William H. Keith Jr. | |
---|---|
Born | August 8, 1950 |
Occupation | Novelist |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Military fiction Science fiction |
William H. Keith (born August 8, 1950) is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay Riker. His newer original works are written under the name of Ian Douglas.
William H. Keith grew up with his brother J. Andrew Keith. [1]
William H. Keith served in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman from 1969 to 1972 during the Vietnam War era.
William H. Keith Jr. and his brother J. Andrew Keith noticed ads in Journal of the Travellers Aid Society which announced that Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was looking for authors; Loren Wiseman hired them to start freelancing for GDW in 1978 or 1979, and the three worked together on a lot of the early material for the Traveller universe. [1] : 56 William Keith also contributed heavily to the graphical appearance of that era of Traveller releases. [1] : 56 The Keith brothers began earning enough money that they were able to do freelance work full-time beginning around 1979. [1] : 56 The Keith brothers began working for FASA by the end of 1980, with William Keith contributing artwork for the magazine High Passage beginning in 1981. [1] : 119 FASA began publishing adventures for Traveller beginning with Ordeal by Eshaar (1981) by the Keith brothers, who then wrote the "Sky Raiders" trilogy (1981-1982) for FASA. [1] : 119 William Keith designed the role-playing game Behind Enemy Lines (1982), the first RPG set in the 1940s. [1] : 120 FASA ended its support of Traveller in 1983, so the Keith brothers continued writing for Traveller with the new company Gamelords, but continued to work for FASA on other projects. [1] : 120 The Keith brothers authored seven Traveller supplements published by Gamelords, including The Mountain Environment (1983), The Undersea Environment (1983), and The Desert Environment (1984), and adventures intended for the environments described in those rulebooks. [1] : 131
The Keith brothers produced some material for the Chivalry & Sorcery line in 1984, and in 1985 they began working on other lines for Fantasy Games Unlimited including Aftermath! , Daredevils , Flashing Blades , and Psi World . [1] : 75 The Keith brothers also designed Freedom Fighters (1986), one of the final role-playing games published by FGU. [1] : 75 William Keith authored Delta Force: America Strikes Back! (1986), the first role-playing game from Task Force Games. [1] : 116 William Keith wrote Decision at Thunder Rift (1986), the first novel published by FASA. [1] : 122 William Keith authored a large MegaTraveller campaign set in the Gateway sector for The MegaTraveller Journal #4 (1993), the final publication of Digest Group Publications. [1] : 206
William Keith became a professional artist and writer, working in the game industry with his brother Andrew, particularly for Game Designers' Workshop and FASA before becoming a full-time author. Much of his early work, including the Warstrider series, the Freedom's Rangers series, the Cybernarc series, and the Invaders of Charon series, is currently out of print; 'Warstrider' will be re-released in 2014. He was also an early author for BattleTech, writing the saga of the Gray Death Legion.
Keith also writes under various pseudonyms and "house names", including Ian Douglas and H. Jay Riker, and is a shadow author of several books "by" celebrities. He has written extensively in Keith Laumer's Bolo series, contributing several short stories to the Bolo anthologies, as well as three full-length books, Bolo Brigade, Bolo Strike, and Bolo Rising. As Ian Douglas, he writes military science fiction: the Galactic Marines series (composed of the Heritage Trilogy , the Legacy Trilogy , and the Inheritance Trilogy ), and the newer Star Carrier series. As H. Jay Riker he writes military fiction: a series about the United States Navy SEALs progression from World War II through the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom, and another series, The Silent Service, about the United States submarine service.
Other novels include Diplomatic Act with Peter Jurasik, and Two of Minds, nominated for a Newbery Award. He also continued Keith Laumer's Retief series with Retief's Peace. His first non-fiction book, The Science of the Craft, was published in 2005; it is about the link between witchcraft and science.
Keith's recent work includes three books in Stephen Coonts' Deep Black series; a police procedural/detective novel in the Android universe; and a new series about Navy Hospital Corpsmen in the future.
Keith, a Wiccan and a Reiki master, is also a member of Western Pennsylvania Mensa.[ citation needed ]
Writing as William H. Keith Jr.:
BattleTech series
Writing as Ian Douglas:
Star Carrier series
Writing as Robert Cain:
Cybernarc series
Writing as H. Jay Riker
Traveller is a science fiction role-playing game first published in 1977 by Game Designers' Workshop. Marc Miller designed Traveller with help from Frank Chadwick, John Harshman, and Loren Wiseman. Editions were published for GURPS, d20, and other role-playing game systems. From its origin and in the currently published systems, the game relied upon six-sided dice for random elements. Traveller has been featured in a few novels and at least two video games.
Michael Austin Stackpole is an American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his Star Wars and BattleTech books. He was born in Wausau, Wisconsin, but raised in Vermont. He has a BA in history from the University of Vermont. From 1977 on, he worked as a designer of role-playing games for various gaming companies, and wrote dozens of magazine articles with limited distribution within the industry. He lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
John Keith Laumer was an American science fiction author. Prior to becoming a full-time writer, he was an officer in the United States Air Force and a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service. His older brother March Laumer was also a writer, known for his adult reinterpretations of the Land of Oz. Frank Laumer, their youngest brother, is a historian and writer.
The Warstrider series is a series of novels by William H. Keith, Jr., a former author of licensed BattleTech tie-in novels.
Don Perrin is a Canadian writer and former military officer.
Judith Tarr is an American fantasy and science fiction author.
Jordan Weisman is an American game designer, author, and serial entrepreneur who has founded five game design companies, each in a different game genre and segment of the industry.
The Doctor Who Role Playing Game is a licensed roleplaying game published by FASA in 1985 that is based upon the BBC television series Doctor Who.
Jean Rabe is an American journalist, editor, gamer and writer of fantasy and mystery. After a career as a newspaper reporter, she was employed by TSR, Inc. for several years as head of the Role Playing Game Association and editor of the Polyhedron magazine. Rabe began a career as a novelist for TSR and Wizards of the Coast, and over the last 30 years has produced over three dozen books and scores of short stories, at first in the genres of game-related fantasy and science fiction and later as an author of mystery novels.
Nigel D. Findley was a Canadian game designer, editor, and an author of science fiction and fantasy novels and role-playing games (RPGs).
John Andrew Keith was an American author and games developer.
William H. Keith's writing career started in 1978, when he and his brother J. Andrew Keith began writing for Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) for their Traveller universe. He has been prolific science fiction author ever since. He has written under several pseudonyms, most notably as H. Jay Riker and Ian Douglas.
Gamelords was an American game company that produced tabletop role-playing games and game supplements.
L. Ross Babcock III is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games.
The Trail of the Sky Raiders is a 1982 role-playing game adventure for Traveller published by FASA.
Fate of the Sky Raiders is a 1982 role-playing game adventure for Traveller published by FASA.
Far Traveller was a gaming magazine published by FASA from 1982 to 1983. Far Traveller was a magazine approved to be used with the role-playing game Traveller, published in place of the previous Traveller magazine High Passage.
Ascent To Anekthor is a 1984 fantasy role-playing game adventure, written by J. Andrew Keith, and published by Gamelords for Traveller.
BattleTech: 25 Years of Art & Fiction is a non-fiction book published by Catalyst Game Labs in 2009 about the science fiction wargame BattleTech. It includes artwork, a description of the development of the game, an historical timeline of in-game history, and twenty pieces of fiction by authors such as Michael A. Stackpole, Robert Charrette and Victor Milán.