About Stephen Prendergast

Stephen Prendergast is the author of The Sword of Digez and The Cult of Tuphrak, the first two books of his planned six-book series, The Golden Zilant. The son of an artist/musician mother and an architect father, his own creative endeavors led him to become a lifelong writer and creator of stories. In college he dabbled in life sciences until Organic Chemistry changed his mind and set him on a path to the Humanities. After graduating with a BA in Classical Humanities and a MA in Comparative Literature, he moved into education and has taught English at many levels. In addition to teaching, he has been a photojournalist and a sports writer focusing on youth and professional soccer. He continues to write occasionally for a local newspaper in San Diego, CA, and is a partner in a small media company. 

About The Golden Zilant Series

The idea for The Golden Zilant series was inspired in part by the Dragon Knight books by Gordon R. Dickson, in which a man from our reality is originally sent into an alternate reality of talking dragons to rescue his fiance. While there would be no talking dragons in The Golden Zilant series (although a zilant is a type of wyvern), the alternate reality angle caught the author’s attention. His first iteration had the MMC’s fiance kidnapped and taken to the alternate reality, but the story never got beyond that. The final version kept the alternate reality and introduced two MMCs and a cast of major side characters for them to interact with.

The Golden Zilant was originally meant to be a standalone novel, but during the pandemic the time spent alone gave the characters a chance to come alive in the author’s mind. From a 70,000+ word novel, the story grew rapidly into a 300,000+ word trilogy, and then to a five- and finally six-book series. Over the course of development, the main plot line expanded and multiple side plots were created. What has remained has been an element of Tatar folklore that was inspired by a friend of the author who was ethnic Tatar. Thus the Khazari language is inspired by the Tatar language (although not a direct one-to-one correspondence) as are many names of characters and places. This inspirational friend has been honored in the character of Melzykyya, a young woman who plays a pivotal role in the overarching conflict. Several other characters were similarly inspired by people the author knew when the idea was first developed, including co-MC Jason Elser, Aldachi (Lieutenant) Taliana, and Toktamysh, the only survivor of the destruction of a small avil (village).