Brian lives in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife, two dogs, a cat, and between 6,000 and 60,000 honey bees (depending on the time of year).
He began writing on Wheel of Time role playing websites at fifteen. Encouraged toward writing by his parents, he started working on short stories and novellas in his late teens. He went on to major in English with an emphasis on creative writing at Brigham Young University. It was here he met Brandon Sanderson, who encouraged Brian’s feeble attempts at plotting and characters more than he should have.
Brian continued to study writing not just as an art but as a business and was determined this would be his life-long career. He attended Orson Scott Card’s Literary Bootcamp in 2006. In 2008, he received honorable mention in the Writers of the Future Contest.
In November 2011, The Powder Mage Trilogy sold at auction to Orbit Books. The first two books, Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign, are out now with book three, The Autumn Republic, due out in February of 2015.
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Excellent discussion as always, gentlemen.
If an author isn’t a real person to me, I am much less likely to be annoyed by bursts of self promotion. Brian tells us about the Bees, so its always all good. 🙂
Interesting timing and topic. I just picked up 3 of Brian’s short stories he was giving away for his birthday because someone who follows him posted the link on Sword & Laser Goodreads forum. Enjoyed them quite a bit and then here he is with you guys seeming like a good guy. That cemented the deal, time to buy the first of the trilogy. Thanks for the great podcasts.