| William H. Keith Jr. | |
| Birth Date: | 8 August 1950 |
| Occupation: | Novelist |
| Nationality: | American |
| Genre: | Military fiction Science fiction |
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.
William H. Keith grew up with his brother J. Andrew Keith.
William H. Keith served in the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman from 1969 to 1972 during the Vietnam War era.
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 of worked together one a lot of the early material for the Traveller universe.[1] William Keith also contributed heavily to the graphical appearance of that era of Traveller releases. The Keith brothers began earning enough money that they were able to do freelance work full-time beginning around 1979. 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. 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. William Keith designed the role-playing game Behind Enemy Lines (1982), the first RPG set in the 1940s. 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. 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.
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. The Keith brothers also designed Freedom Fighters (1986), one of the final role-playing games published by FGU. William Keith authored (1986), the first role-playing game from Task Force Games. William Keith wrote Decision at Thunder Rift (1986), the first novel published by FASA. 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.
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.
See main article: William H. Keith Jr. bibliography.
Writing as William H. Keith Jr.:
BattleTech series
Writing as Ian Douglas:
Star Corpsman Series
Star Carrier series
Andromedan Dark
Solar Warden
Writing as Robert Cain:
Cybernarc series
Writing as H. Jay Riker