R.A. Salvatore

Author profile

born

in Leominster, The United States

January 20, 1959

gender

male

website

http://www.rasalvatore.com/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

influences

Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. T...more

About this author

edit data

As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s most recent original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, beca...more As one of the fantasy genre’s most successful authors, R.A. Salvatore enjoys an ever-expanding and tremendously loyal following. His books regularly appear on The New York Times best-seller lists and have sold more than 10,000,000 copies. Salvatore’s most recent original hardcover, The Two Swords, Book III of The Hunter’s Blade Trilogy (October 2004) debuted at # 1 on The Wall Street Journal best-seller list and at # 4 on The New York Times best-seller list. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages including German, Italian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Yiddish, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Czech, and French.

Salvatore’s first published novel, The Crystal Shard from TSR in 1988, became the first volume of the acclaimed Icewind Dale Trilogy and introduced an enormously popular character, the dark elf Drizzt Do’Urden. Since that time, Salvatore has published numerous novels for each of his signature multi-volume series including The Dark Elf Trilogy, Paths of Darkness, The Hunter’s Blades Trilogy, and The Cleric Quintet.

His love affair with fantasy, and with literature in general, began during his sophomore year of college when he was given a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings as a Christmas gift. He promptly changed his major from computerscience to journalism. He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications from Fitchburg State College in 1981, then returned for the degree he always cherished, the Bachelor of Arts in English. He began writing seriously in 1982, penning the manuscript that would become Echoes of the Fourth Magic. Salvatore held many jobs during those first years as a writer, finally settling in (much to our delight) to write full time in 1990.

The R.A. Salvatore Collection has been established at his alma mater, Fitchburg State College in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, containing the writer’s letters, manuscripts, and other professional papers. He is in good company, as The Salvatore Collection is situated alongside The Robert Cormier Library, which celebrates the writing career of the co-alum and esteemed author of young adult books.

Salvatore is an active member of his community and is on the board of trustees at the local library in Leominster, Massachusetts. He has participated in several American Library Association regional conferences, giving talks on themes including “Adventure fantasy” and “Why young adults read fantasy.” Salvatore himself enjoys a broad range of literary writers including James Joyce, Mark Twain, Geoffrey Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dante, and Sartre. He counts among his favorite genre literary influences Ian Fleming, Arthur Conan Doyle, Fritz Leiber, and of course, J.R.R. Tolkien.

Born in 1959, Salvatore is a native of Massachusetts and resides there with his wife Diane, and their three children, Bryan, Geno, and Caitlin. The family pets include three Japanese Chins, Oliver, Artemis and Ivan, and four cats including Guenhwyvar.

When he isn't writing, Salvatore chases after his three Japanese Chins, takes long walks, hits the gym, and coaches/plays on a fun-league softball team that includes most of his family. His gaming group still meets on Sundays to play.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rasalv...(less)

85 posts
R.A. Salvatore's Blog

R.A. Salvatore isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

The Companions e-signing

How long lived our memory of you when you are gone? Because in the end, that is the only measure. - Drizzt Do'Urden

In The Companions R.A. Salvatore launches a major world-shaping event that will move Drizzt into a restored era of the Forgotten Realms.

Reserve The Companions Read more of this blog post »

View more on R.A. Salvatore's website »

0 comments

• 2 likes · like •

Published on May 12, 2013 05:57 • 118 views

View all 85 posts »

combine editions
R.A. Salvatore's Books

Average rating: 4.08 · 290,746 ratings · 5,110 reviews · 245 distinct works · Similar authors

	Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1) 4.25 of 5 stars 4.25 avg rating — 19,761 ratings — published 1990 — 25 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Exile (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #2) 4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 avg rating — 17,347 ratings — published 1990 — 23 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Sojourn (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #3) 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 17,005 ratings — published 1990 — 25 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Crystal Shard (Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #4) 4.08 of 5 stars 4.08 avg rating — 16,163 ratings — published 1988 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Halfling's Gem (Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #6) 4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 13,806 ratings — published 1990 — 23 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Streams of Silver (Forgotten Realms: Icewind Dale, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #5) 4.09 of 5 stars 4.09 avg rating — 13,306 ratings — published 1989 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Dark Elf Trilogy Collector's Edition (Forgotten Realms: Dark Elf Trilogy, #1-3; Legend of Drizzt, #1-3) 4.3 of 5 stars 4.30 avg rating — 11,063 ratings — published 1980 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Legacy (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #7) 4.15 of 5 stars 4.15 avg rating — 9,911 ratings — published 1992 — 24 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Starless Night (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #8) 4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 avg rating — 9,764 ratings — published 1992 — 21 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Siege of Darkness (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #9) 4.1 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 9,406 ratings — published 1993 — 20 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by R.A. Salvatore…

Series by R.A. Salvatore

The Icewind Dale Trilogy (3 books)
by R.A. Salvatore
4.104621848739495 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 49,980 ratings

Legacy of the Drow (4 books)
by R.A. Salvatore
4.105157571294344 of 5 stars 4.11 avg rating — 39,379 ratings

Hunter's Blades (3 books)
by R.A. Salvatore
4.10291191897269 of 5 stars 4.10 avg rating — 22,116 ratings

The Sellswords (3 books)
by R.A. Salvatore
4.118719326945548 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 12,837 ratings

Transitions (3 books)
by R.A. Salvatore
4.040102311135471 of 5 stars 4.04 avg rating — 10,947 ratings

More series by R.A. Salvatore…

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Quotes by R.A. Salvatore

“It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Sojourn

2,518 people liked it

“Sane is boring.”
― R.A. Salvatore

tags: boring, crazy, forgotten-realms, funny, humor, jarlaxle, salvatore, sane, servant-of-the-shard

438 people liked it

“No, I would not want to live in a world without dragons, as I would not want to live in a world without magic, for that is a world without mystery, and that is a world without faith.”
― R.A. Salvatore, Streams of Silver

tags: dragon, faith, magic, mystery, world

310 people liked it

See all R.A. Salvatore's quotes »

Polls

Random Fantasy for July

Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones

68 votes 21.7%

Homeland by R.A. Salvatore

66 votes 21.0%

Dragon Bones by Patricia Briggs

56 votes 17.8%

Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings

43 votes 13.7%

Blood Price by Tanya Huff

36 votes 11.5%

Lamentation by Ken Scholes

32 votes 10.2%

Act of Will by A.J. Hartley

13 votes 4.1%

314 total votes

6 comments

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
SciFi and Fantasy...: * Master Fantasy Book List	15	626	Apr 06, 2008 10:37am
SciFi and Fantasy...: What do we know about elves etc.	12	200	Feb 25, 2009 05:54am
The Rory Gilmore ...: Any good books?	39	348	Jun 13, 2009 05:55pm
Fantasy Junkies: Top 5 Fantasy Books	119	172	Sep 15, 2009 08:25pm

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite R.A. to Goodreads.

Add New
Videos

R.A.'s Fans (2512)

R.A. Salvatore

Author profile

85 posts
R.A. Salvatore's Blog

combine editions
R.A. Salvatore's Books

Series by R.A. Salvatore

Upcoming Events

Quotes by R.A. Salvatore

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add NewVideos

R.A.'s Fans (2512)

R.A. Salvatore

Author profile

85 postsR.A. Salvatore's Blog

combine editionsR.A. Salvatore's Books

Series by R.A. Salvatore

Upcoming Events

Quotes by R.A. Salvatore

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

85 posts
R.A. Salvatore's Blog

combine editions
R.A. Salvatore's Books