Editing David Zindell

{{short description|American writer (born 1952)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = David Zindell
| image       = <!-- just the filename, without the File: or Image: prefix or enclosing [[brackets]] -->
| alt         = 
| caption     = 
| pseudonym   = 
| birth_name  = 
| birth_date  = {{Birth date and age|1952|11|28}}
| birth_place = [[Toledo, Ohio]], U.S.
| death_date  = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} or {{Death-date and age|Month DD, YYYY|Month DD, YYYY}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place = 
| education   = [[University of Colorado Boulder]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation  = Fiction writer
| period      =
| genre       = [[Speculative fiction]]

| website     = {{URL|davidzindell.com}}
}}
'''David Zindell''' (born November 28, 1952) is an American [[science fiction]] and [[fantasy]] epics writer.

== 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 [[sapient]] [[killer whales]].

== Style and themes ==
[[John Clute]] wrote that Zindell was a "romantic, ambitious, and skilled" writer.<ref name="Clute, John 1368">Clute, John: ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', page 1368.  Orbit, 1993</ref> 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,<ref>{{cite web |title=Storms of Numbers, Chalices of Light: an interview with David Zindell |url=http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intdz.htm |website=infinityplus.co.uk |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref> and his fiction as an attempt to heal false dichotomies such as materialism and spirituality.<ref>{{cite web |title=David Zindell: Back to Roots |url=http://www.locusmag.com/2000/Issues/06/Zindell.html |website=Locus.com |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Zindell was born in [[Toledo, Ohio]], and resides today in [[Boulder, Colorado]], where he works as a test coach;<ref name="David Zindell Coaching">{{cite web |url=https://davidzindellcoaching.com/ |title=Colorado Test Prep for SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. |website=davidzindellcoaching.com |access-date=2017-06-17}}{{title missing|date=May 2022}}</ref> he received a BA in mathematics and minored in anthropology at the [[University of Colorado at Boulder]].<ref>Charles N. Brown. [http://www.locusmag.com/2000/Issues/06/Zindell.html "David Zindell: Back to Roots"] (excerpt), ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'' 44:6, No. 473 (June 2000). Retrieved 2000-09-07.</ref>

== Publications ==
<!--2014-07-29, these are all books and short fiction in ISFDB -->

===Neverness universe===
* "Shanidar", ''[[Writers of the Future]]'' (March 1985); [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/shanidar.htm 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), ([[Tor Books]], June 2006), also published as two volumes, ''The Ninth Kingdom'' (June 2006) and ''The Silver Sword'' (Voyager, 2002, Tor, 2887) and again together as ''The Lightstone: The Complete Novel'' (2022)
* ''Lord of Lies'' (Voyager, 2003); US ed., Tor, 2008
* ''Black Jade'' (Voyager, 2005); released in U.S. only as e-book
* ''The Diamond Warriors'' (Voyager, 2007); released in U.S. only as e-book

===Stand-alone novels===
*''The Orca's Song'' (originally published as ''The Idiot Gods'', [[Harper Voyager]], July 2017)

===Short fiction===
====Collection====
* ''Shanidar and Other Stories'' 
====Individual short fiction====
* "The Dreamer's Sleep", ''[[Fantasy Book]]'', December 1984
* "Caverns", ''[[Interzone (magazine)|Interzone]]'' (UK), Winter 1985/86
* "When the Rose Is Dead", ''Full Spectrum'' 3, June 1991

===Nonfiction===
* ''Read This'' (1994)
* ''Splendor'' (Bhodi Books, 2015)

== References ==
{{reflist |25em
}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* {{official website }}
* [http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/399921.David_Zindell David Zindell] on Goodreads
* [http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/intdz.htm Storm of Numbers, Chalice of Light], an interview on Infinity Plus
* {{isfdb name|355}}
* {{LCAuth|n86008184|David Zindell|7|}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zindell, David}}
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:University of Colorado alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Boulder, Colorado]]
[[Category:Writers from Toledo, Ohio]]
[[Category:American male essayists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American essayists]]
[[Category:21st-century American essayists]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:Novelists from Ohio]]
[[Category:Novelists from Colorado]]