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Serpent Mage
''Serpent Mage'' is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the fourth book in The Death Gate Cycle series. It was released in 1992. Plot summary After the four worlds Alfred has at last found his people on Chelstra, the realm of sea. But his travels have taught him to be cautious... and Alfred soon realizes his caution is justified, even among his own kind. The one person Alfred can trust is, strangely, Haplo the Patryn. But Haplo's lord has decreed all Sartan to be the enemy, and Haplo dares not go against his lord. Now the companions have arrived in a land where humans, elves, and dwarves have learned to live in peace. Unaware of an even greater threat to all the realms, it is Sartan and Patryn who will disrupt this alliance of the lesser races in their struggle to gain control of all four worlds. Only Alfred and Haplo realize that they have a much older—and more powerful—enemy than each other, Samah, the nominal leader of all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Weis
Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction author, of dozens of novels and short stories. At TSR, Inc., she teamed with Tracy Hickman to create the ''Dragonlance'' role-playing game (RPG) world. She is founding CEO and owner of Sovereign Press, Inc and Margaret Weis Productions, licensing several popular television and movie franchises to make RPG series in addition to their own. In 1999, ''Pyramid'' magazine named Weis one of ''The Millennium's Most Influential Persons'', saying she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre". In 2002, she was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in part for ''Dragonlance''. Early life Margaret Weis was born on March 16, 1948, in Independence, Missouri, where she was raised. She discovered heroic fantasy fiction while studying at the University of Missouri (MU). She said, "I read Tolkien when it made its first big sweep in the colleges back in 1966. A girlfriend of min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tracy Hickman
Tracy Raye Hickman (born November 26, 1955) is an American fantasy author. He wrote the ''Dragonlance'' novels with Margaret Weis. He also wrote role playing game material while working for TSR, Inc., TSR and has cowritten novels with his wife, Laura Hickman. He is the author or co-author of over 60 books. Early life Tracy Hickman was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. His parents instilled in him a love of reading; he recalls visiting the local bookmobile with them. Hickman took a particular interest in the science fiction genre. He graduated from Provo High School in 1974. His major interests were drama, music and Air Force JROTC. In 1975, Hickman began two years of service as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served in Hawaii for six months while awaiting visa approval for travel to Indonesia, where he served in Surabaya, Djakarta, and the mountain city of Bandung until 1977. Within four months of his return to the United ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Death Gate Cycle
''The Death Gate Cycle'' is a seven-part series (heptalogy) of fantasy novels written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. The main conflict is between two powerful races, the Sartan and the Patryns, which branched off from humans following a nuclear/anti-matter holocaust. Centuries prior to the events of the series, the Sartan attempted to end the conflict by sundering the Earth into four elemental realms, and imprisoning the Patryns in a fifth prison world, the Labyrinth. The Sartan took up stewardship of the elemental realms, but soon mysteriously lost contact with each other and disappeared. Centuries later, a Patryn known as Xar escaped the Labyrinth, and started returning to the Labyrinth to rescue others. He learned how to access the other worlds, using the eponymous portal called the Death Gate, and dreamed of freeing all his people from the Labyrinth and conquering the other worlds. The books follow the fiercely independent Haplo, a Patryn agent sent to scout the elemental ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century, it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animations and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror fiction, horror by the respective absence of scientific or macabre themes, although these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings that emulate Earth, but with a sense of otherness. In its broadest sense, however, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians from ancient mythology, myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Traits Most fantasy uses magic (paranormal), magic or other supernatural elements as a ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine, with funding from Grosset & Dunlap and Curtis Publishing Company. It has since been purchased several times by companies including National General, Carl Lindner's American Financial and, most recently, Bertelsmann; it became part of Random House in 1998, when Bertelsmann purchased it to form Bantam Doubleday Dell. It began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books, with some original paperbacks as well. It expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions. History The company was failing when Oscar Dystel, who had previously worked at Esquire and as editor on Coronet magazine was hired in 1954 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardcover
A hardcover, hard cover, or hardback (also known as hardbound, and sometimes as case-bound) book is one bound with rigid protective covers (typically of binder's board or heavy paperboard covered with buckram or other cloth, heavy paper, or occasionally leather). It has a flexible, sewn spine which allows the book to lie flat on a surface when opened. Modern hardcovers may have the pages glued onto the spine in much the same way as paperbacks. Following the ISBN sequence numbers, books of this type may be identified by the abbreviation Hbk. Hardcover books are often printed on acid-free paper, and they are much more durable than paperbacks, which have flexible, easily damaged paper covers. Hardcover books are marginally more costly to manufacture. Hardcovers are frequently protected by artistic dust jackets, but a "jacketless" alternative has increased in popularity: these "paper-over-board" or "jacketless" hardcover bindings forgo the dust jacket in favor of printing the cove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with adhesive, glue rather than stitch (textile arts), stitches or Staple (fastener), staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, leather, paper, or plastic. Inexpensive books bound in paper have existed since at least the 19th century in such forms as pamphlets, yellow-backs, yellowbacks, dime novels, and airport novels. Modern paperbacks can be differentiated from one another by size. In the United States, there are "mass-market paperbacks" and larger, more durable "trade paperbacks". In the United Kingdom, there are A-format, B-format, and the largest C-format sizes. Paperback editions of books are issued when a publisher decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Lower-quality paper, glued (rather than stapled or sewn) bindings, and the lack of a hard cover may contribute to the lower cost of paperbacks. Paperb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Sea
''Fire Sea'' is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It is the third book in The Death Gate Cycle series and was released in 1991. The novel explores the realm of Abarrach and the history of the Sartan through the unlikely partnership of Haplo, a Patryn agent sent by Lord Xar to evaluate Abarrach, and Alfred, a Sartan who lost all the others of his race with whom he once lived. Plot summary Abarrach, the World of Stone is just that: lava, stone, poisonous fumes, and precious little food that can be grown. The peoples of Abarrach rely on giant rune-inscribed stone pillars called colossi to provide warmth and breathable atmosphere, but the colossi have been failing slowly for many years. The mensch have all died out, and the only remaining people — all of them Sartan — are far reduced in power; most of their innate magic is consumed with simply keeping them alive. To bolster their numbers, they have taken to the forbidden art of necromancy: the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hand Of Chaos
''The Hand of Chaos'' is a fantasy novel by American writers Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the fifth of seven books in The Death Gate Cycle series. It was released in 1993. Plot summary Samah has opened Death's Gate, allowing the dangerous dragon-snakes unfettered access to all four worlds. Haplo is too exhausted to capture Samah, so he returns to the Nexus and reports to Xar, his lord. Xar assigns Haplo to take Bane back to the air world Arianus, where Haplo will reactivate a city-sized machine called the Kicksey-winsey, which has stopped for the first time in history. Haplo contemplates returning to the Labyrinth, the prison world of his people, the Patryn, but is intercepted by Zifnab, a Sartan. Sartans are the enemies of the Patryns; despite this, Haplo warns Zifnab to leave before Xar finds him. Bane informs Xar of this conversation and is ordered to kill Haplo for his betrayal. Limbeck, the leader of a Dwarf (mythology), dwarf rebellion, enlists Haplo's help in reactiva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasy Novel
Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fantasy literature may be directed at both children and adults. Fantasy is a subgenre of speculative fiction and is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes, respectively, though these genres overlap. Historically, most works of fantasy were written, however, since the 1960s, a growing segment of the fantasy genre has taken the form of films, television programs, graphic novels, video games, music and art. Many fantasy novels originally written for children and adolescents also attract an adult audience. Examples include ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'', the '' Harry Potter'' series, '' The Chronicles of Narnia'', and ''The Hobbit''. History Beginnings Stories invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Locus (magazine)
''Locus: The Magazine of The Science Fiction & Fantasy Field'', founded in 1968, is an American magazine published monthly in Oakland, California. It is the news organ and trade journal for the English-language science fiction and fantasy fields. It also publishes comprehensive listings of all new books published in the genres (excluding self-published). The magazine also presents the annual Locus Awards. ''Locus Online'' was launched in April 1997, as a semi-autonomous web version of ''Locus Magazine''. History Charles N. Brown, Ed Meskys, and Dave Vanderwerf founded ''Locus'' in 1968 as a news fanzine to promote the (ultimately successful) bid to host the 1971 World Science Fiction Convention in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally intended to run only until the site-selection vote was taken at St. Louiscon, the 1969 Worldcon in St. Louis, Missouri, Brown decided to continue publishing ''Locus'' as a mimeographed general science fiction and fantasy newszine. ''Locus'' succeede ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waldenbooks
Waldenbooks, operated by the Walden Book Company, Inc., was an American shopping mall-based bookstore chain, from 1995 as a subsidiary of Borders Group. The chain also ran a video game and software chain under the name Waldensoftware, as well as a children's educational toy chain under Walden Kids. In 2011, the chain was liquidated in bankruptcy. History On March 4, 1933, Lawrence Hoyt (1902–1982), a former sales manager for Simon & Schuster, and Melvin T. Kafka (1905–1992) opened a rental library within leased space inside a Bridgeport, Connecticut, department store under the name Walden Book Company.Link via . The pair believed that their business would help people cope with the effects of The Great Depression. Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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