Paul B. Thompson

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Paul B. Thompson is an American author born in 1958 and raised in North Carolina, where he developed an early fascination with Greek mythology, The Arabian Nights, and the fiction of L. Sprague de Camp and Alfred Bester. He earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of North Carolina in 1980, where he met his longtime writing partner Tonya Cook through the student science fiction club, and completed a master's degree in 1983. Between 1980 and 1984 he wrote historical novels and magazine articles, but finding limited commercial interest in historical fiction, he shifted to fantasy and science fiction while beginning his collaboration with Cook. From 1990 to 1994 he published the semi-professional science fiction magazine Forbidden Lines. Thompson has authored roughly twenty-nine books, the majority set within the Dragonlance universe, including Sundipper (1987), Riverwind the Plainsman (1990), and The Dargonesti (1995), many co-written with Cook under her name Tonya R. Carter. He has also contributed television commentary and written educational historical works on figures such as Joan of Arc and Billy the Kid. Thompson resides in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife, Elizabeth, continuing a career spanning fantasy fiction, gaming tie-ins, and historical nonfiction.