John David Wolverton (May 28, 1957 – January 14, 2022), better known by his pen names Dave Wolverton and David Farland, was an American author, editor, and instructor of online writing workshops and groups. He wrote in several genres but was known best for his

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...

and fantasy works. Books in his Runelords series hit the ''New York Times'' bestsellers list. In 1987, he won the

Writers of the Future Writers of the Future (WOTF) is a science fiction and fantasy story contest that was established by L. Ron Hubbard in the early 1980s. A sister contest, Illustrators of the Future, presents awards for science fiction art. Hubbard characterized t ...

contest. He has been nominated for a Nebula Award and a

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

. He died in the early morning hours of January 14, 2022. He lived in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

, with his wife at the time of his death.

Life and career

Wolverton was born May 28, 1957,Some sources give his birth date as May 15. His official obituary gives May 28. in

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield ...

to Jack and Lola Jean Wolverton. His family moved to a farm in Monroe when he was six years old, where he grew up and graduated from Monroe High School. Following graduation, he served a volunteer mission in Illinois for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Afterward, he attended

Ricks College Ricks may refer to: People * Andre Ricks (born 1996), American basketball player * Bob Ricks (21st century), American police chief * Christopher Ricks (born 1933), British literary critic and scholar * Doug Ricks, American politician and membe ...

before transferring to

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

. He met his wife, Mary, there, and they married in the

Provo Utah Temple Provo or Provos may refer to: In geography In the United States * Provo, Kentucky, an unincorporated community * Provo, South Dakota, an unincorporated community * Provo Township, Fall River County, South Dakota * Provo, Utah, a city ** Provo P ...

on June 22, 1985. He and his wife had two daughters and three sons. He began writing in 1985 during college, publishing the short story "The Sky Is an Open Highway" in the fall 1985 issue of '' The Leading Edge''. Following that, he entered short stories into various contests, eventually winning first place in the 1987

contest with the novella "On My Way to Paradise". The story was expanded into the novel of the same name, published in 1989 through

Bantam Spectra Bantam Spectra is the science fiction division of American publishing company Bantam Books, which is owned by Random House. According to their website, Spectra publishes "science fiction, fantasy, horror, and speculative novels from recogniza ...

. The novel was nominated for multiple awards, including the

Philip K. Dick Award The Philip K. Dick Award is an American science fiction award given annually at Norwescon and sponsored by the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society and (since 2005) the Philip K. Dick Trust. Named after science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, ...

for "Best Novel in the English Language". He became a judge for the Writers of the Future contest in 1991 and was the Coordinating Judge and Editor at the time of his death. After co-editing volume 8 with

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

in 1992, he took over editing of the annual anthology from volume 9 until volume 14 before passing the role back to

. Wolverton again took over editing the anthology from K. D. Wentworth, beginning with volume 29 and continuing through volume 37. His historical novel, ''In the Company of Angels'', won the 2009 Whitney Award for best novel of the year, and was a finalist in the best historical novel category. Wolverton also received an outstanding achievement award at the 2009 Whitneys. In 2012, his young adult fantasy

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

''Nightingale'' won the International Book Award for best Young Adult Novel of the Year, the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival, and the Southern California Book Festival for Best Young Adult Novel. It was also a finalist in the Global Ebook Awards. He has been nominated for other awards, including the Nebula Award in the Best Novelette category for his short story "After a Lean Winter". In the summer of 1998, Dave Wolverton broke the world record for the largest single author book signing which he achieved with '' A Very Strange Trip'', a book he wrote based on a story by L. Ron Hubbard. He wrote under his own name at the beginning of his career, changing to the pseudonym David Farland in the mid-1990s with the release of the first ''Runelords'' book. Wolverton worked as an English professor of

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

from 1999–2002, and held writing workshops for aspiring and established writers. The creative writing class he taught at BYU was taken over by one of his former students,

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy and science fiction. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the ''Mistborn'' series and ''The ...

. He taught other writers such as Brandon Mull, Jessica Day George, Eric Flint,

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series ''Twilight'', which has sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 differ ...

, James Dashner, as well as others. He worked in the gaming industry and greenlit screenplays in Hollywood. In 1998, Wolverton started working part-time at Saffire Studios, helping create video games. He was responsible for the concept of "lurkers" in the well-known RTS ( Real-time strategy) game Starcraft: Brood War. In 2002, he began working as a movie producer and also greenlighted movies. He was working on a film adaptation of his Runelords series. On January 13, 2022, Wolverton suffered from a fall, resulting in a severe head injury and a

hemorrhagic stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functioni ...

. He was on life support until he died early the next morning at the age of 64 in

. He was buried in the Tonaquint Cemetery in St. George, Utah. At the time of his death he was known to be working on three books: A rewrite of 2012's Nightingale, Runelords: Tale of Tales, and a fourth book in his Ravenspell series titled S.W.A.R.M.

Bibliography

The Runelords The Runelords is a series of fantasy novels by American author David Farland (1957 – 2022) of which the first part was published in 1998. In the universe of The Runelords, there exists a unique magical system which relies on the existence of ...

* ''

The Sum of All Men ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' (also released as ''The Runelords'') (April 1998, Tor Books, ) * ''

Brotherhood of the Wolf ''Brotherhood of the Wolf'' (french: Le Pacte des loups) is a 2001 French period action horror film directed by Christophe Gans, co-written by Gans and Stéphane Cabel, and starring Samuel Le Bihan, Mark Dacascos, Émilie Dequenne, Monica Bell ...

'' (May 1999, Tor Books, ) * '' Wizardborn'' (March 2001, Tor Books, ) * ''

The Lair of Bones ''The Lair of Bones'' is an epic fantasy novel by American writer David Farland, the fourth in his series The Runelords. It is the final book in the saga's original story arc. Plot introduction ''The Lair of Bones'' is an epic fantasy novel set ...

'' (November 2003, Tor Books, ) * '' Sons of the Oak'' (November 2006, Tor Books, ) * '' Worldbinder'' (September 2007, Tor Books, ) * '' The Wyrmling Horde'' (September 2008, Tor Books, ) * '' Chaosbound'' (October 2009, Tor Books, ) * '' A Tale of Tales'' (forthcoming) Serpent Catch
Originally released as two books: * ''Serpent Catch'' (May 1991,

, ) * ''Path of the Hero'' (April 1993,

, ) Rereleased as four books under his Farland pseudonym: * ''Spirit Walker'' (March 2014,

WordFire Press Kevin James Anderson (born March 27, 1962) is an American science fiction author. He has written spin-off novels for '' Star Wars'', ''StarCraft'', ''Titan A.E.'' and ''The X-Files'', and with Brian Herbert is the co-author of the ''Dune'' pre ...

, ) * ''Serpent Catch'' (April 2014,

, ) * ''Blade Kin'' (April 2014,

, ) * ''Path of the Crushed Heart'' (April 2014,

, ) The Golden Queen
Originally released as by Wolverton, later as by Farland: * ''The Golden Queen'' (August 1994, Tor Books, ) * ''Beyond the Gate'' (August 1995, Tor Books, ) * ''Lords of the Seventh Swarm'' (February 1997, Tor Books, ) An omnibus was also released as by Farland. A related short story was also released: * ''Worlds of the Golden Queen'' (June 2005, Tor Books, ) * "Saint Orick" in ''Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera for a New Age'' edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt (December 2013, Every Day Publishing, ) Ravenspell
A middle-grade fantasy series. * ''Of Mice and Magic'' (2005, Covenant, ) * ''The Wizard of Ooze'' (2007, Covenant, ) * ''Freaky Flyday'' (2015, David Farland Entertainment, ) Star Wars
* ''

The Courtship of Princess Leia ''The Courtship of Princess Leia'' is a 1994 science fiction novel by American writer Dave Wolverton, part of the Star Wars franchise. It continued the streak of '' New York Times'' Bestsellers, which started with 1991's '' Heir to the Empire' ...

'' (May 1994, Bantam Spectra, ) * ''

The Rising Force ''The Rising Force'' by Dave Wolverton is the first in a series of young reader novels called '' Jedi Apprentice''. The only novel of the series to be written by Dave Wolverton, it was released on May 3, 1999. The series explores the adventures ...

'' (June 1999, Scholastic, ) * ''The Hunt for Anakin Skywalker'' (February 2000, Scholastic, ) * ''Capture Arawynne'' (March 2000, Scholastic, ) * ''Trouble on Tatooine'' (April 2000, Scholastic, ) * ''The Ghostling Children'' (January 2001, Scholastic, ) L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Wolverton edited the following anthologies: * ''Volume VIII'' with

(1992, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume IX'' (1993, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume X'' (May 1994, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume XI'' (June 1995, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume XII'' (May 1996, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume XIII'' (October 1997, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume XIV'' (October 1998, Bridge Publications, ) * ''Volume XXIX'' (June 2013, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 30'' (February 2014, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 31'' (May 2015, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 32'' (May 2016, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 33'' (April 2017, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 34'' (April 2018, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 35'' (April 2019, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 36'' (April 2020, Galaxy Press, ) * ''Volume 37'' (November 2021, Galaxy Press, )

Selected awards and honors

Wolverton has been nominated for and won multiple awards for his various works.

Life and career

Bibliography

Selected awards and honors

Notes

References

External links