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830 ratings | 573 reviews | avg rating:4.95

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Philip Athans’s Followers (246)

Philip’s Bookshelves

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Michael Tedin

999 books | 39 friends

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Philip Athans

Goodreads Author

Born

in Rochester, NY, The United States

Website

http://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com/

Twitter

PhilAthans

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Horror, Literature & Fiction

Influences

Harlan Ellison, Robert E. Howard, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Iain M. Banks, ...more

Member Since

January 2010

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/philathans

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I 100% support AUTHORS AGAINST BOOK BANS
https://www.authorsagainstbookbans.com

I give every book 5 stars in protest against the concept of star ratings in general and the ever-unfolding algorithm dystopia!

Philip Athans, an anti-AI, anti-book bans liberal, is the founding partner of Athans & Associates Creative Consulting (www.athansassociates.com), and the New York Times best-selling author of Annihilation and more than a dozen other fantasy and horror books including The Best of Fantasy Authors Handbook Vol. I 2009-2013, The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Writing Monsters. Born in Rochester, New York he grew up in suburban Chicago, where he published the literary magazine Alternative Fiction & Poetry. His blog, Fantasy Auth ...more

810 posts
Philip Athans's Blog

THE LONG HELLO

Last week we looked at the concept of the Long Goodbye, but can that same sense of “okay, the story’s over already,” be flipped into what I guess we’ll call the Long Hello? A sense of “okay, get on with the story already”?

Oh, boy… absolutely.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve told authors I work with some version of what Adam Mastroianni called out in “28 slightly rude notes on writing, or: cata

Combine Editions
Philip Athans’s books

Average rating: 3.87 · 19,179 ratings · 734 reviews · 54 distinct works • Similar authors

	Annihilation (Forgotten Realms: War of the Spider Queen, #5) 4.11 avg rating — 8,234 ratings — published 2004 — 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
	A Reader's Guide to R.A. Salvatore's The Legend of Drizzt 4.45 avg rating — 1,599 ratings — published 2008 — 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
	Baldur's Gate (Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate, #1) 2.72 avg rating — 1,365 ratings — published 1998 — 8 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 Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction: 6 Steps to Writing and Publishing Your Bestseller! by Philip Athans (Goodreads Author), R.A. Salvatore 3.89 avg rating — 736 ratings — published 2010 — 8 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
	Realms of the Dragons (Forgotten Realms: Anthologies, #9) by Philip Athans (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Jess Lebow (Contributor), R.A. Salvatore (Contributor) 3.80 avg rating — 554 ratings — published 2004 — 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
	Realms of Mystery (Forgotten Realms: Anthologies, #6) by Philip Athans (Goodreads Author) (Editor), Mary H. Herbert (Contributor), Stan Brown (Contributor) 3.63 avg rating — 540 ratings — published 1998 — 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
	Realms of the Elves (Forgotten Realms: Anthologies, #11) 3.84 avg rating — 479 ratings — published 2006 — 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
	Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate, #2) 2.71 avg rating — 620 ratings — published 2000 — 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
	Writing Monsters: How to Craft Believably Terrifying Creatures to Enhance Your Horror, Fantasy, and Science Fiction by Philip Athans (Goodreads Author), The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (Foreword) 3.97 avg rating — 394 ratings — published 2014 — 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
	Realms of the Deep (Forgotten Realms: Anthologies, #7) 3.50 avg rating — 325 ratings — published 1999 — 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

More books by Philip Athans…

Series by Philip Athans

Dungeons & Dragons (1 book)
by

Philip Athans (Goodreads Author)

4.11 avg rating — 8,234 ratings

Forgotten Realms: Baldur's Gate (3 books)
by

Philip Athans (Goodreads Author)

2.77 avg rating — 2,463 ratings

Forgotten Realms: Watercourse (3 books)
by

Philip Athans (Goodreads Author)

3.54 avg rating — 648 ratings

The Fathomless Abyss (5 books)
by

Philip Athans (Goodreads Author)

3.58 avg rating — 19 ratings

Philip is Currently Reading

Philip Athans is currently reading

DEN Volume 4: Dreams and Alarums

by Richard Corben

bookshelves: currently-reading

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23 hours, 5 min ago

Philip Athans is currently reading

Serenade

by James M. Cain

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jul 15, 2026 11:44AM

Philip Athans is currently reading

The Collected Poems

by Sylvia Plath

bookshelves: currently-reading

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Jun 23, 2026 10:20AM

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Philip’s Recent Updates

Philip Athans wrote a new blog post THE LONG HELLO Last week we looked at the concept of the Long Goodbye, but can that same sense of “okay, the story’s over already,” be flipped into what I guess we’l Read more of this blog post »
15 hours, 7 min ago · like
Philip Athans is currently reading DEN Volume 4: Dreams and Alarums by Richard Corben	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
23 hours, 5 min ago · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of DEN Volume 4 by Richard Corben. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — DEN Volume 4 by Richard Corben <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Philip Athans rated a book it was amazing The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft	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
Perfect. I NEED M. Baranger and Design Studio Press to make more of these. Many, many, many more of these spectacular books.
23 hours, 14 min ago · like · see review
Philip Athans voted on a poll in the group Fantasy Author's Handbook SEPTEMBER 2026 GROUP READ POLL This time around, I went through older polls and found three books that were nominated but didn't make the cut. So, no new nominations this month, and the poll will be up for a whole month. Time for a second chance! ...more He voted for: Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process ...more
Aug 04, 2026 10:28AM · like · take the poll
Philip Athans is on page 40 of 64 of The Dunwich Horror The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft progress:	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
Aug 04, 2026 09:18AM · like · see status
Philip Athans is currently reading The Dunwich Horror by H.P. Lovecraft	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
Jul 29, 2026 01:34PM · like
Philip Athans rated a book it was amazing DEN Volume 3: Children of Fire by Richard Corben	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
Wow--just loving these impeccable Dark Horse editions of the mighty DEN. I love the stories themselves and the archival stuff: the history of DEN and Richard Corben, and in this volume, details of the restoration process by José Villarrubia, who did a ...more
Jul 29, 2026 10:47AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of DEN Volume 3 by Richard Corben. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — DEN Volume 3 by Richard Corben <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Philip Athans made a comment in the group Fantasy Author's Handbook — FAH: The Blog topic " THE LONG GOODBYE https://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com... ...more "
Jul 28, 2026 11:01AM
Philip Athans is currently reading DEN Volume 3: Children of Fire by Richard Corben	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
Jul 24, 2026 06:01AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of DEN Volume 3 by Richard Corben. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — DEN Volume 3 by Richard Corben <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Philip Athans and 4 other people liked Andrew's review of Worlds At War: An Illustrated Study of Interplanetary Conflict: "And so to the final (although numerically I believe it is book 4) in the Galactic Encounters series of books this time focusing on interplanetary war. As with the other books in this series we have a series of colour pieces of art from various scienc" Read more of this review »
Jul 23, 2026 07:06PM · see review

More of Philip's books…

Quotes by Philip Athans (?)

“Upon the one thing every writer absolutely must have, and that is intellectual curiosity.”
― Phillip Athans, R.A. Salvatore's War of the Spider Queen, Volume II: Extinction, Annihilation, Resurrection

tags: adivce, curiosity, intellect, writers, writing-advice

5 likes

“Stupid foes were easy to defeat and angry foes even easier. Mix the two together, though, and you’re in for a fight.”
― Philip Athans, Annihilation

2 likes

“A religion without followers is just a weird guy with strange ideas.”
― Philip Athans, How to Start Your Own Religion: Form a Church, Gain Followers, Become Tax-Exempt, and Sway the Minds of Millions in Five Easy Steps

2 likes

See all Philip Athans's quotes »

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Riyria Revela...: Fantasy Writers Helping Victims of Hurricane Sandy	2	18	Jan 12, 2013 07:27AM
Fantasy Book Club: Triumph Over Tragedy - an anthology to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy	2	22	Jan 12, 2013 07:29AM
The Sword and Laser: Fantasy Writers Helping Victims of Hurricane Sandy	1	32	Jan 12, 2013 07:54AM
The Riyria Revela...: New Release: Triumph Over Tragedy to Benefit Hurricane Sandy Victims	3	26	Jan 13, 2013 08:08AM
Retro Chapter Chi...: Stay Bookish: Everything & Anything Bookish or Historical 2024	20	15	Sep 04, 2024 07:04AM

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Philip’s Quotes

“You only go around once, but if you play your cards right, once is enough.”
― Frank Sinatra

50 likes

“A room without books is like a body without a soul.”
― Marcus Tullius Cicero

tags: attributed-no-source, books, simile, soul

136099 likes

Philip’s Friend Comments

Comments (showing 1-4) post a comment »

date

newest »

message 4: by Philip

Oct 07, 2011 08:27AM

Elaina wrote: "Thanks for accepting my friend request! As an aspiring fantasy author, I try to learn from other fantasy authors and their writings =]"

ME TOO!

reply | flag

message 3: by Elaina

Jul 15, 2011 08:19AM

Thanks for accepting my friend request! As an aspiring fantasy author, I try to learn from other fantasy authors and their writings =]

reply | flag

message 2: by Philip

Mar 02, 2011 05:51PM

Kevin wrote: "Hey I just got The Collected Stories of Drizzt, can't wait to read it, not as much as the third book in Neverwind Trilogy, Icewind, hope it is going to be good."

ENJOY!

reply | flag

message 1: by Kevin

Mar 02, 2011 04:48PM

Hey I just got The Collected Stories of Drizzt, can't wait to read it, not as much as the third book in Neverwind Trilogy, Icewind, hope it is going to be good.

reply | flag

Philip Athans’s Followers (246)

Philip Athans

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