Tad Williams

Robert Paul "Tad" Williams

The American author Tad Williams has been one of the most significant voices in the fantasy genre for more than four decades, alongside establishing himself as a skilled master in science fiction.

Tad was born in San Jose, California, in 1957, and he is one of those writers who has always had many irons in the fire. In addition to being an author, he has been a DJ, worked for Apple, developed TV concepts, and played in a rock band!

However, in 1984, a major change occurred in Tad’s life, which he describes as follows:

"Always in the back of my mind, though, I was determined to do something creative that would actually make me money so I could stop doing horrible things for a paycheck. Ambition is like Tinkerbelle, when you stop believing, it dies. So I kept at my various projects, with writing becoming a larger and larger focus. When I received the letter from DAW that they were going to buy my novel Tailchaser’s Song, I was excited and relieved somehow. The idea that my published books might totally fail to sell never occurred to me that first day, although it was and always is a possibility."

In 1984, DAW Books accepted Tad’s first fantasy novel, Tailchaser’s Song (where a cat is the protagonist), which was released the following year in 1985. Since then, Tad has written a long list of significant works and has sold more than 17 million books worldwide.

Several major authors have drawn inspiration from Tad. For example, George R. R. Martin – the man behind the Game of Thrones books – has stated:

"I read Tad and was impressed by him, but the imitators that followed—well, fantasy got a bad rep for being very formulaic and ritual. And I read The Dragonbone Chair and said, 'My god, they can do something with this form,' and it's Tad doing it. It's one of my favorite fantasy series."

George R. R. Martin was so inspired by Tad Williams’ work that he paid a nod to him in his own A Song of Ice and Fire series, which later became the Game of Thrones TV show. On “The Wiki of Ice and Fire,” it states:

"House Willum is a tribute by George R. R. Martin to the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series of his colleague Tad Williams. The story includes the feuding royal brothers Josua and Elias; the arms of House Willum refer to the magical swords that play an important part of the story, and to the first novel, The Dragonbone Chair."

Other prominent fantasy authors like Patrick Rothfuss and Christopher Paolini have also mentioned being inspired by Tad Williams.

Tad Williams’ bibliography includes major fantasy series such as Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn and The Last King of Osten Ard. He has also written the science fiction series Otherland, which has been translated into Danish by Klaus Æ. Mogensen.

So, it’s one of the truly big names who will be visiting Esbjerg and the Fantasy Festival in 2025.

Foto: Jindřich Nosek