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Dave Wolverton

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Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox writer

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 and fantasy works. Books in his Runelords series hit the New York Times bestsellers list.

In 1987, he won the Writers of the Future contest. He has been nominated for a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award. He died in the early morning hours of January 14, 2022. He lived in St. George, Utah, with his wife at the time of his death.

Life and careerEdit

Wolverton was born May 28, 1957,<ref name="birthdate" group="n">Some sources give his birth date as May 15. His official obituary gives May 28.</ref> in Springfield, Oregon to Jack and Lola Jean Wolverton.<ref name="wolverton obituary"/><ref name="locus 20220114"/> 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.<ref name="wolverton obituary"/> Afterward, he attended Ricks College before transferring to Brigham Young University. He met his wife, Mary, there, and they married in the Provo Utah Temple on June 22, 1985. He and his wife had two daughters and three sons.<ref name="wolverton obituary"/>

He began writing in 1985 during college,<ref name="daily universe 20001022"/> publishing the short story "The Sky Is an Open Highway" in the fall 1985 issue of The Leading Edge.<ref name="locus 20220114"/><ref name="sfe entry"/> Following that, he entered short stories into various contests, eventually winning first place in the 1987 Writers of the Future contest with the novella "On My Way to Paradise".<ref name="locus 20220114"/> The story was expanded into the novel of the same name, published in 1989 through Bantam Spectra.<ref name="locus 20220114"/> The novel was nominated for multiple awards, including the Philip K. Dick Award for "Best Novel in the English Language".<ref name="sfe entry"/><ref name="isfdb on my way to paradise novel"/>

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.<ref name="daily universe 20001022"/><ref name="wotf bio"/> After co-editing volume 8 with Algis Budrys in 1992, he took over editing of the annual anthology from volume 9 until volume 14 before passing the role back to Algis Budrys.<ref name="isfdb wotf series"/> Wolverton again took over editing the anthology from K. D. Wentworth, beginning with volume 29 and continuing through volume 37.<ref name="isfdb wotf series"/>

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.<ref name="whitney 2009"/><ref name="isfdb whitney 2009"/> Wolverton also received an outstanding achievement award at the 2009 Whitneys.<ref name="isfdb whitney achievement 2009"/> In 2012, his young adult fantasy thriller Nightingale won the International Book Award for best Young Adult Novel of the Year,<ref name="intl book 2012"/> the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival,<ref name="hollywood book 2012"/> and the Southern California Book Festival for Best Young Adult Novel.<ref name="socal book fest 2012"/> It was also a finalist in the Global Ebook Awards.<ref name="global ebook 2012"/> He has been nominated for other awards, including the Nebula Award in the Best Novelette category for his short story "After a Lean Winter".<ref name="locus 20220114"/>

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 chose the pseudonym in order to have a name more fitting for a Fantasy author and so his physical books would be shelved closer to customers' eye levels in bookstores, rather than on lower shelves as the last name Wolverton had.<ref name="wolverton obituary"/>

Wolverton worked as an English professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University from 1999 to 2002,<ref name="wolverton obituary"/> and held writing workshops for aspiring and established writers.<ref name="locus 20220114"/> The creative writing class he taught at BYU was taken over by one of his former students, Brandon Sanderson.<ref name="sanderson tribute"/> He taught other writers such as Brandon Mull, Jessica Day George, Eric Flint, Stephenie Meyer, James Dashner, as well as others.<ref name="farland writing workshops"/><ref name="abc4 20220114"/><ref name="swnn 20220115"/>

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.<ref name="abc4 20220114"/><ref name="farland about official"/> He was working on a film adaptation of his Runelords series.<ref name="runelords movie"/>

On January 13, 2022, Wolverton suffered from a fall, resulting in a severe head injury and a hemorrhagic stroke.<ref name="locus 20220114"/><ref name="abc4 20220114"/> He was on life support until he died early the next morning at the age of 64 in St. George, Utah.<ref name="sfe entry"/><ref name="swnn 20220115"/><ref name="isfdb summary"/><ref name="kevin anderson post 2022"/><ref name="wolverton son post 2022"/> He was buried in the Tonaquint Cemetery in St. George, Utah.<ref name="wolverton obituary"/> At the time of his death he was known to be working on three books: A rewrite of 2011's Nightingale, a new Runelords installment titled A Tale of Tales, and a fourth book in his Ravenspell series titled S.W.A.R.M.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

BibliographyEdit

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

The Runelords

Serpent Catch
Originally released as two books:

Rereleased as four books under his Farland pseudonym:

The Golden Queen
Originally released as by Wolverton, later as by Farland:

An omnibus was also released as by Farland. A related short story was also released:

Ravenspell
A middle-grade fantasy series.

Star Wars

L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Wolverton edited the following anthologies:

Selected awards and honorsEdit

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

Year Organization Award title,
Category 		Work Result Refs
1987 Writers of the Future Fourth Quarter First Place "On My Way to Paradise" Template:Won <ref name="wotf 1987"/>
Golden Pen Award Template:Won
1990 Locus Locus Award,
Best First Novel 		On My Way to Paradise Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb locus award 1990"/>
Locus Award,
Best Science Fiction Novel 		On My Way to Paradise Template:Nom
Philadelphia Science Fiction Society Philip K. Dick Award On My Way to Paradise Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb pkd 1990"/>
1997 Locus Locus Award,
Best Novelette 		"After a Lean Winter" Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb locus award 1997"/>
Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Award,
Best Novelette 		Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb nebula 1997"/>
2005 Association for Mormon Letters AML Award,
Young Adult Literature 		Of Mice and Magic Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb aml 2005"/>
2008 LDStorymakers Whitney Award,
Best Speculative Fiction 		The Wyrmling Horde Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb whitney 2008"/>
2009 LDStorymakers Whitney Award,
Best Historical Fiction 		In the Company of Angels Template:Nom <ref name="isfdb whitney 2009"/>
Whitney Award,
Best Novel of the Year 		Template:Won
Whitney Award,
Outstanding Achievement 		– Template:Won

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

Interviews


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