Raymond E Feist
Biography[]
Raymond Elias Feist (born 1945, Los Angeles, California) is the author or co-author of nearly all books relating to the fantasy worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan and all books in The Riftwar Cycle. He has been writing since he first had success with Magician in 1982.
Raymond Elias Feist (born Raymond E. Gonzales III, 1945) is an American author who primarily writes fantasy fiction. He is best known for The Riftwar Cycle series of novels and short stories. His books have been translated into multiple languages and have sold over 15 million copies.
Raymond E. Gonzales III was born in 1945 in Los Angeles, and was raised in Southern California. When his mother remarried, he took the surname of his adoptive stepfather, Felix E. Feist.[2] 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 with his children in San Diego, 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.
Bibliography[]
The majority of Feist's works are part of The Riftwar Cycle, and feature the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. Human magicians and other creatures on the two planets are able to create rifts through dimensionless space that can connect planets in different solar systems. The novels and short stories of The Riftwar Universe record the adventures of various people on these worlds.
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 their own original 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.
Feist acknowledges that the Tekumel setting from M. A. R. Barker's Empire of the Petal Throne was the source for much of Kelewan. The original D&D campaign which he based his books on had an invasion of the Midkemia world by Tekumel. As a result, much of the background of Kelewan – the Tsurani Empire, the lack of metals and horses, the Cho'ja, the pantheons of 20 major and 20 minor gods – comes from Tekumel. Feist claims to have been unaware of this origin when he wrote Magician.
Feist created the Riftwar universe in 1982 in the bestselling masterpiece Magician. With this successful start to The Riftwar Cycle, he has since written 30 novels and several short stories based in the same universe. The final Riftwar novel, Magicians End, was released in May 2013.
SPOILER ALERT: This wiki is treated like an encyclopedia. Articles within may contain information revealing details about parts of the story you haven't read yet. Peruse at your own risk.
The Riftwar Cycle[]
The Riftwar Saga[]
- Magician (1982)
Magician volume 2 Master. (1982)
- Silverthorn (1985)
- A Darkness at Sethanon (1986)
The Empire Trilogy[]
- Daughter of the Empire (1987, co-authored with Janny Wurts)
- Servant of the Empire (1990, co-authored with Janny Wurts)
- Mistress of the Empire (May 1992, co-authored with Janny Wurts)
Krondor's Sons[]
- Prince of the Blood (1989)
- The Kings Buccaneer (November 1992)
The Serpentwar Saga[]
- Shadow of a Dark Queen (1994)
- Rise of a Merchant Prince (1995)
- Rage of a Demon King (1997)
- Shards of a Broken Crown (April 1998)
The Riftwar Legacy[]
- Krondor the Betrayal (November 1998)
- Krondor the Assassins (novel) (November 1999)
- Krondor Tear of the Gods (February 2001)
Legends of the Riftwar[]
- Honoured Enemy (August 2001, co-authored with William Forstchen)
- Murder in LaMut (June 2002, co-authored with Joel Rosenberg)
- Jimmy the Hand (July 2003, co-authored with S. M. Stirling)
Conclave of Shadows[]
- Talon of the Silver Hawk (September 2002)
- King of Foxes (November 2003)
- Exiles Return (August 2004)
The Darkwar Saga[]
- Flight of the Nighthawks (2005)
- Into a Dark Realm (2006)
- Wrath of a Mad God (2008)
The Demonwar Saga[]
- Rides a Dread Legion (2009)
- At the Gates of Darkness[1] (2010)
The Chaoswar Saga[]
- A Kingdom Besieged (2011)
- A Crown Imperiled (2012)
- Magicians End (2013)
Reference Works[]
- Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug (2013, with Stephen Abrams).
Other Works[]
Feist has published three non-Riftwar novels, the first of which, Faerie Tale, is a dark fantasy set in the state of New York. He has also published several short stories in various anthologies.
Non Riftwar Cycle[]
- Faerie Tale (1988)