New D&D and Dark Sun Novels for Summer and Fall!

[darjr]

No. Many of their novelists have day jobs completely unrelated to WotC. Bob Salvatore and Paul S. Kemp being two that immediately come to mind.

Well yes, now they do, but didn't both those guys start out as TSR or WotC employees?

I guess that's what I meant to ask. Most of the authors in the OP don't seem to have been a part of the home team at any point.

And I guess there will always be exceptions, it just struck me as odd that most of the guys on that list were not nor have they never been employees of TSR or WotC.

And the more I dig it looks to be just my, incorrect, perception anyway.

 

[AllisterH]

No. Many of their novelists have day jobs completely unrelated to WotC. Bob Salvatore and Paul S. Kemp being two that immediately come to mind.

Er, I don't think those are good examples....

Both Salvatore and Kemp got their start WITH TSR and WOTC respectively...Sure, they have both broadened their portfolios, but I (and I think many others) consider them "in-house" writers...

 

[Desdichado]

Well yes, now they do, but didn't both those guys start out as TSR or WotC employees?

Nope. They've never worked for TSR or WotC at all, except on a freelance basis as novel writers. Salvatore used to be a bouncer, of all things, before writing full time, and Kemp is an attorney as his day job. IIRC.

And I guess there will always be exceptions, it just struck me as odd that most of the guys on that list were not nor have they never been employees of TSR or WotC.

And the more I dig it looks to be just my, incorrect, perception anyway.

Yeah, I think that's mostly always been the case. Hickman and Weis were an exception, and both TSR and WotC have had employees freelance as writers... probably because they can go bug the editors in person... but I think you'll find that most published WotC and TSR novelists have not actually ever been employed by WotC or TSR.

 

[Desdichado]

Er, I don't think those are good examples....

Both Salvatore and Kemp got their start WITH TSR and WOTC respectively...Sure, they have both broadened their portfolios, but I (and I think many others) consider them "in-house" writers...

I don't know what you mean by "in house" then, since neither of them are actually in house by virtue of not being employed by WotC or TSR. What do you think in-house means, exactly?

I'd say that yeah, both got their careers off the ground with TSR/WotC, and are well-known for being regulars on the circuit, but neither of them has ever been an in-house writer.

Slavicek, on the other hand, could be considered an example of an in-house novel writer. Since his "day job" is working with WotC. But even so, his novel-writing is freelance moonlighting on the side that he does... just with the benefit of being on the inside and knowing exactly where the editors sit so he can go harass them to accept his novel, or whatever.

 

[Obryn]

Sigh.

You know what this means? I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy TSR/WotC fiction for the first time in almost 15 years.

I'm in for the first Dark Sun novel, at least. I will probably hate almost everything about it, but it's Dark Sun, and I can't help myself.

-O

 

[Novem5er]

I can vouche for Tim Waggoner!

He wrote the Eberron series "Blade of the Flame", about an ex-assassin who turned to the Church of Silver Flame for repentance and peace. He was kind of a cleric-with-a-past character that I really liked... flung daggers instead of smashing maces.

My wife and I really enjoyed the series. A little darker and supernatural than some other Eberron novels, but still full of lots of swords-n-sorcery.

I can't wait for his new series.

 

[Dire Bare]

Outside of Slavicsek who I recognize right away, anyone know anything about the authors for any of those? I don't recall having seen their names before (D&D fic or otherwise).

Both Tim Waggoner and Paul Crilley have written Eberron novels before, and I enjoyed them (so you know they're good)! Both authors have previous WotC credits, shared world fiction for other companies, as well as their own independent works.

I'd never heard of Jeff Mariotte or Alex Irvine before, but they have similar backgrounds. So does Slavicsek, and although he does work for WotC, his published novels go further back than his employment.

None of these authors are new, and they all have decent bibliographies to their names.

 

[Dire Bare]

Wow, googling those other names is interesting. I didn't know that WotC went outside the company for authors for it's books.

Is this new for them?

Well yes, now they do, but didn't both those guys start out as TSR or WotC employees?

I guess that's what I meant to ask. Most of the authors in the OP don't seem to have been a part of the home team at any point.

And I guess there will always be exceptions, it just struck me as odd that most of the guys on that list were not nor have they never been employees of TSR or WotC.

And the more I dig it looks to be just my, incorrect, perception anyway.

As stated before by others, while WotC has had "in-house" authors before, it is not a common practice for them at all. And while they have given more than a few novelists their start, they have more often sought out authors who have already proven themselves with published work.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/City-Under-Sand-Dark-Novel/dp/0786956232/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271935721&sr=8-1]Amazon.com: City Under the Sand: A Dark Sun Novel (9780786956234): Jeff Mariotte: Books[/ame]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, schweeeet!