| Born | Ari Marmell March 22, 1974 New York |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Game designer |
| Nationality | United States |
| Genres | Role-playing games |
Ari Marmell (born March 22, 1974) is an American novelist and freelance role-playing game writer.
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His first novel, Gehenna: The Final Night, was published in 2004 by White Wolf Publishing. Agents of Artifice, a media tie-in novel set in the Magic: The Gathering Planeswalkers game-setting, and published by Wizards of the Coast, followed in November 2009.
His first novel that was not based on a role-playing game was 2010's The Conqueror's Shadow. Reviewing the novel for Booklist, Krista Hutley wrote, "This action-packed, morally gray fantasy has an intriguingly twisty plot, full of magic and political intrigue."[1] Reviewer Clay Kallam wrote that it "has a lot going for it, but it still didn't leave me completely satisfied."[2] The sequel to The Conqueror's Shadow is 2011's The Warlord's Legacy.[3] Library Journal wrote that it "fills a vital niche in the fantasy adventurer genre, one occupied by the heroes of Michael Moorcock's Elric Melniboné novels and C.S. Friedman's Coldfire Trilogy."[4]
In 2011, Marmell's novel, The Goblin Corps was published by Pyr. The Goblin Corps drew interest not only for Marmell's talented writing, but also for the fact that, unlike many fantasy novels, it followed the story from the perspective of the traditional "bad guys": the goblins themselves.
In February 2012, Pyr is also scheduled to release Marmell's Thief's Covenant, first in his "Widdershins Adventure" Young Adult series.[5] Thief's Covenant will be followed by False Covenant, the second "Widdershins Adventure" novel.
He has written extensively for the role-playing game industry, including White Wolf[6] and Wizards of the Coast. Iggwilv’s Legacy was his first opportunity to revisit one of the old classics (a few references to the Caves of Chaos he squeezed into Frostfell Rift notwithstanding).
Marmell was born in New York State, but moved to Houston, Texas when he was one year old.[7] He has been playing Dungeons & Dragons since he was nine. He attended college at the University of Houston, graduating in 1996.[8] He currently lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, George, and two cats.[7]