Terry Goodkind

Terry Goodkind (born 1948) is a contemporary American writer and author of the best-selling epic fantasy series, The Sword of Truth, which according to his publisher TOR in an August, 2006 press release has more than 10 million copies in print and been translated into 20 different languages.

Goodkind was born in 1948 and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, where he also attended schooling in art and Catholic Catechism Instruction.

Terry Goodkind learned early in his life that he suffered from dyslexia, a cause of constant frustration while he was in high school. He later dropped out of college, and has worked as a carpenter, a violin maker, and a restorer of rare and exotic artifacts and antiques. Prior to starting his career as a writer Goodkind was best known for his realistic marine and wildlife paintings. In 1993, during the construction of his home on the forested Mount Desert Island off the coast of Maine with his wife Jeri, he began to write his first novel, Wizard's First Rule, and his writing career was launched with its publication in 1994. In addition to his home in Maine, Goodkind and his wife built a second home in the desert southwest where he now spends the majority of his time.

Goodkind burst onto the fantasy scene in 1994 in record-breaking fashion. His first book, Wizard's First Rule, sold at auction for more than six times the price ever paid for a first fantasy novel, a record that still holds to this day. With a first print run of sixty thousand copies (three to five thousand is the norm) it quickly became an international bestseller.

Terry Goodkind has subsequently published nine other novels and one novella to great commercial success. All of his books, with the exceptions of Stone of Tears and Wizard's First Rule, have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller List. Of his latest novels, Chainfire debuted at #3 in January 2005 and Phantom at #1 in August 2006 on the NYT Best Seller List.

In August, 2006, it was announced that the Sword of Truth series would be produced as a mini-series. According to the press release, Sam Raimi, the director of Spider-Man and his partner Joshua Dohen would produce the mini-series.

Selected Bibliography
Complete Bibliography

Series

• Sword of Truth Universe
  • Debt of Bones (2001)
  • Sword of Truth
    • The Sword of Truth (2003)
    • Wizard's First Rule (1994)
    • Stone of Tears (1995)
    • Blood of the Fold (1996)
    • Temple of the Winds (1997)
    • Soul of the Fire (1999)
    • Faith of the Fallen (2000)
    • The Pillars of Creation (2001)
    • Naked Empire (2003)
    • Chainfire (2005)
    • Phantom (2006)
    • Confessor (2007)

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This article uses some information from terrygoodkind.com, answers.com and wikipedia.org