James Daniel Lowder (born January 2, 1963 in Quincy,

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

) is an American author and editor, working regularly within the

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 ...

dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...

, and horror genres, and on tabletop

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...

and critical works exploring

popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

Early life and education

Lowder graduated from

Whitman-Hanson Regional High School Whitman-Hanson Regional High School is a public high school located in Hanson, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves students in grades 9-12 from the towns of Whitman, Massachusetts and Hanson, Massachusetts. It is part of the Whitman-H ...

in 1981 and was inducted into the high school's hall of fame in 1991. While at Whitman-Hanson, he wrote and edited for the school newspaper and yearbook, and did the same for two summers at Project Contemporary Competitiveness at Bridgewater State University. In 1985 he graduated from

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

with an honors BA in English and History. While at Marquette, he edited and wrote for the '' Marquette Journal'', the school's literary magazine. After Marquette, he took graduate classes in English at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

, where he also taught writing, film, and fantasy literature courses. Lowder completed a Masters in Literary Studies from the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

in 1999.

Career

Novels and short fiction

His earliest novels were part of the ''

Forgotten Realms ''Forgotten Realms'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a ...

'' and ''

Ravenloft Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a ''Demiplane, pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of la ...

shared universe A shared universe or shared world is a fictional universe from a set of creative works where more than one writer (or other artist) independently contributes a work that can stand alone but fits into the joint development of the storyline, chara ...

book lines, but beginning in the late 1990s he turned his attention more often to creator-owned projects. His novels include '' Prince of Lies'', ''The Ring of Winter'', and ''

Spectre of the Black Rose Ravenloft is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' roleplaying game. It is an alternate time-space existence known as a ''pocket dimension'' or demiplane, called the Demiplane of Dread, which consists of a collection of land pieces c ...

'' (the latter with Voronica Whitney-Robinson), and his short fiction has appeared in such anthologies such as ''

Shadows Over Baker Street ''Shadows Over Baker Street'' is an anthology of stories, each by a different author and each concerning an exploit of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes set against the backdrop of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The collection is edited ...

'', ''Truth Until Paradox'', and ''Historical Hauntings''. Some of his short stories have been cited in the honorable mention list of the annual ''

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror ''Year's Best Fantasy and Horror'' was a reprint anthology published annually by St. Martin's Press from 1987 to 2008. In addition to the short stories, supplemented by a list of honorable mentions, each edition included a number of retrospective ...

''. He was an

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...

finalist in the ''Best Short Fiction'' category for his 2003 novella, "The Night Chicago Died", a story that featured the debut of his mystery man character, The Corpse. His novels have been translated into more than a dozen languages.

Prose editing

As an editor, Lowder directed several best-selling book lines for

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including the

, and

Dark Sun ''Dark Sun'' is an original ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (D&D) campaign setting set in the fictional, post-apocalyptic desert world of Athas. ''Dark Sun'' featured an innovative metaplot, influential art work, dark themes, and a genre-bending take o ...

. In 1999, Peter Corless brought Lowder in to oversee the ''

Pendragon Pendragon or ( wlm, pen dreic, ''pen dragon''; composed of Welsh , 'head, chief, top' and / ''dragon'', 'dragon; warrior'; borrowed from the Latin word , plural , 'dragon , br, Penn Aerouant) literally means 'chief dragon' or 'head dragon', but ...

'' fiction line for

Green Knight Publishing Green Knight Publishing was founded by Peter Corless in 1998. He had acquired the rights to Chaosium's award-winning ''Pendragon RPG, Pendragon'' role-playing game after they defaulted on a loan from Corless with Pendragon as collateral. From 1999 ...

; Lowder continued to reprint older Athurian works and also produced the original short story collections ''The Doom of Camelot'' (2000) and ''Legends of the Pendragon'' (2002) and the original novel ''Exiled from Camelot'' (2001). He served as executive editor for Green Knight Publishing's line of

Arthurian King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

fiction — the ''Pendragon'' fiction series — and as a consulting editor for CDS Books on their '' City of Heroes'' novels. Lowder has edited more than a dozen anthologies, with subjects ranging from

King Arthur King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

es to

zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in wh ...

. He has won several Origins Awards and an

ENnie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

, and been shortlisted for an

International Horror Guild Award The International Horror Guild Award (also known as the IHG Award) was an accolade recognizing excellence in the field of Horror fiction, horror/dark fantasy, presented by the International Horror Guild (IHG) from 1995 to 2008. The IHG Awards wer ...

for these projects. Though some of these anthologies have been published in connection with

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

product lines, they often contain only creator-copyrighted stories. This makes them unusual, as game publishers frequently insist on

work for hire A work made for hire (work for hire or WFH), in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to the ...

contracts for such projects. Lowder edited a set of zombie anthologies based on the '' All Flesh Must Be Eaten'' game, beginning with ''The Book of All Flesh'' (2001); these were the first fiction books from

Eden Studios Eden Studios was a commercial recording studio, recording facility in west London. It opened in 1967, originally at 11 Eden Street in Kingston upon Thames (now under the Eden Walk shopping centre), before moving to 20-24 Beaumont Road in Chiswic ...

. His final short story collection for the series was ''The Book of Final Flesh'' (2003). Lowder edited a 2003 anthology of short stories based on the ''

Silver Age Sentinels ''Silver Age Sentinels'' is a superhero role-playing game (RPG) published in 2002 by Guardians of Order, creators of ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth'', an anime-themed RPG. History Guardians of Order moved into the d20 market beginning with their new ...

'' game from

Guardians of Order Guardians of Order was a Canadian company founded in 1996 by Mark C. MacKinnon in Guelph, Ontario. The company's business output consisted of role-playing games (RPGs). Their first game is the anime inspired ''Big Eyes, Small Mouth''. In 2006 Gua ...

. He also worked on '' Astounding Hero Tales'' (2007) for

Hero Games Hero Games (''DOJ, Inc dba Hero Games'') is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the ''Fuzion'' system. History In 1981, George MacDon ...

and ''Worlds of their Own'' (2008) for

Paizo Publishing Paizo Inc. (originally Paizo Publishing.) is an American role-playing game publishing company based in Redmond, Washington, best known for the tabletop role-playing game ''Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Pathfinder''. The company's name is derived ...

. Lowder produced ''Hobby Games: The 100 Best'' (2007) and ''Family Games: The 100 Best'' (2010) for

Green Ronin Publishing Green Ronin Publishing is an American company based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos, they have published several role-playing game–related products. They won several awards for their games includin ...

. In May, 2017, Chaosium appointed Lowder executive editor of their fiction line. Chaosium President

Rick Meints Rick Meints is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. Career In the 1990s, American expatriate Rick Meints was a member of the Reaching Moon Megacorp, the British fan publisher that was the center of Glorantha culture ...

commented on the hire: “James embodies that magic combination of wisdom and enthusiasm. Knowing his craft inside and out, he brings his advocacy and integrity to the table at every turn. Having him relaunch our fiction line is a ‘the stars are right’ moment.” Lowder had previously served as a consultant for Chaosium, helping the company and freelancers resolve payment and contract problems with past fiction projects.

Game design and editing

Lowder has designed, edited, or consulted on books for the first, second, third, and fifth editions of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

''. He served as editor for the

Carl Sargent Carl Lynwood Sargent (11 December 1952 – 12 September 2018) was a British parapsychologist and author of several roleplaying game-based products and novels, who used the pen name Keith Martin to write ''Fighting Fantasy'' gamebooks. Early life ...

B-series modules '' King's Festival'' and '' Queen's Harvest'', edited and developed the

Greyhawk Greyhawk, also known as the World of Greyhawk, is a fictional world designed as a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy roleplaying game. Although not the first campaign world developed for ''Dungeons & Dragons''—Dave Arneson ...

module ''

Puppets A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to mov ...

'', and edited and wrote content for the early Forgotten Realms sourcebook ''

Hall of Heroes ''Hall of Heroes'' was an American independent comic book company that existed in the mid-to-late 1990s. Based in Elkhart, Indiana, Hall of Heroes operated from 1993 to 1999. The company's longest-running titles were two volumes of the antholog ...

''. His other contributions to the Forgotten Realms RPG include design for '' Curse of the Azure Bonds'' and '' Inside Ravens Bluff, The Living City'', project coordination on the three Avatar Trilogy modules, and design on '' The Jungles of Chult'', which tied to his Realms novel ''The Ring of Winter''. Lowder later consulted on the fifth edition product '' Tomb of Annihilation'' on the use of Artus Cimber, Aramag the dragon turtle, Ras Nsi, the city of Mezro, and other specific elements he had created for his earlier Realms fiction. Lowder's other contributions to ''D&D'' include articles in ''

Polyhedron In geometry, a polyhedron (plural polyhedra or polyhedrons; ) is a three-dimensional shape with flat polygonal faces, straight edges and sharp corners or vertices. A convex polyhedron is the convex hull of finitely many points, not all on th ...

'' and ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'', entries in the first two volumes of the second edition ''

Monstrous Compendium The ''Monstrous Compendium'' is a series of accessories for the ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game released from 1989 to 1998. The title was then used for a series of 5th Edition ''Dungeons & Dragons'' supplements released ...

'', as well as the ''Monstrous Compendium Spelljammer Appendix''; development work on '' Spelljammer: AD&D Adventures in Space'', and the darklord Stezen D'Polarno for the Ravenloft sourcebook '' Darklords''. Lowder and

Bruce Nesmith Bruce Nesmith is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He was Creative Director at TSR, working on a variety of games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and is a senior game designer at Bethesda Game Studios, where he ha ...

designed a two-round tournament featuring D'Polarno for Gen Con 1991, with Lowder creating a three-round Ravenloft tournament featuring D'Polarno, "The Return of Stezen D'Polarno (Or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Necromancer)" as the

RPGA The RPGA (also called the Role Playing Game Association and the RPGA Network at various times), was initially part of the organized play arm of TSR, Inc and later of Wizards of the Coast. From 1980 to 2014, it organized and sanctioned role-playing ...

Grandmasters Event for Gen Con the following year. Lowder's other contributions to the Ravenloft RPG center around the domain of Sithicus, with sections in both the White Wolf/Arthaus releases ''Heroes of Light'' and ''Gazetteer Volume IV''. He has also designed or edited material for ''

'', '' Prince Valiant: The Story-Telling Game'', '' Marvel Super Heroes'', ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems ...

'', ''

Deadlands ''Deadlands'' is a genre-mixing alternate history role-playing game which combines the Western and horror genres, with some steampunk elements. The original game was written by Shane Lacy Hensley and published by Pinnacle Entertainment Grou ...

'', ''

Mage: The Ascension ''Mage: The Ascension'' is a role-playing game based in the World of Darkness, and was published by White Wolf Game Studio in 1993. The characters portrayed in the game are referred to as mages, and are capable of feats of magic. Magic in ''Ma ...

'', and '' Feng Shui''. For the horror RPG '' Call of Cthulhu'', Lowder contributed the Vanguard Club to the ''d20 Gamemaster's Pack'' and did early development and writing on the award-winning ''Pulp Cthulhu''. Beginning in 2017, Lowder designed a linked trilogy of ''Call of Cthulhu'' scenarios tied to his Corpse prose fiction and comics cycle, running them as gamemaster at such conventions as Gen Con and Gamehole Con, sometimes for charities such as Worldbuilders. Since joining Chaosium as executive editor, Lowder has worked extensively on licensing for all of the company's role-playing game lines, helping to oversee both the licensing of Chaosium books to partner companies and securing licenses from other IP holders for Chaosium's use.

Comic books and other works

Lowder also works in comic books. He has penned scripts for several companies, including

Image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

, DC, Devil's Due, and

Desperado Desperado may refer to: * Outlaw, particularly in the American Old West Books * ''Desperadoes'' (comics), a comic book series * ''Desperadoes'' (novel), a 1979 novel by Ron Hansen * Desperado Publishing, an American independent comic book publ ...

. A ''Ravenloft'' comic by Lowder was in the works before DC decided to end its relationship with TSR. His short work "Lost Loves", from the ''Moonstone Monsters: Demons'' anthology, was a finalist for the

Bram Stoker Award The Bram Stoker Award is a recognition presented annually by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) for "superior achievement" in dark fantasy and horror writing. History The Awards were established in 1987 and have been presented annually since ...

in 2004 for Best Illustrated Narrative. He contributed as a writer and consulting editor to the ''Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons'' comic book series, published by Devil's Due. He became the editor for the monthly series '' Hack/Slash'' with issue #25 and continued with the series when it moved from Devil's Due to

. His pulp hero serial "The Corpse: Orphans of the Air" ran as an occasional back-up in ''Hack/Slash'', starting in 2011. Lowder's critical essays and film, book, and comics reviews have appeared in such publications as ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'' and ''

'', the latter of which featured his long-running video review column "Into the Dark" from 1991 to 1994. His essay "Scream for Your Life" appeared in the 2005 anthology '' King Kong is Back!'', edited by

David Brin Glen David Brin (born October 6, 1950) is an American scientist and author of science fiction. He has won the Hugo,Len Wein Leonard Norman Wein (; June 12, 1948 – September 10, 2017) was an American comic book writer and editor best known for co-creating DC Comics' Swamp Thing and Marvel Comics' Wolverine, and for helping revive the Marvel superhero team the X-Men ( ...

, both from

BenBella Books BenBella Books is an independent publishing house based in Dallas, Texas. BenBella was founded by Glenn Yeffeth in 2001. It specializes in nonfiction books on popular culture, business, health, and nutrition, along with books on science, politics, ...

. He penned the entry on shared worlds for ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy: Themes, Works, and Wonders''.

In the media

Beginning in 2010, Lowder contributed to an annual "Games to Gift" holiday segment for the show "Lake Effect" on

WUWM WUWM (89.7 FM, "Milwaukee's NPR") is the flagship National Public Radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is owned and operated by the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee and licensed to the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin Syste ...

, Milwaukee Public Radio. He appeared as himself in episode 302 ("Man Beasts") on the television series Weird or What?, discussing the history of werewolf lore and the

Beast of Bray Road The Beast of Bray Road, is the name given to a wolf-like creature allegedly reported to have been witnessed in or near Elkhorn, Walworth County, Wisconsin. The creature has become a part of Wisconsin folklore and has been the subject of multip ...

. Lowder also served as a puppeteer for the low budget zombie puppet musical ''Misfit Heights'' (2012).

Notable works

Novels

*''

Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...

'' ( TSR, 1991) *'' Knight of the Black Rose'' ( TSR, 1991) *''The Ring of Winter'' ( TSR, 1992) *'' Prince of Lies'' ( TSR, 1993) *''Name Your Nightmare'' ( Random House Sprinter, 1995); written as J.D. Lowder. *''Spectre of the Black Rose'' (

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

, 1999); with Voronica Whitney-Robinson.

Short fiction

*"The Family Business" (in ''Realms of Valor'', TSR, 1993) *"The Rigor of the Game" (in ''Tales of Ravenloft'', TSR, 1994) *"Laughter in the Flames" (in ''Realms of Infamy'', TSR, 1994) *"Make 'Em Laugh" (in ''Truth Until Paradox'',

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

, 1995) *"Persistence of Vision" (in ''City of Darkness: Unseen'',

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

, 1995) *"Truth in Advertising" (in ''The Splendour Falls'',

White Wolf Publishing White Wolf Publishing was an American roleplaying game and book publisher. The company was founded in 1991 as a merger between Lion Rampant

, 1995) *"The Price of Freedom" (in ''Troll Magazine'' #1, December 1997) *"The Club Rules" (in ''Realms of Mystery,'' TSR, 1998) *"The Hollow Man" (in ''

Shadis ''Shadis'' is an independent gaming magazine that was published in 1990–1998 by Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG). It initially focused on role-playing games. Publication history Shadis was conceived and started by Jolly Blackburn as an indepe ...

'' #52, October 1998) *"Heresies and Superstitions" (in ''The Leading Edge'' #39, March 2000) *"Pretender of the Faith" (in ''Historical Hauntings'',

DAW Daw or DAW may refer to: People and language * Daw (given name) * Daw (surname) * Daw, an honorific used in Burmese name#Honorifics, Burmese names * Dâw people, an indigenous people of Brazil * Dâw language, a language of Brazil * Davaoeño lang ...

, 2001) *"The Unquiet Dreams of Cingris the Stout" (in ''Gaming Frontiers'' #2, March 2002) *"The Night Chicago Died" (in ''Pulp Zombies'',

, 2003) *"The Weeping Masks" (in ''

'', Del Rey, 2003) *"She Dwelleth in the Cold of the Moon" (in ''The Repentant'',

, 2003) *"Fanboy" (in ''Path of the Bold'',

, 2004) *"Bandits in the Paths of Fame" (in ''

'' #336, October 2005) *"Beneath the Skin" (in ''Heroes in Training'',

, 2007) *"The Paper Shield" (in ''Sojourn: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction'', FtB, 2014) *"King of the Frozen Men" (in ''Sojourn 2: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction'', FtB, 2014) *"Morning in America" (in ''Delta Green: Extraordinary Renditions'',

Arc Dream Publishing Arc Dream Publishing is a small role-playing game publishing company founded in 2002 by Pagan Publishing veteran Dennis Detwiller and editor Shane Ivey after their first roleplaying game '' Godlike: Superhero Roleplaying in a World on Fire, 19 ...

, 2015) *"The Shadow and the Eye" (in ''Ghost in the Cogs'', Broken Eye, 2015) *"Orphans of the Air" (in ''Peel Back the Skin'', Grey Matter Press, 2016) *"The Crooked Smile Killers" (in ''Genius Loci: Tales of the Spirit of Place'', Ragnarok, 2016) *"The Treachery of Bright Yesterdays" (in ''Tales of the Lost Citadel'', Lost Citadel, 2016)

Comic Book Scripts

*"Duel of Hearts" (in ''TSR Worlds Annual'' #1,

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, September 1990) *"Art for Art's Sake" (in ''

First Night First Night is a North American artistic and cultural celebration on New Year's Eve, taking place from afternoon until midnight. Some cities have all their events during the celebration outside, but some cities have events that are hosted indoors ...

Program'', city of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, December 1996) *"Traitor's Gate" (in ''Mythography'' #2 & #3, Bardic Press, February and April 1997) *"Passion Play" (in ''Vampire: The Masquerade: Blood and Shadows'', Moonstone, November 2003) *"Lost Loves" (in ''Moonstone Monsters: Demons'', Moonstone, August 2004) *"The Man Who Collected Gods" (in ''

Negative Burn ''Negative Burn'' is a black-and-white anthology comic book published beginning in 1993 by Caliber Press, and subsequently by Image Comics and Desperado Publishing. Edited by Joe Pruett, ''Negative Burn'' is noted for its eclectic range of genres, ...

'' #16,

, December 2007) *"The Rigor of the Game" (in ''Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons'' #3, Devil's Due, July 2008) *"The Corpse: Orphans of the Air" (ongoing serial, begins in ''Hack/Slash'' #6,

, July 2011) *"Night Funeral in Eminence" (in ''Hack/Slash, volume 9: Torture Prone'',

, September 2011) *"The Case of the Killer and the Questing King" (in ''Hack/Slash'' #18,

, October 2012)

Anthologies (as editor)

*''Realms of Valor'' ( TSR, 1993) *''Realms of Infamy'' ( TSR, 1994) *''The Doom of Camelot'' (

, 2000) *'' The Book of All Flesh'' (

, 2001) *''Legends of the Pendragon'' (

, 2002) *'' The Book of More Flesh'' (

, 2002) *'' The Book of Final Flesh'' (

, 2003) *''Path of the Just'' (

, 2003) *''

Path of the Bold ''Path of the Bold: An Anthology of Superhero Fiction'' is a fiction anthology edited by James Lowder and published by Guardians of Order in 2004. Plot summary ''Path of the Bold: An Anthology of Superhero Fiction'' is based on ''Silver Age Senti ...

'' (

, 2004) *'' Astounding Hero Tales'' (

, 2007) *''Hobby Games: The 100 Best'' (

, 2007) *''Worlds of Their Own'' (

, 2008) *''The Best of All Flesh'' (

Elder Signs Press Elder Signs Press, Inc (aka ESP) is a Michigan-based book publisher distributed through the Independent Publishers Group. It specializes in horror, science fiction, and fantasy titles. History ESP was founded in 2003 by William Jones, a gamer ...

, 2009) *''Family Games: The 100 Best'' (

, 2010) *''Curse of the Full Moon: A Werewolf Anthology'' (Ulysses Press, 2010) *''Triumph of The Walking Dead: Robert Kirkman's Zombie Epic on Page and Screen'' (

, 2011) *''Beyond the Wall: Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, From'' A Game of Thrones ''to'' A Dance with Dragons (

, 2012) *''Madness on the Orient Express'' (

Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...

, 2014) *''The Munchkin Book'' (

, 2016) *''Chronicles of the Demon Lord'' (Schwalb Entertainment, 2016), with Robert J. Schwalb *''Tales of Good Dogs'' ( Onyx Path Publishing, 2019)

Awards and honors

*2001 ''The Doom of Camelot'',

nominee, Best Long-Form Fiction *2003 ''The Book of More Flesh'',

nominee, Best Anthology; Origins Award nominee, Best Long-Form Fiction *2004 ''The Book of Final Flesh'', Origins Award winner, Best Long Fiction *2004 "The Night Chicago Died", Origins Award nominee, Best Short Fiction *2005 ''Path of the Bold'', Origins Award winner, Best Fiction *2005 "Lost Loves",

nominee, Illustrated Narrative *2008 '' Astounding Hero Tales'', Origins Award winner, Fiction Publication of the Year;

honorable mention, Best Regalia *2008 ''Hobby Games: The 100 Best'', Origins Award winner, Non-Fiction Publication of the Year; ENnie Award winner, silver, Best Regalia *2009 ''Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons, Vol. 2'', Origins Award winner, Best Fiction; ENnie Award nominee, Best Regalia *2010 ''The Best of All Flesh'', Origins Award nominee, Best Book; ENnie Award honorable mention, Best Regalia *2011 ''Family Games: The 100 Best'', Origins Award nominee, Best Game-Related Publication *2017 Industry Insider/Featured Presenter, Gen Con 50 *2017 ''Pulp Cthulhu'', Gold ENnie Award winner, Best Supplement; Dragon Award nominee, Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures/Collectible Card/Role Playing Game

References

External links

Worlds of Their Own Interview
at Flames Rising (June 2008)
Interview
at Flames Rising, a Horror & Dark Fantasy website (Oct 2006)

at Candlekeep, a ''Forgotten Realms'' fansite

at Fraternity of Shadows, a ''Ravenloft'' fansite * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lowder, James 1963 births 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists American fantasy writers American horror writers American male novelists Chaosium game designers Dungeons & Dragons game designers GURPS writers Living people Marquette University alumni People from Quincy, Massachusetts Print editors Science fiction editors University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni White Wolf game designers Whitman-Hanson Regional High School alumni Role-playing game writers