Lee Gold is a member of Californiascience fiction fandom and a writer and editor in therole-playing game andfilk music communities.[1]
Lee Gold | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, Editor |
| Known for | Alarums and Excursions |
| Spouse | Barry Gold[2] |
Gold became prominent after 1975 as the editor ofAlarums and Excursions, a monthlyamateur press association to which RPG writers have contributed over the years.[3][4][5] It won theCharles S. Roberts Award for Best Amateur Wargame Magazine in 1984, and theOrigins Award for Best Amateur Game Periodical in 2000, 2001, and 2002.[6][7] Gold began the publication at the request ofBruce Pelz, who felt that discussion ofDungeons & Dragons was taking up too much space in APA-L, anamateur press association loosely associated with theLos Angeles Science Fantasy Society.[8]
Gold was listed in the 'Top 50 Most Influential People in the Adventure Game Market for Y2000'[9]
Her professional credits in the RPG field includeLand of the Rising Sun andLands of Adventure, published byFantasy Games Unlimited;GURPS Japan, published bySteve Jackson Games; andVikings, published byIron Crown Enterprises.[10]Land of the Rising Sun (1980) was a Japanese-themed role-playing game using theChivalry & Sorcery game system,[11]: 74 andLands of Adventure (1983) used a game system meant for historical fantasy role-playing games.[11]
Gold's novelValhalla: Absent Without Leave was published March 30, 2021 by Penmore Press. Gold wrote, "But the book isn't about the ancient Norse or the Vikings. It's about a modern hero who arrived at Valhalla with her D&D magic sword, Frostbite. Robin Grima isn't content to train in Valhalla to fight and die in Ragnarok. She wants to stop Ragnarok from happening! She doesn't care about the prophecies. She wants to win!".[12]Valhalla: Into The Darkness, the second novel in her trilogy, was published in early 2022.Valhalla: Into Brightness was published in July of 2024.
Land of the Rising Sun #2 was namedBest Roleplaying Expansion (People's Choice) byUK Games Expo 2021.[13]
In 1988, Gold (who had been filking since 1967) also began publishingXenofilkia,[3] a bimonthly collection offilk lyrics (and some sheet music). Over 400 songwriters have contributed, includingLeslie Fish,Tom Smith andBob Kanefsky.[14] Although Gold has published filk lyrics, she has never recorded for public distribution.[citation needed]
Lee and Barry Gold were jointly inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1997[15] and wereInterfilk guests at Ohio Valley Filk Fest in 2000.[16][17]
Lee and Barry Gold were Featured Filkers atBoskone 44 in 2007.[18]
In 2012, Gold publishedDr. Jane's Songs, a compilation of all ofDr. Jane's songs thatJim Robinson could find in his archives, plus a few that Lee Gold found from other sources, with illustrations.[19] In 2014, she published a compilation of all the songs byCynthia McQuillin that Gold,Robinson, McQuillin'sliterary executors and several other people could track down, over 450 pages of songs.[20]
Lee Gold published the fan fiction fanzine "The Third Foundation" from 1967 until at least 1969.
As of May 2023, she had published 571 issues ofAlarums and Excursions and 209 issues ofXenofilkia,[21] as well as six volumes ofFilker Up!, a filk-song anthology.
She publishedTom Digby: Along Fantasy Way, a collection of writings by Tom Digby, forConFrancisco, the 1993Worldcon where Digby was an Honored Guest, and has published writings by other prominent fan writers in the Los Angeles area.
She has also published a collection of songs byDr. Jane Robinson (2012-9-10),[19] and another of songs byCynthia McQuillin (2014-3-8).[20] In both cases, James Robinson sent copies of all the songs in his possession to Gold. Kristoph Klover and Margaret Davis (McQuillin's literary executors) lent McQuillin's handwritten songs to Robinson, who copied them and sent them to Gold for inclusion. Many other people helped make the McQuillin songbook as complete as possible: the subhead for the songbook reads "all the songs written by Cynthia McQuillin that Dr. James Robinson and Lee Gold and Mary Creasey and Harold Stein and Bob Kanefsky and Alan Thiesen and Margaret Davis and Kristoph Klover could find in 2013."[20]