R. A. Salvatore books in order

R. A. Salvatore (born 1959) is an American fantasy novelist best known for the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, hero of a long-running series set in the Forgotten Realms world of Dungeons & Dragons. He was born Robert Anthony Salvatore in Leominster, Massachusetts, on 20 January 1959.

He studied at Fitchburg State College, taking a BS in communications and media in 1981 and later a BA in English. In 1987 he won a commission to write a Forgotten Realms novel for TSR. After discussions with the editor Mary Kirchoff he set it in Icewind Dale, and when her team ruled out a character he had planned to reuse, he improvised the dark elf Drizzt and his panther Guenhwyvar. The result, The Crystal Shard, was published by TSR in 1988 as a paperback and became the first book of the Icewind Dale Trilogy. Drizzt's origins followed in the Dark Elf Trilogy, which began with Homeland (TSR, 1990). After contract talks with TSR fell through and he signed with Del Rey, he returned to the character with The Silent Blade (1998).

His other work includes the DemonWars Saga for Del Rey and Vector Prime (1999), the first novel in the Star Wars New Jedi Order series, which controversially killed Chewbacca, a decision made by Lucasfilm and Del Rey's editors. He wrote the story for the game Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone (2004) and the dialogue and backstory for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (2012). He has sold more than 15 million books in the United States, and 22 of his titles have been New York Times bestsellers.

For collectors, the first TSR paperback printing of The Crystal Shard (1988) is the debut of both Salvatore and Drizzt, and Homeland (1990) opens the Dark Elf Trilogy.