David Herter is an American author. His first

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

was '' Ceres Storm'' (2000), chosen as one of the ten best books of 2000 by the Elliott Bay Book Company, followed by '' Evening's Empire'' in 2002.Sallis, James. "BOOKS." Fantasy & Science Fiction 101.2 (Aug. 2001): 43. '' Ceres Storm'' is a far-future space opera, telling of a boy's quest across a solar system ravaged by a nano-plague. '' Evening's Empire'', set on the Oregon coast, concerns a bereaved opera composer drawn to the small town of Evening, and to mysteries that accord strangely with his current project, an adaptation of

Jules Verne Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...

's 1870 novel ''

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas ''Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas'' () is a science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may inclu ...

''. Real-life composers figure heavily in Herter's First Republic trilogy (comprising ''On the Overgrown Path'' (2006), ''The Luminous Depths'' (2008) and ''One Who Disappeared''). Set in interbellum Czechoslovakia, the trilogy stars

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

Pavel Haas Pavel Haas (21 June 189917 October 1944) was a Czech composer who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music and jazz. Although his output was not l ...

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

and

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

, as well as the writer

Karel Čapek Karel Čapek (; 9 January 1890 – 25 December 1938) was a Czech writer, playwright, critic and journalist. He has become best known for his science fiction, including his novel '' War with the Newts'' (1936) and play '' R.U.R.'' (''Rossum' ...

and his artist-brother Josef Čapek. The narrative employs modes of science fiction, fantasy and horror found in the works of Čapek and

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a novelist and writer from Prague who was Jewish, Austrian, and Czech and wrote in German. He is widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of Litera ...

, among others, and weaves a story that crosses and recrosses the fault lines of the short-lived Czechoslovak Republic. Critic and author

Brian Stableford Brian Michael Stableford (25 July 1948 – 24 February 2024) was a British academic, critic and science fiction writer who published a hundred novels and over a hundred volumes of translations. His earlier books were published under the name Br ...

says in his introduction to ''One Who Disappeared'', "David Herter’s trilogy, to which ''One Who Disappeared'' provides a spectacular and moving conclusion, does not fall; on the contrary, it remains perfectly suspended, sturdy and elegant—and by virtue of its topography, it does not, like more myopic literary projects, taper off into soothing closure, but opens wide to an even vaster and more glorious universe of possibility." Herter lives in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

Bibliography

Novels and novellas

*'' Ceres Storm'' (Tor, 2000) *'' Evening's Empire'' (Tor, 2002) *''October Dark'' (Earthling Publications, 2010)

"First Republic" trilogy

*''On the Overgrown Path'' (PS Publishing, 2006) *''The Luminous Depths'' (PS Publishing, 2008) *''One Who Disappeared'' (PS Publishing, 2011)

Short stories

"Black and Green and Gold" :*Featured in '' Postrscripts 3'' edited by Peter Crowther (PS Publishing, 2005) :*Also featured in ''The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: The Year's Best Terror Tales'' edited by Stephen Jones (Running Press, 2006) "Islands Off the Coast of Capitola, 1978"
A Tor.com Original

References and links

David Herter's blog Entry on David Herter in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herter, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male writers Writers from Seattle