I admit it, I’m obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons, the period of time in which it was a new concept, and the state of Oregon; if you’re interested in all these things, I hope you’ll connect with my odd, quasi-YA novel here. I started this project in 2007; it’s a kind of alternate 1980s history of my geeky teenage years, but I myself am not in it. Those who grew up with me might recognize a few incidents remapped to fictional characters and alternate locations. Steve’s house and basement-apartment vaguely recall my friend Gene’s childhood home, which was also located in the West Hills but lacked the eastern view and other important details. The Game Den combines several stores I frequented as a kid, but especially the Book Den, a shop located in Gresham, not Portland. Merriwether Prep does not exist in any form; when I think of it, I picture the grounds of Lewis & Clark College, where I spent a week in high school along with other students from around the state at the Oregon Young Writers workshop.
The novel is complete, at 150K words and 43 chapters.
1. Tess
2. Thrust, Parry, Leg Squeeze, and Detente
3. The Campaign
4. Megaera
5. Court Intrigue, with Assassins
6. The Veteran Shows Her Skill
8. Boss Monsters Revealed, The Note on the Cast
9. Bugclaw
10. The Bandit, the Demonlord, the Walk in the Sun
11. Foreshadowing
12. Lydia
13. A Hairy Escape
17. The Crossroads
18. Class Dismissed, and Other Gifts
19. Encounter with the Resistance
23. Reunion at Camp
26. Megaera Brings Down the House
27. Xanthe
28. A Change of View
29. Back Together
30. In the Dungeons
33. Death
34. The Funeral
36. Jane
38. Prisoners
39. The Betrayal
40. A New Love
41. The Letters
Far Green Country 
Long ago was the Book Den in the land of Gresham. It was good times. I’m glad somebody else remembers as well.
Ken Julkowski was the owner. It was great to see people’s various campaigns in progress, listen in, and pick up ideas. I remember a tournament held with an adventure called “Maze of the Moneylender.” The guy who wrote the module was a great DM named Steve.
Steve Slayton was the DM for the Maze of the Money Lender.
Last I’d heard Steve had moved to Alaska but that was quite a long time ago.
Steve’s game world was premised off of Lloyd Alexander’s The Chronicles of Prydain but the Maze of the Money Lender was something of a one-off. Still, it was a scary adventure of vampires and traps.
Right, I remember listening in on his Prydain campaign. I put a bit of it in my gamer book. “The Game Den Irregulars” chapter is influenced by a conversation I had with Steve in the back of the Book Den. The Aaron character isn’t Steve physically; I had Robert E. Howard in mind. I’m going to revise this thing and either find a publisher or self-publish it.