M. A. R. Barker

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M. A. R. Barker : biography

03 November 1929 – 16 March 2012

In 2008, Barker founded the Tékumel Foundation along with many of his long-time players, to preserve and manage rights relating to his creations in future.

Barker died in home hospice on March 16, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Ambereen.

Partial bibliography

Language Texts

Barker studied various languages academically and helped author and co-author various publications relating to some of those, including the following:

Published by the University of California Press:

  • Klamath Texts (1963)
  • Klamath Dictionary (1963)
  • Klamath Grammar (1964)

Published by the McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies:

  • A Course in Urdu (1967)
  • An Urdu Newspaper Reader (1968)
  • A Reader of Modern Urdu Poetry (1968)
  • A Course in Baluchi (1969)

Roleplaying

Tékumel has spawned four professionally-published roleplaying games over the course of the years:

  • Empire of the Petal Throne (1975) as a boxed set by TSR, Inc. following earlier self-publication in 1974, and reprinted later as a single book by Different Worlds Publications in 1987.
  • Swords & Glory (1983/4) in two volumes by Gamescience.
  • Gardasiyal: Adventures in Tekumel (1994) by Theater of the Mind Enterprises; with Neil R. Cauley.
  • Tekumel: Empire of the Petal Throne (2005) by Guardians of Order; by various, with M.A.R. Barker.

Novels

Barker has written five novels set in the world of Tékumel – in chronological reading order these are:

  1. The Man of Gold (1984)
  2. Flamesong (1985)
  3. Lords of Tsámra (2003)
  4. Prince of Skulls (2002)
  5. A Death of Kings (2003)

Early life

Born in Spokane, Washington, descended from ancestors who had originally settled in America in 1626, Barker’s childhood was spent around Washington and Idaho. As a youth he had an interest in "fairy stories, history and literature" which would be further influenced by such films as The Thief of Bagdad; all of which helped to turn his casual "wargames" with toy soldiers more towards fantasy. From this his fictional lands of Tsolyanu and others, in what was later to become Tékumel, emerged and were embellished further in middle and high school years during which time he commenced construction of armies of hand-carved figures to represent his creations. Also at an early age, Barker’s interest in languages was piqued by neighboring children of Basque origin who were able to exclude others from their secret conversations in their native tongue.

Academic life and creative networking

In, and just before 1950, while Barker was studying at the University of Washington under Melville Jacobs, he became involved with small press publications, writing articles, short stories and contributing reviews to Fanscient and the local clubzine Sinisterra;Barker’s world, later known as Tékumel, was placed as the fourth planet in the system. the latter of which contained his review of, and content from, Jack Vance relating to his recently published book, The Dying Earth. Also at this time, Barker corresponded with other authors who contributed to those same publications, including Lin Carter in whose writings and linguistic experiments he took an interest and with whom he finally put to paper the story line of his own created world.

He received a Fulbright Scholarship in 1951 to study Indian languages and on his first trip to India that year converted to Islam; "for purely theological reasons. It seemed like a more logical religion", according to Fine, although Barker himself admitted at the time to an "[unimaginable] feeling of awe and religious ecstasy" upon hearing the recitations of the 99 Names of Allah at the Taj Mahal.