awkwardness in her writing, and The Ogre Down-
stairs(1974) was bright, clever, and very funny. She
could write serious fantasy adventure as well as
humor, however, as demonstrated by the Dalemark
series—Cart and Cwidder(1975), Drowned Ammet
(1977), The Spellcoats(1979) and The Crown of
Dalemark(1993)—the first three of which chroni-
cle efforts to free Dalemark from the rule of an evil
sorcerer, with the later adventure appended. Power
of Three(1976), the best of her early stand-alone
novels, pits its young protagonist against a tribe of
bellicose giants who are, not surprisingly, up to
something.
Charmed Life(1977) launched the Chrestom-
anci series, a loose sequence set in a variety of al-
ternate magical worlds, all of which are watched
over by an amusing and unpredictable magician.
The three sequels are The Magicians of Caprona
(1980), Witch Week (1982), and The Lives of
Christopher Chant(1988). The first and last are the
strongest individual volumes, both set in a quasi-
Victorian England. The Homeward Bounders(1981)
is another multiple-world adventure through a
maze in which the protagonist seeks to find his
original reality. The Time of the Ghost(1981) is a
clever ghost story told from the point of view of a
spirit who cannot remember the past.
Jones began to hit her stride in the middle of
the 1980s. Archer’s Goon(1984), a not very serious
quest story, remains one of her strongest titles. Fire
and Hemlock(1984) draws on traditional fairy tales
as one of the author’s most fully realized characters
explores a dream world that is more than just an il-
lusion. There is an equally strong character in
Howl’s Moving Castle(1986), a young woman who
offends a witch and has her youth stolen, although
she can reclaim it if she can convince a wizard to
help her. Castle in the Air(1990), although a se-
quel, has a very different plot and texture and is
more of an Arabian Nights–style adventure.
Aunt Maria (1991, also published as Black
Maria) is set in a small town dominated by the title
character, who turns out to be one of a cabal of
women who enforce their will on the entire popu-
lation. Assertive women have become increasingly
common in Jones’s more recent novels, and her
next, A Sudden Wild Magic(1992), addresses femi-
nist issues even more directly when the world is
faced with interference from the male magicians of
another universe. Hexwood(1993), on the other
hand, is an uncomfortable blend of science fiction
and fantasy, with small town magic affecting a
galactic empire. The Tough Guide to Fantasyland
(1996), although technically nonfiction, sustains a
high level of humor as it provides instructions
about how to create and manage a fantasy world.
The Dark Lord of Dernholm(1998) was the
first in a new series with a clever premise. The in-
habitants of a magical reality stage epic battles and
other attractions to lure tourists from alternate
universes. Unfortunately, they have grown tired of
the arrangement and are determined to find a way
to break their contract. In the sequel, Year of the
Griffin(2000), a young student of magic discovers
that the rules of his universe are changing and that
the school where he is enrolled is in financial trou-
ble. Jones is at the top of her form in both novels,
as is also the case with Deep Secret(1997), another
tale of diverging realities, this time a world of
magic and a world of technology. The story con-
centrates on the role of the secretive guardians
who watch over both.
Warlock at the Wheel and Other Storiesis the
author’s first collection of short fiction. “The Sage
of Theare” (1982) is the best of her early stories.
Jones has become increasingly active writing short
ficiton in recent years, producing several collec-
tions in a very short period of time—Everard’s Ride
(1995), Minor Arcana(1996), Believing Is Seeing
(1999), and Mixed Magics(2001). Fans of Harry
Potter searching for other intelligently written
young adult fantasy would be well advised to sam-
ple Diana Wynne Jones.Jordan, Robert(James Rigney, Jr.) (1948– )
Under the name Robert Jordan, James Rigney, Jr.
began writing fantasy fiction in 1982 with two nov-
els in the CONAN SERIES, based on a character cre-
ated by Robert E. HOWARD. Those two early
books, Conan the Invincibleand Conan the Defender,
are noticeably more exciting and more loyal to the
original stories than those of most of the many
other authors who contributed to the ongoing
saga, some of them considerably more experienced
than Jordan. He had produced four more original184 Jordan, Robert