Margaret Weis
Margaret Edith Weis (; born March 16, 1948) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer and author of dozens of novels and short stories. Along with Tracy Hickman, Weis is one of the original creators of the "Dragonlance" game world. Early life. Margaret Weis was born on March 16, 1948, in Independence, Missouri. She discovered heroic fantasy fiction while studying at the University of Missouri (MU): "I read Tolkien when it made its first big sweep in the colleges back in 1966," she said. "A girlfriend of mine gave me a copy of the books while I was  in summer school at MU. I literally couldn't put them down! I never found any other fantasy I liked, and just never read any fantasy after Tolkien." Weis graduated from the University of Missouri in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing and literature. Career. Weis first worked for a small publishing company in Independence, where she became an editor. From 1972 to 1983 she worked for Herald Publishing House as advertising director and subsequently as director of Independence Press, Herald Publishing's trade division from 1981 to 1983. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Weis  wrote children's books about computer graphics, robots, the history of Thanksgiving, the outlaws Frank and Jesse James, and an adventure book at a second-grade reading level for prisoners with low literacy levels. TSR and Dragonlance. In 1983 Weis applied for a job as a games editor at TSR, Inc. that she saw advertised in "Publishers Weekly". TSR turned her down for that position, but hired her as a book editor. She worked in TSR's book division until 1986. One of her first assignments was to help coordinate, along with TSR colleague Tracy Hickman, "Project Overlord," which was  to include a novel and three "AD&D" modules. Weis and Hickman plotted the novel and hired an author, who didn't work out. "By that time," said Weis, "[Hickman] and I were so into the project that we felt we had to write it." "Project Overlord" soon became known as Dragonlance and grew into a trilogy of novels, called the "Dragonlance Chronicles", and 15 linked modules. Jean Black, managing editor of TSR's book department, picked Weis and Hickman to write the series. "To my mind," said Weis, "what made the project so successful was that everyone was involved in  it, excited about it, and believed in it." After two years of development, TSR released the game module "Dragons of Despair" in March 1984 and the novel "Dragons of Autumn Twilight" in November 1984. TSR had doubts about the finished novel's sales potential, and attempted to order thirty thousand copies, ultimately ordering the minimum print run of fifty thousand. The success of the novel prompted TSR to publish more copies to meet demand. The novel was written after the completion of the first "Dragonlance" game modules. Weis and Hickman felt this was constraining and made the novel feel too  episodic, so they reversed the process for the next books and completed the novels before the related modules were written. Weis and Hickman also wrote the "Dragonlance Legends" trilogy, which was published in 1986. As a writing team they produced several projects based on the Dragonlance saga, which included novels, game supplements, short stories, art books, and calendars in the product line. Post-TSR. While they later left TSR, Weis and Hickman continued as a writing team with the "Darksword" trilogy (1986–87) and the seven-book "Deathgate Cycle" (1988–94) for Bantam Books. Weis also wrote the space opera "Star of  the Guardians" novels, which she calls her favorite series that she has written. Weis was diagnosed with breast cancer, and recovered in 1993. She published a game based on "Mag Force 7" from 1994–96, and married writer/game designer Don Perrin in 1996. In the late 1990s, Larry Elmore approached Weis and Hickman to pitch his fantasy world of Loerem, which they agreed to write about in the "Sovereign Stone" trilogy of books which was published by Del Rey. From 2003 to 2005, Weis completed the "Dragonvarld" trilogy for Tor. In 1999, "Pyramid" magazine named Weis one of "The Millennium 's Most Influential Persons" "at least in the realm of adventure gaming," and said she and Hickman are "basically responsible for the entire gaming fiction genre." Weis was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame in 2002, recognized in part for "one game line turned literary sensation: "Dragonlance"." Publishing companies. In addition to her writing career, Weis served as the owner and chief officer of two publishing companies. Weis formed the company Sovereign Press, with herself as CEO, to publish the "Sovereign Stone" roleplaying game written by Don Perrin and Lester Smith. To support the setting, Weis and Perrin wrote  a short story called "Shadamehr and the Old Wives Tale" which appeared in "Dragon" #264 (October, 1999). In 2004, Perrin left Sovereign Press and Weis founded the new company Margaret Weis Productions. Her newest company, Margaret Weis Productions, published an RPG line based on several licenses including "Serenity" and "Battlestar Galactica" as well as Ed Greenwood's new solo venture into roleplaying, Castlemourn. Weis has served on the Board of Directors of Mag Force 7, Inc., the developer of the "Star of the Guardians" and "Wing Commander Collectible Trading Card Game" (CCGs). Returns to Dragonlance. Weis returned to Dragonlance in  1995 with "Dragons of Summer Flame", written with Hickman, and her next project was a solo novel called "The Soulforge", based on her favorite character from the trilogy, the dark wizard Raistlin. Wizards of the Coast published a new trilogy of Dragonlance novels by Weis and Hickman called "War of Souls", beginning with "Dragons of a Fallen Sun" (2000). In 2002, Wizards of the Coast agreed to license the Dragonlance setting to Sovereign Press for RPG publication; Weis and Perrin, along with Jamie Chambers and Christopher Coyle, wrote the "Dragonlance Campaign Setting" (2003) for publication by Wizards of the Coast . Sovereign Press was then allowed to expand and supplement that book using the d20 license. The license expired in 2007. Between 2004 and 2008, Weis wrote a solo novel trilogy titled "The Dark Disciple"; the first novel, "Amber and Ashes", was published in August 2004. During this period, Weis also co-authored with Hickman "The Lost Chronicles" trilogy starting with "Dragons of the Dwarven Depths" in July 2006. There was a fifteen-year hiatus between novels about the Companions before "Dragons of the Dwarven Depths" was released. After the original "Chronicles" novels were completed in 1991, the co-authors had  a lot of material about them remaining, but moved on to writing about new characters. In 2004, Weis told Hickman she wanted to return to the main protagonists of the "Dragonlance" world. When the pair contacted their editors, they enthusiastically agreed. In October 2020, Weis and Tracy Hickman filed suit against Wizards of the Coast for breaching a licensing deal with Weis and Hickman for a new "Dragonlance" novel trilogy. "Boing Boing" reported that "according to the lawsuit, Weis and Hickman agreed with Wizards of the Coast to produce the new novels in 2017, capping off the series and giving  fans a final sendoff. But the company pulled the plug in August 2020". Hickman and Weis see the new trilogy as "the capstone to their life's work". In December 2020, Weis and Hickman filed to voluntarily dismiss without prejudice their lawsuit, and "the filing noted that Wizards of the Coast had not formally answered their lawsuit, nor had they filed for a summary judgement". Weis and Hickman's publishing agent affirmed a few weeks following this that a new trilogy of "Dragonlance" novels was back in the works. In December 2021, it was announced that the first novel of  the new series, "Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit", is scheduled for release on August 9, 2022. Personal life. Despite her career and fame as a fantasy author, Weis says she does not read fantasy books. Weis is a mother of two children from her first marriage. She is divorced from her second husband, Canadian-born author Don Perrin. She was diagnosed in 1993 with breast cancer and underwent successful chemotherapy. She kept herself busy writing "The Seventh Gate" during her treatment. Weis now lives in southern Wisconsin in a converted barn.