The cover of Realms of Magic. On the left is Khelben Arunsun, a black-haired, black-bearded man holding a black staff. In the middle is Elminster, a white-bearded old man in red robes and a big red hat. On the right is some young man carrying a bunch of scrolls and a book.

Realms of Magic

“Another year, another anthology! This year’s theme is ‘wizards and magic,’ and it must be quite the well of inspiration indeed, because there are no fewer than seventeen stories this time around plus a prologue and epilogue.”

The cover of Once Around the Realms. Two portly bearded men sit next to a campfire. In the smoke from their fire can be seen several ghostly faces.

Once Around the Realms

“I’d heard whispered rumours of this book before, sinister intimations that someone had written a Forgotten Realms novel so bad that it would rend your sanity and leave you a gibbering wreck should you dare to peer into its pages for too long. Naturally, like the protagonist of any Lovecraft story, I assumed this was overblown nonsense and plunged right in…”