David Zindell
David Zindell (born November 28, 1952) is an American writer known for science fiction and fantasy epics.
David Zindell | |
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Born | Toledo, Ohio, U.S. | November 28, 1952
Occupation | Fiction writer |
Nationality | American |
Genre | Speculative fiction |
Website | |
davidzindell |
Writing career
Zindell's first published story was "The Dreamer's Sleep" in Fantasy Book in 1984. His novelette Shanidar, which shared a background with his first novel Neverness, won the Writers of the Future contest in 1985. He followed Neverness with a sequel trilogy called A Requiem for Homo Sapiens.
Zindell's fantasy series The Ea Cycle has as a theme the evolution of consciousness, through the method of fantasy. The plot concerns a prince named Valashu Elahad searching for a relic called the Lightstone to stop the immortal Morjin, Lord of Lies, who seeks to create a world filled with madness.
In 2015 he published Splendor, a nonfiction book, and in 2017 he published The Idiot Gods, a novel told from the point of view of intelligent killer whales.
Style and Themes
John Clute wrote that Zindell was a "romantic, ambitious, and skilled" writer.[1] Zindell has described his style as an attempt to communicate the connectedness of things, the connection between mysticism and evolution, and the possibilities of life,[2] and his fiction as an attempt to heal false dichotomies such as materialism and spirituality.[3]
Personal life
Zindell was born in Toledo, Ohio, and resides today in Boulder, Colorado, where he works as a test coach;[4] he received a BA in mathematics and minored in anthropology at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[5]
Publications
Neverness Universe
- "Shanidar", Writers of the Future (March 1985); online reprint at infinity plus
- Neverness (New York: D. I. Fine, 1988)
- A Requiem for Homo Sapiens (trilogy):
- The Broken God (HarperCollins, 1992); US ed., Bantam, 1994
- The Wild (Harper Voyager, 1995); US ed., Bantam, 1996
- War in Heaven (Voyager, Bantam, 1998)
- The Remembrancer's Tale (Harper Voyager, 2023)
Ea Cycle
- The Lightstone (London: Harper Voyager, August 2001); also published as two volumes, The Ninth Kingdom and The Silver Sword (Voyager, 2002)
- The Lightstone, revised edition (Tor Books, June 2006) – first American ed. of volume one
- The Silver Sword (Tor, 2007) – American sequel
- The Lord of Lies (Voyager, 2003); US ed., Tor, 2008
- Black Jade (Voyager, 2005); not released in U.S.
- The Diamond Warriors (Voyager, 2007); not released in U.S.
Other novels
- The Orca's Song (originally published as The Idiot Gods, Harper Voyager, July 2017)
Other short stories
- "The Dreamer's Sleep", Fantasy Book, December 1984
- "Caverns", Interzone (UK), Winter 1985/86
- "When the Rose Is Dead", Full Spectrum 3, June 1991
Essays
- Read This (1994)
- Splendor (Bhodi Books, 2015)
References
- Clute, John: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, page 1368. Orbit, 1993
- "Storms of Numbers, Chalices of Light: an interview with David Zindell". infinityplus.co.uk. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- "David Zindell: Back to Roots". Locus.com. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
- "Colorado Test Prep for SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT". davidzindellcoaching.com. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
- Charles N. Brown. "David Zindell: Back to Roots" (excerpt), Locus 44:6, No. 473 (June 2000). Retrieved 2000-09-07.
External links
- Official website
- David Zindell on Goodreads
- Storm of Numbers, Chalice of Light, an interview on Infinity Plus
- David Zindell at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- David Zindell at Library of Congress, with 7 library catalog records