About

David Louis Edelman is a science fiction novelist and web programmer. He has been a finalist for both the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the John W. Campbell Award for Best Novel.

His first novel, Infoquake, was published in summer 2006 by Pyr, an imprint of Prometheus Books. Barnes & Noble Explorations called the book “the love child of Donald Trump and Vernor Vinge,” then later named it their Top SF Novel of 2006. Infoquake was also nominated for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Novel. The book was re-released in mass market paperback by Solaris Books in 2008, as an audiobook by Audible in 2012, and in e-book format by Baen in 2019. Infoquake has been translated into Greek, Polish, and Russian.

His second novel, MultiReal (the sequel to Infoquake), was called “a thoroughly-successful hybrid of Neuromancer and Wall Street” by Hugo nominee Peter Watts and listed as one of the top SF novels of 2008 by io9, Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist and SFFWorld. The book was released as an audiobook by Audible in 2012 and in e-book format by Baen in 2019. MultiReal has been translated into Polish and Russian. The year 2008 also saw the publication of his short story “Mathralon” in The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, Volume Two, and his introduction to Overlook Press’ new edition of Mervyn Peake’s Titus Alone.

His third novel, Geosynchron (the concluding volume of the Jump 225 trilogy), was released in February of 2010. Fantasy Book Critic called the book “an A+ and so far the best core-SF novel I’ve read in 2010.” The book’s publication caused Locus magazine to say of the Jump 225 trilogy, “This smart, idiosyncratic blend of cyberpunk, libertarian entrepreneurship, and social engineering will, I think, stand as a seminal work of 21st century SF.” The book was released as an audiobook by Audible in 2012 and in e-book format by Baen in 2019, as well as translated into Polish and Russian.

In addition to writing novels, Dave has also programmed websites for the U.S. Army, the FBI, the Jesuit Conference of America, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and Rolls-Royce; taught software to the U.S. Congress and the World Bank; written articles for the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun; and directed the marketing departments of biometric and e-commerce companies. Dave is well-versed in PHP, WordPress, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS, and is an expert in web usability, web design, search engine optimization, and writing for the web.

Dave was born in 1971 and grew up in Orange County, California. He attended the Johns Hopkins University’s Writing Seminars program from 1989 to 1993, where he studied under such writers as Edna O’Brien, Madison Smartt Bell, and Stephen Dixon. He currently lives in Reston, Virginia.

1. Who are you?
   I’m the author of the Jump 225 Trilogy, including the novels Infoquake (2006) MultiReal (2008) and Geosynchron (2010). I’m also a web programmer, consultant, and designer. I live in Reston, Virginia and work for a brand and identity consulting firm called Beveridge Seay (yes, I programmed that site).
2. Are you related to R. David Edelman, David C. Edelman, Julian Edelman, Scott Edelman, Alex Edelman, Marian Wright Edelman, Ric Edelman, Randy Edelman, Herb Edelman, or the Edelman PR firm?
   No.
3. How about David Blank-Edelman?
   Yes.
4. What is the Jump 225 Trilogy about?
   My original elevator pitch for the trilogy was “Dune meets the Wall Street Journal.” But I’ve also heard “Neuromancer meets Wall Street,” “Boston Legal meets The Matrix,” and “the love child of Donald Trump and Vernor Vinge.” Any of those will do.
5. Are foreign rights and film rights still available for Infoquake, MultiReal, and Geosynchron?
   Yes. See the Contact page for information about who to talk to if you’re interested.
6. Are the characters in the Jump 225 Trilogy based on people you know in real life?
   The characters of Natch, Jara, and Horvil aren’t based on any one particular person. They share a number of characteristics with various people I’ve worked with at dot-coms over the years. But they’re all heavily fictionalized.

7. The Jump 225 books have a lot of politics and economics in them. How do you lean politically?
   I'm a Democrat. Though there are certain issues I'm left of the party and a select few where I lean more libertarian.
8. Why’s the trilogy called “Jump 225” anyway? It’s barely mentioned in the series.
   Re-read Natch’s dream sequence at the end of chapter 7. It sets up all of the key themes and metaphors for all three books, as well as the plot structure. It might make more sense after you finish Geosynchron.
9. Who are your favorite authors?
   Some of my favorites, in alphabetical order: Douglas Adams, Paul Auster, Nicholson Baker, John Barth, Philip K. Dick, Stephen R. Donaldson, William Gibson, Joseph Heller, Frank Herbert, Robert Jordan, Franz Kafka, George R.R. Martin, China Mieville, Tim O’Brien, Mervyn Peake, Thomas Pynchon, Philip Roth, John Steinbeck, Neal Stephenson, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Kurt Vonnegut.
10. What are you working on now?
    As of this writing (November 2023), I am working on a new novel (not related to the Jump 225 books) called The Queen of Patterns. There is no current expected completion or publication date.
11. Haven't you been working on The Queen of Patterns, like, forever?
    You have no idea.
12. What kind of programming do you do?
    A mix of front-end work with HTML/CSS/JavaScript and back-end work with PHP. I do a lot of work with CMS’s like WordPress and Drupal, and interactives with Vue.js and AngularJS.

View an archive of video interviews, audio interviews, and print interviews with Dave.