Clayton Emery

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Clayton Emery was born December 26, 1953, in Bethesda, Maryland, and has lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Before becoming a full-time author, he held an unusually varied string of jobs, including blacksmith, dishwasher, schoolteacher in Australia, carpenter, zookeeper, farmhand, land surveyor, volunteer firefighter, and technical writer, experiences that lent his fiction a grounded, hands-on sensibility. Emery became a prolific contributor to shared-world fantasy fiction, writing Forgotten Realms novels for TSR including Sword Play (1996), Dangerous Games (1996), Mortal Consequences (1998), and Star of Cursrah (1999). He was equally active in the Magic: The Gathering novel line, authoring Whispering Woods, Shattered Chains, Final Sacrifice (1995), Johan and Jedit (2001), and Hazezon (2002). Under the pseudonym Ian Hammell he wrote Shadow World novels The Burning Goddess (1994) and City of Assassins (1995). Beyond fantasy, Emery published mystery short fiction in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, including his "Robin and Marian" and "Joseph Fisher" series, and wrote television tie-in books such as Father-Daughter Disaster! (1997) and The Tale of the Campfire Vampires, as well as a television pilot screenplay called The Republic. He is married with one son, and his broad working life outside publishing has often been cited as informing the practical, workmanlike texture of his adventure fiction.

Universe(s)

Books

• Sword Play (1996) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Dangerous Games (1997) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Mortal Consequences (1998) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Star of Cursrah (1999) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 40 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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