Ricardo Pinto (born 1961 in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

) is a computer game programmer and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

novelist.

Early life and gaming career

Pinto's family moved to London when he was six, and then to

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

in Scotland. In 1979, he commenced a degree in mathematics at the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

. In 1983, Pinto moved to London to work as a programmer writing computer games. He moved back to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and then to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

working on game design. He became interested in creating the plot for games and wrote ''Kryomek'' and ''Hivestone'' as support material for tabletop wargames.

Writing

While still at university around 1982, Pinto had written a 600-page manuscript which he later said "contained a first, vague impression" of what would become his ''The Stone Dance of the Chameleon'' series. After 10 years working the computer gaming industry he spent two years unemployed and teaching himself to write, during which time he developed his ''Stone Dance'' concept further. His first novel, '' The Chosen'', was published in 1999. The sequel '' The Standing Dead'' was published in 2002 and a third novel, '' The Third God'', appeared in 2009, its completion delayed by the effects of a fire at the author's home. ''The Stone Dance of the Chameleon'' trilogy concerns the harrowing experiences of the young and inexperienced heir to a ruling dynasty who is suddenly taken from his protected childhood and thrust into a cruel society where he must fight for his family honour, his position and his life. After giving up designing computer games, Pinto said that he "carried that discipline's world-building paradigm" into his writing. Though interested in historical fiction, he chose to write in an invented universe so as not to be creatively constrained by the setting. He notes that the Masters of the ''Stone Dance'' series have aspects of the Roman emperors seen though a "fairy tale lens." An initial conceptual idea was that the story was set in late

Cretaceous period The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ninth and longest geologi ...

Antarctica, and some elements remain from this scenario. Pinto has said that the books include his most deeply held political beliefs. He also felt that, despite possible commercial difficulties, his novels should include gay characters as a reflection of his own life experiences. He acknowledged that his ideas on writing and creating fantasy worlds had been influenced by the works of

J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...

and the ''

Dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, flat ...

'' novels of

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science-fiction author, best known for his 1965 novel Dune (novel), ''Dune'' and its five sequels. He also wrote short stories and worked as a newspaper journalist, ...

''The Stone Dance of the Chameleon''

Pinto's ''The Stone Dance of the Chameleon'' trilogy follows young nobleman Carnelian as he is thrust into the dangerous political arena of the Three Lands. In this slave-owning civilisation of dazzling beauty and ancient ritual, the purity of noble bloodlines is paramount to the strict and ruthless caste system headed by the God Emperor and his Chosen. The faces of these self-indulgent Masters, held as deities, can never be seen unmasked by lesser people, under threat of immediate death. As the series begins, Carnelian follows his father Sardian, Lord Suth, from their outlying home to the capital of Osrakum as the current Emperor lies dying and a successor is to be named. Carnelian's own lineage puts him at the center of court intrigue, and in mortal danger. In 2020, Pinto re-released and self-published the series in a re-edited form, consisting of seven "leaner and extensive reworkings" of the original trilogy.

First Edition

# '' The Chosen'' (1999) # '' The Standing Dead'' (2002) # '' The Third God'' (2009)

Second Edition

# ''The Masters'' (2020) # ''The Chosen'' (2020) # ''The Standing Dead'' (2020) # ''The Darkness Under the Trees'' (2020) # ''Dragon Fire'' (2020) # ''The Mirror Breaks'' (2020) # ''The Third God'' (2020)

Other works

* '' War in Heaven'' (2013, with Adrian Smith) * ''Matryoshka'' (2018)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Ricardo 1961 births Living people Writers from Lisbon Scottish fantasy writers Portuguese fantasy writers Scottish people of Portuguese descent Portuguese emigrants to the United Kingdom Alumni of the University of Dundee Scottish gay writers Scottish LGBTQ novelists Portuguese LGBTQ novelists Gay novelists