David Eddings Passed Away

Beloved and influential fantasy author David Eddings, who in tandem with his late wife Leigh managed to garner both commercial and critical success with several series of best-selling novels, has passed away at the age of 77.

Eddings is best known for The Belgariad series, the first installment of which, The Pawn of Prophecy (1982), prompted Lester del Rey to tell him, "You've written a classic." The series introduced many to fantasy, and inspired some to write themselves (including Stephen Hunt, whose tribute to Eddings is here). Eddings was himself inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, which he was startled to discover was in its 78th printing when he encountered a display copy in a bookstore.

The Eddings' work includes The Belgariad series (5 books, 1982-1984) and The Malloreon series (5 books, 1987-1991), with three related books in the 1990s; The Elenium and The Tamuli (two trilogies, 1989-1994); and The Dreamers series (4 books, 2003-2006).

Eddings was famously old-fashioned, never using a typewriter or computer (he wrote out his scripts in long-hand) and was well-known for being self-effacing, once remarking, "I'm never going to be in danger of getting a Nobel Prize for literature." He was most pleased when told that his books had turned nonreaders into booklovers. "I look upon this as perhaps my purpose in life," he explained in a 1997 interview. "I am here to teach a generation or two how to read. After they've finished with me and I don't challenge them any more, they can move on to somebody important like Homer or Milton."

When asked in a recent interview what made his books so successful, Eddings replied with the same answer many of his fans would give: "Characters. My people are as real as I can make them."

David Eddings American Author

David Eddings (July 7, 1931–June 2, 2009[1]) was an American author who wrote several best-selling series of epic fantasy novels. David Eddings' wife, Leigh Eddings, was uncredited as co-author on many of his early books, but he later acknowledged that she contributed to them all. She was a credited co-author starting in the mid-1990s.

Biography

Born in Spokane, Washington, in 1931, Eddings grew up near Puget Sound. In the Rivan Codex, he described a good day in Seattle as "when it isn’t raining up;" rain became a consequent feature in many of his novels. After graduating from high school in 1949, he worked for a year before majoring in speech, drama and English at junior college. Eddings displayed an early talent for drama and literature, winning a national oratorical contest, and performing the male lead in most of his drama productions. He graduated with a BA from Reed College in 1954 and an MA from the University of Washington in 1961. He wrote a novel for a thesis at Reed College before being drafted into the US army.

After several years as a college lecturer, a failure to receive a pay raise drove Eddings to leave his job, move to Denver and seek work in a grocery store. He also began work on his first published novel High Hunt, the story of four young men hunting deer. Like many of his later novels, it explores themes of manhood and coming of age. Convinced that being an author was his future career, Eddings moved to Spokane where he once again relied on a job at a grocery shop for his funds. He worked on several unpublished novels, including Hunseeker’s Ascent, a story about mountain climbing, which was later burned as Eddings claimed it was, "a piece of tripe so bad it even bored me." Most of his attempts followed the same vein as High Hunt, adventure stories and contemporary tragedies. The Losers, tells the story of God and the Devil, cast in the roles of a one-eyed Indian and Jake Flood. It was not published until June 1992, well after Eddings's success as an author was established, although it was written in the seventies.

Eddings's call to the world of fantasy came from a doodled map he drew one morning before work. This doodle later became the geographical basis for the world of Aloria, but Eddings did not realize it until several years later. Upon seeing a copy of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, in a bookshop, he allegedly muttered, "Is this old turkey still floating around?" and was shocked to learn that it was in its seventy-eighth printing. Eddings realized that the world of fantasy might hold some promise for his talents, and immediately began to annotate his previously forgotten doodle.



He resided in Carson City, Nevada.

On January 26, 2007 it was reported that Eddings accidentally burned about a quarter of his office, next door to his house, along with his Excalibur sports car, and the original manuscripts for most of his novels. He was flushing the fuel tank of the car with water when he lit a piece of paper and threw it into the puddle to test if it was still flammable.

On February 28, 2007, David Eddings' wife, Leigh Eddings (born Judith Leigh Schall), died following a series of strokes. She was 69.

Bibliography

The Belgariad and The Malloreon
The Belgariad is Eddings' first fantasy series; The Malloreon is the sequel. The books follow the adventures of Belgarion, Polgara, Belgarath, and their companions.

The Belgariad series

* Pawn of Prophecy (1982)
* Queen of Sorcery (1982)
* Magician's Gambit (1983)
* Castle of Wizardry (1984)
* Enchanters' End Game (1984)

The Malloreon series

* Guardians of the West (1987)
* King of the Murgos (1988)
* Demon Lord of Karanda (1988)
* Sorceress of Darshiva (1989)
* The Seeress of Kell (1991)

Books related to The Belgariad and The Malloreon

* Belgarath the Sorcerer (1995) (Prequel) with Leigh Eddings
* Polgara the Sorceress (1997) (Prequel) with Leigh Eddings
* The Rivan Codex (1998) with Leigh Eddings
The Elenium and The Tamuli


The Elenium and its sequel The Tamuli feature the Pandion Knight Sparhawk and his comrades.

The Elenium series

* The Diamond Throne (1989)
* The Ruby Knight (1990)
* The Sapphire Rose (1991)

The Tamuli series

* Domes of Fire (1992)
* The Shining Ones (1993)
* The Hidden City (1994)

The Dreamers series

The Dreamers series tells the story of a war between the Elder Gods and their allies and an entity known as the Vlagh.

* The Elder Gods (2003) with Leigh Eddings
* The Treasured One (2004) with Leigh Eddings
* Crystal Gorge (2005) with Leigh Eddings
* The Younger Gods (2006) with Leigh Eddings

Standalone fantasy novels

* The Redemption of Althalus (2000) with Leigh Eddings, is a standalone novel about a thief who mends his ways.

Non Fantasy

* High Hunt (1986) - a story revolving around a hunting expedition that spirals out of control.
* The Losers (1992) - a story about a man struggling to rebuild his life after an accident.
* Regina's Song (2000) with Leigh Eddings - a thriller about a woman after the murder of her twin sister.