After majoring in, at various times, philosophy, anthropology, linguistics and physics, David Zindell graduated in 1984 from the University of Colorado with a degree in mathematics. All this proved helpful in his turn toward writing science fiction, a literature which he had always read and loved. An early story, “Shanidar,” won first prize in the Writers of the Future contest. Neverness, a novel set in the same universe, was nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award for best novel published in England and also nominated for the Campbell Award. A successor trilogy, A Requiem for Homo Sapiens, came next. He is presently working on the fourth book of Ea Cycle, a Grail quest to end all Grail quests. It is an exploration of good and evil, as well as a statement as to the possibilities open to humankind.