Dan Wells (author)

Daniel Andrew Wells (born 4 March 1977) is an American horror and science fiction author. Wells's first published novel, '' I Am Not a Serial Killer'', was adapted into a movie in 2016.

Early life

Dan Wells spent his childhood in Salt Lake City, Utah and began writing at a young age. While in the second grade, he wrote his first stories based on the ''Choose Your Own Adventure'' series. He has cited ''Where the Wild Things Are'' as one of his first influences. During his childhood, Wells was also exposed to science fiction and fantasy: namely, titles such as ''The Hobbit'' and ''Star Wars''. He frequented the library and loved to read. In addition to sci-fi and fantasy novels, he read classics, including those of French and Russian literature. He also enjoyed writing scripts, songs, and poetry as a child.

In high school, Wells wrote a series of comic books, novellas, and a serial. He began to take writing more seriously in college, finishing his first serious novel when he was 22. He studied English and anthropology at Brigham Young University (BYU). It was there that he met his wife, Dawn. As a student, Wells also worked on BYU's speculative fiction magazine, ''Leading Edge'', and began writing game reviews; he has since described himself as a "rabid gamer." Before becoming a published novelist, he worked as a corporate writer for NuSkin.

Career

Wells's debut novel, '' I Am Not a Serial Killer'', was published in 2009. It has been printed in English, Spanish, French, German, and Russian. Wells did extensive research to make the series protagonist, John Cleaver, appear genuine. His fascination with serial killer predictors also inspired him to write the novel. In 2016, it was adapted into a film, starring Max Records and Christopher Lloyd. Wells wrote a sequel, '' Mr. Monster'', which was published by Tor Books in 2010. In 2011, his third installment to the John Cleaver series, ''I Don't Want to Kill You'', was published. Wells continued John Cleaver's story with a second trilogy of books, in which the protagonist changes and develops. In 2016, Wells told ''Deseret News'' that the fifth book in the series, ''Over Your Dead Body'', was one of the most challenging to write. Some of Wells's novels feature main characters with mental health issues. In ''Serial Killer'', John Cleaver is diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, and the protagonist of ''The Hollow City'' has schizophrenia.

Wells expanded into young adult dystopia with his ''Partials Sequence'' in 2012. The series made an appearance on the New York Times Best Seller list for children's series in 2014. He followed up in 2016 with a Young Adult science fiction novel, ''Bluescreen'', set in Los Angeles in the year 2050. He continued this ''Mirador'' series with ''Ones and Zeroes'' in 2017 and ''Active Memory'' in 2018. Other releases include middle-grade sci-fi audiobooks, ''Zero G'' (2018), ''Dragon Planet'' (2019), and ''Stargazer'' (2021).

Wells is one of the four authors (including Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, and Howard Tayler) who regularly host the podcast ''Writing Excuses''. Wells was a writer for the 2017 TV series ''Extinct'' and wrote his own stage play, "A Night of Blacker Darkness."

In 2022, he became the Vice President of Narrative for Brandon Sanderson's company Dragonsteel Entertainment.

Personal life

He is the brother of author Robison Wells. He has six children. He has lived in Utah, Mexico, and Germany.
He also has his own YouTube channel on which he reviews TTRPGS (''Tabletop role-playing game''). The channel shares his name.

He and author Brandon Sanderson make the podcast Intentionally Blank together where they discuss everything from writing to other fantasy-related topics to their own lives and more.

Wells is a "card-carrying socialist" but does not like cats.

He is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Critical reception

School Library Journal described his novel ''Bluescreen'' as "exciting and innovative." A ''School Library Journal'' review of ''Ones and Zeroes'' complimented Wells's complex and diverse characters, plausible dystopian plot, and understandable descriptions of future technology. Kirkus said that ''Partials''' "rushed ending" signalled there would be a sequel.

In 2011, Wells was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. His novella, ''The Butcher of Khardov'', received a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2014; Wells stated that this was the result of his unwittingly having been selected by Larry Correia for the Sad Puppies campaign.My four cents on the Hugo thing
by Dan Wells, at FearfulSymmetry.net; published April 7, 2015; retrieved April 7, 2022, via archive.org; "(...) my own Sad Puppies nomination last year. I was on the slate, didn't take it seriously, and then when I actually ended up on the finals list for novella (...)

He is a cohost of ''Writing Excuses'', which won the Hugo Award for Best Fancast and three Parsec Awards.

In February 2017 Wells was the Literary Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker at the 35th annual Life, the Universe, & Everything professional science fiction and fantasy arts symposium.

Bibliography

John Wayne Cleaver series

*First trilogy
**'' I Am Not a Serial Killer'' (December 2009, Tor Books, )
**'' Mr. Monster'' (September 2010, Tor Books, )
**''I Don't Want to Kill You'' (March 2011, Tor Books, )
*''Next of Kin'' (July 2014, Fearful Symmetry, ) (novella)
*Second trilogy
**'' The Devil's Only Friend'' (June 2015, Tor Books, )
**''Over Your Dead Body'' (May 2016, Tor Books, )
**''Nothing Left To Lose'' (June 2017, Tor Books, )

Partials Sequence

*''Isolation'' novella prequel (August 2012, Balzer + Bray, )
*''Partials'' (February 2012, Balzer + Bray, )
*''Fragments'' (February 2013, Balzer + Bray, )
*''Ruins'' (March 2014, Balzer + Bray, )

''Mirador'' series

*''Bluescreen'' (February 2016, Balzer + Bray, )
*''Ones and Zeroes'' (February 2017, Balzer + Bray, )
*''Active Memory'' (February 2018, Balzer + Bray, )

The Zero Chronicles

*''Zero G'' (December 6, 2018, Audible Originals)
*''Dragon Planet'' (December 12, 2019, Audible Originals)
*''Stargazer'' (February 18, 2021, Audible Originals)

Stand-alone novels

*''A Night of Blacker Darkness'', written as Frederick Whithers (author) and Cecil G. Bagsworth III (editor) (July 2011, Fearful Symmetry, )
*''The Hollow City'' (July 2012, Tor Books, )
*''Extreme Makeover'' (November 2016, Tor Books, )
*''Ghost Station'' (November 2019, Audible Originals)

Apocalypse Guard

* '' The Apocalypse Guard'' (with Brandon Sanderson, forthcoming)

Short stories

*"The Amazing Adventures of George" in ''Leading Edge'' #40 (September 2000)
* "Charybdis" in ''Leading Edge'' #61 (June 2011)
* "The Mountain of the Lord" in ''Monsters & Mormons'' edited by Theric Jepson and Wm. Morris (October 2011, Peculiar Pages, )

Novellas

* ''The Butcher of Khardov'' (June 2013, Privateer Press, )

Editorials

* ''How to Write Good'' (September 2000), in ''Leading Edge'' #40

Awards

*2016 Association for Mormon Letters Award for Best Novel ''Over Your Dead Body''
*2016 AML Award for Best Novel ''Over Your Dead Body''
* 2015 Whitney Award for Speculative Fiction ''The Devil's Only Friend''
*2011 Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year ''I Don't Want to Kill You''
*2010 Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year ''Mr. Monster''
*2009 Whitney Award for Best Novel by a New Author ''I Am Not a Serial Killer''

References

Additional reading

Interview with Teenreads
March 2, 2017

External links

Dan Wells's author websiteDan Wells's blogWriting Excuses Website
*
Dan Wells literary manuscripts, MSS 8073
at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Dan
1977 births
21st-century American male writers
21st-century American novelists
American horror writers
American male novelists
American male short story writers
American science fiction writers
American writers of young adult literature
Brigham Young University alumni
Harold B. Lee Library-related 21st century articles
Latter Day Saints from Utah
Living people
Novelists from Utah
People from North Salt Lake, Utah