After studying philosophy, anthropology, linguistics, and physics, David Zindell moved to the Rocky Mountains to devote himself to skiing, rock climbing, and writing. Writing won out and became the passion of his life. His story 'Shanidar' won the Writers of the Future contest, and he was nominated for a Hugo award for best new writer of the year. His internationally bestselling novel Neverness was shortlisted for the Arthur C Clark Award. His successive works include the Requiem For Homo Sapiens trilogy and epic Grail quest, The Ea Cycle. His most recent novels were The Idiot Gods, which tells of the orca Arjuna's quest to speak to the human race about the future of life on earth, and The Remembrancer's Tale, a return to the Neverness universe.