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J.W. Webb

Goodreads Author

Born

in Bawtry, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.jwwebbauthor.com

Twitter

@legendsofansu

Genre

Fantasy

Influences

JRR Tolkien, Michael Moorcock, Guy Kay, Jack Vance, CS Lewis, Poul And ...more

Member Since

September 2013

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/jwwebb

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Lost In The Woods
I was born near Doncaster England in the early sixties but later moved south to Sussex, where I lived for many years. One of my (several schools) was at Battle, a small town named after that historic conflict in 1066. You know the one, it culminated with poor Harold getting that arrow in his eye and those rude Normans invading our green and pleasant land. Growing up so close to that scene of ancient carnage awarded me a fascination for all things Dark Age. I'd fallen victim to a weird and random imagination, resulting in a love of epic stories and epic story telling. This affliction prompted me to delve deep into the worlds of Tolkien, Peake, Eddison and Moorcock. Also about this time I commenced drawing imaginary maps and

Lost In The Woods
I was born near Doncaster England in the early sixties but later moved south to Sussex, where I lived for many years. One of my (several schools) was at Battle, a small town named after that historic conflict in 1066. You know the one, it culminated with poor Harold getting that arrow in his eye and those rude Normans invading our green and pleasant land. Growing up so close to that scene of ancient carnage awarded me a fascination for all things Dark Age. I'd fallen victim to a weird and random imagination, resulting in a love of epic stories and epic story telling. This affliction prompted me to delve deep into the worlds of Tolkien, Peake, Eddison and Moorcock. Also about this time I commenced drawing imaginary maps and inventing stories about wonderfully nasty folk, doing wonderfully nasty things, whilst pent up in gloomy unpleasant places.

Then at 18 years daft, I found myself thrust deep into the Queen's Household Cavalry. How I arrived there I cannot quite recall. The result was a sharp dose of reality. But not a cure – the affliction ran deep. I left the regiment, and for a time wandered hazy through life hitting nails with hammers, sailing brigantines through southern waters, drinking venomous concoctions with venomous companions, and yes, reading lots more ghastly fantasy books. At 27 years I became to a degree sensible. I married my beloved Rae, a watercolour artist and passionate Celt, and got a sensible career hauling trucks around the British countryside. The trouble with hauling trucks around the British countryside is that it lets the mind ramble willy nilly, when not being tortured by local radio. The result of that rambling was more stories flittering around inside this errant trucker's dizzy head.

Then, during one dark winter night back in 1993, whilst parked forlorn outside a dreary inn, something profound happened. I stumbled into Corin an Fol: a moody, rather difficult individual, mooching about in a deep tangled wood (my imagination). That wood grew into a world (not as hard as it sounds when you write fantasy stuff). The world became Ansu, home to all manner of mismatched mortals and grumpy gods. Late 2001 a plot appeared through the murky trees. It found Corin lost and wandering and introduced him to some other unruly types, resulting in The Shattered Crown. This epic debut was scrawled out with biro ink on paper and still lurks somewhere close. I'm too scared to read it. But The Shattered Crown couldn't contain its characters. These were (and still are) a very rough lot. They demanded a sequel. Instead (just to show who the boss was,) I focussed on a prequel, Fall of Gol being the result. But still the characters would not leave me alone. And so started The Legends of Ansu a forthcoming series of otherworldly tales, mostly involving Corin and his friends.

In late 2012 Rae lost her battle with cancer. I had always promised her a Cornish ghost story based on one of her evocative paintings. And so was born a novella called The Haven. A spooky yarn blending mystery and suspense with past and present. I hope that she likes it. We both loved Cornwall where we lived for many years. During our time there I met with Roger Garland the Tolkien Illustrator, who kindly consented to creating some fabulous images and illustrations for my work. And also designing this superb website! During 2013 I left the world of big wheels behind and focussed instead on writing full time. I moved to Georgia, married my gorgeous former shipmate Joanne, who I've known for 30 years. Since then I have rewritten Fall of Gol shortening it's title to Gol and finally (with substantial assistance from my erudite and excellent editor, Catherine Romano) re-shaped The Shattered Crown into a rivetingly nasty read. Now after twenty-one years in the woods, I am more than ready to unleash these first two offerings in the Ansu series along with The Haven. The third legend: The Lost Prince will be available later ...more

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J.W. Webb’s books

Average rating: 4.16 · 1,106 ratings · 266 reviews · 16 distinct works • Similar authors

	Gol (The Legends of Ansu #0) 4.01 avg rating — 303 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Gray Wolf (The Legends of Ansu #1; The Mercenary Trilogy #1) by J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author), J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author), Susanne Lakin (Editor) 4.12 avg rating — 292 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Shattered Crown (The Legends of Ansu #4; The Crystal Crown Trilogy #1) 4.14 avg rating — 83 ratings — published 2015 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Legends of the Longsword (The Legends of Ansu #2; The Mercenary Trilogy #2) by J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author), J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author), John Jarrold (Editor) 4.15 avg rating — 67 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Glass Throne (The Legends of Ansu #6; The Crystal Crown Trilogy #3) 4.43 avg rating — 51 ratings — published 2017 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Blood Feud (The Legends of Ansu #8; Berserker #1) 4.37 avg rating — 49 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Lost Prince (The Legends of Ansu #5; The Crystal Crown Trilogy #2) 4.26 avg rating — 50 ratings — published 2015 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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
	Wolves and Assassins (The Legends of Ansu #3; The Mercenary Trilogy #3) 4.20 avg rating — 49 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Emerald Queen (The Legends of Ansu #7) 3.87 avg rating — 31 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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 Complete Chronicles of Corin an Fol (The Legends of Ansu #1-6) 4.40 avg rating — 25 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. 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

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J.W. Webb's Blog

Charting A New Course With The Same Dodgy Crew …

Breaking dimensions with good intentions

During the last eighteen months we’ve been lashed to the mast in a Force Niner, the wind howling and rain soaking. An exaggeration … oh, sure. This geezer’s a fantasy writer. Suffice to say, it’s been a tad grim.

But bad storms, like gallstones, pass. We’re climbing back out into the sunshine like a blinking, yawning prairie dog who got lost in his own tunn

Series by J.W. Webb

The Legends of Ansu (11 books)
by

J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author)

4.16 avg rating — 1,084 ratings

The Mercenary Trilogy (3 books)
by

J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author)

4.15 avg rating — 429 ratings

The Crystal Crown Trilogy (3 books)
by

J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author)

4.30 avg rating — 200 ratings

Berserker (3 books)
by

J.W. Webb (Goodreads Author)

4.42 avg rating — 96 ratings

James is Currently Reading

James Webb is currently reading

Wide for the Win: Strategies to Sell Globally via Multiple Platforms and Forge Your Own Path to Success (Stark Publishing Solutions Book 4)

by Mark Leslie Lefebvre (Goodreads Author)

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J.W. Webb wrote a new blog post Charting A New Course With The Same Dodgy Crew … Breaking dimensions with good intentions During the last eighteen months we’ve been lashed to the mast in a Force Niner, the wind howling and rain soa Read more of this blog post »
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Quotes by J.W. Webb (?)

“You can never have enough sharp things in this world”
― J.W. Webb

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“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein

tags: attributed-no-source, human-nature, humor, infinity, philosophy, science, stupidity, universe

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“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

tags: from-charles-bayard-mitchell

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“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.”
― Mark Twain

tags: lies, lying, memory, truth

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“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”
― Oscar Wilde

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“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring