James Erwin is an American author. He has written several works of history and science fiction. He came to public notice by creating Rome Sweet Rome, a short story on

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...

which went viral and became the basis of a

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

screenplay.

Personal life

Erwin was born in

Cedar Rapids, Iowa Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County, Iowa, Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River (Iowa River), Cedar River, north of Iowa City, Iowa, Iowa City and north ...

. He attended the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

. He currently lives in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

. In 2009, Erwin was a two-time

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

champion.

As an author

Erwin's first book, a historical encyclopedia about

secessionist Secession is the withdrawal of a group from a larger entity, especially a political entity, but also from any organization, union or military alliance. Some of the most famous and significant secessions have been: the former Soviet republics lea ...

movements in the United States titled ''Declarations of Independence'', was published in 2007. He worked as a

technical writer A technical writer is a professional information communicator whose task is to transfer information between two or more parties, through any medium that best facilitates the transfer and comprehension of the information. Technical writers researc ...

. He wrote a second historical encyclopedia in 2010 but it was never published due to the sale of the publisher,

Facts on File Infobase Publishing is an American publisher of reference book titles and textbooks geared towards the North American library, secondary school, and university-level curriculum markets. Infobase operates a number of prominent imprints, includin ...

. He came to public notice when he created the story Rome Sweet Rome, under the alias Prufrock451, in response to a question on

. The story quickly went viral. Featured in national media, the story came to the attention of producer

Gianni Nunnari Gianni Nunnari (born 10 August 1959) is an Italian film and television producer and executive. Early life After completing his studies, he followed the footsteps of his father, Alexander Nunnari, and began his career in the film business. Ca ...

, as well as the motion picture studio

. Warner Brothers bought a screenplay based on the short story, and Erwin became the subject of profiles and interviews in

Wired Magazine ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online magazine, online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquar ...

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

, FT,

Popular Mechanics ''Popular Mechanics'' (sometimes PM or PopMech) is a magazine of popular science and technology, featuring automotive, home, outdoor, electronics, science, do-it-yourself, and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation o ...

, and other media. Rome Sweet Rome remains popular; it was later revealed that Apollo 18 screenwriter Brian Miller had been hired by Warner Brothers to write a second draft of the screenplay. Erwin parlayed his success into a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign for his first novel ''Acadia''. Aside from his fiction and full-length works, Erwin has contributed articles to over a dozen other historical encyclopedias. He is also a freelance writer for outlets like

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

Mental Floss ''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an online magazine and its related American digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media and based in New York City, United States. mentalflos ...

Boing Boing ''Boing Boing'' is a website, first established as a zine in 1988, later becoming a group blog. Common topics and themes include technology, futurism, science fiction, gadgets, intellectual property, Disney, and left-wing politics. It twice won ...

, and

Slate.com ''Slate'' is an online magazine that covers current affairs, politics, and culture in the United States. It was created in 1996 by former '' New Republic'' editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. In 20 ...

Bibliography

Novels

* (2014) ''Acadia'',

Nonfiction

* (2007) ''Declarations of Independence: Encyclopedia of American Autonomous and Secessionist Movements'', * (2012) ''Facts on File Encyclopedia of U.S. Military Actions'',

Short Stories

* (2011) '' Rome Sweet Rome'' * (2013) ''Rising Sun'', in ''Europa Universalis IV: What If? the Anthology of Alternate History'', * (2014) ''The Khan, the Caliph, and the King'', in ''Crusader Kings II: Tales of Treachery'',

Screenplays

* (2012) Rome Sweet Rome

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erwin, James Date of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from Iowa People from Cedar Rapids, Iowa Jeopardy! contestants Writers from Des Moines, Iowa University of Iowa alumni American science fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people)