Appendix {}: Non-existent Books
Dec 11, 2016 15:40:13 GMT -6
bigjackbrass, ritt, and 3 more like this
Post by krusader74 on Dec 11, 2016 15:40:13 GMT -6
Appendix ∅: Non-existent Books
This is a list of fictional books mentioned in works of fiction. This list isn't comprehensive (see the sublist of notable omissions below). Rather, it's my go-to list when I need a mysterious book when running a role-playing game. By {} or ∅, I just mean the empty set, the extensionality of this set of books.
In Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland:
In Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series:
In Frank L. Baum's Oz books:
By Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) in Nineteen Eighty-Four:
By Philip K. Dick:
In Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy:
In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series:
In D&D:
Cthulhu Mythos
By Robert W. Chambers in The King in Yellow:
Books in the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Lin Carter, et al.:
Lovecraftian books invented by Robert Bloch:
Fake books attributed to Edgar Allan Poe, fabricated by Robert Bloch:
Fictional newspapers
From TV and movies...
In the Evil Dead movie series, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis
From Death Note, the "Death Note" is a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. On the inside of this black notebook are written the instructions ("How To Use"). Here are a few examples of its many rules:
IIRC, some rules are discovered through experimentation, such as
And some rules are given verbally by Ryuk, its former owner, a Shinigami (or death god):
See Quora: What are the rules in Death Note?
Notable omissions
Works invented by...
See Also
See the List of fictional books on Wikipedia
See also this YouTube video from the WatchMojo channel: Top 10 Amazing Books that Don't Actually Exist
They take their top ten fictional books from movies:
Honorable Mentions:
Have you used non-existent books in your RPG? Please add your favorites below...
This is a list of fictional books mentioned in works of fiction. This list isn't comprehensive (see the sublist of notable omissions below). Rather, it's my go-to list when I need a mysterious book when running a role-playing game. By {} or ∅, I just mean the empty set, the extensionality of this set of books.
In Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland:
- Through Flatland to Thoughtland by Prof. A. Square
In Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series:
- Books attributed to Professor James Moriarty:
- The Dynamics of an Asteroid
- A Treatise on the Binomial Theorem
- Books attributed to Dr. John Watson:
- Giant Rat of Sumatra
- Books attributed to Sherlock Holmes:
- Chaldean Roots in the Ancient Cornish Language
- Early English Charters
- Malingering
- Of Tattoo Marks
- On Secret Writings
- On the Polyphonic Motets of Lassus
- On the Study of Tobaccos and their Ashes
- On the Surface Anatomy of the Human Ear
- On the Typewriter and Its Relation to Crime
- Practical Handbook of Bee Culture, with Some Observations upon the Segregation of the Queen
- Upon the Dating of Old Documents
- Upon the Influence of a Trade upon the Form of the Hand
- Upon the Tracing of Footsteps
- Upon the Uses of Dogs in the Work of the Detective
- Whole Art of Detection
In Frank L. Baum's Oz books:
- Encyclopedia Donkaniara
- Glinda's Great Book of Records
By Eric Blair (aka George Orwell) in Nineteen Eighty-Four:
- The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism by Emmanuel Goldstein
By Philip K. Dick:
- The Grasshopper Lies Heavy by Hawthorne Abendsen (appears in In The Man in the High Castle)
- How I Rose From the Dead in My Spare Time and So Can You by A. J. Spectowsky (appears in In A Maze of Death)
- Here, Tyrant Death by Bishop Timothy Archer (appears in The Transmigration of Timothy Archer)
In Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy:
- Encyclopedia Galactica
In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series:
- Encyclopedia Galactica
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Mark II
- and many, many more...
In D&D:
- The Book of Vile Darkness
Cthulhu Mythos
By Robert W. Chambers in The King in Yellow:
- The King in Yellow, a play by Castaigne (either the author or translator), also mentioned in H. P. Lovecraft's "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1930)
Books in the Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, Lin Carter, et al.:
- Azathoth and Other Horrors by Edward Pickman Derby
- Black Tome of Alsophocus
- Book of Azathoth (in H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House")
- Book of Eibon (in Clark Ashton Smith's "Ubbo-Sathla")
- Chronicles of Nath by James Sheffield
- Chronike von Nath by Rudolf Yergler
- Dhol Chants
- The Eltdown Shards (translated by Gordon Whitney)
- Ghorl Nigral (aka The Book of Night)
- Ilarnek Papyri
- Liber Ivonis
- Liber-D*mnatus
- Livre d'Eibon
- Necronomicon by Abdul al-Hazred (translated into Latin by Olaus Wormius)
- Pnakotic Manuscripts (in H. P. Lovecraf's "Polaris" (1918))
- Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan by Hsan the Greater (translated by Etienne-Laurent De Marigny)
- Unaussprechlichen Kulten (Nameless Cults) by Friedrich von Junzt
Lovecraftian books invented by Robert Bloch:
- Cabala of Saboth
- Commentaries on Witchcraft by Mycroft
- De Vermis Mysteriis (Mysteries of the Worm) (in Bloch's short story "The Shambler from the Stars" (1935))
- Cultes des Goules by Comte d'Erlette
- Black Rites by Luveh-Keraphf (the author's name pays homage to Lovecraft)
Fake books attributed to Edgar Allan Poe, fabricated by Robert Bloch:
- The Crypt
- The Further Adventures of Arthur Gordon Pym
- The Worm of Midnight
Fictional newspapers
- The Arkham Advertiser (in H. P. Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness)
- Daily Sentinel (published by Britt Reid in The Green Hornet)
- The Daily Planet (in Action Comics and Superman)
- Picture News (in The Flash)
- The Daily Prophet (from Harry Potter)
- The Daily Bugle (in Marvel Comics, esp Spider-Man)
- The Lone Gunmen (from The X-Files)
From TV and movies...
In the Evil Dead movie series, the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis
- Discovered by Professor Raymond Knowby
- Written by the Dark Ones
- Bound in human skin
- Inked in human blood
- Has a face on it
- Reading it out loud releases a Kandarian demon, which can possess inanimate and animate objects
From Death Note, the "Death Note" is a notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it. On the inside of this black notebook are written the instructions ("How To Use"). Here are a few examples of its many rules:
- The human whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the subject's face in mind when writing his/her name. This is to prevent people who share the same name from being affected.
- If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of the subject's name, it will happen.
- If the cause of death is not specified, the subject will die of a heart attack.
- After writing the cause of death, the details of death should be entered within the next six minutes and 40 seconds.
IIRC, some rules are discovered through experimentation, such as
- The conditions of death will not be realized unless they are physically possible for that human or could be reasonably assumed to be carried out by that human.
- You may write the cause and/or details of death prior to filling in the name of the individual. Be sure to insert the name in front of the cause of death. You have about 19 days (according to the human calendar) to fill in a name.
- The Death Note can only operate within a 23-day window (in the human calendar). This is called the 23-Day rule.
- One page taken from the Death Note, or even a fragment of the page, possesses the full power of the note.
And some rules are given verbally by Ryuk, its former owner, a Shinigami (or death god):
- The human who uses this note can go neither to Heaven nor to Hell.
See Quora: What are the rules in Death Note?
Notable omissions
Works invented by...
- J. R. R. Tolkien
- Jack Vance
- Poul Anderson
- Piers Anthony
- Frank Herbert
- J. K. Rowling
See Also
See the List of fictional books on Wikipedia
See also this YouTube video from the WatchMojo channel: Top 10 Amazing Books that Don't Actually Exist
They take their top ten fictional books from movies:
- Necronomicon Ex-Mortis (from the Evil Dead franchise; see description above)
- Grays Sports Almanac: Complete Sports Statistcs 1950-2000 (from Back To the Future Part II (1989))
- Handbook for the Recently Deceased (from Beetlejuice (1988))
- The Philosophy of Time Travel (from Donnie Darko (2001))
- Misery series by Paul Sheldon, a best-selling series of Victorian era romance novels surrounding the character Misery Chastain (from Misery (1990))
- Mister Babadook (from The Babadook (2014))
- Isle of Naboombu (from Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971))
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
- Family of Geniuses by Etheline Tenenbaums (from The Royal Tenenbaums (2001))
- The NeverEnding Story
Honorable Mentions:
- The Number 23
- The Tales of Beedle the Bard
- The Book of Dragons (from How to Train Your Dragon (2010))
Have you used non-existent books in your RPG? Please add your favorites below...