Jean Rabe

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Jean Rabe (June 19, 1957 - January 19, 2026) was an American writer and editor born in Ottawa, Illinois, and raised with a Bachelor of Science in journalism from Northern Illinois University. She began her career as a newspaper reporter for the Quincy Herald-Whig and the Evansville Courier & Press, where she covered labor relations, environmental issues, and President Reagan's 1985 visit to Fort Campbell after the Arrow Air crash. In 1987 she joined TSR, Inc., coordinating the Role Playing Game Association network and editing Polyhedron magazine, before moving into fiction. She went on to write over three dozen novels for franchises including Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms, including the Dragons of a New Age trilogy, and co-authored Return to Quag Keep (2006) with Andre Norton. She later created the six-book Piper Blackwell mystery series (2018-2023) and wrote more than 40 short stories across universes such as Star Wars, Forgotten Realms, and Dragonlance. Rabe also served as business manager and editor of the SFWA Bulletin until resigning in 2013 amid a sexism controversy, and was a juror for the Andre Norton Award in 2005. She was elected Grandmaster by the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers in 2020. She died in Urbana, Illinois, at age 68.

Universe(s)

Books

• Red Magic (1991) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• The Dawning of a New Age (1996) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• The Day of the Tempest (1997) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• The Eve of the Maelstrom (1998) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• Betrayal (1999) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• Downfall (1999) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• The Silver Stair (1999) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• Redemption (2000) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• The Lake of Death (2004) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• The Rebellion (2008) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• Death March (2009) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon
• Goblin Nation (2011) · Dragonlance Expanded Canon

Aggregate across all universes

These are separate, unrelated universes; the totals below are plain sums of already-published per-universe facts, never a blended or averaged score across them. See each universe's own figures above.

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 57 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 0 (None recorded)

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