Richard A. Knaak
Born in Chicago, The United States 28 May 1961
Websiteh ttp://www.richardaknaak.com/INTRO.html
Richard A. Knaak is the author of Dragonlance novels, Dragonrealm, six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and ten works in the Warcraft universe. He has also written five non-series fantasy books.
He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, studying chemistry at first, and subsequently rhetoric, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1984. He worked as a warehouseman, resume writer, and office clerk before becoming a full-time freelance writer in 1988.
After reading Andre Norton's Storm over Warlock, he became a fan of fantasy and science fiction. He eventually sold his first short story in 1986, and it was published in 1987. His Dragonlance titles include The Legend of Huma, Reavers of the Blood Sea, Kaz the Minotaur, Land of the Minotaurs, and The Citadel, in addition to short stories in various anthologies. He also wrote the ten-volume Dragonrealm series, and the first Dragonrealm story, "Firedrake," helped him get his first Dragonlance project. He has also written several stand-alone volumes, including the contemporary fantasies Frostwing, King of the Grey, and Dutchman, plus the heroic adventure The Janus Mask. He has also worked on novels based in the worlds of the computer games Warcraft and Diablo.
Knaak lists Roger Zelazny, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Edgar Allan Poe as major influences, and has even listed a few of his favorite fellow authors, those being Robert E. Howard, Glen Cook, L. Sprague de Camp, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Harry Turtledove, Jennifer Roberson, Laurell K. Hamilton, Harry Harrison, and Robert Sawyer.
