Mark of the Dragon (Ruin Mist Chronicles) (Ruin Mist Chronicles (Paperback))

The popularity of the Ruin Mist books built up through the release of the subsequent Ruin Mist books. Readers were taken with the magical realms, the grand adventures, and the combination of classic fantasy elements with a fresh, highly imaginative approach. In the spring of 2005, Robert Stanek's books were first published in audio and became instant audio bestsellers, spending more than 52 weeks on Audible.com's bestseller lists. In 2005, his book, The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches, eventually became one of the Top 100 all-time fiction bestsellers on Audible.com.

It's been a fairly open secret that Robert Stanek is the name of the more familiar bestselling author William Stanek. But Mr. Stanek, and his publisher, RP Books, were content to let the Robert Stanek books sell on their own merits with very little tie-in to William Stanek's award-winning, bestselling nonfiction books.

The main reason for using Robert Stanek for fiction and William Stanek for nonfiction was the astounding pace at which William Stanek produces books. With nearly 50 published books to his credit by 2002, he had many upcoming books waiting to be released by his current publishers, and was creating more and more fiction as a creative outlet to balance his work in nonfiction.

"I wanted to find audiences for both my nonfiction and my fiction. I love writing nonfiction works that help people learn how to do new things, but I also love writing fiction works that open new doorways to the imagination," explains Mr. Stanek. "The Ruin Mist books have been a part of who I am since I started them in the 1980s and they allowed me to create a magical realm with many levels of reality. I was overjoyed that I finally could share the realm and the books with others."

The Ruin Mist books have afforded Mr. Stanek an opportunity to explore relationships, family stories, epic sagas, myths, legends, and more. His books have been popular with fans both young and old.

"One of the things I wanted to do was develop characters and plots over many books rather than tying it all up in one," he says. "I wanted to explore these people and watch them change and dream their dreams book by book. The Alder family gave me an opportunity to explore the ties that bind siblings and parents, and the events that can change a family's destiny. Each book resolved a particular part of the epic saga of the kingdoms and reaches, but the character development, the growth, and the changes go more slowly. I'm enjoying that enormously."

Robert has won many awards from his colleagues and the publishing industry. Currently, he resides in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children. For fun he used to spend a lot of time mountain biking and hiking, but now his adventures in the great outdoors are mostly restricted to short treks around the Pacific Northwest.