Maze of Peril by J. Eric Holmes [REVIEW] • Collecting General

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Maze of Peril by J. Eric Holmes [REVIEW]
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Zenopus
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 1:16 pm

Maze of Peril by J. Eric Holmes

A revised version of this review can be found here:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 38&t=16989

There's also information about ordering the book from the publisher in that thread.

Link to J. Eric Holmes Bibliography:
http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewt ... 33&start=0

Last edited by Zenopus on Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:45 am, edited 2 times in total.

grodog
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 6:05 pm

Great summary zhowar1

I was just thinking that I was supposed to be digging through my Holmes materials this weekend, though I don't recall if that was at the request of someone here or over on another site. edit: looks like it was you and I chatting about this, zhowar1

I found my copies of "Confessions of a Dungeon Master" (Psychology Today, November 1980), as well as Holmes' stories from A&E and the one rejected by The Dragon. I hope to write to him again, and secure his permission to host the files on my site (the email he had provided me hasn't worked for some time, so I'm back to epistles!).

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FormCritic
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 9:19 pm

I bought Holmes' 1981 book this weekend in a used book store. Is it valuable in itself, or is it just cool to me?

:? :?

Mark

"But I have watched the dragons come, fire-eyed, across the world."

Zenopus
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 11:53 pm

Thanks, grodog. Yes, I was the one who was curious about which issues of A&E had the Holmes stories in them.

I hope you are succesful in getting back in touch with Holmes! If you do, ask if he has any old campaign materials he'd like to share...

The blurb in Maze of Peril also says he had short stories published in "Bluebook" and "Doppelganger" and articles in "Gameplay", "Spacegamer", and "Beyond".

Zenopus
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 12:12 am

MShipley88 wrote:I bought Holmes' 1981 book this weekend in a used book store. Is it valuable in itself, or is it just cool to me

I really like his book, but I don't think it's worth too much. There's usually one or two on Ebay. Searching Abebooks right now, there are 20 copies available ranging from $5 to $35 plus shipping. Only 6 are in the U.S., 1 in AU, 1 in South Africa, the rest in the UK. I've noticed the same trend on Ebay - more in the UK. Seems like it was more widely available in the UK. Looks like there were two publishers:

Hippocrene, NY, NY, 1981.

Arms & Armour Press, London, 1981.

I don't know if there are any differences in the two. I have only the UK version.

grodog
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:08 am

zhowar1 wrote:I hope you are succesful in getting back in touch with Holmes! If you do, ask if he has any old campaign materials he'd like to share...

Ideally, I hope he'll have materials I'd like to publish

The blurb in Maze of Peril also says he had short stories published in "Bluebook" and "Doppelganger" and articles in "Gameplay", "Spacegamer", and "Beyond".

Other than Space Gamer, I don't know those titles at all: are they fanzines?

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Theleb
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2005 1:21 am

Gameplay was the Jake Jaquet magazine for games after he left publishing Dragon for TSR. I think it only lasted 14 issues or so before folding. Gameplay #2 had a D&D dungeon for those interested in picking that up.

Tav_Behemoth
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:31 am

Very cool, zhowar1 - as my campaign that began in Zenopus's dungeon is winding up, it will please me to no end to go back and check out those correspondences between novel, adventure text, and actual play.

Zenopus
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:23 pm

grodog wrote:
The blurb in Maze of Peril also says he had short stories published in "Bluebook" and "Doppelganger" and articles in "Gameplay", "Spacegamer", and "Beyond".

Other than Space Gamer, I don't know those titles at all: are they fanzines?

Doppelganger is a horror fanzine from 1987 or so. By searching Abebooks I found out that he has a story in issue 8. I just bought the issue. I imagine it's a Lovecraft-esque story.

Searching quickly on Google and Ebay, it seems that Bluebook may have been a magazine of weird fiction, and Beyond a magazine documenting the paranomal. I have no idea which year or issue he had story(s) in.

Zenopus
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:11 pm

By the way, the name "Zereth" is a Biblical male name meaning "perplexity"

Interesting choice for an Elf in D&D...

Zenopus
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2005 5:11 pm

Tav_Behemoth wrote:Very cool, zhowar1 - as my campaign that began in Zenopus's dungeon is winding up, it will please me to no end to go back and check out those correspondences between novel, adventure text, and actual play.

Great! That's exactly why I posted this review. :)

Zenopus
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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2005 9:02 pm

I received Doppelganger #8 with a story by Holmes. Doppelganger is definitely a fanzine, formatted like a literary journal, low-budget but nicely done with a cardstock cover.

The Holmes story in this issue is called "The Cenote" and it's very Lovecraft. A cenote is a geological formation in Mexico (a water filled cavity), and the story elements are based on Mayan mythology. I enjoyed it.

However, Doppelganger #8 is dated May 1987, and Maze of Peril is dated November 1986, so I'm not sure if this story is the one that is referred to in the Author's blurb to Maze of Peril, or if there's an earlier Doppelganger with another Holmes story.

grodog
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 12:59 am

Perhaps it had already been accepted, but not yet published, zhowar1?

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Zenopus
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:47 pm

Yes, that's definitely a possibility. I checked with a seller on Ebay - no story by Holmes in Doppelganger #4.

webguy
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 4:40 pm

Does anyone know if Mr. Holmes' novel 'Trollshead' was ever published?

Anthony Roberson

Zenopus
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 6:49 pm

webguy wrote:Does anyone know if Mr. Holmes' novel 'Trollshead' was ever published?

I've found no references to it other than the Dragon Magazine excerpt. It's not part of Maze of Peril. Grodog may know more.

grodog
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:30 pm

I'll dig up my letter from him: I'm pretty sure that I asked him about it there.

Allan Grohe ([email protected])
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Zenopus
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Posted: Sat Mar 25, 2006 12:42 am

*bump*

Fixed the extra spaces in my review (introduced by one of the forum re-boots)

Last edited by Zenopus on Fri Apr 16, 2010 10:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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