Rick Shelley (1947–2001)

A fairly typical fantasy aimed at the 'young and male' audience.
When he comes home from college to celebrate his 21st birthday, Our Hero, Gil, is bemused to find his parents missing.
Looking down in the basement, he discovers a secret door that leads into a fantasy land, complete with elves, dragons, wizards, castles, and all the rest that you might expect.
Gil learns that his parents have been hiding a double life from him for all these years - he is actually the designated Hero of Varay and not only that, but the king's grandson and Heir to the Realm!
Although he was a computer science major, Gil is rather jock-like, and fighting and heroics seem to come naturally to him. Which is lucky, because when he discovers that his father has been killed in Varay's struggle against the encroachments of Faery, he of course must accept the quest to lead that struggle and seek his revenge.

Very light reading, and a bit silly at times.… (more)

Begins 3 years after the conclusion of #1. Gil is now settled into his position of Hero of Varay, and has used his influence to create a good life for himself in both the fantasy world of Varay and our modern world. He's also met a girlfriend, the attractive-but-seemingly-lacking-any-sort-of-personality Joy.
When terrorists blow up a cruise ship with a nuclear bomb, our world is full of fear and political unrest, and weird things also start happening in Varay. Dragons are seen in the skies of Earth, and nuclear subs start appearing in the oceans of Varay.
Gil must get his girlfriend to safety in Varay (he hasn't told he about his double life), and try to figure out what's happening.
In order to do this, it's somehow decided that he must go on a quest to find the Balls of the Great Earth Mother. 'Cause what does a hero need? More balls, of course.
With the reluctant help of a decapitated elf, the quest begins.

This is really a Very Bad Book. It is stupid, sexist, and crude, all with no sense of humor or irony. It's written as if for young (male) teens, but has fairly explicit sex, so I guess it's sort of meant for adults with low literary standards."

… (more)

"The Varayan Memoir' continues on to its fairly-unbelievably-crude climax in similar form to the previous installments, complete with racism (when a bevy of gorgeous succubi show up, Shelley feels the need to mention, for no apparent reason,
that although they have a variety of appearances, none of them are black) and sexism (female characters have no personality, and don't do anything but whine and be there for sex). Shelley also feels the need to have one of his characters explain that 'racial' and 'racist' are different. Hmm. Maybe sometimes, but not usually, and not when you feel the need to apologize for it.
I got a kick out of Shelley's lack-of-clue regarding bra sizes though. For the record, a woman who was 48D, 28, 42 would be a rather wasp-waisted, barrel-chested woman with average-size breasts, NOT, as Shelley claims, a slender female with
huge breasts. Sigh. The fact that the author feels the need to mention a woman's measurements at all says a lot about this book.… (more)