Joel Rosenberg

Outside of science fiction, Rosenberg was best known as a handgun instructor, gun rights advocate, and author of a manual for people wanting to get a handgun carry permit in Minnesota, Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Minnesota, and a similar book for Missouri, Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Missouri. His wife recounted that Rosenberg's experience with gun rights was inadvertent. In an interview following his death, she said a neo-Nazi threatened Rosenberg and his family via emails—specifically enough to describe his home—and Rosenberg decided to seek a permit to carry to protect himself.

Rosenberg once suspected that the threats might have something to do with his Metzada novels—"I do write about Jews in space with big guns." But to this day, he doesn't know anything about his stalker, except that he or she is violently anti-Semitic, and unlikely to win any spelling bees.

A native of Winnipeg, he grew up in Northwood, North Dakota, and later moved with his parents and family to Connecticut. He had a Canadian mother and American father—he enjoyed dual Canadian and American citizenship.

Herman said Rosenberg was a diabetic, but otherwise in good health. She said he suddenly collapsed and never really recovered, despite efforts to resuscitate him. Rosenberg died June 2, 2011, after a sudden respiratory depression caused a heart attack, brain damage and major organ failures.

In November 2010, Rosenberg openly wore a holstered handgun when coming into the Minneapolis city hall for a meeting with a representative of the city's police chief after providing prior notification as required by state law. After arrival, he was told that a court order prohibited people from carrying a gun anywhere in the building, which houses family and small claims courtrooms on the third floor. He objected, citing the state gun laws, and avoided arrest when he agreed to carry his gun (which the police had confiscated, emptied of ammunition, and returned to him) back to his car. He subsequently filed a complaint against the police sergeant, and posted a YouTube video displaying how many weapons can be concealed on one's body.

In December 2010, he was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon in a courthouse, a felony, and contempt of court, a misdemeanor, arrested, and jailed in lieu of $100,000 bond. Rosenberg was scheduled to stand trial in August for the incident at Minneapolis City Hall.

Paladins, the first in his "Mordred's Heirs" series, was published by Baen Books in September 2004; the second, Knight Moves, was published in November 2006. This series, an "alternate fantasy history", takes place in a world where Mordred defeated King Arthur, establishing the Pendragon Dynasty.

In the early years of the 21st century, Rosenberg turned his hand to mysteries, publishing Home Front, the first of his "Sparky Hemingway" mysteries in 2003; the second, Family Matters, was published in early 2004.

The "Keepers of the Hidden Ways" trilogy similarly placed people from the real world into a fantasy setting, making heavy use of Norse mythology. A third fantasy series, consisting of the novels D'Shai (1991) and Hour of the Octopus (1994) (both lightly humorous mysteries), was set in an Asian-influenced fantasy world with very strict cultural standards and etiquette.

In addition to fantasy, Rosenberg wrote a number of science fiction novels. Although dealing with different characters, Ties of Blood and Silver (1984) and Emile and the Dutchman (1986) both take place in the same setting. Two other books in this setting, Not for Glory (1988) and Hero (1990), focus on family members of the Metzadan Mercenary Corps from the Jewish- (and others-) settled World of Metzada (Masada).

His first published fiction, "Like the Gentle Rains", appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in 1982. The following year, he published his first novel, The Sleeping Dragon, which was the first in his long-running Guardians of the Flame series. This series placed a group of college students into a fantasy setting similar to a role-playing world. Throughout the series' ten novels, Rosenberg traced these characters, their descendants, and the changes they made to society. He showed no compunction about killing off popular characters.

Rosenberg began publishing in 1978 with an op-ed piece in The New York Times favoring nuclear power. His stories appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Amazing Science Fiction, and TSR's The Dragon. His novels have been published by Roc, Avon, Berkley, Tor and Baen Books.

Joel Rosenberg (May 1, 1954 – June 2, 2011) was a Canadian American science fiction and fantasy author best known for his long-running "Guardians of the Flame" series. Rosenberg was also a gun rights activist. He is the oldest brother of Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg.

His wife, Felicia G. Herman, posted on her blog, "In accordance with his wishes, he shared the gift of life through organ and tissue donation. He is survived by his daughters, Judith Eleanor and Rachel Hannah, and his wife, Felicia Herman. Today [June 3] would have been his 32nd wedding anniversary."