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Fire and Dust
Someone is blowing up the headquarters of factions in Sigil. As part of a multi-faction team, Britlin Cavendish (artist, swordsman, and Sensate) gets drafted to stake out the Mortuary and keep an eye out for trouble. One fire bomb later, Britlin and his companions are fighting wights that don't obey the Death Pact, on a trail that leads from the Plane of Dust to Carceri, Plague-Mort, and many strange places in between.
256 pages, pdf
First published January 1, 1995
4 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
James Alan Gardner
65 books279 followersRaised in Simcoe and Bradford, Ontario, James Alan Gardner earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Applied Mathematics from the University of Waterloo.
A graduate of the Clarion West Fiction Writers Workshop, Gardner has published science fiction short stories in a range of periodicals, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Amazing Stories. In 1989, his short story "Children of the Creche" was awarded the Grand Prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Two years later his story "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" won an Aurora Award; another story, "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream," won an Aurora and was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
He has written a number of novels in a "League of Peoples" universe in which murderers are defined as "dangerous non-sentients" and are killed if they try to leave their solar system by aliens who are so advanced that they think of humans like humans think of bacteria. This precludes the possibility of interstellar wars.
He has also explored themes of gender in his novels, including Commitment Hour in which people change sex every year, and Vigilant in which group marriages are traditional.
Gardner is also an educator and technical writer. His book Learning UNIX is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities.
A Grand Prize winner of the Writers of the Future contest, he lives with his family in Waterloo, Ontario.
A graduate of the Clarion West Fiction Writers Workshop, Gardner has published science fiction short stories in a range of periodicals, including The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Amazing Stories. In 1989, his short story "Children of the Creche" was awarded the Grand Prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Two years later his story "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large" won an Aurora Award; another story, "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream," won an Aurora and was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards.
He has written a number of novels in a "League of Peoples" universe in which murderers are defined as "dangerous non-sentients" and are killed if they try to leave their solar system by aliens who are so advanced that they think of humans like humans think of bacteria. This precludes the possibility of interstellar wars.
He has also explored themes of gender in his novels, including Commitment Hour in which people change sex every year, and Vigilant in which group marriages are traditional.
Gardner is also an educator and technical writer. His book Learning UNIX is used as a textbook in some Canadian universities.
A Grand Prize winner of the Writers of the Future contest, he lives with his family in Waterloo, Ontario.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 29, 2018
The best book in the planescape setting and possibly the book i liked most of all :)
October 15, 2024
I would have enjoyed the story more without the incest and rapes. That was unpleasant and unnecessary.
April 5, 2025
A cool adventure across the D&D planes of existence, showing of various aspects of the setting (different factions, the portals and creatures) while still having some nice characters, a mystery and action, to boot.
It's also free! Saying it's the best fan-fiction I've read isn't saying much, since I've read very little fan-fiction, but I enjoyed this romp in Sigil and beyond.
On a technical note, the PDF version has some pages missing (I think 3, scattered about the 250 or so pages), so unless someone fixes it, you should go to https://wings.planewalker.com/archive... to fill in the occasional blank from that HTML version.
It's also free! Saying it's the best fan-fiction I've read isn't saying much, since I've read very little fan-fiction, but I enjoyed this romp in Sigil and beyond.
On a technical note, the PDF version has some pages missing (I think 3, scattered about the 250 or so pages), so unless someone fixes it, you should go to https://wings.planewalker.com/archive... to fill in the occasional blank from that HTML version.
July 3, 2024
It's incredible how well this book understands and embodies the Planescape setting. It genuinely seems like Gardner has a better understanding of the setting than the current custodians of the IP.
It could be my love of Planescape and Sigil speaking but this is eclipses a lot of other official licensed D&D novels.
The story itself follows a fairly typical fantasy adventure format, there's even an unneccesary bitter sweet romance that has the grace to not overstay its welcome. The thing that sets it apart and kept me glued to the page was how it brought the world to life. Gardners rendition of the manic atmosphere of Sigil and the planes is something I took great pleasure in exploring. An unexpected surprise was the undercurrent of very mature themes sprinkled throughout Fire and Dust. A word of warning, this story goes to some very dark places... and I'm not talking about the Negative Energy Plane.
It's certainly not a masterpiece or even something I'd recommend to every blood and berk, but by the Lady, this was a fun read!
It could be my love of Planescape and Sigil speaking but this is eclipses a lot of other official licensed D&D novels.
The story itself follows a fairly typical fantasy adventure format, there's even an unneccesary bitter sweet romance that has the grace to not overstay its welcome. The thing that sets it apart and kept me glued to the page was how it brought the world to life. Gardners rendition of the manic atmosphere of Sigil and the planes is something I took great pleasure in exploring. An unexpected surprise was the undercurrent of very mature themes sprinkled throughout Fire and Dust. A word of warning, this story goes to some very dark places... and I'm not talking about the Negative Energy Plane.
It's certainly not a masterpiece or even something I'd recommend to every blood and berk, but by the Lady, this was a fun read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 21, 2022
A little unfinished, with the occasional missing page that I assume is because the book was never fully released, just published online, but that kinda works for a setting like planescape. Beyond that, it was much more evocatively written than I expected!
March 1, 2023
I'm a Planescape dungeon master and I read in the past all Planescape official novels.
It is very unexpected that this book is the best Planescape novel I read in my life. The author has good understanding of the setting and its factions.
The plot is very interesting, the character well detailed and it has GOOD humor in it! Very well done!
I also used this book for an adventure that I run for my party.
It is very unexpected that this book is the best Planescape novel I read in my life. The author has good understanding of the setting and its factions.
The plot is very interesting, the character well detailed and it has GOOD humor in it! Very well done!
I also used this book for an adventure that I run for my party.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews