 |
Philippa Dickinson | |
|---|---|
| Occupation | editor |
| Relatives | Peter Dickinson [1] [2] John Dickinson [2] |
Philippa Dickinson is a former editor for Puffin Books, and chair of Random House Children's Publishing. During her time at Puffin, she was the editor of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain , and also acted for a time as the desk editor of Warlock magazine.
Philippa Dickinson was born in 1955. Her father was the novelist Peter Dickinson, and her mother was Mary Rose Barnard. [1] [2] She was educated at the then grammar school (now a private school) Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith in London. [3] [ dead link ] She has two brothers, of whom one is the children's writer John Dickinson, and one sister. [2] [4]
In 1974 Dickinson joined Puffin Books, working for Kaye Webb in the Puffin Club. [5] She started there as a teenager and was persuaded to stay on rather than going to university. [1] She spent five years at the Puffin Club before moving to the editorial department. [1]
At Puffin in 1981/1982 Dickinson was asked to edit a book called The Warlock of Firetop Mountain . [4] [6] [7] Having received the first completed manuscript, it was Dickinson who "diplomatically highlighted various inconsistencies" to its two authors Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. [4] [8] She noted that the two halves of the book were inconsistent (a product of having been written separately by Jackson and Livingstone) and that this included apparent differences in the rules. For example, the attributes for fighting ability, constitution and fitness, and luck were labeled by Jackson "Skill", "Stamina" and "Luck", and by Livingstone, "Combat Factor", "Strength Factor" and "Luck Factor". Also there were differences in how these were determined. Dickinson made observations on the text, such as pointing out that the way in which choices were presented was inconsistent, and noting that the use of the terms Werewolf and Wolfman were inconsistent. [9] She pushed for the writing style to be aligned; it was obvious that there had been a change in writer half way through, and so at her prompting one of the writers rewrote the other's half. [4] [10]
Dickinson was the commissioning editor for the next two Fighting Fantasy books. [9]
For the first five issues of Warlock Magazine , she also acted as desk editor, until Games Workshop took over the magazine from Penguin Books. [4]
She eventually became deputy head of publishing at Puffin Books and left in 1986.
In 1986 she joined Transworld and became the editorial director of Corgi Children's list. In March 1998, the media giant Bertelsmann, who were the owners of Transworld, acquired Random House. This led to the children's lists of Transworld and Random House being merged. At that time Dickinson was publisher of Transworld Children's Books and chair of the Publishers Association Children's Book Group. Debbie Sandford, the managing director of Random House Children's Publishing, resigned and Dickinson was made chairman of Random House Children's Publishing. [4]
The new role of chairman of Random House Children's Publishing meant she would not become involved with day-to-day business at Random House, but as chairman, she had responsibility for both Random House Children's Books and Transworld Children's Books. She made it clear that the two companies would continue to operate separately. [11] [ dead link ]
In 2014, Dickinson was Consultant Children's Publisher at Penguin Random House. [4]
In 2006, Dickinson was asked to be the vice-chairman of World Book Day. [12] [ dead link ]
Fighting Fantasy is a series of single-player role-playing gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. The first volume in the series was published in paperback by Puffin in 1982.
Sir Ian Livingstone is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson, he is the co-founder of a series of role-playing gamebooks, Fighting Fantasy, and the author of many books within that series. He co-founded Games Workshop in 1975 and helped create Eidos Interactive as executive chairman of Eidos Plc in 1995.
Titan: The Fighting Fantasy World is a book in the Fighting Fantasy series of children's role-playing gamebooks, first published by Puffin Books in 1986. Although credited to Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, it was actually written by Marc Gascoigne, although mostly based on locations, characters and events already described in other books in the series. It is written in the manner of an encyclopedia about the fantasy world of Titan, in which the majority of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks are set.
Steve Jackson is a British game designer, writer, game reviewer and co-founder of UK game publisher Games Workshop.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1982, the title is the first gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002, and Scholastic Books in 2017. As well as launching the Fighting Fantasy series, the gamebook inspired two direct sequels and five novels, and has been adapted into a board game, an audio drama and a video game.
Puffin Books is a longstanding children's imprint of the British publishers Penguin Books. Since the 1960s, it has been among the largest publishers of children's books in the UK and much of the English-speaking world. The imprint now belongs to Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann.
The Citadel of Chaos is a single-player adventure gamebook written by Steve Jackson and illustrated by Russ Nicholson. Originally published by Puffin Books in 1983, the title is the second gamebook in the Fighting Fantasy series. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2002. The gamebook was also adapted into a video game.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is a Games Workshop adventure board game published in 1986, based on the Fighting Fantasy gamebook The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. The game can be played by 2-6 players. A typical game has a length of two hours.
Caverns of the Snow Witch is a single-player roleplaying gamebook, written by Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Gary Ward and Edward Crosby and originally published in 1984 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 9th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-031830-5) and 10th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-432-1).
Legend of Zagor is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Carl Sargent, although it is credited to Ian Livingstone, illustrated by Martin McKenna and originally published in 1993 by Puffin Books. It was later republished by Wizard Books in 2004. It forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series. It is the 54th in the series in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-036566-4) and 20th in the modern Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-551-4).
Russ Nicholson is a British illustrator, best known for his black and white fantasy art.
Clash of the Princes is a boxed set consisting of The Warrior's Way and The Warlock's Way, released by Puffin Books in 1986, written by Andrew Chapman and Martin Allen and illustrated by John Blanche. They can be played as standard Fighting Fantasy gamebooks or combined for a two-player experience. In the two-player game, two scores are kept track of on a piece of paper in order to keep both players' game experiences synchronized.
Marc Gascoigne is a British author and editor.
Return to Firetop Mountain is a single-player roleplaying gamebook written by Ian Livingstone and illustrated by Martin McKenna. It was originally published in 1992 by Puffin Books and was later republished by Wizard Books in 2003. The gamebook forms part of Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's Fighting Fantasy series, where it is the 50th volume in the original Puffin series (ISBN 0-14-036008-5) and the 16th in the later Wizard series (ISBN 1-84046-481-X).
Warlock was a British magazine published by Penguin Books and game manufacturer Games Workshop between 1984 and 1986. The primary focus of the magazine was fantasy, with emphasis on the Fighting Fantasy adventure gamebook series.
The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is an action game published by Crystal Computing in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It is loosely based on the adventure gamebook of the same name written by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone, and published by Puffin Books in 1982.
Peter Andrew Jones is a British artist and illustrator who has produced a large number of fantasy and science fiction genre illustrations. During a professional career of over 43 years he has worked on book jacket covers, film posters, advertising, and games, as well as contributing to many BBC TV and commercial TV programs and projects.
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
Dicing with Dragons is a book written by Ian Livingstone and published by Routledge & Kegan Paul in 1982 that explains what role-playing games are.