Raymond E. Feist

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Raymond E. Feist

Raymond Elias Feist at Salon du livre 2008 (Paris, France)
Born December 1945
Los Angeles, California
Occupation Novelist
Nationality American
Writing period 1982 - present
Genres Fantasy
Notable work(s) Magician
Relative(s) Felix E. Feist
Official website

Raymond Elias Feist (born 1945, Los Angeles, California) is an American author, mostly specialising in fantasy fiction.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Raymond E. Feist was born in 1945 in Los Angeles, and was raised in Southern California. He was born with the surname Gonzales, before being adopted by Felix E. Feist.

He graduated with a B.A. in Communication Arts with Honors in 1977 from the University of California at San Diego. During that year Feist had some ideas for a novel about a boy who would be a magician; he wrote the novel two years later, and it was published in 1982 by Doubleday.

Feist currently lives in San Diego with his children, where he collects fine wine, DVDs, and books on a variety of topics of personal interest: wine, biographies, history, and, especially, the history of American Professional Football.

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[edit] Bibliography

[edit] The Riftwar Cycle

Many of his works have been set in the interconnected worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.

Midkemia was originally created as an alternative to the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) role-playing game. When Feist studied at the University of California, San Diego, he and his friends created a new role-playing game based on the world of Midkemia. They called themselves the Thursday Nighters, because they played the Midkemia role-playing game every Thursday evening. After some time, when the group changed and began meeting on Fridays, they became known as the Friday Nighters. The original group have since formed a company called Midkemia Press, which has continued publishing campaigns set in Midkemia.

[edit] The Riftwar Saga

Main article: Riftwar

The Riftwar Saga was the first trilogy written by Raymond E. Feist. The books take place on the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan.

Also formerly published under the title Pug and Tomas and also published in two parts in 1992:

  1. Magician: Apprentice
  2. Magician: Master

[edit] The Empire Trilogy

Main article: Empire Trilogy

The Empire Trilogy (co-authored by Janny Wurts) are set entirely in Kelewan. The Empire and Riftwar Trilogies occur simultaneously. One major Riftwar character ('Pug'/'Milamber') appears briefly. The series has a much stronger focus on intrigue and political maneuvering than the former series.

[edit] Legends of the Riftwar

The Legends of the Riftwar is set during the Riftwar, and occasionally feature "cameo appearances" by favourite characters belonging to the co-author (except for Murder in LaMut where the "guest" characters are in the thick of the action).

Coauthor: William R. Forstchen
Coauthor: Joel Rosenberg
Coauthor: S. M. Stirling

[edit] Riftwar Legacy

The Riftwar Legacy is set about ten years after the Riftwar trilogy, and are based upon the storyline featured in the PC games Betrayal at Krondor and Return to Krondor.

Due to some copyright difficulties regarding the rights to the storyline within the Riftwar Legacy, these two books have been unable to be released, and on his mailing list, Feist has said that it is unlikely that they ever will be, or, if they are, they would likely be released as a single novel.

[edit] Krondor's Sons

Main article: Krondor's Sons

Krondor's Sons feature many of the characters from the Riftwar trilogy and are set 20-30 years later. They revolve around the sons of Arutha ConDoin, the prince of Krondor, and set the stage for The Serpentwar Saga.

[edit] The Serpentwar Saga

The Serpentwar Saga is set about five decades after the Riftwar trilogy.

[edit] Conclave of Shadows

The Conclave of Shadows, while set in Midkemia, is geographically separated from the earlier books and connect only peripherally as yet. Additionally, they are set approximately 30-50 years past the time of the Serpentwar.

[edit] Darkwar Saga

Main article: Darkwar Saga

The Darkwar Saga will be one of the final sagas about Midkemia, covering the 3rd Riftwar. Future series will be set in Midkemia between this series and the 4th Riftwar (which will only be one or two books long), depending partly on interest from publishers.

[edit] Demonwar Saga

The Demonwar is set 20 years after the end of Wrath of a Mad God.

  • Rides a Dread Legion (March 2, 2009)
  • Return of the Demon King (TBA)

[edit] Chaoswar Saga

This saga will be the last Riftwar and will see the end of the Cycle.

  • A Kingdom Besieged (TBA)
  • A Crown Imperiled (TBA)
  • Magician's End (TBA)

[edit] Short stories

[edit] Other works

[edit] Novels

[edit] Short stories

  • Profit and the Grey Assassin (1982) in Fantasy Book
  • Geroldos Incredible Trick (1997) in A Magic Lovers Treasury of the Fantastic
  • One to Go (2002) in Thieves World: Turning Points
  • Watchfire (2004) in Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy (Coauthored by Janny Wurts)

[edit] Adaptations

The world of Midkemia and Feist's Riftwar Cycle has been the inspiration to the making of computer games and to the adaption of some of his stories into comic books.

[edit] Video games

The first game, Betrayal at Krondor, was released in 1993 by Dynamix, a division of Sierra On-line. It is based on the fantasy world of Midkemia, which has been largely developed Feists Riftwar novels. Although neither the dialog nor narrative of the game were written by Feist himself, he later wrote a novelization of the game entitled Krondor: The Betrayal.

In 1998 Return to Krondor was released by Sierra On-line as a sequel to Betrayal at Krondor. Return to Krondor occurs a few months after the previous game. A novelization of this game was later created under the title of Krondor: Tear of the Gods

Most recently, Iron Realms Entertainment have announced their plans to make a MUD based in Midkemia. The project, dubbed Midkemia Online has no official release date, however it is hoped to be released in late 2008.

[edit] Comic books

In 2005, a comic book adaptation of The Wood Boy, a short story Feist had written for the anthology Legends was produced by Dabel Brothers Productions. It was originally made in two parts, the second of which was never published. It was later reprinted as a graphic novel with another adaptation from Legends, Tad Williams' The Burning Man.

Soon afterwards, in March, 2006 an adaptation of Magician began to be released by Dabel Brothers Productions and Marvel Comics. Currently they are publishing the adaptation of Magician: Apprentice in its entirety, and the first six issues have been released as a graphic novel hardcover. After almost one year of collaboration, Dabel Brothers Productions and Marvel parted ways, with all the books, including Magician, being retained by Marvel. In 2008, issues seven through twelve have also been released as graphic novel hard cover (Volume 2) by Marvel.

[edit] External links