"As for monkeys, I would have five, and they would be named: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, Do Pretty Much Whatever The Hell You Want, and Expensive Attorney."
Robert Paul "Tad" Williams (born March 14, 1957 in San Jose, California) is a popular Fantasy and Speculative Fiction author of the late 20th century, known for long epic stories with numerous characters. He's also known for subverting and deconstructing many tropes of these genres, with particular focus on things like Prophetic Fallacy and Earn Your Happy Ending.
Works by Tad Williams include (in order of publication):
- Tailchaser's Song (1985): A frisky tomcat, the eponymous Fritti Tailchaser, goes on a journey to find his girlfriend after her mysterious disappearance, fighting monsters out of feline legend along the way. Contains extensive Homage to The Lord of the Rings.
- Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn (1988, 1990, 1993, and 1998) : A High Fantasy novel series set in the Standard Fantasy Setting of Osten Ard, where the forces of humanity struggle against the growing threat of The Undead Storm King and his minions, with only the titular, legendary Three Swords offering any hope of saving their land.
- Child Of An Ancient City (1989): An Historical Fiction Horror novella. In the late 8th century AD, Mansur al-Adan is assigned to an embassy sent by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid to the Caucasus Mountains, but en route they encounter a dangerous Wampyr.
- Otherland (1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2013) : A Post Cyber Punk novel series set 20 Minutes into the Future, where a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits enters into a private virtual reality world controlled by a group of Corrupt Corporate Executives with a mysterious agenda that seems to involve stealing the minds of children.
- The War of the Flowers (2002): An Urban Fantasy set in the magical but strangely modern land of Faerie, itself a Deconstruction of a stereotypical Magical Land. The protagonist, Theo, becomes trapped there and is forced to become a pawn in the corrupt machinations of its lords, only to discover that he's more a part of it than he thinks.
- Shadowmarch (2004, 2007, and 2010): A High Fantasy novel series set in the eponymous Shadowmarch Castle. Notable in that it originally started as a web-based novel and only later made it into print.
- Bobby Dollar (2012, 2013, and 2014): A Fantastic Noir novel series about an earth-bound angel who finds himself caught between the greater powers of Heaven and Hell. Set in the fictional northern California city of San Judas.
- The Last King of Osten Ard (2017-2023): The long-awaited novel series of sequels to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, dealing with some of the same characters and themes.
