Literary Influences

[Christopher Ashe]

Literature is among the primary influences and loves of my life, and has played a great role in the development of Seven13 and the Cycle of Existence. Of the many books I've read through the years, the following have played a great role in influencing the development of CoE:

IT (Stephen King)
The Dark Tower series (Stephen King)
- The Gunslinger
- The Drawing of the Three
- The Wastelands
- Wizard and Glass
- Wolves of the Calla
- Song of Susannah
- The Dark Tower
The Stand (Stephen King)
The Talisman (Stephen King and Peter Straub)
Black House (Stephen King and Peter Straub)
The Chronicles of Prydain (Lloyd Alexander)
- The Book of Three
- The Black Cauldron
- The Castle of Llyr
- Taran Wanderer
- The High King
Peter Pan (J.M. Barrie)
Moonheart (Charles DeLint)
Spiritwalk (Charles DeLint)
Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman)
The Sword of Truth Series (Books 1-6, Terry Goodkind - I haven't read the rest yet)
- Wizard's First Rule
- Stone of Tears
- Blood of the Fold
- Temple of the Winds
- Soul of the Fire
- Faith of the Fallen
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
The Dune Chronicles (particularly the first - Frank Herbert)
On Writing (Stephen King - read this book if you plan to write anything)

Those are all I can think of at the moment that had an influence on the book.

As far as RPGs go, my primary influences were:

- Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium Games - NOT the d20 version)
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (Games Workshop - now handled by Hogshead Publishing)
- Dungeons & dragons (1st, 2nd and 2nd Revised - I dont really play 3rd though i respect it)
- World of Darkness 1st and 2nd Ed. (WW lost me at revised mostly)
- M.E.R.P. (Middle Earth Role Playing) - I.C.E. - too complicated (Rolemaster system) but nice table structure for fun

I've played a ton of RPGs but I s'pose those are the ones I'd call influences.

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So the point of this post is: what are some of your favorites? what are some of the books or games that changed the way you look at reality?

[Felix]

You bastard... Now you have me editting your posts too. Come on now... quit abusing my cheap labor...

My great influences:

The Animist (Eve Forward)
Villains by Necessity (Eve Forward)
Decision at Thunder Rift (William H. Keith Jr.)
Castle in the Attic (Elizabeth Winthrop)
Unbearable Lightness of Being (Milan Kundera)
Arcadia (Tom Stoppard)
Animal Farm (George Orwell)
1984 (George Orwell)
Grendal (John Gardner)
Last Kabbalist of Lisbon (Richard Zimler)
Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card)
also:
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
and of course...
Why do Men Have Nipples? (Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.)

[Domini]

Some of the great books I've read are:

Battle Royale by Koushin Takami (an excellent political novel that can change the way a person views their society)

The World According To Garp by John Irving (Just a great and interesting read)

Perdido St. Station by China Miéville (A great gothic horror novel)

Dune by Frank Herbert (Definitely one of the great sci-fi novels)

The Vampire Lestat (Another gothic horror novel that was great)

As for RPGs:

Dungeons and Dragons (I used to play it (3rd Ed.) until I left it alone for a while. After a years break, I tried to pick it up again and was lost. It did, however introduce me to roleplaying.)

World of Darkness (Mainly V:tM, the second RPG I played and one I still do to this day. If only I could get hold of a copy of the rule book.)

.hack//DIVERGENCE (It's not a tapletop RPG, but it's a place where I've been around for the past year and a half and it's pretty much kept my love of roleplaying going.)

[Zan]

Book-tastic influences:

-Joanne Walker Series (C.E. Murphy):
--Urban Shaman (I love magic and mysticism in a contemporary setting.)
--Banshee Cries (More of a novella, but for the same reason above.
Anita Blake Series - Laurell K. Hamilton (A great series with a contemporary setting for vampires, werewolves, and other creatures I love.)
--Guilty Pleasures
--The Laughing Corpse
--Circus of the Damned
--Lunatic Cafe
--Bloody Bones
--The Killing Dance
--Burnt Offerings
--Blue Moon
--Obsidian Butterfly
--Narcissus In Chains
--Cerulean Sins
--Incubus Dreams
-BloodAngel - Justine Musk (Just an incredible book mixing a whirlwind of original ideas and a compelling storyline. The ending feels a little short of its potential, but it's still really great.)
-House of Leaves - Mark Z. Danielewski (You will be hard pressed to find a book more frightening, more entrancing. I do believe when I let Domini borrow this he gave it back half-way through because it was too irking. That or he was too lazy. Bastard.)
-Dionaea House - Eric Heisserer (An online story of horror and intrigue. Truely disturbing stuff, if only in an awesome way.)
-Steven Niles Graphic Novel/Comics
--30 Days of Night
--Dark Days
--30 Days of Night - Return to Borrows
--30 Days of Night - Bloodsucker Tales
--Criminal Macabre
-Under the Cats Eye: A Tale of Morph and Mystery - Gillian Rubinstein and Victor Lee (It's pretty old, and for a younger age group then I'm used to reading, but I still really, really enjoyed it.)

That's about it. If I remember anymore I'll add 'em.

RPGs:

-Final Fantasy: 6, 7, 10 (Six is what got me into the pull of great storylines.)
-Kingdom Hearts (I don't like mixing Disney and Enix, but it still had a good plot.)
-World of Darkness (I played anything from Vampire, to Werewolf, even to Changling. Ask Domini, I have every core book -ever- for the oWoD. The new one with the whole new plot and creature assortment, nWoD, is pretty good. The new Mage system is simply mind blowing.)
-.hack//DIVERGENCE (Like Domini, this site has fuled my obsession for writing and creating in-depth characters.)
-.hack//INFECTION, .hack//MUTATION, .hack//OUTBREAK, .hack//QUARANTINE (All the PS2 games fueled my love of Divergence, and this my writing.)
-Chrono Trigger (Chrono Cross was kind of poor, in my opinion, but this one really seemed to accomplish what any RPG should.

Movies/Shows:

-Unleashed (A great movie that perfectly integrades kung fu with plot.)
-Sin City (I haven't read the comics, but this movie did a world of horror and constant darkness some serious good.)
-.hack//SIGN (More of a show then a series, this lead to my finding of Divergence and, in turn, my renewed love for writing.)
-Wolf's Rain (A show that presents a storyline of struggle and determination, got to love it.)
-Underworld (I lurve vamps fighting with lycanthropes, what can I say?)
-Underworld: Evolutions (See above reason.)
-Constantine (A very well made presentation of a fight between the ultimate good and the ultimate evil.)

Yup, quite a few things.