Life Board Game

The dark elf next door

01.01.70

Perhaps you’ve never heard of him (he’s no mainstream phenomenon like J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin), but within the niche of fantasy and gaming, R.A. Salvatore is plenty famous. His books have sold some 17 million copies, at the rate of around a million per year. They’ve been translated into a dozen-plus languages, and 24 have become New York Times bestsellers. He’s inked a deal with Wizards of the Coast (the maker of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons) to pen six more Forgotten Realms “Neverwinter’’ books; book 2 came out in October.

Meanwhile, his influence on the fantasy marketplace is spreading beyond books. His “dark elf’’ character Drizzt Do’Urden has become iconic, featured in graphic novels and a board game. He’s been tapped by video game companies. There’s even chatter about a movie.

And yet, this author of dozens of swords-and-sorcery and science-fiction novels resides in a modest, four-bedroom colonial about a quarter-mile from his high school. The neighborhood where he grew up and once worked, the homes of his mother and two of his three grown children, and the cemetery where his father and brother are buried, are all within a short drive. He’d rather hang with his friends and family, and watch the Sox or Pats and coach his softball team than live some posh, sequestered life.

Source: Boston.com