James D. Macdonald

Infobox Writer
name = James D. Macdonald

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imagesize = 250px
caption = Jim Macdonald and Debra Doyle at Readercon
pseudonym = Robyn Tallis, Nicholas Adams, Victor Appleton, Douglas Morgan, Martin Delrio
birthdate = birth year and age|1954
birthplace = White Plains, New York
occupation = Writer
nationality = American
period = 1990s to present
genre = fantasy, science fiction, mystery
subject =
movement =
influences =
influenced =


website = http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/

James D. Macdonald (1954- ) is an American author and critic who lives in New Hampshire with his wife and frequent collaborator, Dr. Debra Doyle. He works in several genres, concentrating on fantasy, but also writing science fiction, and mystery and media tie-ins.

Biography

Macdonald was born in 1954, and raised in White Plains, New York. He attended the University of Rochester, and went on to serve in the US Navy for fifteen years. [cite web| url = http://biography.jrank.org/pages/1946/Macdonald-James-D-1954.html| title = James D. Macdonald (1954–) Biography "(Famous Authors Vol 18)"| publisher = Jrank.org| site = Brief Biographies] He has been writing professionally since the early 1990s and has published 35 novels.

Educational work

Macdonald is well known for his work in educating aspiring authors, particularly for his advice on avoiding literary scams. Early in his career he was asked by such an author how much he had paid to have his books published, and in response began a campaign of educating other writers about the problems of vanity publishers. As part of this campaign, he coined Yog's Law, which states "Money should flow toward the author," which is often quoted by professional authors when giving advice on getting published (such as John Scalzi [cite web| url="http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/003681.html"| title = Amazon Shorts| author = John Scalzi] , Teresa Nielsen Hayden [cite web| url="http://www.nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/002692.html"| title = Follow the Money| author = Teresa Nielsen Hayden] ). [cite web
url=http://www.sff.net/people/yog/
title="Yog Sysop - Yog's Law"]

Atlanta Nights and PublishAmerica

One target of his campaign is PublishAmerica, a company that claims not to be a vanity publisher but a "traditional publisher" that accepts or rejects books based on their quality. Macdonald organized a group of professional authors to test whether that company was actually reading any submissions for clarity and realism before accepting them. One day after Macdonald issued a press release announcing that PublishAmerica had accepted a manuscript that was created to be as bad as possible, the company withdrew the offer to publish it. [cite web
url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050217092254/http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire2005/index.php?category=0&id=30389
title=SF Authors Sting Publisher
publisher=SciFi.com] cite web| url = http://www.sfwa.org/members/TravisTea/backstory.htm| title = The Making of "Atlanta Nights"]

Awards and honors

"Knight's Wyrd" was awarded the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's literature, [cite web
url=http://www.mythsoc.org/awardwinners.html
title=Complete list of Mythopoeic Award Winners
publisher=Mythopoeic Society] 1992, and named to the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age list in 1993. [cite web
url=http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/Kw_head.htm
title="Knight's Wyrd" - Awards, Reviews and Excerpt] In 1997, he was awarded Best Young-Adult Science Fiction by the "Science Fiction Chronicle" for "Groogleman".Fact|date=June 2007

elect bibiliography

Novels

* "The Apocalypse Door", Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

Novels with Debra Doyle

* (Under pseudonym Robyn Tallis) "Night of Ghosts and Lightning" ("Planet Builders" series), Ivy, 1989.
* (Under pseudonym Robyn Tallis) "Zero-Sum Games" ("Planet Builders" series), Ivy, 1989.
* (Under pseudonym Victor Appleton) "Monster Machine" ("Tom Swift" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1991.
* (Under pseudonym Victor Appleton) "Aquatech Warriors" ("Tom Swift" series), Pocket Books (New York, NY), 1991.
* "Timecrime, Inc." ("Robert Silverberg's 'Time Tours'" series), Harper (New York, NY), 1991.
* "Night of the Living Rat" ("Daniel Pinkwater's 'Melvinge of the Megaverse'" series), Ace Books (New York, NY), 1992.
* "Knight's Wyrd," Harcourt, Brace (New York, NY), 1992.
* "Groogleman," Harcourt, Brace (New York, NY), 1996.
* "Requiem for Boone" (based on the television series Gene Roddenberry's Earth—Final Conflict), Tor (New York, NY), 2000.
* (As Douglas Morgan) "Tiger Cruise", Forge (New York, NY), 2001.
* (As Douglas Morgan) "What Do You with a Drunken Sailor?" (nonfiction), Swordsmith, 2002.
* "Land of Mist and Snow", Eos, 2006

"Circle of Magic/The Wizard Apprentice" series, with Debra Doyle

* "School of Wizardry," Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "Tournament and Tower/The Secret of the Tower," Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "City by the Sea/The Wizard's Statue," Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "The Prince's Players/Danger in the Palace," Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "The Prisoners of Bell Castle/The Wizard's Castle," Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "The High King's Daughter", Troll (Metuchen, NJ), 1990.
* "Mystery at the Wizardry School", Troll (Metuchen NJ), 2003. [This book was not written by the authors James D. Macdonald and Debra Doyle, they only wrote the first 6]

"Horror High" series

All written with Debra Doyle under the joint pseudonym "Nicholas Adams."
# "Horror High: Mister Popularity"
# "Horror High: Resolved: You're Dead"
# "Horror High: Heartbreaker"
# "Horror High: New Kid on the Block"
# "Horror High: Hard Rock"
# "Horror High: Sudden Death"
# "Horror High: Pep Rally"
# "Horror High: Final Curtain"
* "Horror High: Blood Game
* "Horror High: Deadly Secret"
* "Horror High: Voice of Evil"
* "Horror High: You're Dead"

"Mageworld" series, with Debra Doyle

* "The Price of the Stars", Tor Books (New York, NY), 1992.
* "Starpilot's Grave", Tor (New York, NY), 1993.
* "By Honor Betray'd", Tor (New York, NY), 1994.
* "The Gathering Flame", Tor (New York, NY), 1995.
* "The Long Hunt", Tor (New York, NY) 1996.
* "The Stars Asunder", Tor (New York, NY) 1999.
* "A Working of Stars", Tor (New York, NY), 2002.

"Bad Blood" series, with Debra Doyle

* "Bad Blood", Berkley (New York, NY), 1993.
* "Hunters' Moon", Berkley (New York, NY), 1994.
* "Judgment Night", Berkley (New York, NY), 1995.

Under joint pseudonym "Martin Delrio," with Debra Doyle

* "Mortal Kombat" (movie novelization), Tor (New York, NY), 1995.
* "Midnight Justice" ("Spider-Man Super-Thriller" series), Byron Preiss (New York, NY), 1996.
* "Global War" ("Spider-Man Super-Thriller" series), Byron Preiss (New York, NY), 1996.
* "Harold R. Foster's Prince Valiant" (movie novelization), Avon (New York, NY), 1998.
* "The Loch Ness Monster" (nonfiction), Rosen Publishing (New York, NY), 2002.
* "Truth and Shadows" (novel; "MechWarrior: Dark Age" series), Roc (New York, NY), 2003.

References

ee also

*Daniel Pinkwater

External links

* [http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/ Official web site]
* [http://www.ibdof.com/viewforum.php?f=1799 Official forum] at IBDoF
* [http://www.travistea.com/ Travis Tea] - author of Atlanta Nights
*
* [http://www.itconversations.com/shows/detail1666.html Interview on "IT Conversations"]