Jones, Dennis 1945-

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JONES, Dennis 1945-

PERSONAL: Born 1945, in St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada; married; wife's name, Sandi. Education: Attended Queens University and York University.

ADDRESSES: Home—Ferguson Falls, Ontario, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins, 10 East 53rd St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Former technical writer; full-time novelist, 1988—.

AWARDS, HONORS: Book of the year, Foundation for the Advancement of Canadian Letters, 1984, for Rubicon One.

WRITINGS:

NOVELS

Rubicon One (thriller), General (Toronto, Ontario), 1983.

Winter Palace (thriller), General (Toronto, Ontario), 1988.

Warsaw Concerto (thriller), General (Toronto, Ontario), 1989.

The Minstrel Boy (thriller), Random House Canada (Toronto, Ontario), 1990.

The Stone and the Maiden (fantasy), Avon Eos (New York, NY), 1999.

The Mask and the Sorceress (fantasy), Eos (New York, NY), 2001.

Also author of Russian Spring and several other novels.

SIDELIGHTS: Dennis Jones is a Canadian author who switched from penning cold war thrillers like Rubicon One and Russian Spring to fantasy fiction because by the 1980s, as he told Pieter van Hiel in online Illusionary Minds Chat, "the cold war seemed to be pretty much over, and it got pretty difficult to sell those books."

Jones's works include the first two entries of a proposed trilogy. The Stone and the Maiden, which begins the saga of the House of Pandagore, is a "promising fantasy debut," according to Jackie Cassada of Library Journal. This story introduces Mandine Descaris. An heiress to the royal throne, Mandine must first prove her worth by facing the Tathars, a horde of barbaric horsemen. She joins forces with a young soldier to save their kingdom. Meanwhile, Mandine's scheming half-sister, Theatana, has allied herself with the would-be usurper Lord Baras, further complicating the heroine's quest. While a Publishers Weekly reviewer faulted the novel as lacking in original and nuanced personalities, the critic ended on a positive note and added, "the author's persuasive plot should keep most fantasy readers engaged."

Princess Theatana also takes center stage in part two of the saga, The Mask and the Sorceress. Set twenty years after The Stone and the Maiden, the book presents the wicked Theatana exiled for her past misdealings. Driven insane by her punishment for her previous plots—she is forced to re-live the deaths of those she ordered executed—Theatana escapes from her island prison and discovers a form of black magic that can restore her to power while wreaking havoc on the kingdom, which Mandine rules in peace. Theatana's industrious nephew, Ilarion, learns of his aunt's scheme and embarks on a quest to avert warfare. In an online BookBrowser review, Harriet Klausner praised Jones for setting up a story that, though part of a series, "can stand alone (what a unique thought for the genre)." Indeed, Jones told van Hiel that he could well end the House of Pandagore series with the second book. "It was thought to be a trilogy originally," he said, "but I had never really committed myself to that."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Canadian Book Review Annual, 2000, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 172.

Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 1999, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 840; February 1, 2001, review of The Mask and the Sorceress, p. 149.

Library Journal, July, 1999, Jackie Cassada, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 143; April 15, 2001, Cassada, review of The Mask and the Sorceress, p. 137.

Locus, October, 1999, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 27.

Publishers Weekly, July 26, 1999, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 68; February 19, 2001, review of The Mask and the Sorceress, p. 73.

Quill & Quire, July, 1999, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 42.

School Library Journal, January, 2000, Susan Salpini, review of The Stone and the Maiden, p. 156; March, 2001, Salpini, review of The Mask and the Sorceress, p. 281.