Lincoln Child

Author profile

born

Westport, Connecticut, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.prestonchild.com/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers

About this author

edit data

Lincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut, which he still calls his hometown (despite the fact that he left the place before he reached his first birthday and now only goes back for weekends).

Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen short stories composed during his youth, he wrote a science-fiction novel in tenth grade called Second Son of Daedalus and a shamelessly Tolkeinesque fantasy in twelfth grade titled The Darkness to the North (left unfinished at 400 manuscript pages). Both are exquisitely embarrassing to read today and are kept under lock and key by the author.

After a c...more Lincoln Child was born in Westport, Connecticut, which he still calls his hometown (despite the fact that he left the place before he reached his first birthday and now only goes back for weekends).

Lincoln seemed to have acquired an interest in writing as early as second grade, when he wrote a short story entitled Bumble the Elephant (now believed by scholars to be lost). Along with two dozen short stories composed during his youth, he wrote a science-fiction novel in tenth grade called Second Son of Daedalus and a shamelessly Tolkeinesque fantasy in twelfth grade titled The Darkness to the North (left unfinished at 400 manuscript pages). Both are exquisitely embarrassing to read today and are kept under lock and key by the author.

After a childhood that is of interest only to himself, Lincoln graduated from Carleton College (huh?) in Northfield, Minnesota, majoring in English. Discovering a fascination for words, and their habit of turning up in so many books, he made his way to New York in the summer of 1979, intent on finding a job in publishing. He was lucky enough to secure a position as editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press.

Over the next several years, he clawed his way up the editorial hierarchy, moving to assistant editor to associate editor before becoming a full editor in 1984. While at St. Martin's, he was associated with the work of many authors, including that of James Herriot and M. M. Kaye. He edited well over a hundred books--with titles as diverse as The Notation of Western Music and Hitler's Rocket Sites--but focused primarily on American and English popular fiction.

While at St. Martin's, Lincoln assembled several collections of ghost and horror stories, beginning with the hardcover collections Dark Company (1984) and Dark Banquet (1985). Later, when he founded the company's mass-market horror division, he edited three more collections of ghost stories, Tales of the Dark 1-3.

In 1987, Lincoln left trade publishing to work at MetLife. In a rather sudden transition, he went from editing manuscripts, speaking at sales conferences, and wining/dining agents to doing highly technical programming and systems analysis. Though the switch might seem bizarre, Lincoln was a propeller-head from a very early age, and his extensive programming experience dates back to high school, when he worked with DEC minis and the now-prehistoric IBM 1620, so antique it actually had an electric typewriter mounted into its front panel. Away from the world of publishing, Lincoln's own nascent interests in writing returned. While at MetLife, Relic was published, and within a few years Lincoln had left the company to write full time. He now lives in New Jersey (under protest--just kidding) with his wife and daughter.

A dilettante by natural inclination, Lincoln's interests include: pre-1950s literature and poetry; post-1950s popular fiction; playing the piano, various MIDI instruments, and the 5-string banjo; English and American history; motorcycles; architecture; classical music, early jazz, blues, and R&B; exotic parrots; esoteric programming languages; mountain hiking; bow ties; Italian suits; fedoras; archaeology; and multiplayer deathmatching.(less)

combine editions
Books by Lincoln Child

Average rating: 3.92 · 124,123 ratings · 8,243 reviews · 46 distinct works

	Deep Storm 3.73 avg rating — 4,612 ratings — published 2007 — 29 editions	My rating:
	Terminal Freeze 3.53 avg rating — 2,549 ratings — published 2008 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Utopia 3.74 avg rating — 2,083 ratings — published 2002 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Death Match 3.60 avg rating — 1,920 ratings — published 2004 — 23 editions	My rating:
	Fever Dream (Pendergast, #10) by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child 3.99 avg rating — 5,398 ratings — published 2010 — 26 editions	My rating:
	The Third Gate: A Novel 4.02 avg rating — 49 ratings — published 2011 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Ice Limit: La Barriere de Glace by Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child 3.76 avg rating — 4,282 ratings — published 2000 — 36 editions	My rating:
	Dark Company 4.11 avg rating — 9 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	Dark Banquet: A Feast of Twelve Great Ghost Stories 3.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 1985	My rating:
	Tales Of The Dark by Lincoln Child (Editor), Edgar Allan Poe (Contributor), William Hope Hodgson (Contributor) 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings	My rating:

More books by Lincoln Child…

Series by Lincoln Child

Tales of the Dark (3 books)
by Lincoln Child (Editor), Ramsey Campbell (Contributor), M.R. James (Contributor), E.F. Benson (Contributor), Walter de la Mare (Contributor), H. Russell Wakefield (Contributor), H.P. Lovecraft (Contributor), J.B. Priestley (Contributor) , more...

4.14 avg rating — 7 ratings

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Quotes by Lincoln Child

“Admiral Spartan thinks that the object must be exposed and penetrated with all possible speed.”
― Lincoln Child

tags: humorous

2 people liked it

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
the Dragon Riders...: Good names for dragons. . .	19	90	May 07, 2009 10:59pm
Glens Falls (NY) ...: "Terminal Freeze" by Lincoln Child	5	15	Jul 23, 2009 06:44pm
Novel Ladies: Past Cocktail Hour Discussions	6	88	Nov 17, 2009 12:42pm
Novel Ladies: Author Alphabet	1287	93	Dec 01, 2009 05:58am
The Next Best Boo...: JG's 2009 Reading List	32	316	Jan 10, 2010 10:30pm
I Can't Wait To R...: New Release Book A Month Challenge!	14	85	May 04, 2010 01:59pm
Novel Ladies: NYT Bestseller List - May 21st, 2010	3	16	May 21, 2010 02:28pm
The Seasonal Read...: 30.5 (PJ Reads' Task - As Suggested By Tanja - Six Degrees of Separation)	349	356	May 26, 2010 07:44am
Novel Ladies: NYT Bestseller List - May 28th, 2010	3	12	May 28, 2010 12:50pm

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite Lincoln to Goodreads.

Lincoln's Fans (703)