I was one of the many who nearly pulled the trigger on Sanderson’s $42 Million kickstarter and got all the goodies and one of the reasons was The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England. I ended up checking out the Frugal Wizard’s Guide at the NYPL when I saw it on the shelf. It ended up being the right choice — it’s a wonderful book that I probably would only have read once and, unless the author is just starting out or clearing making only $10k — $20k a year on their writing, remains the right choice for many, many books. The best I can offer another author is exposure anyways, my audience, my reflection on their works.

What’s fascinating is that I was expecting The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Mainly based on the title and the marketing. I was pretty excited for a Sanderson version of Adams. Or even Pratchett.

It wasn’t that.

In fact, it made for a very pleasant surprise. The Frugal Wizard’s Guide to Surviving Medieval England occupies the exact genre I’m trying to forge with my novella Tap & Die: Die Bard. Basically classic action stories retold through the lens of fantasy worlds. Granted, mine is a more Nabokovian satire of the action genre. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a soft place in my heart for Die Hard, the third greatest Christmas movie of all time.

For the record, the actual title is the Frugal Wizard’s Handbook, but since it took both me and the SEO recommendations this long to search for an image and find the correction, I’m keeping it — there will be just as many people who remember the Hitchhiker’s guide and make the same mistake that I make.

It certainly has ephemera from the guide itself, but that’s not what the book is.

It’s Jason Bourne.

A very incompetent, idiotic, rather selfish Jason Bourne.

Wizard.

Cop.

Who doesn’t remember who he is.

Gets transferred back into a very private dimension.

With actual magic.

Run by future mobsters.

So yeah, it’s definitely the kind of book you want to get ahold of. Most of the time when I expect one thing from a book’s marketing (in this case Douglas Adams does epic fantasy) and end up with something else (Jason Bourne time cop), I generally hate it. Or three star it.

In this case, I went in expecting one thing and got something even better:

Another example of the Die Bard genre. Which I loved enough to write Tap & Die. So if you end up liking either my book or Sanderson’s, pick up a copy of the other one.

What did you think? Why did you search for it? Tell me in the comments.