A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
77-458: John David Wolverton (May 28, 1957 – January 14, 2022), better known by his pen names Dave Wolverton and David Farland , was an American author, editor, and instructor of online writing workshops and groups. He wrote in several genres but was known best for his science fiction and fantasy works. Books in his Runelords series hit the New York Times bestsellers list. In 1987, he won
154-496: A haigō (俳号). The haiku poet Matsuo Bashō had used two other haigō before he became fond of a banana plant ( bashō ) that had been given to him by a disciple and started using it as his pen name at the age of 36. Similar to a pen name, Japanese artists usually have a gō or art-name , which might change a number of times during their career. In some cases, artists adopted different gō at different stages of their career, usually to mark significant changes in their life. One of
231-530: A "Weekly Update" in his YouTube channel which will give updates on his current projects every week. On May 26, Brandon Sanderson revealed the title and cover for "Cytonic", the third book of his Skyward series, which was published on November 23, 2021. Sanderson started a new podcast in June 2021 called 'Intentionally Blank', with friend and fellow science fiction author Dan Wells . Sanderson announced in March 2022 that, over
308-537: A "back-translation" from English. The French usage is nom de guerre (a more generalised term for 'pseudonym'). Since guerre means 'war' in French, nom de guerre confused some English speakers, who "corrected" the French metaphor. This phrase precedes "pen name", being attested to The Knickerbocker , in 1841. An author may use a pen name if their real name is likely to be confused with that of another author or other significant individual. For instance, in 1899
385-542: A Swedish author of the 19th century, wrote under the name Ernst Ahlgren. The science fiction author Alice B. Sheldon for many years published under the masculine name of James Tiptree, Jr. , the discovery of which led to a deep discussion of gender in the genre. More recently, women who write in genres commonly written by men sometimes choose to use initials, such as K. A. Applegate , C. J. Cherryh , P. N. Elrod , D. C. Fontana , S. E. Hinton , G. A. Riplinger , J. D. Robb , and J. K. Rowling . Alternatively, they may use
462-428: A book he wrote based on a story by L. Ron Hubbard . He wrote under his own name at the beginning of his career, changing to the pseudonym David Farland in the mid-1990s with the release of the first Runelords book. Wolverton chose the pseudonym in order to have a name more fitting for a Fantasy author and so his physical books would be shelved closer to customers' eye levels in bookstores, rather than on lower shelves as
539-544: A bookstore" called Dragonsteel Plaza. Sanderson first turned to Kickstarter in 2020, when he generated $ 6.7 million from almost 30,000 backers to produce a collectable leather-bound 10th anniversary edition of the Stormlight Archive novel, The Way of Kings. In 2022, in his second Kickstarter project, Brandon Sanderson raised over $ 41.7 million for four secret books, all intended as stand-alone novels, through Dragonsteel Entertainment. The crowdfunding campaign became
616-824: A fall, resulting in a severe head injury and a hemorrhagic stroke . He was on life support until he died early the next morning at the age of 64 in St. George, Utah . He was buried in the Tonaquint Cemetery in St. George, Utah. At the time of his death he was known to be working on three books: A rewrite of 2011's Nightingale , a new Runelords installment titled A Tale of Tales , and a fourth book in his Ravenspell series titled S.W.A.R.M. The Runelords Serpent Catch Originally released as two books: Rereleased as four books under his Farland pseudonym: The Golden Queen Originally released as by Wolverton, later as by Farland: An omnibus
693-475: A four-book series. It debuted at number nine on the combined print and e-book New York Times Best Seller list . On August 31, 2012, Sanderson published a science fiction novella entitled Legion , followed by another short work titled The Emperor's Soul . In 2013, Sanderson published two new young adult series. These series included The Rithmatist and the first of The Reckoners series titled Steelheart . In March 2014, Words of Radiance ,
770-587: A group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. The first of his " laws of magic " were first published in 2007, with the second and third published in 2012 and 2013 (respectively). In 2008, the third and final book in the Mistborn trilogy was published, titled The Hero of Ages , as well as the second book in the Alcatraz series, titled Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones . That same year, he started
847-454: A novella e-book, Infinity Blade: Awakening , based on the action role-playing , iOS video game Infinity Blade , developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games . In November 2011, he published a sequel to the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Alloy of Law . It was originally planned as a standalone novel set about 300 years after the original trilogy, but it was later expanded into
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#1732916779582924-487: A pen name is used because an author believes that their name does not suit the genre they are writing in. Western novelist Pearl Gray dropped his first name and changed the spelling of his last name to Zane Grey because he believed that his real name did not suit the Western genre. Romance novelist Angela Knight writes under that name instead of her actual name (Julie Woodcock) because of the double entendre of her surname in
1001-534: A pen name may preserve an author's long-term anonymity . Pen name is formed by joining pen with name . Its earliest use in English is in the 1860s, in the writings of Bayard Taylor . The French-language phrase nom de plume is used as a synonym for "pen name" ( plume means 'pen'). However, it is not the French usage, according to H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler in The King's English , but instead
1078-518: A rebranding tactic in 2021. It holds copyrights to many of Sanderson's novels and has self-published several of his stories in both digital and print formats. In 2024, Sanderson appeared before 5,000 fans at FanX in Salt Lake City, Utah at a 50-minute panel. During the panel, Sanderson announced that Dragonsteel Entertainment had purchased land in Pleasant Grove, Utah to "theoretically build
1155-741: A ridiculous number of books. Because of that, he hides connections to his other works within each book, creating a "hidden epic". He has estimated that the Cosmere sequence could conclude with at least 40 books. The story of the Cosmere is about a mysterious being called Adonalsium, who existed on a world known as Yolen. Adonalsium was killed by a group of at least seventeen conspirators, causing its power to shatter into sixteen different Shards, each of which bears immense power. Sixteen of those people—referred to as Vessels—then took these Shards and traveled to new worlds, populating them with different systems of magic or extending on ones already present. In one case,
1232-490: A sense of wonder in the reader. Sanderson's three laws of magic are creative writing guidelines that can be used to create magic systems for fantasy stories: Additionally, there is a zeroth law: Sanderson is adjunct faculty at Brigham Young University , teaching a creative writing course once per year. Sanderson also participates in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses with authors Dan Wells , Mary Robinette Kowal , and web cartoonist Howard Tayler . He began hosting
1309-418: A spectrum. Hard magic systems follow specific rules, the magic is controlled and explained to the reader in the narrative detailing the mechanics behind the way the magic 'works' and can be used for building settings that revolve around the magic system. Soft magic systems may not have clearly defined rules or limitations, or they may provide limited exposition regarding their workings. They are used to create
1386-806: A tournament created by Riot Games that serves as the official path to becoming a professional League of Legends player in North America. The Cosmere is the name of the universe in which Elantris , Mistborn , Warbreaker , The Stormlight Archive , White Sand , Tress of the Emerald Sea , Yumi and the Nightmare Painter , The Sunlit Man , and stories contained in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection are all set. This idea came from Sanderson's desire to create an epic-length series without requiring readers to buy
1463-456: A unisex pen name, such as Robin Hobb (the second pen name of novelist Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden ). A collective name , also known as a house name , is published under one pen name even though more than one author may have contributed to the series. In some cases, the first books in the series were written by one writer, but subsequent books were written by ghostwriters . For instance, many of
1540-569: A volunteer missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was assigned to serve in South Korea . After completing his missionary service, Sanderson returned to BYU and changed his major to English literature . While an undergraduate, Sanderson took a job as a night auditor at a local hotel in Provo, Utah , as it allowed him to write while working. One of Sanderson's roommates at BYU
1617-580: A volunteer mission in Illinois for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Afterward, he attended Ricks College before transferring to Brigham Young University . He met his wife, Mary, there, and they married in the Provo Utah Temple on June 22, 1985. He and his wife had two daughters and three sons. He began writing in 1985 during college, publishing the short story "The Sky Is an Open Highway" in
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#17329167795821694-542: Is also known for finishing Robert Jordan 's high fantasy series The Wheel of Time . Sanderson has created several graphic novel fantasy series, including White Sand and Dark One . A New York Times best-selling author, Sanderson created Sanderson's Laws of Magic and popularized the idea of "hard magic" and "soft magic" systems. In 2008, Sanderson started a podcast with author Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses , involving topics about creating genre writing and webcomics . In 2016,
1771-567: Is an American author of high fantasy , science fiction , and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe , in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive , are set. Outside of the Cosmere, he has written several young adult and juvenile series including The Reckoners , the Skyward series, and the Alcatraz series. He
1848-664: Is difficult to trace the authorship of many earlier literary works from India. Later writers adopted the practice of using the name of their deity of worship or Guru's name as their pen name. In this case, typically the pen name would be included at the end of the prose or poetry. Composers of Indian classical music used pen names in compositions to assert authorship, including Sadarang , Gunarang ( Fayyaz Ahmed Khan ), Ada Rang (court musician of Muhammad Shah ), Sabrang ( Bade Ghulam Ali Khan ), and Ramrang ( Ramashreya Jha ). Other compositions are apocryphally ascribed to composers with their pen names. Japanese poets who write haiku often use
1925-455: The Bessie Bunter series of English boarding school stories, initially written by the prolific Charles Hamilton under the name Hilda Richards, was taken on by other authors who continued to use the same pen name. In some forms of fiction, the pen name adopted is the name of the lead character, to suggest to the reader that the book is an autobiography of a real person. Daniel Handler used
2002-675: The Writers of the Future contest. He has been nominated for a Nebula Award and a Hugo Award . He died in the early morning hours of January 14, 2022. He lived in St. George, Utah , with his wife at the time of his death. Wolverton was born May 28, 1957, in Springfield, Oregon to Jack and Lola Jean Wolverton. His family moved to a farm in Monroe when he was six years old, where he grew up and graduated from Monroe High School . Following graduation, he served
2079-505: The podcast Writing Excuses with Howard Tayler and Dan Wells . Sanderson rose to prominence in late 2007 when Harriet McDougal , the wife and editor of author Robert Jordan , chose Sanderson to complete the final books in Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time after Jordan's death. McDougal asked Sanderson to finish the series after being deeply impressed by his first Mistborn novel, The Final Empire . Tor Books made
2156-530: The 2015 Goodreads Choice Awards in the Fantasy category, was a finalist in the Best Speculative Fiction category of the 2015 Whitney Awards, and was a preliminary nomineed for the 2016 Gemmell Legend Award . On November 16, 2015, Sanderson's agency (JABberwocky Literary Agency) announced that Sanderson officially sold over 7 million copies worldwide. On January 26, 2016, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning
2233-543: The American media company DMG Entertainment licensed the movie rights to Sanderson's entire Cosmere universe, but the rights have since reverted back to Sanderson. Sanderson's March 2022 Kickstarter campaign became the most successful in history , finishing with 185,341 backers pledging $ 41,754,153. Sanderson was born on December 19, 1975, in Lincoln, Nebraska , the eldest of four children born to Barbara and Winn Sanderson. He
2310-742: The Best Young Adult—Speculative category. It also placed eighth in the Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction category of the Goodreads Choice Awards and was a finalist for the 2015 AML Award in the Young Adult Novel category. Nine months later, Sanderson published Mistborn: Shadows of Self as a direct sequel to The Alloy of Law . The novel won the 2017 Neffy Award in the Best Novel category, placed third in
2387-519: The British politician Winston Churchill wrote under the name Winston S. Churchill to distinguish his writings from those of the American novelist of the same name . An author may use a pen name implying a rank or title which they have never actually held. William Earl Johns wrote under the name "Capt. W. E. Johns" although the highest army rank he held was acting lieutenant and his highest air force rank
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2464-686: The Company of Angels , won the 2009 Whitney Award for best novel of the year, and was a finalist in the best historical novel category. Wolverton also received an outstanding achievement award at the 2009 Whitneys. In 2012, his young adult fantasy thriller Nightingale won the International Book Award for best Young Adult Novel of the Year, the Grand Prize at the Hollywood Book Festival , and
2541-630: The Dor, from which Seons and Skaze have emerged. On Roshar , Odium splintered Honor and brought about the Everstorm and the True Desolation. He has also splintered Ambition , in the Threnody system. A man known as Hoid is seen or mentioned in most Cosmere books. He travels the so-called Shardworlds, using the people of those worlds to further an unknown agenda. Sanderson has indicated that an upcoming work in
2618-664: The English Language". He became a judge for the Writers of the Future contest in 1991 and was the Coordinating Judge and Editor at the time of his death. After co-editing volume 8 with Algis Budrys in 1992, he took over editing of the annual anthology from volume 9 until volume 14 before passing the role back to Algis Budrys . Wolverton again took over editing the anthology from K. D. Wentworth , beginning with volume 29 and continuing through volume 37. His historical novel, In
2695-491: The Shards Ruin and Preservation worked together to actually create a planet and its people (Scadrial, as featured in Mistborn ). Each Shard has an Intent, such as Ambition or Honor , and a Vessel's personality is changed over time to bring them more in-line with their Intent. One such Shard, Odium , has killed—or "splintered"—several other Shards. On Sel , he splintered Devotion and Dominion , accidentally creating
2772-662: The Southern California Book Festival for Best Young Adult Novel. It was also a finalist in the Global Ebook Awards. He has been nominated for other awards, including the Nebula Award in the Best Novelette category for his short story "After a Lean Winter". In the summer of 1998, Dave Wolverton broke the world record for the largest single author book signing which he achieved with A Very Strange Trip ,
2849-460: The ability to 'burn' metals and alloys after ingesting them—gain enhanced senses and control over powerful supernatural forces. He published the second book of the Mistborn series The Well of Ascension in 2007. Later that year, Sanderson published the children's novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians , about a boy named Alcatraz with a talent for breaking things. Alcatraz confronts
2926-421: The aliases Mark Twain and Sieur Louis de Conte for different works. Similarly, an author who writes both fiction and non-fiction (such as the mathematician and fantasy writer Charles Dodgson, who wrote as Lewis Carroll ) may use a pseudonym for fiction writing. Science fiction author Harry Turtledove has used the name H. N. Turtletaub for some historical novels he has written because he and his publisher felt that
3003-514: The all-time most successful campaign . The Kickstarter campaign finished with 185,341 backers pledging $ 41,754,153. Before the conclusion of his Kickstarter campaign, Sanderson also backed every other publishing project on Kickstarter, for a total of 316 projects. One of the secret projects during the pandemic, Tress of the Emerald Sea , was released in book form in April 2023. Sanderson also collaborated with Unknown Worlds Entertainment to create
3080-468: The announcement on December 7, 2007. After reviewing what was necessary to complete the series, Sanderson and Tor announced on March 30, 2009, that a final three books would be published instead of just one. The first of these, The Gathering Storm , was published on October 27, 2009, and reached the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction. Towers of Midnight ,
3157-449: The author of the Warriors novel series, is a collective pen name used by authors Kate Cary , Cherith Baldry , Tui T. Sutherland , and the editor Victoria Holmes . Collaborative authors may also have their works published under a single pen name. Frederic Dannay and Manfred B. Lee published their mystery novels and stories under the pen name Ellery Queen , which was also used to publish
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3234-447: The author's gender, to distance the author from their other works, to protect the author from retribution for their writings, to merge multiple persons into a single identifiable author, or for any of several reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work. The author's real identity may be known only to the publisher or may become common knowledge. In some cases, such as those of Elena Ferrante and Torsten Krol ,
3311-548: The context of that genre. Romain Gary , who was a well-known French writer, decided in 1973 to write novels in a different style under the name Émile Ajar and even asked his cousin's son to impersonate Ajar; thus he received the most prestigious French literary prize twice, which is forbidden by the prize rules. He revealed the affair in a book he sent his editor just before committing suicide in 1980. A pen name may be shared by different writers to suggest continuity of authorship. Thus
3388-538: The end of the name (often marked by a graphical sign ـؔ placed above it) when referring to the poet by his full name. For example, Hafez is a pen-name for Shams al-Din , and thus the usual way to refer to him would be Shams al-Din Hafez or just Hafez . Mirza Asadullah Baig Khan (his official name and title) is referred to as Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib , or just Mirza Ghalib . Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December 19, 1975)
3465-480: The enigmatic twentieth-century novelist B. Traven has never been conclusively revealed, despite thorough research. A multiple-use name or anonymity pseudonym is a pseudonym open for anyone to use and these have been adopted by various groups, often as a protest against the cult of individual creators. In Italy, two anonymous groups of writers have gained some popularity with the collective names of Luther Blissett and Wu Ming . Wuxia novelist Louis Cha uses
3542-474: The fall 1985 issue of The Leading Edge . Following that, he entered short stories into various contests, eventually winning first place in the 1987 Writers of the Future contest with the novella "On My Way to Paradise". The story was expanded into the novel of the same name, published in 1989 through Bantam Spectra . The novel was nominated for multiple awards, including the Philip K. Dick Award for "Best Novel in
3619-511: The gaming industry and greenlit screenplays in Hollywood. In 1998, Wolverton started working part-time at Saffire Studios, helping create video games. He was responsible for the concept of "lurkers" in the well-known RTS ( Real-time strategy ) game Starcraft: Brood War . In 2002, he began working as a movie producer and also greenlighted movies. He was working on a film adaptation of his Runelords series. On January 13, 2022, Wolverton suffered from
3696-463: The largest in Kickstarter history by pledge volume, surpassing the previous record holder by more than double. It also set new records for the most funds raised in the first 24 hours, with $ 15.4 million, as well as the highest number of backers and total funding within the same time period. In August 2024, Sanderson teamed up with Brotherwise Games to create a tabletop role-playing game (RPG) based on
3773-472: The last name Wolverton had. Wolverton worked as an English professor of creative writing at Brigham Young University from 1999 to 2002, and held writing workshops for aspiring and established writers. The creative writing class he taught at BYU was taken over by one of his former students, Brandon Sanderson . He taught other writers such as Brandon Mull , Jessica Day George , Eric Flint , Stephenie Meyer , James Dashner , as well as others. He worked in
3850-532: The later books in The Saint adventure series were not written by Leslie Charteris , the series' originator. Similarly, Nancy Drew mystery books are published as though they were written by Carolyn Keene , The Hardy Boys books are published as the work of Franklin W. Dixon , and The Bobbsey Twins series are credited to Laura Lee Hope , although numerous authors have been involved in each series. Erin Hunter ,
3927-492: The lore and setting for the video game Moonbreaker , which was released via early access in September 2022. Sanderson announced a further 'secret project' novel, set for a 2025 release, in March 2024. Dragonsteel Entertainment, LLC is a company acting as publisher, storefront, and producer for various Sanderson-related products and projects. It is also known as Dragonsteel Books , according to Sanderson's personal blog as
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#17329167795824004-474: The middle of a graduate program at BYU, he was contacted by Tor Books editor Moshe Feder, who wanted to acquire one of his books. Sanderson had submitted the manuscript of his sixth novel, Elantris , a year and a half earlier. Elantris was published by Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire , the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy, in which "allomancers"—people with
4081-514: The most extreme examples of this is Hokusai , who in the period 1798 to 1806 alone used no fewer than six. Manga artist Ogure Ito uses the pen name Oh! great because his real name Ogure Ito is roughly how the Japanese pronounce "oh great". A shâ'er ( Persian from Arabic, for poet) (a poet who writes she'rs in Urdu or Persian ) almost always has a "takhallus", a pen name, traditionally placed at
4158-544: The mythical universe the Cosmere, featured in many of his fantasy novels. With over $ 14.6 million in pledges, the Kickstarter campaign broke the previous record in pledges for a tabletop RPG. In the summer of 2024, Brandon Sanderson partnered with the Maryville University League of Legends team to financially support them in their involvement in the North American Challengers League (NACL),
4235-510: The name "Publius" because it recalled the founder of the Roman Republic and using it implied a positive intention. In pure mathematics , Nicolas Bourbaki is the pseudonym of a group of mostly French-connected mathematicians attempting to expose the field in an axiomatic and self-contained, encyclopedic form. A pseudonym may be used to protect the writer of exposé books about espionage or crime. Former SAS soldier Steven Billy Mitchell used
4312-484: The pen name Gum Yoong (金庸) by taking apart the components of the Chinese character in his given name (鏞) from his birth name Cha Leung-yung (查良鏞). In Indian languages, writers may put a pen name at the end of their names, like Ramdhari Singh Dinkar . Some writers, like Firaq Gorakhpuri , wrote only under a pen name. In early Indian literature, authors considered the use of names egotistical. Because names were avoided, it
4389-419: The presumed lower sales of those novels might hurt bookstore orders for the novels he writes under his name. Occasionally, a pen name is employed to avoid overexposure. Prolific authors for pulp magazines often had two and sometimes three short stories appearing in one issue of a magazine; the editor would create several fictitious author names to hide this from readers. Robert A. Heinlein wrote stories under
4466-487: The previous two pandemic years, he had secretly written five otherwise-unannounced books (four full adult novels and a shorter junior novel). The full novels (three of which are set in the Cosmere) were made available through a Kickstarter subscription that releases them quarterly through 2023. The Kickstarter campaign was highly successful, raising $ 15 million in its first 24 hours and over $ 20 million within three days, becoming
4543-442: The pseudonym Andy McNab for his book about a failed SAS mission titled Bravo Two Zero . The name Ibn Warraq ("son of a papermaker") has been used by dissident Muslim authors. Author Brian O'Nolan used the pen names Flann O'Brien and Myles na gCopaleen for his novels and journalistic writing from the 1940s to the 1960s because Irish civil servants were not permitted at that time to publish political writings. The identity of
4620-419: The pseudonym George Sand . Charlotte , Emily , and Anne Brontë published under the names Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell, respectively. French-Savoyard writer and poet Amélie Gex chose to publish as Dian de Jeânna ("John, son of Jane") during the first half of her career. Karen Blixen 's very successful Out of Africa (1937) was originally published under the pen name Isak Dinesen. Victoria Benedictsson ,
4697-723: The pseudonym Lemony Snicket to present his A Series of Unfortunate Events books as memoirs by an acquaintance of the main characters. Some, however, do this to fit a certain theme. One example, Pseudonymous Bosch , used his pen name just to expand the theme of secrecy in The Secret Series . Authors also may occasionally choose pen names to appear in more favorable positions in bookshops or libraries , to maximize visibility when placed on shelves that are conventionally arranged alphabetically moving horizontally, then upwards vertically. Some female authors have used pen names to ensure that their works were accepted by publishers and/or
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#17329167795824774-486: The pseudonyms of Anson MacDonald (a combination of his middle name and his then-wife's maiden name) and Caleb Strong so that more of his works could be published in a single magazine. Stephen King published four novels under the name Richard Bachman because publishers did not feel the public would buy more than one novel per year from a single author. Eventually, after critics found a large number of style similarities, publishers revealed Bachman's true identity. Sometimes
4851-460: The public. Such is the case of Peru's Clarinda , whose work was published in the early 17th century. More often, women have adopted masculine pen names. This was common in the 19th century when women were beginning to make inroads into literature but, it was felt they would not be taken as seriously by readers as male authors. For example, Mary Ann Evans wrote under the pen name George Eliot ; and Amandine Aurore Lucile Dupin, and Baronne Dudevant, used
4928-412: The same pseudonym; examples include T. H. Lain in fiction. The Australian fiction collaborators who write under the pen name Alice Campion are a group of women who have so far written The Painted Sky (2015) and The Shifting Light (2017). In the 1780s, The Federalist Papers were written under the pseudonym "Publius" by Alexander Hamilton , James Madison , and John Jay . The three men chose
5005-556: The same year, the third Alcatraz book was published, titled Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia . In 2010, Sanderson published The Way of Kings , the first of a planned ten-book series called The Stormlight Archive . It achieved the number seven slot on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. The fourth Alcatraz novel, Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens , followed soon after. In October 2011, he finished
5082-566: The second book in The Stormlight Archive , was published. Later that year, Subterranean Press published the second novella in the Legion series, Legion: Skin Deep . It was a preliminary nominee for the 2015 Hugo Awards , but did not make the final ballot. In January 2015, the second book of The Reckoners , titled Firefight , was published. Firefight won the 2015 Whitney Award in
5159-424: The second-to-last The Wheel of Time book, was published just over a year after The Gathering Storm on November 2, 2010, debuting at number one on the bestseller list. In early 2013, the series was completed with the publication of A Memory of Light . In 2009, Tor Books published Warbreaker , which originally appeared serially on Sanderson's website while he was writing the novel from 2006 to 2009. In
5236-606: The series will be in the Cyberpunk genre, a marked departure from the setting of the high-fantasy and urban-fantasy settings that have featured in the Cosmere universe to date. Sanderson makes an express distinction between "soft" and "hard" magic for purposes of world building and creating magic systems in fictional settings. The terminology of hard and soft originate from hard and soft sciences , which lends itself towards hard science fiction and soft science fiction . Both terms are approximate ways of characterizing two ends of
5313-520: The university, and served as its editor-in-chief for one year. In 2006, Sanderson married Emily Bushman, an English, Spanish, and ESL teacher and fellow BYU alumna; Emily later became his business manager. They have three sons and reside in American Fork, Utah . Sanderson wrote consistently throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies; by 2003, he had written twelve novels, though no publisher had accepted any of them for publication. While in
5390-491: The work of several ghostwriters they commissioned. The writers of Atlanta Nights , a deliberately bad book intended to embarrass the publishing firm PublishAmerica , used the pen name Travis Tea. Additionally, the credited author of The Expanse , James S. A. Corey , is an amalgam of the middle names of collaborating writers Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck respectively, while S. A. is the initials of Abraham's daughter. Sometimes multiple authors will write related books under
5467-432: Was Ken Jennings , who nearly ten years later became famous during his 74-game win streak on the game show Jeopardy! . Sanderson graduated from BYU in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts . He continued on as a graduate student, receiving an M.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing in 2004. While at BYU, Sanderson was on the staff of Leading Edge , a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by
5544-608: Was flying officer . Authors who regularly write in more than one genre may use different pen names for each, either in an attempt to conceal their true identity or even after their identity is known. Romance writer Nora Roberts writes erotic thrillers under the pen name J. D. Robb (such books were originally listed as by "J. D. Robb" and are now titled "Nora Roberts writing as J. D. Robb"); Scots writer Iain Banks wrote mainstream or literary fiction under his own name and science fiction under Iain M. Banks; Samuel Langhorne Clemens used
5621-403: Was a "reluctant reader" as a child but became a passionate reader of fantasy in his teens after a teacher gave him a copy of Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly . He made several early attempts at writing his own stories. After graduating from high school in 1994, he went to Brigham Young University (BYU) as a biochemistry major. He took a two-year leave of absence from 1995 to 1997 to serve as
5698-493: Was also released as by Farland. A related short story was also released: Ravenspell A middle-grade fantasy series. Star Wars L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Wolverton edited the following anthologies: Wolverton has been nominated for and won multiple awards for his various works. Interviews Pen name A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise
5775-467: Was published as the sequel to Shadows of Self . On February 16, 2016, the third and final book of the Reckoners trilogy, titled Calamity , was published. In June 2016, Sanderson's first graphic novel White Sand —written with Rik Hoskin—was released. The series is planned as a trilogy. The graphic novels are based on an original manuscript by Sanderson. On September 6, 2016, the fifth Alcatraz book
5852-494: Was published on November 6, 2018. The second book in the series, Starsight , was released on November 26, 2019. In September 2020, a collaboration project with author Mary Robinette Kowal called The Original , was released. Rhythm of War , the fourth Stormlight novel, was published on November 17, 2020. In 2020, Sanderson's agency updated his number of copies sold to over 18 million worldwide, and in early 2021, to over 21 million. In March 2021, Brandon Sanderson announced
5929-595: Was published, called Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent . DMG Entertainment optioned the Cosmere in 2016 for film and television. On November 22, 2016, an anthology of Cosmere short stories and novellas was published, titled Arcanum Unbounded: A Cosmere Collection . The third book in The Stormlight Archive , Oathbringer , was published on November 14, 2017. The first book of the Defiant series, Skyward ,
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