Raymond E. Feist

Raymond Elias Feist (born Raymond Elias Gonzales III, December 21, 1945) is an American fantasy author, best known for the Riftwar Cycle, a long run of novels set on the worlds of Midkemia and Kelewan. He took the surname of his stepfather, the film director Felix E. Feist, after his mother remarried. He grew up in Southern California and graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego, in 1977 with a B.A. in Communication Arts.

The Riftwar world began at university, where Feist and his friends played a role-playing game they had built as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons. That setting became his first novel, Magician, published by Doubleday in 1982.

The Riftwar Cycle grew from it: the Riftwar Saga, the Empire Trilogy (written with Janny Wurts), the Serpentwar Saga, the Conclave of Shadows, the Darkwar, Demonwar and Chaoswar sagas, and the Legends of the Riftwar novels written with William R. Forstchen, Joel Rosenberg and S. M. Stirling.

He has also written the Firemane Saga (King of Ashes, Queen of Storms, Master of Furies) and began the Dragonwar Saga with A Darkness Returns in 2024. He received the Inkpot Award in 1988 and lives in San Diego.