SOLVED. Pre 90s SciFi/ Fantasy about a mage who lives in a treehouse complex that travels between worlds through doors built into the complex. [s]

[Chris]

Hello, I read this book in the early to mid 90s, it was probably a fair bit older than that as I seem to remember the cover looking old even then (maybe 60s-80s). I want to say the cover was a sparse landscape and had a picture of a wooden sign that said something along the lines of "wizard for hire" or similar (though, honestly, I might be mixing up books). The story was about a guy who lived in a complex of walkways, think kind of like a treehouse, with many many doors in/on it. Each door led to a different dimension/planet/timeline, containing different civilizations, cultures, species, technologies... And this character was responsible for maintaining the complex and working in/on the worlds behind the doors. I want to say there was also a plot point where this characters family (or friends) came to visit, and 1 or more kids went through a door into a dangerous world and had to escape or be saved. This may have been a stand alone book or part of a series.

[Aerulan]

House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, perhaps?

[Charlotte]

Wizard for Hire by Obert Skye? The main character lives in a treehouse at some point after his parents were killed/taken away and he hires this wizard to try and find them. However, it was published in 2018 so maybe not

[Ashley]

Magic Kingdom for Sale by Terry Brooks? Sparse landscape, the sign is implied by the title ... there are many worlds ...

[Capn]

(re: Ashley's suggestion)

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Chris, your topic header is super vague - please add plot details to it. There are thousands of SF/fantasy books about a wizard or mage.

[Chris]

Aerulan wrote: "House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, perhaps?"

No, that one is too new. Does look interesting though. I loved Howls Moving Castle and I didn't know there was a sequel. I will have to check it out anyway.

[Chris]

Ashley wrote: "Magic Kingdom for Sale by Terry Brooks? Sparse landscape, the sign is implied by the title ... there are many worlds ..."

I thought was going to be it. Once I read the title I was super hopeful, but alas it is not the one I am looking for. Thanks for trying.

[Chris]

Charlotte wrote: "Wizard for Hire by Obert Skye? The main character lives in a treehouse at some point after his parents were killed/taken away and he hires this wizard to try and find them. However,..."

This was the first book I looked at in my own search, but yeah it is definitely too new to be it. It does look interesting though. Thanks!

[Chris]

So, I think I may have found the book! I think it was actually a series of books published beginning in the late 80's, "Kelvin of Rud" by Piers Anthony and Robert E Margroff: Dragon's Gold, Serpent's Silver, Chimaera's Copper, Orc's Opal and Mouvar's Magic. I think in my remembering of the plot I was combining multiple books together. The cover description was apparently from a different, unrelated book. I am going to get a copy of the series and reread it asap, but I am fairly sure this is what I have been looking for. Thanks everyone for your help!!!

[Capn]

Hooray! :) Series: https://www.goodreads.com/series/4049...
A Roundear there Shall Surely Be Born to a strong, raised to be free Fighting Dragons in his Youth Leading Armies, Nothing Loth Ridding his Country of a Sore Joining Two, then united Four Until from Seven there be One Only the will his Task be Done...
Kelvin had grown up reading the poem in the Book of Prophecy. Now he’s about to learn what it means.
Also known as: The Roundear Prophecy
Trackable links are:
Dragon's Gold
Serpent's Silver
Chimaera's Copper
Orc's Opal
Mouvar's Magic

[Mir]

Chris wrote: "Aerulan wrote: "House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones, perhaps?"

No, that one is too new. Does look interesting though. I loved Howls Moving Castle and I didn't know there was a s..."

FYI that's actually the 3rd, kind of tangentially related book. There's another one that's a couple years after Moving Castle with a magic carpet and a cat. ;)

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Chris, when can you confirm that this is your book? Threads that get moved to Possibly Solved usually languish there forever and we don't want that to happen.

[Capn]

Dragon's Gold is available to search by keyword(s)/read for free: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15130...

and the others, too:

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL80801...

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL84043...

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15130...

https://openlibrary.org/works/OL15130...

[Chris]

Definitely is the book series I was looking for! Thank you everyone for your help.

[Capn]

Woohoo! Well found! :D

[Kris]

Great! Glad you found your book, Chris. Thanks for the update.