FAQ
Questions everyone asks Luna
Luna really does enjoy getting e-mail, and if you’ve ever e-mailed her and not gotten a response that likely means that Luna very much wanted to respond, but she wanted to give you a long detailed response and things got busy, and well, AOL won’t keep mail new forever. Anyway, she’s asked a lot of questions, some of which she is even asked frequently. Here are those questions and answers in case you are wondering.
What books should I read?
There are some definite essentials- No reader of Dragonlance should go without reading Chronicles- Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Dragons of Winter Night, Dragons of Spring Dawning, and the forth chronicle, Dragons of Summer Flame. You should also read Legends, and War of Souls. Other than that, it’s up to you. I’d recommend The Soulforge, because it’s my favorite Dragonlance book, but otherwise I’d just suggest reading about your favorite characters and races. My favorites include books with Raistlin or kender, and kender turn up in some pretty strange places with some pretty strange companions, but you can usually catch them if you check the back cover of books. You might also want to read more by your favorite Dragonlance authors- I’d recommend anything Weis and Hickman, but you should probably be reading most of their stuff anyway, because they do some of the books most central to the story line.
Why haven’t you written more on my favorite character?
Well, why do I have a life? I love working on the page, but I don’t have a lot of time to do it. The characters I focus on tend to be my personal favorites, or characters who are really popular. If I don’t especially like a character, and most people aren’t interested in, then I’m not going to do a lot of work on them when I could be revamping another part of the site. Another thing about this site is that I work on it when I’m inspired to do so, so I’m much less likely to do something that I’m not inspired to do.
Why haven’t I read this or that essential book?
Have you ever read The Complete Works of Thomas Malory? It’s about seven hundred pages of one knight saying to another, “I will slee thee!” and charging. This is one of the many books that is relevant to my medieval studies major, and therefore in my educational books pile. I’ve got a lot of different piles of books I need to read, and although I finished that one, I still have probably thirty left. I also have a Dragonlance pile separate from the others. This contains about fifty Dragonlance books. They’re organized roughly by which books I want to read or think I should read. You might be able to influence that order, but even if you can, unless you can make the earth revolve a little more slowly so I have more time, it might be a while before I even get to touch any pile. Reading a Dragonlance book for me isn’t just reading- it’s taking notes, writing page numbers, and eventually sitting down at the computer and typing all of this important information into my web page. If I’m not in the mood for all of that then I’m likely to pick up another lighter read. Is it worth doing the page? Definitely! I would list this page among my greatest accomplishments. That doesn’t mean I’m in the mood to do so all the time. I’m also re-reading the core books for the book section, so they get priority.
Who are my favorite characters?
I think I make it obvious that I adore Raistlin and Tas.
What other fantasy do you recommend?
Well, I suppose that you expect me say “Forgotten Realms”- but I’ve actually never read it, nor do I intend to. One monster series is more than enough for me. My non-Dragonlance series is the much smaller Marion Zimmer-Bradley’s “Darkover”, which is wonderful, but definitely heavy and only for those who enjoy watching characters living tormented lives (all of MZB’s characters tend to, but they have happy, no wait, they usually don’t have happy endings either, still, I can’t stop reading). Beyond that I’m a big fan of Robin McKinley, Tanith Lee, Rebecca Lickiss, and Patricia A. McKillip, among others. I specialize in books that retell fairy tales. I have actually been reading non-Dragonlance more than Dragonlance because of the web page work that goes with reading a Dragonlance book. One of my favorite books is Thomas Malory’s Morte Artur, which I highly recommend reading in full- it’ll have you telling everyone you’ll slee them! The best fantasy I’ve every read, by the way, is Kate Forsyth’s “Witches of Eileanan” sextet. Go buy it.
What type of person writes about other people’s mistakes?
A perfectionist with a weird sense of humor. My mistake section is the most praised and debated section on the page. I’ve gotten countless e-mails from people who think that this or that isn’t a mistake or that I missed one, and, although they don’t want to look up page numbers so I can verify things, I need to add it. Yes, there might be freakish explanations for why this or that mistake really is possibly not a mistake, but I don’t want to hear them! Why can’t you write me nice e-mails like the people asking me the other questions? I’m just kidding, but it really does get frustrating sometimes when I’m working on a paper and I find I have an e-mail from someone arguing the finer points of Dragonlance with me. Now, isn’t this my own fault for complaining in the first place? Maybe, but please, the mistakes are inconsistencies I noticed and put up there for fun. You might not have guessed this reading, but I actually am a strange person with a strange sense of humor. I originally thought to put the mistakes in because I was bothered by an inconsistency while I was reading- there is nothing more unsettling to a reader than an unexplained inconsistency (you can sit around tormenting your characters like good old MZ-B, but, if a reader catches you changing your story, you’ve ceased to be a reliable narrator).
Can I help you with your page?
If you have a suggestion, I will try to follow it, and if you have a useful piece of information to add, I’ll put it on the page and add your name and e-mail. I will not, however, share the general work of the page with you. When I originally created the page my then best friend asked to work on it with me and, as I told her, this one’s mine. Hence the name Luna’s Dragonlance Review. Maybe you could do a better job. Fine, go try it (just don’t copy my stuff or use anything without asking). I don’t work on the page as much as I used to, but I don’t even know how many thousands of hours I put into this page. It’s mine, I’m greedy, and I don’t want to share the credit. I also happen to hate working with people in general, so don’t take it personally. Just don’t e-mail me and tell me that you would do as good a job at the same thing only “prettier” like one guy did- you spend thousands of hours doing something and that makes you slightly angry…
