Community hub
Recent from talks
Contribute something
Nothing was collected or created yet.
Lee Gold
View on WikipediaLee Gold is a member of California science fiction fandom and a writer and editor in the role-playing game and filk music communities.[1]
Key Information
Role-playing games
[edit]Gold became prominent after 1975 as the editor of Alarums and Excursions, a monthly amateur press association to which RPG writers have contributed over the years.[3][4][5] It won the Charles S. Roberts Award for Best Amateur Wargame Magazine in 1984, and the Origins Award for Best Amateur Game Periodical in 2000, 2001, and 2002.[6][7] Gold began the publication at the request of Bruce Pelz, who felt that discussion of Dungeons & Dragons was taking up too much space in APA-L, an amateur press association loosely associated with the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society.[8]
Gold was listed in the 'Top 50 Most Influential People in the Adventure Game Market for Y2000'[9]
In May 2025 the game company Chaosium reported that Gold had stopped publishing Alarums and Excursions "just shy of its 50th anniversary, and [after] over 590 monthly issues."[10]
Professional Works
[edit]Her professional credits in the RPG field include Land of the Rising Sun and Lands of Adventure, published by Fantasy Games Unlimited; GURPS Japan, published by Steve Jackson Games; and Vikings, published by Iron Crown Enterprises.[11] Land of the Rising Sun (1980) was a Japanese-themed role-playing game using the Chivalry & Sorcery game system,[12]: 74 and Lands of Adventure (1983) was a game system meant for both historical fantasy and Science Fiction-based role-playing games.[12]
Gold's novel Valhalla: 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!".[13] 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 named Best Roleplaying Expansion (People's Choice) by UK Games Expo 2021.[14]
Filk
[edit]In 1988, Gold (who had been filking since 1967) also began publishing Xenofilkia,[3] a bimonthly collection of filk lyrics (and some sheet music). Over 400 songwriters have contributed, including Leslie Fish, Tom Smith and Bob Kanefsky.[15] Although Gold has published filk lyrics, she has never recorded for public distribution.
Lee and Barry Gold were jointly inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1997.[16] They were Interfilk guests at Ohio Valley Filk Fest in 2000.[17][18] and Featured Filkers at Boskone 44 in 2007.[19]
In 2012, Gold published Dr. Jane's Songs, a compilation of all of Dr. Jane's songs that Jim Robinson could find in his archives, plus a few that Lee Gold found from other sources, with illustrations.[20] In 2014, she published a compilation of all the songs by Cynthia McQuillin that Gold, Robinson, McQuillin's literary executors and several other people could track down, over 450 pages of songs.[21]
Publishing history
[edit]Lee Gold published the fan fiction fanzine "The Third Foundation" from 1967 until at least 1969.
As of April 30, 2025, she had published 593 issues of Alarums and Excursions and 220 issues of Xenofilkia,[22] as well as six volumes of Filker Up!, an anthology of filk-songs mostly by Lee but including songs by other writers that Lee considered worthy of inclusion.
She published Tom Digby: Along Fantasy Way, a collection of writings by Tom Digby, for ConFrancisco, the 1993 Worldcon 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 by Dr. Jane Robinson (2012-9-10),[20] and another of songs by Cynthia McQuillin (2014-3-8).[21] 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."[21]
Lee ceased publication of both A&E and Xenofilkia in March 2025. [23]
References
[edit]- ^ Lee's personal web page
- ^ "Barry Gold". conchord.org. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
- ^ a b Reid, Robin Anne (2009). Women in Science Fiction and Fantasy, Volume I: Overviews. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-313-33591-4.
- ^ Fine, Gary Alan (2002-08-14). Shared Fantasy: Role Playing Games as Social Worlds. University of Chicago Press. p. 32. ISBN 9780226249445.
- ^ Mason, Paul (2012-05-27). "A history of RPGs: Made by fans; played by fans". Transformative Works and Cultures. 11. doi:10.3983/twc.2012.0444. ISSN 1941-2258.
- ^ "2000 List of Winners". Academy of Adventure Gaming, Arts & Design. 2006-11-14. Archived from the original on 2006-12-21. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
- ^ "Dungeons, dragons, and the fantasy role-playing craze: Which side are you on – lawful good or chaotic evil?", The Boston Globe.
- ^ Brett's RPG Magazine and Zine Index Archived 2006-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, entry on Alarums & Excursions.
- ^ Frazier, Dan (June 2000). "Games Unplugged". Games Unplugged (1): 16–25.
- ^ "Out of the Suitcase #54: Farewell to Lee Gold's Alarums & Excursions". Chaosium Inc. Retrieved 30 May 2025.
- ^ McElroy, Matt. "Lee Gold". Pen & Paper RPG Database. Archived from the original on 2005-02-26. Retrieved 2011-03-10.
- ^ a b Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- ^ Facebook posting, 2021-04-01 in Barry Gold's (her husband's) timeline
- ^ "UK Games Expo 2021 Awards winners". August 2021.
- ^ "Cumulative Xenofilkia Index by Author".
- ^ "Filk Hall of Fame". FilkOntario. 2006-10-28. Archived from the original on 2009-11-24. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
- ^ "Interfilk Guests". 26 June 2015.
- ^ "OVFF History". Archived from the original on 2006-06-19.
- ^ "Boskone 4". NESFA. Archived from the original on 2012-08-24.
- ^ a b "Dr. Jane's Songs".
- ^ a b c "The Cynthia McQuillin Songbook".
- ^ Xenofilkia website
- ^ Lee Gold's personal website.