Lynn Abbey | |
|---|---|
| Born | Marilyn Lorraine Abbey (1948-09-18)September 18, 1948 (age 76)[citation needed] Peekskill, New York, U.S. |
| Education | University of Rochester (BA,MA) |
| Occupation | Author |
| Spouse | Robert Asprin (to 1993) |
Marilyn Lorraine "Lynn" Abbey (born September 18, 1948) is an American fantasy author.
Lynn Abbey was born inPeekskill, New York.[1] She attended theUniversity of Rochester, where she began as anastrophysics major.[1] She earned a A.B. (1969) and an M.A. (1971) inEuropean history,[2] but shifted tocomputer programming as a profession "when my advisor pointed out that, given the natural rise and fall of demographic curves, tenured university faculty positions were going to be as scarce as hen's teeth for the next twenty-five years and my education was turning into an expensive hobby. (He was right, too.)"[3] She had married Ralph Dressler July 14, 1969; they were divorced October 31, 1972.[4] During this period she also became a member ofscience fiction fandom.
In 1976, after a stint as a programmer for insurance companies, and work on thestatetask force involved in documenting theNew York City bankruptcy crisis, she moved toAnn Arbor, Michigan.[1] In January 1977, she was injured in an automobile accident while going to pick upGordon R. Dickson, who was to be a Guest of Honor at that year'sConFusion.[1] The guilt-ridden Dickson volunteered to assist her by reading and critiquing her work (she'd been writing since childhood).[1] The manuscript he helped her with becameDaughter of the Bright Moon.[1]
Abbey began publishing in 1979 withDaughter of the Bright Moon and the short story "The Face of Chaos," inThieves' World, the first part of theThieves' Worldshared worldanthology.
On August 28, 1982, she marriedRobert Asprin, editor of the Thieves' World books, and became his co-editor. She also contributed to other shared world series during the 1980s, includingHeroes in Hell andMerovingen Nights.
She began writing forTSR, Inc. around 1994 while continuing to write novels and edit anthologies. Her works for TSR include stories set in theForgotten Realms and theDark Sun settings. Lynn Abbey wrote for TSR's Dark Sun series starting withThe Brazen Gambit. Further novels in the series includeThe Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, a novel exploring the topic of genocide, a central theme in the ancient history ofAthas, the world on which the Dark Sun setting takes place. Along withCinnabar Shadows, all three of Abbey's books written for theAthasian setting take place in and around theCity-state ofUrik.[5]
Abbey and Asprin divorced in 1993 and Abbey moved toOklahoma City.[1] She continued to write novels during this period, including original works as well as tie-ins torole playing games forTSR.[1] In 2002, she returned to Thieves' World with the novelSanctuary and also began editing new anthologies, beginning withTurning Points. In 2006, she was a writer onGreen Ronin's version ofThieves' World.[6][7] She has lived inLeesburg, Florida since 1997.[8]
