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sparhawk42
Learned Scribe
104 Posts |
 Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 17:53:27
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I have finally gotten around to reading The Avatar Series but I am a bit confused. The listed author on Wizards site is Scott Ciencin but I have found many different places list Richard Awlinson as the author. Now since Wizards site includes a picture of the book with Scott's name on the book I assume he is the author but I was wondering why I keeping finding conflicting info as to the author. Thanks in advance for any help.
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You never fail until you stop trying. |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 17:55:49
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Originally all of the books were credited to "Richard Awlinson" rather than the actual author that wrote them. Eventually when the books were reprinted, Scott Ciencin and Troy Denning got the actual credit for them.
I think this may have come about since it was early in the FR lifespan, and many bookstores didn't have a "shared world" shelf for FR, so it kept the whole series together. |
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sparhawk42
Learned Scribe
104 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 17:59:33
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| So when I go to the bookstore would it be under Ciencin, Denning, or Awlinson? |
You never fail until you stop trying. |
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Dremvek
Seeker
70 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 18:03:35
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Shadowdale would be under Ciencin or Awlinson.
Wizards did this most recently with the D&D branded mini-books under the name of T H Lain, which was another fictional author. |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 18:03:45
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| If they have the most current edition, they should be listed under Ciencin and Denning, but if the bookstore, as most do, have a separate section for "shared world" books, then the books should all be together under the Forgotten Realms section in "sci-fi/fantasy." |
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Richard Lee Byers
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
1814 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 18:04:40
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| If the bookstores in your area are like the chain bookstores around here, you'll find all the Forgotten Realms books shelved together in the franchise (Forgotten Realms, Warhammer, Star Wars, Star Trek, Dragonlance, etc.) subsection of the science fiction and fantasy section. So that's where you want to look. |
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sparhawk42
Learned Scribe
104 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 18:16:44
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Yeah I've spent the last couple minutes talking to different bookstores on the phone and none of them have it in stock and they all have back orders of a dozen or so copies. |
You never fail until you stop trying. |
Edited by - sparhawk42 on 30 Aug 2006 21:09:17 |
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Kuje
Great Reader
USA
7915 Posts |
Posted - 30 Aug 2006 : 18:24:33
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| Richard Awlinson was a pen name for the various authors. :) |
For some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these small, flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world after world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet and excite you... Books are full of the things that you don't get in real life - wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. - Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium |
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Mace Hammerhand
Great Reader
Germany
2296 Posts |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2006 : 01:01:14
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quote:
Originally posted by sparhawk42
I have finally gotten around to reading The Avatar Series but I am a bit confused. The listed author on Wizards site is Scott Ciencin but I have found many different places list Richard Awlinson as the author. Now since Wizards site includes a picture of the book with Scott's name on the book I assume he is the author but I was wondering why I keeping finding conflicting info as to the author. Thanks in advance for any help.
James Lowder talked about this a long while back... I've got his reply here -
"It was purely a marketing decision. At the time, there weren't many Realms books in stores, and the ones that had been released were often shelved in the bookstores by author name—Salvatore, Niles, Greenwood. They hadn't yet been given their own section by the chains. TSR was concerned that the individual Avatar books would be shelved in different places if they didn't have the same author name on them—and the release schedule was far too tight to have one author write all three, so three authors were necessary. Enter “Richard Awlinson.” I think the name was Jim Ward's idea: Awlinson was a derived from “all in one.” The surname had to start with an A so that it would be shelved at the start of the SF section.
I was never a fan of the house name, and pushed to let the authors include their actual names and bios in the back, which is why they show up there, even with the house name on the old covers. Now that the Realms books are shelved together as a series in most stores, there's no need for the house name, which would explain, in part, why Wizards removed it for the new releases."
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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sparhawk42
Learned Scribe
104 Posts |
Posted - 31 Aug 2006 : 03:42:58
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Indeed I was going to order the whole series through Amazon but I ordered a source book and another novel at the beginning of July and after they sent me a message telling me it was delayed I am still waiting. So until I get those books I guess I'll hold off ordering from them again and pick up the book somewhere else.
And thanks to everyone for the background information about the authors names. I think I understand now. Oh, and thanks for the link to the interview!
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You never fail until you stop trying. |
Edited by - sparhawk42 on 04 Sep 2006 18:17:57 |
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Thauramarth
Senior Scribe
United Kingdom
729 Posts |
Posted - 05 Sep 2006 : 08:32:01
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quote:
Originally posted by Kuje
Richard Awlinson was a pen name for the various authors. :)
I think I remember Troy Denning mention in an interview that "Awlinson" was a twist on "All in One"  |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31774 Posts |
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Shadowdale?
