Jerrold David Friedman
pen name: David Gerrold
born Chicago, Illinois: 24 January 1944
David Gerrold is an American author (mostly of novels), and a TV and film screenwriter of science fiction, and also a writer of science non-fiction books.
His earliest commercial sales were TV scripts, and he is probably best known for his TV and film work. He wrote the Trouble with Tribbles episode of Star Trek: TOS, several Star Trek: Animated Series episodes, and co-wrote others. He is responsible for giving James T. Kirk the middle name ‘Tiberius’. He also wrote for the TV series The Twilight Zone; Babylon 5; Sliders; and Land of the Lost, where he created the Sleestak race. He wrote several film tie-ins and film novelisations including Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
His first novel was The Flying Sorcerers (1970), in If as The Misspelled Magician (1971) (co-written with Larry Niven). This is a comic attempt to provide scientific rationale to a variety of incidents which appear to be magic, when an explorer is stranded on a primitive planet.
His first solo novel, Space Skimmer (1972), concerns a man searching for a vanished galactic empire and its spaceships.
His best-known novel may be When Harlie Was One (1972) the final part of a series of shorter works written as early as 1969, concerning the evolution of artificial Intelligence in a computer, and this novel is notable for being one of the first to describe a computer virus.
The Man Who Folded Himself (1973) concerns a man who inherits a time-travel belt, meets other versions of himself, doubled through a time paradox, and makes love to several of them (both male and female).
Moonstar Odyssey (1977) concerns a terraformed planet where a young girl, Jobe, is sent to Option, the island of learning on the planet, to decide who she must be. This was the first book in a series that was never completed.
Another notable book would be The Martian Child (2002). A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who claims he is from Mars. (Gerrold did in fact adopt a child.)
He is also known for his War Against the Chtorr series, consisting of A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1984), A Rage for Revenge (1989) and A Season for Slaughter (1992), but two further books that have been written remain unpublished, Method for Madness (unpublished), A Time for Treason (unpublished), and a final planned seventh book looks unlikely to ever be written. This series concerns an alien invasion that is an ecological one. Instead of Earth attempting to terraform another planet, the aliens are ‘Chtorraforming’ the planet Earth. There is no army, but instead plants and animals from an older, more evolved planet are unleashed by the aggressors.
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series, concerning the star ship Star Wolf, and consisting of Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972). Yesterday’s Children being developed from a rejected Star Trek proposal.
He has written YA space opera in his Starsiders/Chigger series, beginning with Jumping Off the Planet (2000).
He is also known for his prediction, in 1999, that cell phones would evolve into devices he called ‘Personal Information Telecommunications Agent’, and accurately described a modern smartphone.
He has also made several uncredited appearances on the TV series The Big Bang Theory.
His works have made a couple of appearances as the answers to queries in our SFF Chronicles Book Search forum.
A list of his works is to be found here: Summary Bibliography: David Gerrold
Wikipedia page: David Gerrold - Wikipedia
pen name: David Gerrold
born Chicago, Illinois: 24 January 1944
David Gerrold is an American author (mostly of novels), and a TV and film screenwriter of science fiction, and also a writer of science non-fiction books.
His earliest commercial sales were TV scripts, and he is probably best known for his TV and film work. He wrote the Trouble with Tribbles episode of Star Trek: TOS, several Star Trek: Animated Series episodes, and co-wrote others. He is responsible for giving James T. Kirk the middle name ‘Tiberius’. He also wrote for the TV series The Twilight Zone; Babylon 5; Sliders; and Land of the Lost, where he created the Sleestak race. He wrote several film tie-ins and film novelisations including Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
His first novel was The Flying Sorcerers (1970), in If as The Misspelled Magician (1971) (co-written with Larry Niven). This is a comic attempt to provide scientific rationale to a variety of incidents which appear to be magic, when an explorer is stranded on a primitive planet.
His first solo novel, Space Skimmer (1972), concerns a man searching for a vanished galactic empire and its spaceships.
His best-known novel may be When Harlie Was One (1972) the final part of a series of shorter works written as early as 1969, concerning the evolution of artificial Intelligence in a computer, and this novel is notable for being one of the first to describe a computer virus.
The Man Who Folded Himself (1973) concerns a man who inherits a time-travel belt, meets other versions of himself, doubled through a time paradox, and makes love to several of them (both male and female).
Moonstar Odyssey (1977) concerns a terraformed planet where a young girl, Jobe, is sent to Option, the island of learning on the planet, to decide who she must be. This was the first book in a series that was never completed.
Another notable book would be The Martian Child (2002). A single man who writes science fiction books and screenplays for a living, adopts a son who claims he is from Mars. (Gerrold did in fact adopt a child.)
He is also known for his War Against the Chtorr series, consisting of A Matter for Men (1983), A Day for Damnation (1984), A Rage for Revenge (1989) and A Season for Slaughter (1992), but two further books that have been written remain unpublished, Method for Madness (unpublished), A Time for Treason (unpublished), and a final planned seventh book looks unlikely to ever be written. This series concerns an alien invasion that is an ecological one. Instead of Earth attempting to terraform another planet, the aliens are ‘Chtorraforming’ the planet Earth. There is no army, but instead plants and animals from an older, more evolved planet are unleashed by the aggressors.
Gerrold is also the author of the Star Wolf series, concerning the star ship Star Wolf, and consisting of Voyage of the Star Wolf (1990), The Middle of Nowhere (1995), Blood and Fire (2004), and Yesterday's Children (1972). Yesterday’s Children being developed from a rejected Star Trek proposal.
He has written YA space opera in his Starsiders/Chigger series, beginning with Jumping Off the Planet (2000).
He is also known for his prediction, in 1999, that cell phones would evolve into devices he called ‘Personal Information Telecommunications Agent’, and accurately described a modern smartphone.
He has also made several uncredited appearances on the TV series The Big Bang Theory.
His works have made a couple of appearances as the answers to queries in our SFF Chronicles Book Search forum.
A list of his works is to be found here: Summary Bibliography: David Gerrold
Wikipedia page: David Gerrold - Wikipedia
