Lee Gold

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Lee Gold is a member of California science fiction fandom and a writer and editor in the role-playing game and filk music communities. [1]

Contents

Lee Gold
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Writer, Editor
Known for Alarums and Excursions
SpouseBarry Gold [2]

Gaming

Gold became prominent after 1975 as the editor of Alarums and Excursions , a monthly amateur press association to which RPG writers have contributed over the years. [3] [4] [5] It won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Amateur Wargame Magazine in 1984, and the Origins Award for Best Amateur Game Periodical in 2000, 2001, and 2002. [6] [7] Gold began the publication at the request of Bruce Pelz, who felt that discussion of Dungeons & Dragons was taking up too much space in APA-L, an amateur press association loosely associated with the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society. [8]

Gold was listed in the 'Top 50 Most Influential People in the Adventure Game Market for Y2000' [9]

Professional Works

Her professional credits in the RPG field include Land of the Rising Sun and Lands of Adventure , published by Fantasy Games Unlimited; GURPS Japan, published by Steve Jackson Games; and Vikings, published by Iron Crown Enterprises. [10] Land of the Rising Sun (1980) was a Japanese-themed role-playing game using the Chivalry & Sorcery game system, [11] :74 and Lands of Adventure (1983) used a game system meant for historical fantasy role-playing games. [11]

Gold's novel Valhalla: Absent Without Leave was published March 30, 2021 by Penmore Press. Gold wrote, "But the book isn't about the ancient Norse or the Vikings. It's about a modern hero who arrived at Valhalla with her D&D magic sword, Frostbite. Robin Grima isn't content to train in Valhalla to fight and die in Ragnarok. She wants to stop Ragnarok from happening! She doesn't care about the prophecies. She wants to win!". [12] Valhalla: Into The Darkness, the second novel in her trilogy, was published in early 2022. Valhalla: Into Brightness was published in July of 2024.

Land of the Rising Sun #2 was named Best Roleplaying Expansion (People's Choice) by UK Games Expo 2021. [13]

Filk

In 1988, Gold (who had been filking since 1967) also began publishing Xenofilkia, [3] a bimonthly collection of filk lyrics (and some sheet music). Over 400 songwriters have contributed, including Leslie Fish, Tom Smith and Bob Kanefsky. [14] Although Gold has published filk lyrics, she has never recorded for public distribution.[ citation needed ]

Lee and Barry Gold were jointly inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1997 [15] and were Interfilk guests at Ohio Valley Filk Fest in 2000. [16] [17]

Lee and Barry Gold were Featured Filkers at Boskone 44 in 2007. [18]

In 2012, Gold published Dr. Jane's Songs, a compilation of all of Dr. Jane's songs that Jim Robinson could find in his archives, plus a few that Lee Gold found from other sources, with illustrations. [19] In 2014, she published a compilation of all the songs by Cynthia McQuillin that Gold, Robinson, McQuillin's literary executors and several other people could track down, over 450 pages of songs. [20]

Publishing history

Lee Gold published the fan fiction fanzine "The Third Foundation" from 1967 until at least 1969.

As of May 2023, she had published 571 issues of Alarums and Excursions and 209 issues of Xenofilkia, [21] as well as six volumes of Filker Up!, a filk-song anthology.

She published Tom Digby: Along Fantasy Way, a collection of writings by Tom Digby, for ConFrancisco, the 1993 Worldcon where Digby was an Honored Guest, and has published writings by other prominent fan writers in the Los Angeles area.

She has also published a collection of songs by Dr. Jane Robinson (2012-9-10), [19] and another of songs by Cynthia McQuillin (2014-3-8). [20] In both cases, James Robinson sent copies of all the songs in his possession to Gold. Kristoph Klover and Margaret Davis (McQuillin's literary executors) lent McQuillin's handwritten songs to Robinson, who copied them and sent them to Gold for inclusion. Many other people helped make the McQuillin songbook as complete as possible: the subhead for the songbook reads "all the songs written by Cynthia McQuillin that Dr. James Robinson and Lee Gold and Mary Creasey and Harold Stein and Bob Kanefsky and Alan Thiesen and Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover could find in 2013." [20]

Related Research Articles

Alarums and Excursions (A&E) is an amateur press association (APA) started in June 1975 by Lee Gold; publication continues to the present day. It was one of the first publications to focus solely on role-playing games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filk music</span> Folk music of science fiction fandom

Filk music is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction, fantasy, and horror fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has existed since the early 1950s and been played primarily since the mid-1970s. The genre has a niche but faithful popularity in the underground.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David A. Hargrave</span> American role-playing game designer (1946–1988)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Fish</span> American musician, author, and activist (born 1953)

Leslie Fish is an American folk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.

Cynthia McQuillin was a filk singer and writer as well as an author and artist. She lived in the San Francisco Bay area. Her songs touched the usual filk topics of science fiction, fantasy, and cats, but also feminism, love, Paganism, and Sizeism.

John Eric Holmes was an American professor of neurology and writer of non-fiction, fantasy and science fiction. His writings appeared under his full name and under variants such as Eric Holmes and J. Eric Holmes and the pen name Sidney Leland.

Marcon is a full-spectrum fantasy and science fiction convention based in Columbus, Ohio, and was on Easter weekend in 2013 but moved to Mother's Day weekend starting in 2014. It is now operated by the Columbus-based Science Oriented Literature, Art, and Education Foundation, a non-profit educational corporation. The name was originally short for "March Convention," with the convention mascot the "March Hare," affectionately named "Marconi". After the date of the convention moved away from March, the name was re-designated as "Multiple Alternative Realities Convention".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Heinsoo</span> American game designer (born 1964)

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Off Centaur Publications was the first "commercial" filk label. It was founded in 1980 by Teri Lee, Jordin Kare, and Catherine Cook. For a short time, Off Centaur produced high quality recordings of some of filk's best performers, and changed the course of filk music. It was dissolved in 1988. Teri Lee would go on to found Firebird Arts and Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Speer</span> American politician and science fiction fan

John Bristol Speer was an attorney, practicing law for over 60 years; a judge; and a Washington House of Representatives member.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Talis Kimberley</span> British singer-songwriter

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<i>GURPS Japan</i>

GURPS Japan, full title GURPS Japan: Roleplaying in the World of the Shogunate or GURPS Japan: Beauty, Terror, and Adventure, is a sourcebook for GURPS, a role-playing game by Steve Jackson Games. The first edition was published in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry K. Amthor</span> American game designer

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<i>Catapult Run</i> Role-playing game

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<i>The Manual of Aurania</i> Tabletop role-playing game supplement

The Manual of Aurania is a 24-page supplement for fantasy role-playing games self-published in 1976 and sold at Aero Hobbies, a games store in Santa Monica, California owned by Gary Switzer. A 34-page 2nd edition revision of the book was later published by International Gamers Association with numerous added illustrations in 1977.

<i>Hero System Rulesbook</i>

Hero System Rulesbook is a supplement published by Hero Games/Iron Crown Enterprises in 1990 for role-playing games using the Hero System rules.

<i>Music of Darkover</i> 2013 anthology

Music of Darkover is an anthology of fantasy and science fiction short stories and poems edited by American writer Elisabeth Waters. The stories are set in Marion Zimmer Bradley's world of Darkover. This book focuses on the music of Darkover.

<i>The Sorcerers Slave</i> Tabletop role-playing game adventure

The Sorcerer's Slave is an adventure released under license by Atlas Games in 1987 for the fantasy role-playing game Ars Magica published by Lion Rampant.

References

  1. Lee's personal web page
  2. "Barry Gold". conchord.org. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 Reid, Robin Anne (2009). Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume I: Overviews. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 287. ISBN   978-0-313-33591-4.
  4. Fine, Gary Alan (2002-08-14). Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. University of Chicago Press. p. 32. ISBN   9780226249445.
  5. Mason, Paul (2012-05-27). "A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans". Transformative Works and Cultures. 11. doi: 10.3983/twc.2012.0444 . ISSN   1941-2258.
  6. "2000 List of Winners". Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design. 2006-11-14. Archived from the original on 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  7. "Dungeons, dragons, and the fantasy role-playing craze: Which side are you on – lawful good or chaotic evil?", The Boston Globe .
  8. Brett's RPG Magazine and Zine Index Archived 2006-10-24 at the Wayback Machine , entry on Alarums & Excursions.
  9. Frazier, Dan (June 2000). "Games Unplugged". Games Unplugged (1): 16–25.
  10. McElroy, Matt. "Lee Gold". Pen & Paper RPG Database. Archived from the original on 2005-02-26. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
  11. 1 2 Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  12. Facebook posting, 2021-04-01 in Barry Gold's (her husband's) timeline
  13. "UK Games Expo 2021 Awards winners". August 2021.
  14. "Cumulative Xenofilkia Index by Author".
  15. "Filk Hall of Fame". FilkOntario. 2006-10-28. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  16. "Interfilk Guests". 26 June 2015.
  17. "OVFF History". Archived from the original on 2006-06-19.
  18. "Boskone 4". NESFA. Archived from the original on 2012-08-24.
  19. 1 2 "Dr. Jane's Songs".
  20. 1 2 3 "The Cynthia McQuillin Songbook".
  21. Xenofilkia website