Philip Athans

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-08-06

Philip Athans is an American editor and author born in 1964 in Rochester, New York, and raised in Chicago. He joined TSR in 1995 and moved to Wizards of the Coast in 1997, where he became Senior Managing Editor for Book Publishing and served as the Forgotten Realms novel line editor, working on titles such as Baldur's Gate (1999) and Annihilation (2004), as well as Whisper of Waves (2005). After leaving Wizards of the Coast in 2010, he founded Athans & Associates Creative Consulting and became a recognized writing instructor, authoring instructional books including The Guide to Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction (2010), Writing Monsters (2014), and The Best of Fantasy Author's Handbook, Volume I (2021). He has maintained the Fantasy Author's Handbook blog since June 2009, which has expanded to include a YouTube channel and online writing community.

Universe(s)

Books

• Baldur's Gate: A Novelization (1999) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn (2000) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Annihilation (2004) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Whisper of Waves (2004) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Lies of Light (2005) · Forgotten Realms Expanded Canon
• Scream of Stone (2007) · 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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