That novel was the first in the 'Anee Sequence/Serpent Catch' duology. I first encountered Wolverton's fiction somewhat haphazardly, by way of buying a used copy of Serpent Catch on a 'book run' with Chris Hale. He has worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future, perhaps the largest worldwide writing competition for new fantasy and science fiction authors. In the video game industry, he has been both a designer and a scripter and was the co-leader on the design team for StarCraft: Brood War.Īs a writing instructor, Farland has mentored dozens who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight). Farland has written for major franchises such as Star Wars and The Mummy. He is best known, however, for his New York Times best-selling fantasy series The Runelords, which will soon be made into a graphic novel and, likely, a movie. Dick Memorial Special Award for 'Best Novel in the English Language' for his science fiction novel On My Way to Paradise, the Whitney Award for 'Best Novel of the Year' for his historical novel In the Company of Angels, and he has won over seven awards-including the International Book Award and the Hollywood Book Festival, Grand Prize-for his fantasy thriller Nightingale. Here is his publisher's (not updated)] bio of Dave:ĭavid Farland is an award-winning, international best-selling author with over 50 novels in print. I was completely wrapped up in the 2022 DMR Bloggerama at that point and had no idea. David Farland-had died on January 14, 2022. I just found out the other day that Dave Wolverton-a.k.a. The man had a technical grasp on story and ability to explain it like no other.” - Larry Correia, bestselling SFF author (…) He was a mentor, teacher, and elder statesman, who always made the time to help new writers. “Dave was probably one of the nicest people in the writing business, who helped out more newbs and passed on more advice than any writer ever. If we are to have great art, it is important to recognize what makes great art.” A story that artfully moves me emotionally or intellectually is better than one that leaves me emotionally or intellectually anesthetized.

A story that transports me to another world or that transmits experience is better than a story that leaves me sitting alone and troubled in my reading chair. “A story that fascinates is better than one that bores. “I believe that storytelling can and should be a fine art, and that as practitioners of that art, we need to invest a great deal of ourselves into telling great stories, no matter what age our readers are or what the writer’s interests.“

On My Way to Paradise by Dave Wolverton