Knaak actually plays the game. The haters were devastated to find that out. Of course, that makes it more inexcusable when random superpowered heroes show up.

I think the major difference is that Christie knows how the write 'fanfiction'. I only use the title to quickly describe what writing for the WoW universe must be like. As people who read fanfiction know, there are the stories that are wonderful and you really can't help but think why this person is writing for a fandom instead of their own sprawling novel.

Then there are the people who use fanfiction specifically to fulfill their own fantasies about the world they are writing for.

Although the two can be smudged a bit, when describing the books by Golden and Knaack you can tell which is which.

Golden: A novel that follows the major lore characters in between the time of the end of the war against the Lich King and the cataclsym. This story highlights the inter-racial tensions and the politics between the leaders.

Knaack: A character made up by the author goes through time to save the world, meeting and saving major lore characters while doing so.

Golden has crazy amount of respect for the world she is dealing with. Knaack seems to see it as more a place to make his own dreams about the story, not the character's dreams, come true. If that makes any sense.

@Colin

From what I understand, Richard Knaak started playing WoW for the first time last year. He was leveling in Westfall during BlizzCon 09 if I'm not mistaken.