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Child, Lincoln

(1957-    ) US anthologist and author, whose earlier novels of sf interest were written in collaboration with Douglas Preston, either as by Lincoln Preston (for some UK releases) or more usually under both real names. Their venue tends to be a version of New York in which Horror-tinged sf conceits are told in an Urban Fantasy frame [for this term, plus Edifice and Technofantasy below, see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]; there are several continuing characters, most consistently FBI Agent Pendergast, who features in a series of Technofantasy thrillers beginning with Relic (1995), in which the Edificial Museum of Natural History in New York is invaded from beneath by a Monster or monsters ancestral to the city; this was filmed, with the location switched to Chicago, as The Relic (1997) directed by Peter Hyams. The pattern is repeated in Reliquary (1997), where experiments in Genetic Engineering have gone savagely wrong (see Devolution); the Wainscot Societies inhabiting tunnels deep Underground beneath Manhattan are intricately conceived. The Cabinet of Curiosities (2002) with Preston, is an Immortality tale, which again takes place mostly Underground, where a nineteenth century "cabinet of curiosities" had acquired a life of its own. Later volumes vary the mix.

Death Match (2004), a singleton by Child alone, is a Technothriller. Though it is also told in a technothriller idiom, the Jeremy Logan sequence seems more ambitious. The first tale in the series, Deep Storm (2007), tracks the discovery of what first seems to be Atlantis two miles deep under the ocean, but turns out to be an ancient dangerous-waste depository established by Aliens from the stars. The second instalment, Terminal Freeze (2009), is set in the Arctic as global warming (see Climate Change) begins to bite, and a giant prehistoric predator, again possibly of Alien origin, is discovered in the melting ice; it awakens.

Child's anthologies competently traverse a moderately wide range of horror. [JC]

Lincoln B Child

born Westport, Connecticut: 13 October 1957

works (selected)

series

Pendergast

• Relic (New York: Tor/Forge, 1995) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Jim Thiesen]
  • Relic (London: Bantam, 1996) with Douglas Preston, writing together as Lincoln Preston [Pendergast: pb/]
• Reliquary (New York: Tor/Forge, 1997) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Shelley Eshkar]
  • Reliquary (London: Bantam, 1998) with Douglas Preston, writing together as Lincoln Preston [Pendergast: pb/John Alexander]
• The Cabinet of Curiosities (New York: Warner Books, 2003) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Tony Greco]
• Still Life With Crows (New York: Warner Books, 2003) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/]
• The Wheel of Darkness (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2007) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Stanislaw Fernandez]
• Cemetery Dance (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2009) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Stanislaw Fernandez]
• White Fire (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2013) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Alan Hicks]
• Blue Labyrinth (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2014) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Eric Norris and Hang Pun]
• Crimson Shore (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2015) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Harold Braun]
• The Obsidian Chamber (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/]
• City of Endless Night (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2018) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/Scott Nobles]
• Verses for the Dead (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2018) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: hb/]

Pendergast: Diogenes Trilogy

• Brimstone (New York: Warner Books, 2004) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Diogenes Trilogy: hb/Stanislaw Fernandez]
• Dance of Death (New York: Warner Books, 2005) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Diogenes Trilogy: hb/Stanislaw Fernandez]
• Book of the Dead (New York: Warner Books, 2006) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Diogenes Trilogy: hb/Stanislaw Fernandez]

Pendergast: Gideon

• Gideon's Sword (New York: Grand Central, 2011) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Gideon: hb/]
• Gideon's Corpse (New York: Grand Central, 2012) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Gideon: hb/]

Pendergast: Helen

• Fever Dream (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2010) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Helen: hb/Flag]
• Cold Vengeance (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2011) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Helen: hb/]
• Two Graves (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2012) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Helen: hb/]

Pendergast: Nora Kelly

• Old Bones (New York: Grand Central, 2019) with Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Nora Kelly: hb/]
• The Scorpion's Tail (New York: Grand Central, 2021) Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Nora Kelly: hb/]
• Diablo Mesa (New York: Grand Central, 2022) Douglas Preston [Pendergast: Nora Kelly: hb/]

Jeremy Logan

• Deep Storm (New York: Doubleday, 2007) [Jeremy Logan: hb/Shasti O'Leary Soudant]
• Terminal Freeze (New York: Doubleday, 2009) [Jeremy Logan: hb/Shasti O'Leary Soudant]
• The Third Gate (New York: Doubleday, 2012) [Jeremy Logan: hb/Will Staehle]
• The Forgotten Room (New York: Doubleday, 2015) [Jeremy Logan: hb/]
• Full Wolf Moon (New York: Doubleday, 2017) [Jeremy Logan: hb/Will Staehle]
• Chrysalis (New York: Doubleday, 2022) [Jeremy Logan: hb/]

individual titles

• Mount Dragon (New York: Tor/Forge, 1996) as by Lincoln Preston [hb/Shelley Eshkar]
• Riptide (New York: Warner Books, 1998) with Douglas Preston [hb/Tony Greco Associates]
• Thunderhead (New York: Warner Books, 1999) with Douglas Preston [hb/]
• Land of Fire (New York: Warner Books, 2000) with Douglas Preston [hb/]
• The Ice Limit (New York: Warner Books, 2000) with Douglas Preston [hb/Franco Accornero]
• Death Match (New York: Doubleday Books, 2004) [hb/]

works as editor

• Dark Company: The Ten Greatest Ghost Stories (New York: St Martin's Press, 1984) [anth: hb/]
• Dark Banquet: A Feast of Twelve Great Ghost Stories (New York: St Martin's Press, 1985) [anth: hb/Janet Tigney]
• Tales of the Dark (New York: St Martin's Press, 1987) [anth: Tales of the Dark: pb/]
• Tales of the Dark 2 (New York: St Martin's Press, 1987) [anth: Tales of the Dark: pb/]
• Tales of the Dark 3 (New York: St Martin's Press, 1988) [anth: Tales of the Dark: pb/]

links

• Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Encyclopedia of Fantasy: Urban Fantasy; Technofantasy; Urban Fantasy.
• Picture Gallery

Entry from The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (2011-current) edited by John Clute and David Langford.
Accessed 16:21 pm on 13 March 2026.
<https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/child_lincoln>