Timothy Zahn

Timothy Zahn (born September 1, 1951) is a science fiction novelist. He is best known for a Star Wars trilogy that takes place several years after the end of Return of the Jedi. These books led to a deluge of new Star Wars Expanded Universe novels and story collections by authors such as Kevin J. Anderson and Michael A. Stackpole.

Zahn's work isn't limited to Star Wars. He wrote the popular Conquerors' Trilogy, about a war between humans and a race of aliens that have seemingly indestructible spaceships and can remain in spirit form after death. He has also written short fiction; he won a Hugo award in 1984 for his novella Cascade Point.

Writing style

Zahn's characters are noteworthy for taking various pieces of information, putting together a picture of events, and planning a course of action around it. Sometimes, they have a correct picture based on very few facts, and other times they make incorrect assumptions but create a good plan out of it anyway. Grand Admiral Thrawn is, perhaps, the seminal example. Zahn's Star Wars books also usually focus on a certain core group: Luke Skywalker, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Jorj Car'das, Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Chiss species. As with the original Star Wars trilogy, all books in both The Thrawn Trilogy and The Hand of Thrawn Duology begin with an "exterior shot" of a Star Destroyer. Zahn tends to focus more on the thoughts of his characters rather than their feelings.

Zahn's books are often described as "fast-paced". For example, he tends to develop settings only as necessary to advance the plot.

A distinguishing mark of his work is his fondness for wordplay. For instance, in the Thrawn trilogy, the name "Thrawn" comes from a word meaning "twisted" and the names of two pets ("Sturm" and "Drang") come from a Romantic movement.

There exist certain sentence structures that are "pristine Zahn." For example, starting in the first Star Wars series (and especially in the second series) is his usage of the "What sentence." That is, to expose the plot in an interesting yet believable way, he will have a character say "what" and then introduce a creation of Zahn. For example, in "Vision of the Future" (page 124) Zahn invents the "bridgebreak confirmation" and has Han Solo explain it by asking Leia, "That's, what, the crypt-embedded code trick Ghent came up with a couple of months ago?" (on this, see also "Specter of the Past" page 170 and "Heir to the Empire" page 141)

Biography

Timothy Zahn was born in Chicago, Illinois. He attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill, and Zahn never completed the degree. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He is married to Anna, and they live in Oregon.

Bibliography

The Thrawn Trilogy

The Hand of Thrawn duology

Specter of the Past (1998)
Vision of the Future (1999)

Other Star Wars Novels

Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand - a graphic novel (1999)
Survivor's Quest (2004)
Outbound Flight (2006)
Allegiance (Release in February 2007)

Conquerors Trilogy

Conquerors' Pride (1994)
Conquerors' Heritage (1995)
Conquerors' Legacy (1996)

Cobra Series

Cobra (1986)
Cobra Strike
Cobra Bargain (1988)

The first two were also released in one compilation called Cobras Two in 1992. A complete compilation was released as the Cobra Trilogy in 2004. See COBRA (novels) for more detail.

Blackcollar Series

The Blackcollar (1983)
The Backlash Mission (1986)
The Judas Solution (2006)

Both The Blackcollar and The Backlash Mission were released in one joint novel titled Blackcollar in 2006

Dragonback Series

Dragon and Thief (2003)
Dragon and Soldier (2004)
Dragon and Slave (2005)
Dragon and Herdsman (2006)

Other novels

A Coming of Age (1985)
Triplet (1987)
Spinneret (1985)
Deadman Switch (1988)
War Horse (1990)
The Icarus Hunt (1999)
Angelmass (2001)
Manta's Gift (2002)
Green and the Gray (2004)
Night Train to Rigel (2005)

Collections

Cascade Point and Other Stories (1986)
Time Bomb and Zahndry Others (1988)
Distant Friends and Other Stories (1992)
Star Song and Other Stories (2002)

External links

Bibliography on SciFan
Interview online at Starwars.com

American science fiction writers | Star Wars-related people | Hugo Award winning authors | 1951 births | Living people

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