Janny Wurts
Interested in space and the fantastic since childhood, Janny Wurts
studied astronomy, art and creative writing while in college. Since
graduation in 1975, she has published seven novels in the US and
Great Britain, including the Cycle of Fire trilogy (Stormwarden,
Keeper of the Keys and Shadowfane), and the most recent, entitled
Grand Conspiracy. Her collection of short stories, That Way Lies
Camelot, was just release in paperback from HarperCollins. Of her
three additional collaborations in the Empire series with Raymond
E. Feist, the concluding novel in the trilogy, Mistress of the
Empire, was #1 bestseller in Australia. Her cover for her novel,
Master of Whitestorm, was awarded Best in Show at the World
Fantasy Convention for two consecutive years. Her short story and
illustrations for "Dreambridge" each received Cauldron Awards for
art and writing from Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine;
and her painting "Wizard of the Owls" won a Chesley Award for
Best Unpublished Color work, 1992. Most recently, her cover for
Curse of the Mistwraith, won the 1994 Chesley Award for Best
Illustration: Hardcover Book.
At present she is at work on Peril's Gate, the fifth book (third in
the Alliance of Light) of a multi book fantasy series, The Wars of
Light and Shadow, forthcoming from HarperCollins.
While Janny's career with artwork has been aimed primarily toward
illustrating fiction and creating covers for her own novels, since her
beginnings doing covers for the gaming industry, not every painting
has been completed on demand for publication. Fantasy and space
hardware paintings completed between assignments have been
displayed in exhibitions the breadth of the U.S. Her paintings were
included in NASA's 25th anniversary exhibit, Visions of Other
Worlds, held in the Cleveland Museum of Natural History; a show
of fantasy art at the Delaware Art Museum, whose collection owns
one of her originals; and also the Hayden Planetarium in New York.
The Baltimore Science Center had one of her paintings on
exhibition as part of a touring show, Art of the Cosmos.
Her work has also been reproduced on greeting cards, puzzles and
bookmarks. Additionally, her images, in conjunction with those of
her husband, Don Maitz, have appeared in two screensaver
programs, Magical Encounters and Magical Encounters II that have
been distributed worldwide by Second Nature Software.
Janny's studio is located in Florida. Between painting and writing,
she pursues sailing, horseback riding, music, and astronomical
observation through her telescope. Numerous offshore sailing trips
and past travels to Africa, Russia, Europe, and Korea all blend with
imagination, to become dramatized in paint and words which
describe worlds other than ours.
Says Janny of her work, "I believe that art suffers if it is done at the
expense of living. To this end I enjoy testing my own frontiers,
placing myself in wilderness situations, or traveling to remote
places, experiencing viewpoints outside my own culture which will
lend a more vivid edge to my creativity."
Books:
Peril's Gate (Wars of Light and Shadow, Book 6)
Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts. (1988)
Stormwarden (1990)
Servant of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist ,Janny Wurts. (1991)
Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts. (May 1993)
Curse of the Mistwraith (December 1994)
Ships of Merior (Ships of Merior) (December 1995)
Warhost of (February 1996)
Fugitive Prince (October 1998)
The Cycle of Fire : Stormwarden/Keeper of the Keys/Shadowfane (June 1999)
Grand Conspiracy : The Wars of Light and Shadow (Alliance of Light, No 2) (1999)
Author's Homepage:
http://www.paravia.com/JannyWurts/
(Photo used with friendly permission from Harper Collins Publisher. All rights reserved. Photo credit: Jeff Fay © hollowtree images.com)
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