Dan Wells (author)

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.[1] During his childhood, Wells was also exposed to science fiction and fantasy: namely, titles such as The Hobbit and Star Wars.[4] He frequented the library and loved to read.[5] In addition to sci-fi and fantasy novels, he read classics, including those of French and Russian literature.[4] He also enjoyed writing scripts, songs, and poetry as a child.[6]

In high school, Wells wrote a series of comic books, novellas, and a serial.[7] He began to take writing more seriously in college,[6] finishing his first serious novel when he was 22.[7] He studied English and anthropology at Brigham Young University (BYU). It was there that he met his wife, Dawn.[1] 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."[4] Before becoming a published novelist, he worked as a corporate writer for NuSkin.[8]

Wells's debut novel, I Am Not a Serial Killer, was published in 2009.[9] It has been printed in English, Spanish, French, German, and Russian.[10] 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.[1] In 2016, it was adapted into a film, starring Max Records and Christopher Lloyd.[3] Wells wrote a sequel, Mr. Monster, which was published by Tor Books in 2010.[11] In 2011 his third installment to the John Cleaver series, I Don't Want to Kill You, was published.[12] Wells continued John Cleaver's story with a second trilogy of books,[13] 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.[14] Some of Wells's novels feature main characters with mental health issues. In Serial Killer, John Cleaver is diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder,[15] and the protagonist of The Hollow City suffers from schizophrenia.[6]

Wells at the 2017 Phoenix Comicon

Wells expanded into Young Adult Dystopia with his Partials Sequence in 2012.[16][17] The series appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list in 2014.[18] He followed up in 2016 with a Young Adult science fiction novel, Bluescreen, set in Los Angeles in the year 2050.[19] He continued this Mirador series with Ones and Zeroes in 2017[20] and Active Memory in 2018.[21] His most recent release is a series of middle-grade sci-fi audiobooks, Zero G (2018)[22] and Dragon Planet (2019).[23]

Wells is one of the four authors (including Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, and Howard Tayler) who regularly host the podcast Writing Excuses.[1] Wells was a writer for the TV show Extinct and wrote his own stage play, "A Night of Blacker Darkness."[24]

He is the brother of author Robison Wells.[8] He has six children.[25] He has lived in Utah, Mexico, and Germany.[24]

Wells reading at the 2015 National Book Festival

Horror writer F. Paul Wilson described I Am Not a Serial Killer as a "dazzling, unputdownable debut" with a protagonist "as chilling as he is endearing."[26] Author Jack Heath praised Wells's ability to create a "sympathetic villain" in Serial Killer.[27] Ryan Lawler of Fantasy Book Review complimented Wells's world building in his Partials novels, but commented that the characters lacked development.[16] National Post reviewer Catherine Gao wrote of Partials, "Wells has done an excellent job of tackling a complicated genre by revamping a generic idea by adding his original twist."[28] School Library Journal described his novel Bluescreen as "exciting and innovative."[29] 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.[30]

In 2011, Wells was nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.[31] His novella, The Butcher of Khardov, received a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2014.[32] His podcast Writing Excuses has won a Hugo Award and three Parsec Awards.[2]

• 2017 AML Award finalist – Nothing Left to Lose[40]
• 2016 AML Award for Best Novel – Over Your Dead Body[41]

• 2015 Whitney Award for Speculative Fiction – The Devil's Only Friend[42]

• 2011 Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year – I Don't Want to Kill You[43]
• 2010 Whitney Award for Best Novel of the Year – Mr. Monster[44]
• 2009 Whitney Award for Best Novel by a New Author – I Am Not a Serial Killer[45]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dan Wells (author).

• Dan Wells's author website
• Dan Wells's blog
• Writing Excuses Website
• Interview with Teenreads, March 2, 2017
• Dan Wells at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Dan Wells papers, MSS 8073 at L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University