David B. Coe
Author of Fantasy Novels and the Occasional Short Story
David B. Coe was born on March 12, 1963 (Pisces, Chinese Year of the Rabbit). He grew up in the suburbs just outside of New York City, the youngest of four children. His mother, a school teacher, and his father, a stock broker, instilled in all of their kids a deep love of books, and, as a result, all four of the Coe children grew up to be writers. David's oldest brother, Bill, is a technical writer. His sister, Liz, produces and writes television shows in Hollywood. And his second brother, Jim, is a wildlife artist and bird illustrator who has written and illustrated his own field guides.
David received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and then attended Stanford University as a graduate student in United States history. He wrote his doctoral dissertation on conservation policy during the New Deal, receiving his Ph.D. in 1993. For those who have trouble sleeping, his dissertation, "Realms of Nature, Spheres of Interest: Environmental Policy in the Pacific Northwest, 1932-1952" (Stanford, 1993), is available through University Microfilms, Inc. He briefly considered pursuing a career as an academic, but wisely thought better of it.
David
is now a full-time writer, specializing in fantasy and science fiction.
His first novel, Children of Amarid,
volume one of The LonTobyn Chronicle,
was released by Tor Books in
1997. It was followed by The Outlanders (1998) and Eagle-Sage (2000). In 1999, The LonTobyn Chronicle was awarded the William L. Crawford Memorial
Fantasy Award by the International
Association for the Fantastic in the Arts (IAFA). The Crawford award
is given annually to the best book or series by a new fantasy author.
Volumes of The LonTobyn Chronicle have been translated into Dutch,
German, Russian, and Czechoslovakian.
David's
second series, the critically acclaimed Winds
of the Forelands, consists of five volumes, Rules
of Ascension, Seeds of Betrayal, Bonds of Vengeance, Shapers
of Darkness, and Weavers of War,
which were released by Tor in 2002, 2003, 2005, and 2007 respectively
(Bonds and Shapers both came out in '05). All five books
are now available in paperback and can now be purchased from Amazon.Com.
Volumes of Winds of the Forelands have been translated into Russian,
French, Bulgarian, and Spanish.
Never
one to waste time, David has recently completed work on a new fantasy
series called Blood of the Southlands.
This trilogy is set in the same world as Winds of the Forelands and even includes characters from that series (We're not saying who --
no spoilers here). The first volume of Blood of the Southlands, The Sorcerers' Plague, was released
by Tor Books in December 2007 and reissued in paperback in February
2009. The second volume, The Horsemen's
Gambit, was published by Tor Books in February 2009, and appeared in paperback a year later. And the third volume, The Dark-Eyes' War, was originally published in February 2010, and has just been reissued in paperback.
David has also written the novelization for the Ridley Scott production of Robin Hood starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. The movie first appeared in theaters in May 2010 and the book is still out and available for order!
David is a founding member and proud contributor to the Magical Words blogsite, which is dedicated to the craft and business of writing. The Magical Words crew has a new book out called How To Write Magical Words: A Writer's Companion. It is now available from BellaRosa Books.
Fans
interested in learning more about the history
of the Forelands should read David's short story, "Night
of Two Moons." This tale, set in the Forelands nearly nine centuries
before the events described in Winds of the Forelands, originally
appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of Black
Gate magazine, and can now be found on this web site.
And those fans interested in learning more about David from the man himself are welcome to visit his blogs or friend him on Facebook.
Sample chapters from all of David's published novels can now be accessed from a single page on this web site.
You can also read "The Christmas Count," David's first science fiction story, which was originally published at Sci Fiction, the SciFi channel's fiction web site. "The Christmas Count" was the featured original story for the week of July 27, 2005. The story has since been archived at Sci Fiction. And now you can also read "Cassie's Story," which was originally published in July 2008 by Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show.
David is now at work on several new fantasy projects all of which represent departures from his previous work. These include a historical fantasy series, a couple of contemporary fantasies, and a middle reader fantasy. More information about these projects and their publication will be forthcoming.
No one who has read David's novels will be surprised to learn that he has been a birdwatcher and nature enthusiast for most of his life. He began watching birds at the age of seven, when his two older brothers, Bill and Jim, took him on their outings. At first, they brought David along because he could be convinced to walk into almost any thicket, regardless of whether it contained briars or poison ivy, and flush whatever exotics might be lurking within. Later, they assure him, they continued to bring him along because they began to enjoy his company. David remains suspicious. . . .
In addition to birdwatching, David is also a dedicated amateur nature photographer. In the past year he has had a one-man exhibit, sold work to a local magazine, and displayed his work in a local gallery. He also enjoys butterfly watching (if you haven't tried it, do. Butterflies are incredibly beautiful and, unlike birds, you don't have to wake up at some indecent, predawn hour to see them), listening to music (jazz, rock, folk, bluegrass, classical), playing guitar (rock and folk), playing golf (his handicap can only be calculated using a slide rule), playing and/or watching baseball, and watching movies.
David and his wife have two daughters, ages sixteen and twelve. They live on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.