Doing a comprehensive survey of Appendix N

I’ve been chipping away at Appendix N since 2012 (although I’d read a number of Appendix N works prior to that, just not as Appendix N works), and my thinking on how to approach it has changed over the years.

As I was logging a recent finished book, Michael Moorcock’s excellent The Stealer of Souls, on my spreadsheet, I realized that I no longer find the “open-ended” nature of Appendix N intimidating. It’s okay to take Gary literally when he says, “In some cases I cite specific works, in others, I simply recommend all their fantasy writing to you.” That really does mean that in the case of, say, Leigh Brackett, Gary encourages you to read all of her work.

I interpret this statement to also imply two things:

• Work from 1979 or earlier, since that’s the year Appendix N was published
• Not just fantasy, but fantasy and science fiction, since plenty of the titles listed in Appendix N (e.g., Burroughs’ Mars books) are clearly science fiction

Sticking to the example of Leigh Brackett, that’s 11 novels, 57 short stories, and probably a handful of her collections which don’t overlap with those works.

One of my central questions for this project has always been, “How many books do I need to read to feel like, and feel comfortable saying, I’ve read Appendix N?” The strictest interpretation of Gary’s recommendation would add dozens and dozens of books to your reading list. Which is dandy! Reading is great.

But if you read Gary’s intro to Appendix N, which I see as being about joyous exploration of books and genres and topics he loves, is being super pedantic and gatekeep-y about what constitutes “reading Appendix N” the right mode here? Nope, it is not.

Reading Appendix N is about exploration, about reading to “pluck kernels from which grow the fruits of exciting campaigns.” As much as I enjoy logging and tracking things, reading Appendix N shouldn’t be an accounting chore.

A comprehensive survey: 108 books

My current thinking is that to do a comprehensive survey of Appendix N, you read the following:

• 90 books: Every listed title, plus for authors like Robert E. Howard, where Gary listed the Conan series, however many books it takes to read those series.
• 9 books: For authors with no listed titles, one fantasy/SF book from 1979 or earlier.
• 9 books: Where “et al” is noted alongside a list of titles (e.g., “Pratt, Fletcher, BLUE STAR; et al.”), one additional pre-1980 fantasy/SF book.

That’s a lovely survey. You’ve read something by all 29 authors, explored 18 books not listed by title, and read a whopping 108 books in total.

When (if?) I finish that survey, I’ll feel like I’ve read Appendix N. That will be a satisfying project to have completed!

(This is a bit different than the 100-book list I came up with in 2012. It incorporates more exploration, which feels very much in the spirit of Appendix N. I like my 2026 take better than my 2012 take.)

A deeper look: ??? additional books

This is the survey stage plus more exploration: Take “et al” and “all their fantasy writing” as literally as you feel like taking them, and see where that leads.

Some of my pre-2012 reading fleshed out my Appendix N list, like having read Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series (the first three books of which are pre-1980). And some of my post-2012 reading has filled out a few more corners. I greatly enjoyed Andre Norton’s first Witch World book, for example, so I read the second one and added future volumes to my to-read pile.

Here, the goal is more open-ended. There are 9 authors with no listed works and another 9 with “et al” noted, and some of those folks were prolific writers. To my mind, that shifts away from “reading Appendix N” — which you’ve already done, with the comprehensive survey — and towards reading fun stuff you learned about because of Appendix N.

Current status

As of today, I’ve read 43 Appendix N books and a further 5 “all their fantasy writing” books. I’ve read at least one book by 17 out of the 29 listed authors.

My to-read Appendix N stack could easily keep me busy for the rest of the year, and if I finished everything I have on hand I’d be past the halfway point in terms of book count.

My insistence on reading these books in print, rather than on my Kindle, brings me both joy and a measure of frustration. Tiny mass market paperback text is not easy on aging eyes, and I sorely miss my backlighting. But there’s something special about holding a musty, 60-year-old SF novel in my hands, and I enjoy that connection to the past.