Raymond E Feist biography

Raymond E. Feist (the E. stands for Elias) was born in Los Angeles, California in the year that the Second World War ended (1945). Feist was born with the surname Gonzales but was subsequently adopted by Felix E. Feist and took the Feist surname for his own.

Raymond E. Feist was once married to Kathlyn Starbuck who was also a novelist. He currently lives in San Diego, California and has two children, a girl and a boy. Aside from writing fantasy novels Feist likes to collect fine wines and also has a passionate interest in the History of American Football.

Whilst graduating from the University of California in 1977 (B.A. with honours, Communication Arts), Feist had his first thoughts and ideas concerning writing a novel about a young boy who would become a great magician (read a review of Magician here). It was two years later, when he was out of work, that he finally finished writing Magician and his very first novel was published in 1982 by Doubleday.

The success of the Magician allowed Feist to become a full time author. He wrote two more books, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon, these books make up his highly acclaimed Riftwar Saga. Subsequently, in partnership with Jenny Wurts he wrote the Empire Trilogy, Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire. These three books focused on the Riftwar from the Tsurani side whereas the original series was viewed mainly from the Midkemia viewpoint. The Serpent War Saga (3 books) has also been published.

Raymond E. Feist regards Robert Louis Stephenson (Kidnapped, Treasure Island) and Alexander Dumas (The Three Musketeers) as major influences upon him and his writing style.

Role playing games and computer games have also played their part in Feists career. Whilst at University, he and his friends created a game centred on an imaginary world called Midkemia. He went on to create a back history for this world and this later becomes an integral part of his successful Riftwar Saga trilogy. In 1993, Dynamix released a game called Betrayal of Krondor. The game was based on the Riftwar Saga and was a critical and commercial success. The sequel, called Return to Krondor was released in 1998. The two games also have accompanying novels, Krondor: The Betrayal and Krondor: Tear of the Gods respectively.

Over fifteen million copies of Raymond E. Feists’ books have been sold worldwide. He is currently working on a supernatural fantasy novel called Tiger Mountain and a suspense novel called The Bully. There are also plans for a beginners guide to wine.

Raymond E Feist books

Legacy of the Riftwar

• Krondor, The Betrayal
• Krondor, The Assassins
• Krondor, Tear of the Gods

Darkwar Series

• Flight of the Nighthawks
• Into a Dark Realm

Conclave of Shadows

• Talon of the Silverhawk
• King of Foxes
• Exile's Return
• Flight of the Nighthawks: Darkwar

The Serpentwar Saga

• Shadow of a Dark Queen
• Rise of a Merchant Prince
• Rage of a Demon King
• Shards' of a Broken Crown

Riftwar Saga

• Magician
• Silverthorn
• A Darkness at Sethanon
• Prince of the Blood
• The Kings Buccaneer

Riftwar - Kelewan

• Daughter of the Empire
• Servant of the Empire
• Mistress of the Empire

Legends / Tales of Riftwar

• Honoured Enemy
• Murder In Lamut
• Jimmy the Hand

Raymond E Feist interviews

In a rather guarded interview, Raymond E. Feist talks about the pressure of writing a follo up to a bestseller such as Magician, his writing methods and authors that he admires. Raymond E. Feist interview on Honest John's in 2005 >>

Latest news: Raymond E Feist

Notable future releases in the fantasy genre
It’s always nice to have something to look forward to. The fantasy genre is fortunate in that it always has great novels appearing at regular intervals, sometimes stand-alone but often continuations of highly-rated series. The aim of this page is to list what we feel are the most eagerly-anticipated [...]

Fantasy Book Review: Glammenport by Kevin Lane
Timion the Black has exhausted his options. Reckless, despicable, Timion’s own band of mercenary men turn against him, leaving him for dead in a back alleyway. Fate deposits the usurped buccaneer into the hands of altruistic nuns. There he finds his way to health and into their debt. Revenge, dark [...]

Fantasy Book Review: Beckwood Brae by David H Webb
Australian fantasy author David H Webb has written an epic fantasy called Beckwood Brae that forms part of The Chronicles of the Corriian Wars. FantasyBookReview.co.uk thoroughly enjoyed the book and the full review of the book can be read by following the link below the review snippet. "Beckwood B [...]

The US release of Wrath of a Mad God is on schedule
Raymond E Feist's new novel Wrath of a Mad God is scheduled for release on the 1st April 2008 and the publisher Harper Collins US are confident that this deadline will be met. The good news for UK fantasy fans is that it will be released here the month before and so the Great British public will [...]

10 books / series that must be read before you are 18
Some books are best read when you are still young and your imagination is still at its strongest. The following 10 books are either a stand alone novel or series that is a must read for every fantasy genre reader. JRR Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Ursula Le Guin - The Earthsea Quartet JK R [...]

Raymond E Feist talks about addiction
In a fascinating article, Raymond E Feist talks at length about habitual and obsessive behaviour, smoking ... and how all this has a large bearing on writing. This is an excerpt from the post: "And I tend to habituation. Most particularly to fine wine, watching football [gridiron for those of [...]

The BBC's Big Read - revisited
I have already mentioned in an earlier post the great fantasy books that were in the top 10 ten books of the BBC's Big Read poll. I thought I would revisit the list and see what other fantasy classics appeared. The Harry Potter series is in the top 100 in its entirity and The Hobbit has a high pl [...]

Wrath of a Mad God update
Raymond E Feist has completed the copy edit stage of Wrath of a God. [...]

French limited edition of Magician available
Raymond E Feist's brilliant Magician is now available in a limited edition French format. Entitled Magicien, 1,500 more copies were made to meet with the demand. [...]