Kevin J. Anderson

• 1. The Typewriter At Age Ten

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  Kevin James Anderson was born on the 27th of March 1962 in Racine, Wisconsin. He grew up in Oregon, Wisconsin, where his early life took shape before he moved into professional writing. The War of the Worlds radio play left a deep impression on him as a child. This influence shaped his desire to become a science fiction author from a very young age. At eight years old, he wrote his first story called Injection. He bought a typewriter at ten and has written continuously since that day. His high school experience included submitting stories to magazines without immediate success. Two years passed before one manuscript found acceptance. The payment for that first accepted work came in copies of the magazine itself. In his senior year, he sold a story for twelve dollars and fifty cents.

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• 2. Tie-In Novels And Online Fandom

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  Anderson published his first novel Resurrection Inc in 1988. That book received a nomination for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His collaboration with Doug Beason produced Assemblers of Infinity in 1993. This work earned nominations for both the Nebula Award and the Locus Award. He wrote three novels for The X-Files series between 1995 and 1997. Ground Zero reached number one on the London Sunday Times Best Seller List. Ruins appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list. Anderson contracted to write Star Wars expanded universe novels starting in 1994. He published the Jedi Academy trilogy followed by Darksaber in 1996. A fourteen-volume Young Jedi Knights series ran from 1995 to 1998. He participated in the FidoNet Star Wars Echo during the 1990s. This bulletin board system served as an early form of online fandom for Star Wars fans.

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• 3. The Dune Prequel Legacy

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  In 1997, Anderson and Brian Herbert signed a three million dollar deal with Bantam Books. They agreed to coauthor a prequel trilogy to Frank Herbert's original 1965 novel Dune. The project also included five sequels written between 1969 and 1985. Starting with House Atreides in 1999, the ongoing prequel series has grown to ten novels. Publishers Weekly described the work as a sprawling edifice built upon Frank Herbert's foundation. Anderson and Brian Herbert released Hunters of Dune in 2006 and Sandworms of Dune in 2007. These books completed the chronological progression of the original series. They wrapped up storylines that began with Heretics of Dune in 1984. Between 2011 and 2014, they released their Hellhole trilogy unrelated to Dune. WordFire Press later published four previously unpublished novels by Frank Herbert who died in 1986. These titles include High-Opp from 2012 and Angels Fall from 2013.

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• 4. Original Space Opera And Adaptations

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  Anderson released Captain Nemo: The Fantastic History of a Dark Genius in 2002. This steampunk adventure novel led to an invitation to write The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in 2003. He followed this with a novelization for Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow in 2004. A seven-novel space opera called The Saga of Seven Suns ran between 2002 and 2008. He began publishing a sequel trilogy named The Saga of Shadows in 2014. Four novels and two short stories appeared in his Dan Shamble Zombie P.I. series from 2012 to 2014. Anderson coauthored Clockwork Lives with Neil Peart in 2015. The original novelization won a Scribe Award for Best Adapted Novel. He also wrote superhero novels including Enemies and Allies about Batman meeting Superman. His work The Last Days of Krypton tells how Superman's planet was destroyed. WordFire Press reissued several of Herbert's unavailable titles like Destination Void from 1966.

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• 5. WordFire Press Publishing Imprint

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  Anderson and Rebecca Moesta founded WordFire Press in 2011. Their goal was to reissue out-of-print books in paperback or e-book formats. They published works across various genres through this imprint. In 2013, WordFire acquired reprint rights to Allen Drury's Advise and Consent. That political novel had been out of print for nearly fifteen years before their release. It ranked number twenty-seven on the 2013 BookFinder.com list of top searched out-of-print books. WordFire reissued five sequels to that novel between 1973 and 1983. They also released four previously unpublished Frank Herbert novels starting in 2012. These included A Game of Authors and A Thorn in the Bush from 2014. The company holds non-US and Canadian e-book rights to some Anderson collaborations with Brian Herbert. This includes the Prelude to Dune trilogy which ran from 1999 to 2001.

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• 6. Awards And Industry Recognition

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  Anderson has published over one hundred twenty books according to available records. More than fifty titles have appeared on US and international bestseller lists. He has more than twenty-three million books in print worldwide. His work Ground Zero reached number one on The Sunday Times best seller list. Ruins was voted Best Science Fiction Novel of 1996 by readers of SFX magazine. The Young Jedi Knights series won the 1999 Golden Duck Award for middle grades science fiction excellence. Anderson received a Guinness World Record for Largest Single Author Signing. That record was previously held by General Colin Powell and Howard Stern. The Dark Between the Stars earned a Hugo Award nomination in 2014. He was inducted into the Colorado Authors Hall of Fame in 2021 alongside Stephen King and James Michener. Anderson twice won the Scribe Award and became Grandmaster of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers in 2012.

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