Jeff Crook Books In Order

Publication Order of Dragonlance: Bridges of Time Books

Publication Order of Dragonlance: Crossroads Books

Publication Order of Dragonlance: The Age of Mortals Books

Publication Order of Dragonlance: Bertrem's Guides Books

Publication Order of Jackie Lyons Books

Publication Order of Forgotten Realms Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Tattered Souls Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Jeff Crook is a renowned novelist, author, and a former technical writer for the United States Postal Service. He started his writing career with his first publication in March 1999, The Rose and the Skull. The Dragonlance series became a huge and he soon started writing the other books in the series. He soon published ‘The Thieves’ Guild’ in 2000 which developed upon the success of the first Dragonlance novel and soon the series was conclude with ‘Conundrum’ in 2001 and Dark Thane in 2003. He is known for his works in the ‘shared worlds’ genre where he wrote stories for pre-existing settings prepared by other authors. He has been behind some of Wizard of the Coast’s best publications for their tabletop RPG games and is also behind some of the Dungeons and Dragons sourcebooks. Other than writing for RPG based worlds, he has also published his own mystery/suspense novel ‘The Sleeping and the Dead’ which circles around an ex-cop with unusual powers.

Career

Apart from writing novels he has written multiple short stories that were published in books like ‘Rebels and Tyrants’ and ‘Relics and Omens. His writing style was well appreciated and his imagination captured the minds of the youth. Another franchise that was riding high on the medieval dragons and humans theme was Dungeons, a direct competitor to Dungeons and dragons. Wizards of the Coast, the publisher of Dungeons offered Jeff the opportunity to publish his poetry in the Dungeon Magazine’s AD&D Adventure series. He soon became the chief editor for ‘Campaigns’ that served as the newsletter for Role Playing Games Association’s Southern Realms region. He has written editorials for a range of magazines as a guest columnist including ‘The Search for Magic: Tales from the War of Souls’ in 2001 and also was a co-author for ‘Bertrem’s Guide to War of the Souls Vol. 1’ in 2001. He has also written a range of short stories for the Soverign World.

He was picked up by Dungeons and Dragons, for their updated sourcebook ‘Champions of Ruin’ which was based upon the Forgotten Realms setting in 2005. He soon shifted from medieval fantasy to writing suspense/mystery books. His novel The Sleeping and the Dead featured a fictional character named Jackie Lyons who had the ability to see the dead. The story followed the adventures or Jackie, who gave up the life of being a police detective but was dragged back into a gruelling murder mystery. Jeff has also written a range of journals in popular publications like the 3AM Magazine, Eclectica, Mallorn and Paradox.

Personal life

Jeff is married to Lady Jessica and they live in the Quinn family home with Jeff’s ancestors. Jeff spends most of his time working or writing and he is also heavily involved in gardening and loves growing tomatoes. His considers his biggest accomplishment to be able to write 5 unique AD&D adventures for the Dungeon magazine which had a cult following back in the day and over time the table top role-playing game genre succumbed to the rise of digital video games. He lives with his wife and cat and is known to be an avid foodie. He loves gardening and cooking his own food from time to time and is otherwise involved with writing the rest of the time.

The success of Forgotten Realms

Jeff worked closely with Ed Greenwood, the head designer for the Forgotten Realms setting in Dungeons and Dragons. It’s one of the most popular campaign settings for Dungeons and Dragons and Jeff was responsible for creating the sourcebook. The setting was built around childhood stories and Jeff did a commendable job in the sourcebook according to fans and critics. The realm was introduced to the world through magazine articles that Jeff wrote and over time the genre managed to become a major success and became adapted to one of the first MMORPGs. The genre led to the birth of many iconic games such as Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. The RPG scene took off in the 90s thanks to the success of the Forgotten Realms and games like Final Fantasy and Fire Emblem would not be possible if the Forgotten Realms did not exist.

Works and critical appreciation

Dragonlance

Dragonlance is among the most popular ‘shared worlds’. Shared worlds refer to a genre where one or more authors prepare a setting and allow other authors to come and create stories around the setting. Jeff has contributed heavily to the Dragonlance series and it was soon adapted into tabletop role playing games by a range of tabletop RPG organizations. There are more than 190 novels and Jeff has contributed to quite few of them. The Dragonlance series was very popular in the UK, US and Australia during its peak years. Jeff’s Conundrum is one of the most successful Dragonlance books of all time that follows the adventures of gnomes who travel around the world and when they finally bump into the doorway to the bottom of Krynn, mysterious experiences await them. The books was published by Wizards of the Coast as a paperback in 2001 and it became a huge success. The book is a part of the Age of Mortals saga which had its story set across six books and Jeff wrote two of them,

His most popular publication is undoubtedly ‘Dark Thane’ which is also a part of the Age of Mortals series. It was one of the darkest stories in the series and it involved a depiction of real world society through a dwarven community becoming isolated under the mountains of Krynn and they succumb to betrayal, dark magic and the thirst of power. The chaotic society that was depicted by Jeff was well appreciated by authors and fans of Dragonlance alike.

The Sleeping and the Dead

The Sleeping and the Dead is a slight deviation from the writing style Jeff showed in his Dragonlance novels. The story circles around an ex detective officer from Memphis who has the unusual ability to communicate with the dead. The novel brilliantly captured the grandeur of Memphis and had a unique and dark theme to it. It was Jeff’s first solo novel and it was a refreshing change from what readers where used to from him in the fantasy genre and received great critical appreciation.