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dwarvenranger
Senior Scribe
USA
428 Posts |
 Posted - 07 Dec 2008 : 21:08:54
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| Hard to remember, but I think it was The Crystal Shard. |
If I waited till I knew what I was doing, I'd never get anything done.
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 08 Dec 2008 : 00:01:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by ranger_of_the_unicorn_run
My first FR novel was The Crystal Shard, but my dad owned a couple dozen others and I eventually got to the Elminster books, Darkwalker on Moonshae, and a couple others I can't remember right now. The first one that I picked up myself without having anything to go off of was Elfshadow. I loved it and went on to read the rest of the series, as well as picking up Starlight and Shadows. Now I actually own more Realms books than my dad because I really like reading the older ones and he doesn't have a whole lot of those.
Wow, a second-generation Realms fan! That may be a first for us. 
No, I think we've had one other. I remember replying to a reader once, who'd told us she was reading Realms books because her mother introduced them to her at an early age.
I'll have to perform a search.
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Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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mnb128
Learned Scribe
USA
130 Posts |
Posted - 08 Dec 2008 : 00:50:15
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| I owe my Forgotten Realms fascination to Homeland. I read it sometime around February or March of this year and have read 61 others since. At first I was just planning on reading the Drizzt books and moving on, but the setting took hold of me. Now I'm visiting ancient Netheril for a little history lesson. |
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Arion Elenim
Senior Scribe
933 Posts |
Posted - 08 Dec 2008 : 01:28:17
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quote:
Originally posted by mnb128
I owe my Forgotten Realms fascination to Homeland. I read it sometime around February or March of this year and have read 61 others since. At first I was just planning on reading the Drizzt books and moving on, but the setting took hold of me. Now I'm visiting ancient Netheril for a little history lesson.
Homeland was my intro into the Realms as well. I read it before a football game in the 7th grade (that would be GAH - 14 years ago!).
Again...damn I'm old. |
My latest Realms-based short story, about a bard, a paladin of Lathander and the letter of the law, Debts Repaid. It takes place before the "shattering" and gives the bard Arion a last gasp before he plunges into the present.http://candlekeep.com/campaign/logs/log-debts.htm |
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ranger_of_the_unicorn_run
Learned Scribe
USA
292 Posts |
Posted - 08 Dec 2008 : 05:09:31
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by ranger_of_the_unicorn_run
My first FR novel was The Crystal Shard, but my dad owned a couple dozen others and I eventually got to the Elminster books, Darkwalker on Moonshae, and a couple others I can't remember right now. The first one that I picked up myself without having anything to go off of was Elfshadow. I loved it and went on to read the rest of the series, as well as picking up Starlight and Shadows. Now I actually own more Realms books than my dad because I really like reading the older ones and he doesn't have a whole lot of those.
Wow, a second-generation Realms fan! That may be a first for us.
No, I think we've had one other. I remember replying to a reader once, who'd told us she was reading Realms books because her mother introduced them to her at an early age.
I'll have to perform a search.
Yeah, my dad introduced me to FR and Dragonlance when I was 10. :)
It's also why I like 2nd edition so much because I got into D&D right before they came out with 3rd edition. |
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Aaron Highcolor
Acolyte
USA
45 Posts |
Posted - 09 Dec 2008 : 00:36:14
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I too, being very old, started with the Darkwalker on Moonshae trilogy (1st ed printing btw), but moved on to Dragonlance with the Dragons of Autumn Twilight novel. Was a HUGE DL fan, but got a copy of The Crystal Shard when my brother bought it for the cover, but didn't like it. I was flying back home to Florida from Oregon, so I "borrowed" the novel, and read it all on the flight home, and I have read every RAS Realms novel ever since!
I even had Bob sign my 1st ed copy of The Crystal Shard, and he signed a condensed Shard/Streams/Gem for my son as well. Hopefully, in the next year or 2, he will be able/interested in reading it. |
Run when you have to, fight when you must, rest when you can. |
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BEAST
Master of Realmslore
USA
1714 Posts |
Posted - 09 Dec 2008 : 07:58:44
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I stumbled onto a novel during a junior high school book fair in the spring of 1988 (at age 13 in the 7th grade), and picked it over the other fantasy novels surrounding it because I recognized the Larry Elmore art, and I thought this particular cover looked better than the others with its more subdued, less sensational scene. Little did I know, but that book by a then-brand-new author would turn out to be the beginning of a very popular phenomenon. That book was the first edition of The Crystal Shard.
Over on the RAS.com forums, it's a recurring them for readers to ask how others found out about Bob Salvatore's stories for the first time. I once explained <how I found that novel>, and a little bit why I'm still a proud Salvatore fan to this day.
A lot of people bag on Bob for his Drizzt stories, and of course everyone's entitled to sound off loud and clear, but the Drizzt stories have a very deep personal significance to me, and no amount of bagging will ever change that. That being said, much like the old "nature vs. nurture" debate on human nature, I still think that considering how we all came about becoming fans of the Realms could be expressed as "quality vs. coincidence".
Maybe the reason why we dislike some works could be expressed in those terms, too. |
"'You don't know my history,' he said dryly."
--Drizzt Do'Urden (The Pirate King, Part 1: Chapter 2)
<"Comprehensive Chronology of R.A. Salvatore Forgotten Realms Works"> |
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Kyrene
Senior Scribe
South Africa
765 Posts |
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3765 Posts |
Posted - 10 Dec 2008 : 17:23:20
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| -I knew of Homeland through a cousin who had the Dark Elf trilogy, but I never read it. Shortly after discovering that I liked the Forgotten Realms, my stepfather purchased the big ol' Icewind Dale Trilogy Collector's Edition, and that was the first Forgotten Realms book I physically read. |
(A Tri-Partite Arcanist Who Has Forgotten More Than Most Will Ever Know) |
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rockyoumonkeys
Acolyte
28 Posts |
Posted - 11 Dec 2008 : 16:32:51
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Like a lot of others, mine was The Crystal Shard. Many years ago.
I have no idea what compelled me to read it; I was just getting into fantasy at the time, and I probably just picked it up randomly. |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
735 Posts |
Posted - 13 Dec 2008 : 15:17:13
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My first FR Novel (and 1st FR product, period) was Spellfire, when it was originally published. The Old Grey Box was acquired soon thereafter.
There's one odd memory I have about opening Spellfire and starting to read it - it's related to the map, which depicted the Dales, i.e., the western seaboard of the Sea of Fallen Stars. I remember very clearly that at the time I thought it was very odd to have the sea in the east. My exposure to fantasy worlds had been limited to Middle Earth and WRFP's Old World where the sea is in the West (as it's supposed to be, of course  ). Odd how easily you can get conditioned. |
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Neil Bishop
Learned Scribe
Singapore
100 Posts |
Posted - 14 Dec 2008 : 13:19:27
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The first one I think I read was, like for many others, The Crystal Shard. For me that novel has many parallels with first seeing Star Wars: it opened my eyes to a whole new world (or worlds in the case of Star Wars) and then there was the subsequent disappointment of later books (for RAS) and movies (for George Lucas) where the creators seemed to be determined to become parodies of their former selves.
However, the book that really brought FR alive to me in the truest sense was Spellfire by Ed the Legend. It's time for me to read that one yet again. |
Regards
NXB |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 14:28:19
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quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
There's one odd memory I have about opening Spellfire and starting to read it - it's related to the map, which depicted the Dales, i.e., the western seaboard of the Sea of Fallen Stars. I remember very clearly that at the time I thought it was very odd to have the sea in the east. My exposure to fantasy worlds had been limited to Middle Earth and WRFP's Old World where the sea is in the West (as it's supposed to be, of course ). Odd how easily you can get conditioned.
It doesn't feel odd to me, because where I live the Atlantic Ocean is to the east (and, that's technically true for the UK as well). |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 15:16:48
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quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
There's one odd memory I have about opening Spellfire and starting to read it - it's related to the map, which depicted the Dales, i.e., the western seaboard of the Sea of Fallen Stars. I remember very clearly that at the time I thought it was very odd to have the sea in the east. My exposure to fantasy worlds had been limited to Middle Earth and WRFP's Old World where the sea is in the West (as it's supposed to be, of course ). Odd how easily you can get conditioned.
It doesn't feel odd to me, because where I live the Atlantic Ocean is to the east (and, that's technically true for the UK as well).
And for me, not very far to the east! 
Though to be technical about it, no matter where you go on Earth, there is -- somewhere -- an ocean to the east. And to the west. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
Great Reader
USA
7106 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 15:53:44
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Though to be technical about it, no matter where you go on Earth, there is -- somewhere -- an ocean to the east. And to the west.
Yes, that's correct! |
"Instead of asking why we sleep, it might make sense to ask why we wake. Perchance we live to dream. From that perspective, the sea of troubles we navigate in the workaday world might be the price we pay for admission to another night in the world of dreams."
--Richard Greene (letter to Time) |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3253 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 16:25:40
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
There's one odd memory I have about opening Spellfire and starting to read it - it's related to the map, which depicted the Dales, i.e., the western seaboard of the Sea of Fallen Stars. I remember very clearly that at the time I thought it was very odd to have the sea in the east. My exposure to fantasy worlds had been limited to Middle Earth and WRFP's Old World where the sea is in the West (as it's supposed to be, of course ). Odd how easily you can get conditioned.
It doesn't feel odd to me, because where I live the Atlantic Ocean is to the east (and, that's technically true for the UK as well).
And for me, not very far to the east!
Though to be technical about it, no matter where you go on Earth, there is -- somewhere -- an ocean to the east. And to the west.
Not in Antartica. |
I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 16:55:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Ashe Ravenheart
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Rinonalyrna Fathomlin
quote:
Originally posted by Thauramarth
There's one odd memory I have about opening Spellfire and starting to read it - it's related to the map, which depicted the Dales, i.e., the western seaboard of the Sea of Fallen Stars. I remember very clearly that at the time I thought it was very odd to have the sea in the east. My exposure to fantasy worlds had been limited to Middle Earth and WRFP's Old World where the sea is in the West (as it's supposed to be, of course ). Odd how easily you can get conditioned.
It doesn't feel odd to me, because where I live the Atlantic Ocean is to the east (and, that's technically true for the UK as well).
And for me, not very far to the east!
Though to be technical about it, no matter where you go on Earth, there is -- somewhere -- an ocean to the east. And to the west.
Not in Antartica.
Okay, well, anywhere other than smack dab on one of the poles. If you're not precisely on a pole, though, the statement remains true. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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ranger_of_the_unicorn_run
Learned Scribe
USA
292 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 17:08:29
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| If you think of North, South, East, and West as existing on the plane of the ground you are on rather than the entire sphere of the Earth, than going East or West will get you to an ocean from Antarctica as well. |
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Ashe Ravenheart
Great Reader
USA
3253 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 17:54:41
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quote:
Originally posted by ranger_of_the_unicorn_run
If you think of North, South, East, and West as existing on the plane of the ground you are on rather than the entire sphere of the Earth, than going East or West will get you to an ocean from Antarctica as well.
Unfortunately, you need to use a compass to determine the directions and North (or South in the case of Antartica) will always be in the same direction. So if you walk East, you *will* walk in a circle.
And, technically, when traveling on a globe. Any direction in a straight line on the plane is actually a hemispherical circle across the sphere.
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I actually DO know everything. I just have a very poor index of my knowledge.
Ashe's Character Sheet
Alphabetized Index of Realms NPCs |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 18:29:25
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| And we have now navigated into areas far removed from the original topic... |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Braveheart
Learned Scribe
Austria
159 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 18:31:31
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| I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly. I really got hooked after reading the Avatar Series though, as they were/are more immersed into the setting as Salvatore's books are (IMHO). |
Jarlaxle: "Do keep ever present in your thoughts, my friend, that an illusion can kill you if you believe in it."
Entreri: "And the real thing can kill you whether you believe in it or not." |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 19:40:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Braveheart
I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly.
There weren't too many of them around when Crystal Shard came out... Unless it had been out for a while when you picked it up. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Braveheart
Learned Scribe
Austria
159 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 21:54:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Braveheart
I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly.
There weren't too many of them around when Crystal Shard came out... Unless it had been out for a while when you picked it up.
Yeah, sort of... don't know if telling you when that was will depress you or not, so I'll just say it was a few years after Crystal Shard hit the bookshelves  |
Jarlaxle: "Do keep ever present in your thoughts, my friend, that an illusion can kill you if you believe in it."
Entreri: "And the real thing can kill you whether you believe in it or not." |
Edited by - Braveheart on 15 Dec 2008 22:03:28 |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 23:35:58
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quote:
Originally posted by Braveheart
I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly. I really got hooked after reading the Avatar Series though, as they were/are more immersed into the setting as Salvatore's books are (IMHO).
Both FR and BT books were just starting to be released around the same time during this period.
Given what you said about it being a few years after the release of Crystal Shard, I'd assume it'd be around the time the "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy was first hitting the shelves.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 15 Dec 2008 : 23:59:24
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Braveheart
I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly. I really got hooked after reading the Avatar Series though, as they were/are more immersed into the setting as Salvatore's books are (IMHO).
Both FR and BT books were just starting to be released around the same time during this period.
Given what you said about it being a few years after the release of Crystal Shard, I'd assume it'd be around the time the "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy was first hitting the shelves.
Well, Crystal Shard was published in 1988. The Blood of Kerensky was originally printed a year later than Crystal Shard, but it wasn't until the Jade Phoenix trilogy came in 1991 that the BT fiction really took off. It was after that that a lot of the earlier books (including The Warrior Trilogy and the Blood of Kerensky) were reprinted. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
Posted - 16 Dec 2008 : 00:14:53
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Well, Crystal Shard was published in 1988. The Blood of Kerensky was originally printed a year later than Crystal Shard, but it wasn't until the Jade Phoenix trilogy came in 1991 that the BT fiction really took off.
Aye, I do recall.
Though, that really depends on sales figures. I know from my own experiences here, that the first BT novels sold out within days of their initial release. When I looked over the figures for the UK, it suggested much the same.
quote:
It was after that that a lot of the earlier books (including The Warrior Trilogy and the Blood of Kerensky) were reprinted.
It may have been the first reprint I was thinking of then. Which were the copies I purchased because I missed out on the initial release of the trilogy earlier.
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
Edited by - The Sage on 16 Dec 2008 00:15:43 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36968 Posts |
Posted - 16 Dec 2008 : 02:29:20
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
Well, Crystal Shard was published in 1988. The Blood of Kerensky was originally printed a year later than Crystal Shard, but it wasn't until the Jade Phoenix trilogy came in 1991 that the BT fiction really took off.
Aye, I do recall.
Though, that really depends on sales figures. I know from my own experiences here, that the first BT novels sold out within days of their initial release. When I looked over the figures for the UK, it suggested much the same.
quote:
It was after that that a lot of the earlier books (including The Warrior Trilogy and the Blood of Kerensky) were reprinted.
It may have been the first reprint I was thinking of then. Which were the copies I purchased because I missed out on the initial release of the trilogy earlier.
I didn't even know about BattleTech until Way of the Clans came out... Though, years before, I had seen a copy of Wolves on the Border (the original printing) at my not-so-friendly local comic shop. I always meant to pick it up, because it looked intriguing, but never did. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Braveheart
Learned Scribe
Austria
159 Posts |
Posted - 16 Dec 2008 : 11:56:32
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Braveheart
I started with Crystal Shard while waiting for a BattleTech novel, can't remember which one it was exactly. I really got hooked after reading the Avatar Series though, as they were/are more immersed into the setting as Salvatore's books are (IMHO).
Both FR and BT books were just starting to be released around the same time during this period.
Given what you said about it being a few years after the release of Crystal Shard, I'd assume it'd be around the time the "Blood of Kerensky" trilogy was first hitting the shelves.
It was about 7-8 years later than that, I fear. |
Jarlaxle: "Do keep ever present in your thoughts, my friend, that an illusion can kill you if you believe in it."
Entreri: "And the real thing can kill you whether you believe in it or not." |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31799 Posts |
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Rival3n
Acolyte
USA
1 Posts |
Posted - 20 Dec 2008 : 07:09:44
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...Shadowbred. I had no idea what I was getting into last summer. I basically went to the bookstore with eyes on the fantasy section (for the first time) and grabbed a book that sounded good on the back. I suppose I'm lucky. I didn't know I was jumping right into the middle of one of the greatest stories out there.
So naturally, I traced the timeline, read everything about Erevis starting with Halls of Stormweather. Once I finished Shadowstorm, I read the Last Mythal trilogy, and recently got through the 6th book of Drizzt. I finished Shadowrealm a couple days ago and look forward to getting back with Drizzt. Kemp's Twilight War is the best I've read so far. I have my eyes on War of the Spider Queen and Swordmage looks interesting. |
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First FR novel you read?
