Snow Covered Giants And Death Filled Highways

 I think that my real interest in fantasy probably began when at age 8 in 1976 I read  The Giant Under The Snow by John Gordon.

Set in the Fens at the end of the 1960s (although Mr Gordon skilfully writes in such a way that it's a timeless story) It tells the tale of three ordinary kids who come face to face with a an ancient evil, in the shape of a long dead warlord and his warriors, who now manifest as the 'Leathermen'. Think of those bodies found in peat bogs, but taller and animated and you'll get the idea.

Now, imagine a a winter forest, where these fellahs are stalking amongst the bare trees, and if it doesn't make you shudder a bit, you need to get your vital signs checked.

Over the years, I've read it again and again, and it always reads well. It's an easy read, but not childish, so you can really get into the story.

I passed my copy to my wife yesterday, who'd never read it and she thought she'd read the first page before work. 46 pages later, she was shouting up to me in the studio and calling me rude names for diverting her. But that's OK, because it's a great book and now someone else has become a convert. Indeed, my sister-in-law became similarly hooked a few years ago.

I think it would be a great background and scenario to get kids into role-playing. In fact I may have to mix it into a British based Cthulhu campaign as a side plot, as it would segue nicely into a Brian Lumley style setting.

In 1989, there was a follow up, "Ride The Wind". The main characters are older and dealing with adolescence, and a new threat is rising in the Fens. However, it's a hard book to get at a reasonable price, so imagine my joy yesterday when I found a copy that wasn't going to rely on the sale of my first born and their first born... 

I also ordered a copy of another John Gordon tale, 'The Midwinter Watch' which has the classic Gordon tropes of winter, subtle magic and a smooth blend of the real and fantastic, so I am hoping that it will transport me in a similar way to The Giant Under The Snow.

 

 

John Gordons work was the Harry Potter of it's time, but less saccharine and folksy. The ability to actually visit the places in the books - and I did in the 80s, when I visited Wisbech ostensibly to pick up a pay check from Military Miniatures and found the museum in the book and the belt which... No, read it yourself.

The ability to escape into the pages of a book are what drove me as a kid, and that sense of being young again, and getting a window into another world, is still a poweful driver.

 

Speaking of winter, it's a recorded fact that something 'clicks' in my head as the days shorten, and I start looking at sci-fi models. Generally it's led me towards 40K, and I have a 50/50 record of resistance, but this year I am actualy getting a serious desire to indulge myself. 

I know it's not true sci-fi, but it does have a charm that drains the pocket, however I do think I need to play an older edition of the rules.

I have recently indulged myself in the other GW classic, Dark Future, that game of auto combat in the near future. I have spent an eye watering amount to get two complete rule sets, every metal figure, the plastic car and bike set and the White Line Fever supplement.

The hardest parts to find are the weapons sprues, but if you have them, the Matchbox cars realy come into their own. Indeed my Lamborghini Countach 'The Jester's Tear', may be resurrected over the winter break.

TTFN