Patrick Rothfuss

Template:Short description Template:Pp Template:Use mdy dates Template:Template other Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his highly acclaimed series The Kingkiller Chronicle, beginning with Rothfuss' debut novel, The Name of the Wind (2007), which won several awards, and continuing in the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear (2011), which topped The New York Times Best Seller list.

Early life

Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin, graduated from DeForest Area High School, and received his BA in English from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point in 1999. He contributed to The Pointer, the campus paper, and produced a widely circulated parody warning about the Goodtimes Virus. He taught part-time at Stevens Point. In 2002, he received a master's degree in arts and English from Washington State University. He won the Writers of the Future 2002 Second Quarter competition with "The Road to Levenshir", an excerpt from his then-unpublished novel The Wise Man's Fear.

Career

Writing

In 2006, Rothfuss sold his novel The Name of the Wind to DAW Books, which was released in 2007. It won a Quill Award (for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror) and was listed among Publishers WeeklyTemplate:'s Books of the Year. It also won an Alex Award in 2008. An illustrated tenth anniversary edition was published in 2017. Its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, was published in March 2011 and reached No. 1 on the New York Times Hardback Fiction Best Seller list.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things, an illustrated novella, was published in October 2014 as a companion story for The Kingkiller Chronicle, centering on the character Auri.

Rothfuss has also released two stories set in the same world as The Kingkiller Chronicle in anthologies. The first was "How Old Holly Came To Be", published in Unfettered in June 2013. The second was the novella The Lightning Tree, released in Rogues in June 2014, featuring the character Bast. The whole anthology was nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.

In 2018, Rothfuss was the co-writer of the comics limited series Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons #1-4 with Jim Zub and with art by Troy Little. The crossover, between the adult animated sitcom Rick and Morty comic book and Dungeons & Dragons, was published by IDW Publishing and Oni Press. The Rick and Morty vs Dungeons and Dragons Deluxe Edition, by Rothfuss, Zub, and Little, was nominated for the 2022 "Best Graphic Album—Reprint" Eisner Award.

In July 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher Betsy Wollheim responded publicly on her Facebook account to an article speculating on reasons why The Doors of Stone, the concluding volume of the trilogy, had not been published, saying she had "never seen a word of book three" and that she didn't think Rothfuss had written anything since 2014, despite having already been paid. While Wollheim partially agreed that readers shouldn't feel entitled to dictate how Rothfuss spends his time, but asked, "But what about the publishers who paid them?". The post has since been deleted.

In December 2021, Rothfuss tweeted that he would "[s]hare a full chapter of Doors of Stone" if his charity reached a $333,333 fundraising goal. Later that month he added more stretch goals, with the largest being for $666,666 to "assemble the Geek Glitterati equivalent of the Avengers and record [the full chapter] for you". He noted that such a goal would take some time but said "I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get it done early next year. February at the latest." The chapter has not been released, with Rothfuss saying in April 2022 that the process was "moving more slowly than [he] would like."

Underthing Press

In December 2021, Rothfuss partnered with Grim Oak Press to create a new imprint called Underthing Press. The new imprint's first project will be a reprint of Ursula Vernon's webcomic Digger, which won the Hugo Award in 2012. Rothfuss stated that he'd always daydreamed of starting his own imprint and he decided to create Underthing Press when he realized he couldn't buy a new copy of Digger Omnibus after giving his copy to a friend.

Charity

Rothfuss founded the charity Worldbuilders in 2008. Since its inception, the organization has raised over $11.5 million, primarily for Heifer International, a charity that provides livestock, clean water, education, and training for communities in the developing world. By 2020, Worldbuilders had raised over $10 million in support of Heifer. It received a Charity Navigator score of 67% in 2025.

Podcasts

Rothfuss co-hosted a podcast with Max Temkin from 2015 to 2016, with one episode in 2018, called Unattended Consequences. In June 2020, Rothfuss, in partnership with One Shot Podcast, released a mini-series which is set in the same world as his Kingkiller Chronicle fantasy series.

Roleplaying and games

In 2014, Rothfuss began collaborating with James Ernest to create an abstract strategy game called Tak based on the game featured in his book The Wise Man's Fear.

He was a member of the story design team for inXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera game. He also contributed to the backstory of the game Hero's Song, cancelled in 2016.

Works

The Kingkiller Chronicle

• The Name of the Wind (2007)
• The Wise Man's Fear (2011)
• "How Old Holly Came to Be" – short story (July 2013, Grim Oak Press), Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman. Template:ISBN.
• The Lightning Tree – novella (June 2014, Bantam), Rogues, edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. Template:ISBN.
• The Slow Regard of Silent Things – novella (October 2014, DAW Books). Template:ISBN.
• The Narrow Road Between Desires – novella (November 2023, DAW Books). Template:ISBN

The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle

• The Thing Beneath the Bed (2010)
• The Dark of Deep Below (2013)

Others

• Your Annotated, Illustrated College Survival Guide (January 2005, Cornerstone Press).
• "The Lay of the Eastern King", as part of Clash of the Geeks (2010), edited by Wil Wheaton and John Scalzi.
• Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons (with Jim Zub and Troy Little, 4 issues August 2018-January 2019, tpb March 2019, IDW Publishing).

Awards and honors

• Writers of the Future (2002 Second Quarter)
• Quill Award (2007)
• "Best Books of the Year" (2007) – Publishers Weekly – Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
• Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Epic Fantasy (2007)
• NPR Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books (2011)
• David Gemmell Legend Award (2012)
• Ranked 3rd in "Best 21st Century Fantasy Fiction Novels" by Locus (2012)

External links

• Template:Trim Template:PAGENAMEBASE at the Internet Speculative Fiction DatabaseTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• Patrick Rothfuss at the Internet Book List
• Adria's News Interview (Summer 2014)
• Patrick Rothfuss interview (Autumn 2015)
• Template:Triangulation
• Template:LCAuth