Sometimes A Fantasy Is What You Need Quiz

Answer: Raymond E. Feist

Pug, Prince Arutha, and Macros the Black were just three of the memorable characters from the fertile mind of the American master of fantasy Raymond E. Feist.

Pug was the main protagonist in the "Magician" series of novels. Introduced as an orphan boy who learnt magic, his presence wove its way through the "Riftwar" novels that first appeared in 1982. The series ran to 30 books. Prince Arutha of Krondor appeared in "Silverthorn" (1985). He led an expedition to find an antidote to cure his poisoned wife was being kept alive through magic. Macros The Black was a master magician who lived on an island and used all sorts of protective elements to keep visitors away. He was also a mentor to Pug. Many of the books had individual unique plot lines, but a thread ran throgh them from "Magician" to "Magician's End".

Feist was born in Los Angeles in 1945 and developed a love of reading at an early age. He was introduced to the fantasy genre through the books of J. R .R. Tolkien, and has spoken of being an admirer of the works of Fritz Leiber and Michael Moorcock.

Answer: Robin Hobb

FitzChivalry Farseer, Burrich, Starling Birdsong, and The Fool were characters in Robin Hobb's "Farseer Trilogy" published between 1985 and 1996.

Fitz was a trained assassin and an unacknowledged illegitimate member of the royal family in the Six Duchies. Burrich was the stableman who raised him, and Starling Birdsong was a wandering minstrel who befriended Fitz. The Fool was a beguiling enigma who was vital to everything Fitz did.

Although the trilogy was complete in itself, it set a theme that ran through the "The Tawny Man Trilogy" and "The Fitz and the Fool" trilogy.

Robin Hobb was born in Berkeley, California, in 1952 and also wrote under her birth name, Megan Lindholm.

Answer: Janny Wurts

Lysaer and Arithon were half-brothers who first appeared in "Curse of the Mistwraith" (1993). This was the first of 11 books in the "Wars of Light and Shadow" series, which was also broken down into what Wurts wrote as five "Arcs", each developing the characters.

Lysaer 'Prince of Light' and Arithon, 'Master of Shadow' were involved in a blood feud on their own world, but had to put differences aside to defeat an enemy that would change the future of entire worlds.

Janny Wurts also wrote the "Empire" series with Raymond E. Feist. These books had tie-ins with Feist's own "Magician" books.

Janny Wurts was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania in 1953.

Answer: David Eddings

Belgarion, Lady Polgara, and Durnik were central characters in the "The Belgariad" and "The Malloreon" series, which comprised 10 books in all.

Eddings also wrote the "The Elenium" and "The Tamuli" series of six books and four books in "The Dreamers" series.

Eddings (July 7, 1931 - June 2, 2009) produced a large number of books, and not just in the fantasy genre. For many years they appeared in his name only, but later books were credited to him and his wife, Leigh.

Answer: J. V. Jones

Jack was literally the baker's boy in the novel of that name that started "The Book of Words" trilogy by J. V. Jones. Baralis was the villain of the books and Kylock was a murderer. Melliandra, the daughter of a lord, rebelled against a forced marriage to Kylock and was assisted by Jack.

Julie Victoria Jones was born in Liverpool, England, in 1963. As well as "The Book of Words", she wrote the "A Sword of Shadows" series. (Unfinished at the time this question was written in 2019.)

Answer: Michael Moorcock

Elric of Melniboné, Jerry Cornelius and Jherek Carnelian were characters in "The Dancers at the End of Time" series. This comprised the trilogy "An Alien Heat", "The Hollow Lands", and "The End of All Songs" published between 1972 and 1976

All were based on a universe that was collapsing.

The Elric books were the best-known of the works of English writer Michael Moorcock, who was born in 1939 and later became a resident of Texas.

Answer: Terry Pratchett

Mrs Cake, Rincewind and Death were major characters across several books in Pratchett's magnificent and extensive "Discworld" series. They each appeared in three or more of a different series of books.

In an obituary in 2015, "The Guardian" said the "Discworld" novels combined fantasy with wit and an irrepressible silliness."

In 30 years, Pratchett produced around 40 Discworld books. They were set on a Frisbee-shaped planet balanced on the backs of four elephants who were in turn standing on the shell of a giant turtle.

Some 85 million Pratchett books had been sold worldwide at the time of his death from posterior cortical atrophy, a rare form of dementia.

Answer: George R. R. Martin

For those who have been living in a cave in Outer Mongolia for the past 20 years or so, Daenerys Targarye, Jon Snow, and Jorah Mormont were leading characters in books by George R. R. Martin, which were turned into the blockbuster TV series "The Game Of Thrones"

Even people like this quiz author, who has never read a word of the books or seen more than a few highlights of the TV series, will probably be aware by osmosis of "GOT", such has been its presence in other media.

George R. R. Martin wrote his stories in the long-running book series "A Song of Ice and Fire ". Five were published between 1996 and 2011, with more said to be forthcoming at the time this question was written in December 2019. The TV series used the title of the opening book "A Game of Thrones" for its title.

Answer: J. K. Rowling

Sorting Hat, Neville Longbottom, and Minerva McGonagall were all characters in J. K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" tales. (Did you really think I would suggest the names of the three leading characters?)

The adventures of the boy wizard Harry Potter and his times at Hogwarts school of magic first appeared in 1997, and there were eight books in the series - with a prequel written later. In turn they were made into eight movies between 2001 and 2011.

All of this made the once near-penniless Rowling into one of the wealthiest living authors, with an estimated worth of £1bn ($1.3bn) from books and another £200m ($264m) from movie rights.
[Source: "Sunday Times Rich List" 2019]

Now, estimates vary, and according to some, Rowling vies for the 'wealthiest author' spot with Elisabeth Badinter, a French philosopher, author, and historian, worth $1.3bn . [Source: wealthygorilla.com 2018]

Answer: Ursula K. Le Guin

Aihal, Beech and Cob were wizards and sorcerers in Ursula K. Le Guin's fantasy world of Earthsea. The American author wrote five books in the "Earthsea Cycle".

Earthsea was an early Iron Age society based on hundreds of islands in an archipelago.

In an obituary in 2018, "The Guardian" newspaper said Ursula K. Le Guin's seminal works had included the children's fantasy "Earthsea cycle" and the groundbreaking gender-fluid science fiction novel "The Left Hand of Darkness", and added she been hugely influential over the previous half-century.

The first Earthsea book appeared in 1968. "The Left Hand of Darkness" followed in 1969.