author
David Ely
b. 1927
A journalist-turned-novelist, he wrote tense, idea-rich fiction that often pushed ordinary men into unsettling moral and psychological tests. He is especially remembered for Seconds, the novel adapted into John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film.
1 Audiobook
The wizard of light
by David Ely
About the author
Born in Chicago in 1927, David Ely wrote under a pen name derived from his full name, David Eli Lilienthal. Reliable reference sources describe him as an American journalist and novelist, educated at the University of North Carolina, Harvard, and Oxford.
He began publishing fiction in the early 1960s and became known for suspenseful, often speculative stories. Reference works and publisher material consistently single out Seconds as his best-known novel, and note that it was adapted for the screen in 1966. He also wrote other novels and short fiction, with work appearing in magazines including The Atlantic, Playboy, and Kenyon Review.
Critics have described his books as thrillers with a strong moral and psychological edge. Science-fiction reference sources highlight works such as The Last Friday in August and A Journal of the Flood Year, showing how his writing moved easily between mainstream suspense and speculative fiction.