Zindell, David 1952–

PERSONAL: Born November 28, 1952, in Toledo, OH; married Melody Scott, 1980 (divorced, 1994); children: two daughters. Education: University of Colorado, B.A., 1984.

ADDRESSES: Home—Boulder, CO. Agent—c/o Author Mail, HarperCollins, 77-85 Fulham Palace Rd., Hammersmith, London W6 8JB, England.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Writers of the Future Contest winner, 1985, for the short story "xShanidar."

WRITINGS:

Neverness (novel), D.I. Fine (New York, NY), 1988.

Black Jade (novel), HarperCollins (London, England), 2005.

Short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies, including Fantasy Book, Volume 3, Number 4, edited by Dennis Mallonee and Nick Smith, Fantasy Book Enterprises, 1984; L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, edited by Algis Budrys, Bridge, 1985; Best SF of the Year, edited by Terry Carr, 1986; Terry Carr's Best Science Fiction of the Year, Tor, 1986; Full Spectrum 3, edited by Lou Aronica, Amy Stout, and Betsy Mitchell, Doubleday, 1991. Short fiction has also appeared in periodicals, including Interzone. Contributor to The New York Review of Science Fiction.

"REQUIEM FOR HOMO SAPIENS" NOVEL TRILOGY

The Broken God, HarperCollins (London, England), 1993 Bantam (New York, NY), 1994.

The Wild, HarperCollins (London, England), 1995.

War in Heaven, HarperCollins (London, England), 1998.

"EA CYCLE"; NOVELS

The Lightstone, Part 1, Ninth Kingdom, Voyager (London, England), 2001.

The Lightstone, Part 2, The Silver Sword, Voyager (London, England), 2002.

Lord of Lies, Voyager (London, England), 2003.

SIDELIGHTS: David Zindell is a science-fiction and fantasy writer who has received wide critical acclaim. Writing on the Infinity Plus Web site, Nick Gevers called the author "one of America's most ambitious SF and Fantasy writers." Gevers went on to note, "His cogent poeticism and cosmic concerns are embodied in long, extravagantly inventive, and philosophically penetrating novels; his imagined universes are sublimely conceived arenas for vast spiritual and intellectual combats between the Dark and the Light." In Locus, Zindell commented: "In my books, I'm always looking for a Source. Some people would call it God. Plato or Plotinus called it The One, in the sense that all of our reality somehow flows out of that, whether it's a biblical creation or a mythological creation story." For example, the author's first book, Neverness, tells the story of a man who is turning into a God. "As a debut novel, Neverness is in many respects a remarkable tour de force, a complex mixture of fantasy and science fiction, drawing on the author's knowledge of mathematics and anthropology to create a strange and exotic society," wrote a contributor to the St. James Guide to Science-Fiction Writers.

In The Broken God, the first novel in the "Requiem for Homo Sapiens" trilogy, Zindell builds on the world he created in his first novel and tells the story of young Danlo, who journeys to the city of Neverness after his tribe succumbs to disease. Once there, he comes under the guidance of an alien tutor and attends an academy where he trains as an interstellar pilot and befriends Hanu, who later reveals an evil side to his personality. Along the way, Danlo learns he is the son of famed interstellar pilot Mallory Ringess, who has been missing for years. This discovery sheds light on many aspects of Danlo's appearance and personality, which differ greatly from those of others in his lost tribe. Carl Hays, writing in Booklist, commented that the author "draws on sources as diverse as Eastern mysticism, Eskimo culture, and linguistics for a novel of unusual depth and scope. "A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "readers will recognize … the archetypal myth of the hero." and added that "Zindell's world is lively and credible."

Zindell continues Danlo's saga in The Wild. The hero, now a full-fledged lightship pilot, is on a mission with fellow pilots to an untamed region of space called the Wild. Danlo's mission is to discover why several star systems have been destroyed. In addition, the battalion is also charged with establishing a religious order in the lawless region of the Wild. Danlo also has his own agenda, namely to find his long-lost father, who is reported to have become a god. When Danlo comes across biocomputers the size of moons, the act of being face-to-face with an alien intelligence causes him to question the very basics of his philosophies concerning life and god. A Publishers Weekly contributor noted that "Danlo remains likable, for his sheer pageantry and color." Hays, once again writing in Booklist, wrote that Zindell "embraces a wealth of tantalizing ideas, from mystical philosophy to exotic hyperspace physics, in a breathtaking saga."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

St. James Guide to Science-Fiction Writers, 4th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1996.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, January 15, 1994, Carl Hays, review of The Broken God, 904; August, 1996, Carl Hays, review of The Wild, p. 1889.

Locus, June, 2000, "David Zindell: Back to Roots," interview with author.

Publishers Weekly, December 20, 1993, review of The Broken God, p. 65; June 24, 1996, review of The Wild, p. 57.

ONLINE

Infinity Plus, http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/ (August 24, 2005), Nick Gevers, "Storms of Numbers, Chalices of Light: An Interview with David Zindell."