John Maddox Roberts

Last updated

John Maddox Roberts is an American author of science fiction, fantasy, and historical fiction including the SPQR series and Hannibal's Children .

Contents

Personal life

John Maddox Roberts was born in Ohio and was raised in Texas, California, and New Mexico. [1] He has lived in various places in the United States as well as in Scotland, England and Mexico. [2] He was kicked out of college in 1967 and joined the Army. [1] He was in the US Army 1967–70, and did a tour in Vietnam. After he returned, he became a Green Beret. [2]

He lives with his wife in Estancia, New Mexico. [3]

Career

Upon his return to civilian life, Roberts decided to be a writer and sold his first book to Doubleday in 1975; [1] his book was published in 1977 as The Strayed Sheep of Charum. [4] His earlier books were in the science fiction, fantasy and historical genres. [1]

In 1989, Roberts published his first historical mystery, The King's Gambit, set in ancient Rome. The book was nominated for the Edgar Award as best mystery of the year. [4] The book was first in Maddox's SPQR series of mysteries. [1]

Roberts also wrote a series of contemporary detective novels about a private eye named Gabe Treloar. The first book, A Typical American Town, is set in a fictionalized version of that Ohio town where he was born. The second, The Ghosts of Saigon, used his experiences in Vietnam. The third, Desperate Highways, is a road novel. [1]

When asked by TSR to do a Dragonlance mystery, he wrote Murder in Tarsis. [1] Roberts wrote an unpublished science fiction book called The Line, a police procedural set in a near-future Los Angeles where the biggest racket is illegal traffic in fetal pineal glands. [1]

Bibliography

Cingulum series

Island Worlds series

Conan series

Dragonlance series

Falcon Series

An action series telling the story of a Crusader returning to Europe to seek vengeance on his father's killers (each written under the pen name of Mark Ramsay)

Gabe Treloar series

Space Angel series

SPQR series

Mystery series set in Ancient Rome

Stormlands series

Hannibal series

Individual novels

Short stories

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical mystery</span> Literary subgenre

The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres, historical fiction and mystery fiction. These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime. Though works combining these genres have existed since at least the early 20th century, many credit Ellis Peters's Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. The increasing popularity and prevalence of this type of fiction in subsequent decades has spawned a distinct subgenre recognized by the publishing industry and libraries. Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of the genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with a toehold on the New York Times bestseller list."

The SPQRseries is a series of historical mystery stories by John Maddox Roberts, published between 1990 and 2010, and set in the final years of the Roman Republic. SPQR is a Latin initialism for Senatus Populusque Romanus, the official name of the Republic.

The Sister Fidelma mysteries are a series of historical mystery novels and short stories by Peter Tremayne about a fictional detective who is the eponymous heroine of a series. Fidelma is both a dalaigh, and Celtic nun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edwin Charles Tubb</span> British science fiction, fantasy, and western writer

Edwin Charles Tubb was a British writer of science fiction, fantasy and western novels. The author of over 140 novels and 230 short stories and novellas, Tubb is best known for The Dumarest Saga, an epic science-fiction saga set in the far future. Michael Moorcock wrote, "His reputation for fast-moving and colourful SF writing is unmatched by anyone in Britain."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre</span> British writer

FergusGwynplaine MacIntyre, also known as Froggy, was a New York City-based journalist, novelist, poet and illustrator.

Yoji Kondo was a Japanese-born American astrophysicist who also wrote science fiction under the pseudonym Eric Kotani. He edited Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master (1992), and contributed to New Destinies, Vol. VI/Winter 1988—Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Issue (1988), after his friend, writer Robert A. Heinlein, died in 1988.

Lancer Books was a publisher of paperback books founded by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius that operated from 1961 through 1973. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the first publication of many in paperback format. It published the controversial novel Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, and Ted Mark's ribald series The Man from O.R.G.Y. Lancer paperbacks had a distinctive appearance, many bearing mauve or green page edging.

Everett Franklin Bleiler was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" series of science fiction anthologies, and his Checklist of Fantastic Literature has been called "the foundation of modern SF bibliography". Among his other scholarly works are two Hugo Award–nominated volumes concerning early science fiction—Science-Fiction: The Early Years and Science-Fiction: The Gernsback Years—and the massive Guide to Supernatural Fiction.

Kenneth Martin Edwards is a British crime novelist, whose work has won multiple awards including lifetime achievement awards for his fiction, non-fiction, short fiction, and scholarship in the UK and the United States. In addition to translations into various European languages, his books have been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese. As a crime fiction critic and historian, and also in his career as a solicitor, he has written non-fiction books and many articles. He is the current President of the Detection Club and in 2020 was awarded the Crime Writers' Association's Diamond Dagger, the highest honour in British crime writing, in recognition of the "sustained excellence" of his work in the genre.

<i>The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction</i> 2006 anthology edited by Mike Ashley

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Science Fiction is a science fiction anthology edited by Mike Ashley, originally published in 2006 in the United Kingdom by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd. It was reprinted in the United States, also in 2006, by Carroll & Graf, and imprint of Avalon Publishing Group. It is one of a long series of "Mammoth Book" short story collections edited by Ashley and published by Robinson, most of which have themes outside of science fiction.

Michael Raymond Donald Ashley is a British bibliographer, author and editor of science fiction, mystery, and fantasy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie S. Klinger</span> American attorney and writer (born 1946)

Leslie S. Klinger is an American attorney and writer. He is a noted literary editor and annotator of classic genre fiction, including the Sherlock Holmes stories and the novels Dracula, Frankenstein, and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as well as Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comics, Alan Moore's and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel Watchmen, the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, and Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

This is a listing of published works by the historian and novelist Peter Berresford Ellis.

Betty Winkelman, better known by the pen name Lauren Haney, was an American mystery novelist.

Bouchercon is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher; also the inspiration for the Anthony Awards, which have been issued at the convention since 1986. This page details Bouchercon XXXIV and the 18th Anthony Awards ceremony.

<i>The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF</i> 2009 anthology edited by Mike Ashley

The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Mike Ashley, and published in 2009.

<i>Deadly Things: A Collection of Mysterious Tales / The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History</i>

Deadly Things: A Collection of Mysterious Tales / The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History is an omnibus of two collections of fantastic historical mystery short stories issued in dos-à-dos format; Deadly Things: A Collection of Mysterious Tales, by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, and The Judgment of the Gods and Other Verdicts of History, by Robert Reginald. It was first published as a trade paperback by Borgo Press/Wildside Press in January 2011 as the second number in its Wildside Mystery Double series. The omnibus's constituent collections were not published separately.

<i>Past Poisons</i>

Past Poisons: An Ellis Peters Memorial Anthology of Historical Crime is a 1998 British anthology of historical mystery short stories and novellas, edited by Maxim Jakubowski. The collection is named for novelist Ellis Peters, whose Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) are generally credited for popularizing the combined genre of historical fiction and mystery fiction that would become known as historical mystery.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "John Maddox Roberts". Archived from the original on February 24, 2009.
  2. 1 2 "John Maddox Roberts online Forum". Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
  3. www.facebook.com https://www.facebook.com/people/John-Maddox-Roberts/751083136#!/profile.php?id=751083136 . Retrieved August 31, 2010.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[ title missing ]
  4. 1 2 "Southwest Virginia Museum Historical State Park". www.swvamuseum.org.
  5. "Roman Mysteries in Anthologies (English)". histmyst.org.
  6. "Roman Mysteries in Anthologies (English)". histmyst.org.
  7. "The Etruscan House by John Maddox Roberts". www.fictiondb.com.
  8. "The Detective and the Toga: Roman Mystery Short Stories in English". histmyst.org.