Timothy Zahn Article Index for
Timothy
Website Links For
Timothy
 

Information About

Timothy Zahn




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. , 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 we have a character say "what" and then introduce a creation of Zahn. For example, in "Vision of the Future" (page 124) Zahn invents the "bridebreak 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



Other Star Wars Novels



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 release as the ''Cobra Trilogy'' in 2004. See COBRA (novels) for more detail.


Blackcollar Series

  • ''The Blackcollar'' (1983)

  • ''The Backlash Mission'' (1986)

  • ''The Judas Solution'' (Release in May 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'' (Release in May 2006)



Other novels

  • ''The Firebird''(1979)

  • ''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)



SEE ALSO



EXTERNAL LINKS


  NAME Zahn, Timothy
  SHORT DESCRIPTION Science Fiction novelist
  DATE OF BIRTH September 1 , 1951
  PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago, Illinois