1939.

Tolkein, J.R.R. The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. New York: Ballantine Books, 1973, 1966, 1937. 304 p.
"Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse unknown dangers."

Tolkein, J.R.R. The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of The Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1994, 1983, 1966, 1955. 1,137 p.
"As the Shadow of Mordor grows across the land, the Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient kings of the West, has joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard..."

Wellman, Manly Wade. The Old Gods Waken. New York: Doubleday, 1979. 186 p.
The first Silver John novel.
"The Raven Mockers came a-drifting to where I could see them again. And once had already been enough, but I shoved close against that rear corner and stuck out just a little piece of my face, to keep watch with one eye. Lord in heaven, how ugly those things were, with their flapping wing-skins..."

Zelazney, Roger. The Chronicles of Amber: Volume I. New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1972, 1970. 338 p. Originally: Nine Princes of Amber and The Guns of Avalon.
"Amber is the one real world, casting infinite reflections of itself -- Shadow worlds that can be manipulated by those of royal Amberite blood. Unfortunately, the royal family is torn by jealousies and suspicions. And the disappearance of the clan patriarch, Oberon, has intensified the conflicts by leaving Amber's throne apparently up for grabs. The CHRONICLES begin in a hospital on the shadow Earth, where a man is recovering from a freak auto accident. Since he is also suffering from amnesia, and has been for some time..."

Zelazny, Roger. The Chronicles of Amber: Volume II. New York: Nelson Doubleday, 1978. 1976, 1975. 434 p. Originally: Sign of the Unicorn, The Hand of Oberon, and The Courts of Chaos.
"[Corwin] meets a sister who speaks in riddles of plots and counterplots.and a brother who abruptly involves him in a life-and-death battle against pursuers from a fearful Shadow world. He discovers a deck of tarot-like cards, with himself, his sister, and strangers whom he guesses to be other relatives, pictured on their faces. Only lingering amnesia keeps him from grasping the full significance of the find." (cont. from previous vol.'s jacket).

Zelazney, Roger. Jack of Shadows. New York: Walker & Co., 1971. 207 p.
"It happened when Jack whose name is spoken in shadow went to Igles, in the Twilight Lands, to visit the....It was there that he was observed while considering the situation of the....The...was a slim urn of silvery fires, gracefully wrought and containing a fist-sized ruby at the uppermost tips of its blazing fingers. These held it in an unbreakable grip, and the gemstone glimmered coolly despite them." (p. 3).