Many tales of high adventure has this scribe put to parchment . . . and many more shall he. He is considered by many to be the greatest storyteller in all of Mithgar.  Only Gaffer Tom of Woody Hollow has the means to spin a taller tale!   He is credited with writing twelve Histories of Mithgar, one of otherworldly adventure, and many rollicking short tales.  Hrumph!  Don't listen to me drone on, read the archives!!

Dennis Lester McKiernan
Photo: Cubley Studios

Dennis proudly displays a map of Mithgar. This map was given away in the first contest.

Where Dennis does the hard work of creation. Note the map over the printer.

FAQs:

Why does the Silver Call duology seem so familiar? . . . coming soon.
Why is the Iron Tower Trilogy so much like Lord of the Rings? . . . coming soon.

Is Dennis going to write the story of the Impossible Child?
Yes, his next Mithgarian opus, Sliver Wolf, Black Falcon, will include the telling of the tale of the Impossible Child . . . and the tales of other "red slippers" left about Mithgar.  In Dennis' own words, as posted on the Halls' discussion board:

"As to SW,BF ... I take Bair from birth to age sixteen or so, and tell of his and Aravan's quest for the Silver Sword.  However, SW,BF is the sequel to ALL other Mithgarian novels, and so here is the tale where many different threads are finally pulled together, many different Red Slippers finally taken up and examined."

Dennis also hinted that SW,BF may be his final Mithgar novel.   Let's hope he changes his mind.

Interviews:

Interview from Delphi - April 20, 1995.
Interview from Amazon.com

From "About the Author":

The Iron Tower Trilogy - Published 1985
The Silver Call Duology - Published 1987

     Dennis L. McKiernan was born April 4, 1932, in Moberly Missouri, where he lived until age eighteen, when he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving four years during the Korean War.  He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri in 1958 and, similarly, an M.S. from Duke University in 1964.  Employed by a leading research and development laboratory, he resides with his family in Westerville, Ohio.  Though he has freelanced articles for magazines, The Iron Tower marks his debut as a novelist.

Dragondoom - Published 1990

     Dennis L. McKiernan was born April 4, 1932, in Moberly Missouri, where he lived until age eighteen, when he joined the U.S. Air Force, serving four years during the Korean War.  He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri in 1958 and, similarly, an M.S. from Duke University in 1964.  Employed by a leading research and development laboratory, he resides with his family in Westerville, Ohio.
     He began writing novels in 1977 while recuperating from a close encounter of the crunch kind with a 1967 red and black Plymouth Fury (Dennis lost:   it ran over him:  Plymouth 1, Dennis 0).
     A SCUBA diver, dirt-bike rider, and touring motorcyclist -- all enthusiasms shared by his wife --  Dennis also enjoys fantasy role playing games, and is an accomplished game master as well as player.
     His critically acclaimed, best-selling novels include the trilogy of The Iron Tower, the duology of The Silver Call, and now, Dragondoom.

The Eye of the Hunter - Published 1992

     The remaining "About the Author" sections from the remaining books are very similar to Dragondoom.   Sometime between Dragondoom and The Eye of the Hunter, Dennis went full-time!

     Dennis spent thirty-one years as one of the AT&T Bell Laboratories whiz kids in research and development -- in anti-ballistic missile defense systems, in software for telephone systems, and in various management think-tank activities -- before changing careers to be a full-time writer.

Into the Fire - Published 1998

     I was born April 4, 1932, in Moberly, Missouri, in the depths of the Great Depression. My dad and mom were factory workers, struggling to make ends meet. Yet my brother and sister and I didn't feel any neglect, for both of our parents loved to read and to read aloud, and both loved to play many games. And they included us in these pastimes.
     When I was nine, may dad gave me a pulp magazine: it featured Captain Future, the quintessential science fiction pulp hero; I devoured the tale. This magazine more than anything else launched me into omnivorous reading: science fiction, fantasy, fairy tales, Oz books, and whatever else I could lay my hands on: westerns, mysteries, romances, the classics, and more: I read them all, and all was triggered by a magazine my dad gave me back when I was but nine.
     Thank you, Mom; I really appreciate what you did. And thank you as well, Dad, wherever you are in that great beyond; that magazine you gave me when I was nine was a priceless gift. Thank you, Edmond Hamilton and Leigh Brackett, as well as a myriad others; you helped launch me into my engineering career, and the literary career which followed. Thank you, too, Captain Future . . . and Grag and Otho and the Brain, and Eek and Oog and all the others who helped that remarkable man. Without all of you and the Comet flying across vast reaches of space and doing in evil throughout the whole universe, perhaps this biography at the end of this book would never have been. . . . It is all connected, you know.

Visit Dennis' personal webpage.

Alamar Asks . . .

Which artifact survived from Sleeth's horde?* The Dawn Sword The Silver Horn The Myrkenstone The Rage Hammer *Possible spoiler . . . answer at your own risk.

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Updated:  June 12, 2000