William H. Keith Jr.
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William H. Keith (born August 8, 1950) is an American author mainly contributing to military science fiction and military fiction and related game design, who writes also under several pen names, such as Ian Douglas, Robert Cain and H. Jay Riker. His newer original works are written under the name of Ian Douglas.
Early life
William H. Keith grew up with his brother J. Andrew Keith.<ref name="designers"/>
William H. Keith served in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman from 1969 to 1972 during the Vietnam War era.
Career
William H. Keith Jr. and his brother J. Andrew Keith noticed ads in Journal of the Travellers Aid Society which announced that Game Designers' Workshop (GDW) was looking for authors; Loren Wiseman hired them to start freelancing for GDW in 1978 or 1979, and the three worked together on a lot of the early material for the Traveller universe.<ref name="designers">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp William Keith also contributed heavily to the graphical appearance of that era of Traveller releases.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp The Keith brothers began earning enough money that they were able to do freelance work full-time beginning around 1979.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp The Keith brothers began working for FASA by the end of 1980, with William Keith contributing artwork for the magazine High Passage beginning in 1981.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp FASA began publishing adventures for Traveller beginning with Ordeal by Eshaar (1981) by the Keith brothers, who then wrote the "Sky Raiders" trilogy (1981-1982) for FASA.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp William Keith designed the role-playing game Behind Enemy Lines (1982), the first RPG set in the 1940s.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp FASA ended its support of Traveller in 1983, so the Keith brothers continued writing for Traveller with the new company Gamelords, but continued to work for FASA on other projects.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp The Keith brothers authored seven Traveller supplements published by Gamelords, including The Mountain Environment (1983), The Undersea Environment (1983), and The Desert Environment (1984), and adventures intended for the environments described in those rulebooks.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp
The Keith brothers produced some material for the Chivalry & Sorcery line in 1984, and in 1985 they began working on other lines for Fantasy Games Unlimited including Aftermath!, Daredevils, Flashing Blades, and Psi World.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp The Keith brothers also designed Freedom Fighters (1986), one of the final role-playing games published by FGU.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp William Keith authored Delta Force: America Strikes Back! (1986), the first role-playing game from Task Force Games.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp William Keith wrote Decision at Thunder Rift (1986), the first novel published by FASA.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp William Keith authored a large MegaTraveller campaign set in the Gateway sector for The MegaTraveller Journal #4 (1993), the final publication of Digest Group Publications.<ref name="designers" />Template:Rp
William Keith became a professional artist and writer, working in the game industry with his brother Andrew, particularly for Game Designers' Workshop and FASA before becoming a full-time author. Much of his early work, including the Warstrider series, the Freedom's Rangers series, the Cybernarc series, and the Invaders of Charon series, is currently out of print; 'Warstrider' will be re-released in 2014. He was also an early author for BattleTech, writing the saga of the Gray Death Legion.
Keith also writes under various pseudonyms and "house names", including Ian Douglas and H. Jay Riker, and is a shadow author of several books "by" celebrities. He has written extensively in Keith Laumer's Bolo series, contributing several short stories to the Bolo anthologies, as well as three full-length books, Bolo Brigade, Bolo Strike, and Bolo Rising. As Ian Douglas, he writes military science fiction: the Galactic Marines series (composed of the Heritage Trilogy, the Legacy Trilogy, and the Inheritance Trilogy), and the newer Star Carrier series. As H. Jay Riker he writes military fiction: a series about the United States Navy SEALs progression from World War II through the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom, and another series, The Silent Service, about the United States submarine service.
Other novels include Diplomatic Act with Peter Jurasik, and Two of Minds, nominated for a Newbery Award. He also continued Keith Laumer's Retief series with Retief's Peace. His first non-fiction book, The Science of the Craft, was published in 2005; it is about the link between witchcraft and science.
Keith's recent work includes three books in Stephen Coonts' Deep Black series; a police procedural/detective novel in the Android universe; and a new series about Navy Hospital Corpsmen in the future.
Keith, a Wiccan and a Reiki master, is also a member of Western Pennsylvania Mensa.Template:Citation needed
Bibliography
- Significant works
Writing as William H. Keith Jr.:
BattleTech series
- Decision at Thunder Rift (1986) Template:ISBN; reprinted as Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, and Template:ISBN
- Mercenary's Star (1987) Template:ISBN; reprinted as Template:ISBN and Template:ISBN
- The Price of Glory (1987) Template:ISBN; reprinted as Template:ISBN, Template:ISBN, and Template:ISBN
- Blood of Heroes (with J. Andrew Keith) (1993) Template:ISBN
- Tactics of Duty (1995) Template:ISBN, reprinted as Template:ISBN
- Operation Excalibur (1996) Template:ISBN, reprinted as Template:ISBN
Writing as Ian Douglas:
- Semper Mars (1998) Template:ISBN
- Luna Marine (1999) Template:ISBN
- Europa Strike (2000) Template:ISBN
- Star Corps (2003) Template:ISBN
- Battlespace (2006) Template:ISBN
- Star Marines (2007) Template:ISBN
- Star Strike (2008) Template:ISBN
- Galactic Corps (2008) Template:ISBN
- Semper Human (2009) Template:ISBN
- Bloodstar (2012) Template:ISBN
- Abyss Deep (2013) Template:ISBN
Star Carrier series
- Earth Strike (2010) Template:ISBN
- Center of Gravity (2011) Template:ISBN
- Singularity (2012) Template:ISBN
- Deep Space (2013) Template:ISBN
- Dark Matter (2014) Template:ISBN
- Deep Time (2015) Template:ISBN
- Dark Mind (4-25-2017) Template:ISBN
- Bright Light (11-27-2018) Template:ISBN
- Stargods (11-26-2020) Template:ISBN
- Altered Starscape (2016) Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- Darkness Falling (2017) Template:ISBN
- Alien Secrets (2020) Template:ISBN
- Alien Hostiles (2021) Template:ISBN
- Alien Agendas (2023) Template:ISBN
Writing as Robert Cain:
Cybernarc series
- Cybernarc (1991) Template:ISBN
- Gold Dragon (1991) Template:ISBN
- Island Kill (1992) Template:ISBN
- Capo's Revenge (1992) Template:ISBN
- Shark Bait (1992) Template:ISBN
- End Game (1993) Template:ISBN
Writing as H. Jay Riker
- SEALS The Warrior Breed series:
- Silver Star (1993) Template:ISBN
- Purple Heart (1994) Template:ISBN
- Bronze Star (1995) Template:ISBN
- Navy Cross (1996) Template:ISBN
- Medal of Honor (1997) Template:ISBN
- Marks of Valor (1998) Template:ISBN
- In Harm's Way (1999) Template:ISBN
- Duty's Call (2000) Template:ISBN
- Casualties of War (2003) Template:ISBN
- Enduring Freedom (2005) Template:ISBN
- Iraqi Freedom (2007) Template:ISBN
- Silent Service Series:
- Grayback Class (2000) Template:ISBN
- Los Angeles Class (2001) Template:ISBN
- Seawolf Class (2002) Template:ISBN
- Virginia Class (2004) Template:ISBN
- Ohio Class (2006) Template:ISBN
References
External links
- 1950 births
- Living people
- Place of birth missing (living people)
- 20th-century American male artists
- 20th-century American male writers
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American novelists
- 20th-century American short story writers
- 20th-century pseudonymous writers
- 21st-century American essayists
- 21st-century American historians
- 21st-century American male artists
- 21st-century American male writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American novelists
- 21st-century American short story writers
- 21st-century pseudonymous writers
- American conceptual artists
- American contemporary artists
- 20th-century American historians
- American illustrators
- American male essayists
- American male non-fiction writers
- American male novelists
- American male short story writers
- American multimedia artists
- American occult writers
- American science fiction writers
- American speculative fiction writers
- American video game designers
- Artists from Pennsylvania
- Artists from Pittsburgh
- American board game designers
- Mensans
- Military science fiction writers
- Novelists from Pennsylvania
- Reiki practitioners
- American role-playing game artists
- American role-playing designers
- American science fiction critics
- United States Navy corpsmen
- United States Navy personnel of the Vietnam War
- American Wiccans
- Wiccan novelists
- Wiccan writers
- Writers from Pittsburgh