In 2006, Rothfuss sold his novel The Name of the Wind to DAW Books, which was released in 2007. It won a Quill Award (for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror)[7] and was listed among Publishers Weekly's Books of the Year. It also won an Alex Award in 2008.[8] An illustrated tenth anniversary edition was published in 2017.[9] Its sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, was published in March 2011 and reached No. 1 on the New York Times Hardback Fiction Best Seller list.[10]
Rothfuss has also released two stories set in the same world as The Kingkiller Chronicle in anthologies. The first was "How Old Holly Came To Be", published in Unfettered in June 2013. The second was the novella The Lightning Tree, released in Rogues in June 2014, featuring the character Bast. The whole anthology was nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology.[12]
In July 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher Betsy Wollheim responded publicly on her Facebook account to an article speculating on reasons why The Doors of Stone, the concluding volume of the trilogy, had not been published,[17] saying she had "never seen a word of book three" and that she didn't think Rothfuss had written anything since 2014, despite having already been paid. While Wollheim partially agreed that readers shouldn't feel entitled to dictate how Rothfuss spends his time—she also asked, "but what about the publishers who paid them?".[17] The post has since been deleted.[18]
In December 2021, Rothfuss partnered with Grim Oak Press to create a new imprint called Underthing Press. The new imprint's first project will be a reprint of Ursula Vernon'swebcomicDigger, which won the Hugo Award in 2012. Rothfuss stated that he'd always daydreamed of starting his own imprint and he decided to create Underthing Press when he realized he couldn't buy a new copy of Digger Omnibus after giving his copy to a friend.[19]
In December 2021, Rothfuss tweeted that he would "[s]hare a full chapter of Doors of Stone" if his charity reached a $333,333 fundraising goal.[20] Later that month he added more stretch goals, with the largest being for $666,666 to "assemble the Geek Glitterati equivalent of the Avengers and record [the full chapter] for you". He noted that such a goal would take some time but said "I'm pretty sure we'll be able to get it done early next year. February at the latest."[21] The chapter has not been released, with Rothfuss saying in April 2022 that the process was "moving more slowly than [he] would like."[22]
Charity
Rothfuss founded the charity Worldbuilders in 2008. Since its inception, the organization has raised over $11.5 million, primarily for Heifer International, a charity that provides livestock, clean water, education, and training for communities in the developing world.[23][24] By 2020, Worldbuilders had raised over $10 million in support of Heifer.[25]
Although it had received a score of 82% in 2022,[26] by October, 2023, Worldbuilders had a score of 57% on Charity Navigator, an organization that provides insights into a nonprofit's financial stability, adherence to best practices for both accountability and transparency, and results reporting, as a result of not running a charity drive in 2022.[27]
Podcasts
In June 2020, Rothfuss, in partnership with One Shot Podcast, released a mini-series which is set in the same world as his Kingkiller Chronicles fantasy series.[28]
Roleplaying and games
In 2014, Rothfuss began collaborating with James Ernest to create an abstract strategy game called Tak based on the game featured in his book The Wise Man's Fear.[29]
^"Legend/AntiLegend: Humor as an Integral Part of the Contemporary Legend Process", in Rumor Mills: The Social Impact of Rumor and Legend, ed. Gary Alan Fine, Veronique Campion-Vincent, and Chip Heath, pp. 131-33. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. ISBN978-0-202-30747-3
^Rothfuss, Patrick (2007). "Bio". Patrick Rothfuss official website. Archived from the original on June 7, 2015. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
