A Mutual Vote of Confidence
Writer Daniel J. Davis burst onto my personal scene in 2019 with a string of solid D&D analyses that would have fit right into the earliest days of the OSR. His post on the post-apocalyptic assumptions built into D&D is one of those deep insights that have grown harder to find. The lowest fruits of the deep tree have long since been picked over, so that was a refreshing insight for me and even a timely reminder for others. He is also the man responsible for taking the sneered description of dungeon delving as “Fantasy Vietnam” and embracing the idea to produce a hardcore “Full Metal Jacket” meets “Lord of the Rings” game. Which is exactly the high-test sort of gaming that gets my blood pumping.
He writes:
Bottom line, I’m thankful to all the PulpRev and OSR writers I’ve linked up with through my blogging in 2019. The most important lesson learned this year is to keep it up, and to keep it consistent. To that end, I’m going to have more of what worked in 2019: More ‘Pocky-clypse Now reviews, and more D&D and gaming related posts.
Welcome to the mutual admiration society, bub.
The PulpRev kicked off during the implosion of the Hugo Awards, and was in large part inspired by Jeffro Johnson’s book on the works that inspired D&D. A coalition of fans coalesced around that work, and its seminal question of, “Why don’t they make them like this anymore?” A handful of writers answered with a resounding, “There’s literally no reason that we don’t,” and immediately set about building the skills to write the next great generation of popular genre literature. Along the way they met each other, traded thoughts and notes, and despite all the naysayers our numbers have grown, our library of works continues to improve, that there is no end in sight.
As David admits, he came to this relatively recently, but his insights are as deep as any we’ve seen to date. And he represents one more solid voice in the crowd demanding the works the likes of which the Coastal Publishers cannot even conceive. If we can’t give it to him, he’ll produce it himself.
And I’ll be there to support him, because he has a strong voice, a clear vision, and the pugnacious attitude that expresses itself with something considerably more concrete than mere virtue signaling. His proposed gaming supplements look great, but it’s his long form fiction that I’m really looking forward to reading. Something about the way he handles prose on his blog tells me that his narrative work will be strong and just the right kind of different to make be an even bigger fan than I already am.
Add his blog to your daily reader. You won’t regret it.