Robert Holdstock

2 universes Last reviewed 2026-08-15

Robert Paul Holdstock was born August 2, 1948, in Hythe, Kent, England, the eldest of five children; his father was a police officer and his mother a nurse. He attended Gillingham Grammar School in the Medway Towns and held various jobs, including banana boatman, construction worker, and slate miner, before pursuing higher education. He earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in applied zoology from the University College of North Wales (1967–1970), followed by a Master of Science in medical zoology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (1971), and conducted medical research at the Medical Research Council in London from 1971 to 1974 while writing part-time. He became a full-time writer in 1976 and resided in North London thereafter. His first published story, "Pauper's Plot," appeared in New Worlds magazine in 1968, and his debut novel, Eye Among the Blind, was published in 1976; throughout the late 1970s and 1980s he wrote extensively under pseudonyms including Robert Faulcon and Richard Kirk. His breakthrough came with Mythago Wood (1984), launching the Ryhope Wood series that continued through Avilion (2009), and he also wrote the Merlin Codex trilogy (2001–2007). Holdstock received three BSFA awards and won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel in 1985 for Mythago Wood. He died November 29, 2009, at age 61, from an E. coli infection following hospitalization.

Universe(s)

Books

• Mythago Wood (1984) · Mythago Wood Core Canon
• Lavondyss (1988) · Mythago Wood Core Canon
• The Bone Forest (1991) · Mythago Wood Expanded Canon
• The Hollowing (1993) · Mythago Wood Core Canon
• Merlin's Wood (1994) · Mythago Wood Expanded Canon
• Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn (1997) · Mythago Wood Core Canon
• Celtika (2001) · The Merlin Codex Core Canon
• The Iron Grail (2002) · The Merlin Codex Core Canon
• The Broken Kings (2007) · The Merlin Codex Core Canon
• Avilion (2009) · Mythago Wood Core 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: 8 books
• Award recognitions across all universes: 3 (3 won)

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