Wim Gijsen

Wim Gijsen was one of the Netherlands' most successful writers of modern science fiction and fantasy books. ^[1] Previously he had been known as a writer of prose, poems, children's books and various works on meditation, vegetarianism and yoga, and translated a book on Tarot by Eden Gray. In 1980 he published his first science fiction novel De Eersten Van Rissan (The First Ones of Rissan). One year later the second part of the series was released: De Koningen Van Weleer (The Kings of the Past). He also wrote another science fiction series: Iskander de Dromendief (Iskander the Dream Thief) and Het Huis van de Wolf (The House of the Wolf).

Until his death, he continued writing fantasy literature, with the Deirdre-trilogy being his most popular work today.

Gijsen repeatedly used a special theme in his books: A distant planet, where humans coming from Earth have settled down centuries ago and have forgotten about their technological past, now live in a culture that resembles Earth's Middle Ages, with only few people who are aware of technology and who do not share the belief in magic and superstition that the human society has adopted.

• 1980: The First Ones of Rissan, OT: De Eersten Van Rissan
• 1981: The Kings of the Past, OT: De Koningen Van Weleer

In The First Ones of Rissan, the state of Lhissey is being ruled by a caste of priests who divide the inhabitants into five castes that have to obey strict religious rules. The people of Lhissey do not know that the clairvoyant priests are actually using modern technology to spy on them and to control their behaviour. One day Hirdan, the son of a craftsman, meets a stranger and shows him the ancient city, which immediately raises the priests' suspicions. They promise Hirdan to accept him as one of the candidates for the highest caste if he can find out what the stranger wants in Lhissey. Hirdan, who realizes that the caste system is a detriment to the people of Lhissey refuses and flees from the city – accompanied by the stranger, who turns out to be an archeologist who is interested in the old pyramid in the centre of the city which must have been there long before the first men came to Rissan. The First Ones of Rissan must have built the pyramid and it is his job to find out where they have gone. Things get even more complicated when Hirdan finds out that the mysterious stranger came to Rissan travelling through the stars like the Gods in the ancient myths of his people.