Palmer was born at Chicago[2] and studied at Highland Park High School.
His second novel, Threshold (ISBN 0-553-24878-2), was published as the first book in the To Halt Armageddon trilogy[6] in 1985.
The "About the Author" section of Threshold states that David is "currently working on the sequel to Threshold, also to be published by Bantam",[2] to be called Spēcial Education,[7] which was eventually published in 2019 by Eric Flint's Ring of Fire Press.
After sitting on his desk for almost 13 years,[9] this book was finally released by Ring of Fire Press in 2021.
[10] The author had stated on Facebook (19 Dec 2014) that cover illustrations were in production and following that Wormhole Press will move into hardcover and e-book publication.