- published: 01 Apr 2016
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Stephen Reeder Donaldson (born May 13, 1947) is an American fantasy, science fiction and mystery novelist, most famous for The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, his ten-novel fantasy series. His work is characterized by psychological complexity, conceptual abstractness, moral bleakness, and the use of an arcane vocabulary, and has attracted critical praise for its "imagination, vivid characterizations, and fast pace." He earned his bachelor's degree from The College of Wooster and a Master's degree from Kent State University. He currently resides in New Mexico.
In the United Kingdom he is usually called "Stephen Donaldson" (without the "R").
Donaldson was attending Kent State University as a graduate student at the time of the Kent State massacre on May 4, 1970. Though he was not on campus at the time of the shootings, his apartment was one and a half blocks away, and he was forced to live under martial law for three days afterwards. Donaldson does not like to discuss the incident, as he finds the memories disturbing. Donaldson is a fan of opera, and has said that he "love[s] that direct expression of passionate emotion in beautiful sound".