Stephen R. Donaldson

Stephen Reeder Donaldson
Stephen R. Donaldson on a 2007 book tour.
Born	May 13, 1947 (1947-05-13) (age 64) Cleveland, Ohio
Pen name	Reed Stephens
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American
Genres	fantasy, science fiction, mystery

Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for his Thomas Covenant series. His work is characterized by psychological complexity, conceptual abstractness, moral bleakness, and the use of an arcane vocabulary, and has attracted critical praise for its "imagination, vivid characterizations, and fast pace."^[1] He earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and a Master's degree from Kent State University. He currently resides in New Mexico.

In the United Kingdom he is usually called "Stephen Donaldson" (without the "R").

Contents 1 Major influences 2 The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever 2.1 The First Chronicles 2.2 The Second Chronicles 2.3 The Last Chronicles 3 The Gap Cycle 3.1 The Gap series 4 Other works 4.1 Mordant's Need 4.2 The Man Who… detective novels (originally published under the pseudonym Reed Stephens) 4.3 Short stories and collections 5 Awards 5.1 Honorary degrees 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External links 8.1 Interviews

Major influences

Donaldson is part of the generation of fantasy authors which came to prominence in the 1970s and early 1980s. Like that of many of his peers, his writing is heavily influenced by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. However, Donaldson's stories show a wide range of other influences, including Mervyn Peake, C. S. Lewis, Robert E. Howard, and even the operas of Richard Wagner. Donaldson is also a great fan of Roger Zelazny's Amber novels, which were a direct inspiration for his own Mordant's Need series. Also, in the Gradual Interview section of his website, Donaldson mentions his extensive study of Joseph Conrad, Henry James and William Faulkner to further develop his narrative style.

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever

Donaldson's most celebrated series is The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, which centers on a cynical leper, shunned by society, who is destined to become the heroic savior of an alternate Earth. Covenant struggles against the tyrannical Lord Foul, who intends to break the physical universe in order to escape his bondage and wreak revenge upon his arch-enemy, The Creator.

The Chronicles were originally published as two trilogies of novels between 1977 and 1983. According to his current publisher, Putnams, those two series sold more than 10 million copies. A third series, "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant" began publication in 2004 with the novel The Runes of The Earth. With the second book of that series, Fatal Revenant, Donaldson again attained bestseller status when the book reached number 12 on the New York Times Bestseller List in October 2007.

The First Chronicles

1. Lord Foul's Bane (1977)
2. The Illearth War (1977)
3. The Power That Preserves (1977)

The Second Chronicles

1. The Wounded Land (1980)
2. The One Tree (1982)
3. White Gold Wielder (1983)

The Last Chronicles

1. The Runes of the Earth (2004)
2. Fatal Revenant (2007)
3. Against All Things Ending (2010)
4. The Last Dark (due for release 2013)

The Gap Cycle

A science fiction epic set in a future where humans have pushed far out into space in the attempt to replace depleted resources, The Gap Cycle follows two concurrent story arcs. The first concerns an ensign in the United Mining Companies Police (UMCP), Morn Hyland, who is attempting simply to stay alive after being captured by a marauder named Angus Thermopyle. The second follows the Byzantine political maneuvering of the head of the UMCP, Warden Dios, as he attempts to thwart the machinations of his boss, Holt Fasner, who is the CEO of United Mining Companies (UMC) and the most powerful man in human space.

Each of the epics takes place against the backdrop of a threat to human survival itself from an alien species called the Amnion who use genetic mutation as a way to assimilate and overcome. Trade in raw materials (mostly ores) is carried out with the Amnion in exchange for technology, by both the UMC and illegals. Some illegals trade in Amnion territorial space, referred to as "forbidden space", out of bounds to the UMCP by treaty.

Donaldson wrote the series in part to be a reworking of Wagner's Ring Cycle. The "Gap" of the title refers to the FTL (faster than light) drives used by the space vessels in order to cross great distances, an instantaneous occurrence similar to the notion of "folding" space.

The Gap series

1. The Gap into Conflict: The Real Story (1991)
2. The Gap into Vision: Forbidden Knowledge (1991)
3. The Gap into Power: A Dark and Hungry God Arises (1993)
4. The Gap into Madness: Chaos and Order (1994)
5. The Gap into Ruin: This Day All Gods Die (1996)

The 2008 reprinting of the series combines The Real Story and Forbidden Knowledge into a single volume. According to Donaldson's website, this was done at his request.^[2]

Other works

Mordant's Need

1. The Mirror of Her Dreams (1986)
2. A Man Rides Through (1987)

The Man Who… detective novels (originally published under the pseudonym Reed Stephens)

• The Man Who Killed His Brother (1980)
• The Man Who Risked His Partner (1984)
• The Man Who Tried to Get Away (1990)
• The Man Who Fought Alone (2001)

Short stories and collections

• Gilden-Fire (1981). The story of Lords Shetra and Hyrim and the Bloodguard on their mission to Seareach. The events described took place during the Illearth War of Chronicle One.
• Daughter of Regals and Other Tales (1984)
• Daughter of Regals (1984)
• "What Makes Us Human"; appeared in The 1985 Annual World's Best SF (1985). Also published in Berserker Base, edited by Fred Saberhagen, and as one of the short stories in Reave the Just and Other Tales.
• Epic Fantasy in the Modern World: A Few Observations (1986)
• Reave the Just and Other Tales (1998)

Awards

Year	Award	Work (if applicable)
1977	Best Novel - British Fantasy Society	Lord Foul's Bane
1979	John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer
1981	Balrog Fantasy Award - Best Novel	The Wounded Land
1983	Balrog Fantasy Award - Best Novel	The One Tree
1985	Balrog Fantasy Award - Best Collection	Daughter of Regals and Other Tales
1988	Science Fiction Book Club Award - Best Book of the Year	The Mirror of Her Dreams
1989	Science Fiction Book Club Award - Best Book of the Year	A Man Rides Through
1989	The College of Wooster Distinguished Alumni Award
1990	Julia Verlanger Award (France)	Mirror of Her Dreams
1991	WIN/WIN Popular Fiction Readers Choice Award for Favorite Fantasy Author
1992	Atlanta Fantasy Fair Award for Outstanding Achievement
1997	President's Award, International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts
2000	World Fantasy Award	Reave the Just and Other Tales

Awards referenced from ^[3]

Honorary degrees

• 2009 — Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of St Andrews^[4]

References

Further reading

• Clute, J; et al. (1999). The Encyclopedia of Fantasy. St. Martin's. pp. 282. ISBN 1857238931. 
• Hendrix, L.L. (1995). "The world of glass: The heroine's quest for identity in Spenser's Faerie Queen and Stephen R. Donaldson's Mirror of Her Dreams". Contributions to the Study of Science Fiction and Fantasy 65 (4): 91–100. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.4.350. PMID 11330235. 
• Keller, Dean H.; Nicholson, John W.; Dubois, Paul Z. (1986). Reading and the art of librarianship: selected essays of John B. Nicholson, Jr. New York: Haworth Press. pp. 181. ISBN 0-86656-585-X. 
• Laskar, B (2004). "Suicide and the absurd: The influence of Jean-Paul Sartre's and Albert Camus's existentialism on Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever". J. of the Fantastic in the Arts 14 (4): 409. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.4.350. PMID 11330235. 
• Senior, W. A. (1995). Stephen R. Donaldson's Chronicles of Thomas Covenant: variations on the fantasy of tradition. [Kent, Ohio]: Kent State University Press. ISBN 0873385284. 
• Ward, T.B. (2001). "Creative Cognition, Conceptual Combination, and the Creative Writing of Stephen R. Donaldson". American Psychologist 56 (4): 350–54. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.56.4.350. PMID 11330235. http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/recordDetail?accno=EJ627475. Retrieved 2008-02-22. 

External links

• Official website
• Kevin's Watch
• Stephen Donaldson Home Page at Kent State University
• Stephen R. Donaldson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Stephen R. Donaldson at Fantasy Literature.net

Interviews

• Interview on wotmania.com

Persondata
Name	Donaldson, Stephen R.
Alternative names	Donaldson, Stephen Reeder (full name): Stephens, Reed (pseudonym)
Short description	Novelist
Date of birth	May 13, 1947
Place of birth	Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Date of death
Place of death