Brandon Sanderson is the author of numerous epic fantasy novels, including the Alcatraz series for middle school readers and the Mistborn Trilogy. He was chosen to finish The Wheel of Time series by Harriet Rigney, Robert Jordan's widow, in 2007. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/about/ She selected him because she was impressed by his work on Mistborn. http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38550.Brandon_Sanderson

Sanderson originally attended Brigham Young University to study Biochemistry, but after taking a year off to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he found that while he did not miss chemistry, he did miss writing. When he returned to school he changed his major to English. In 2006 he married Emily Bushman, who also attended Brigham Young as an English major. They live in Utah with their son, where Brandon divides his time between writing fantasy novels and teaching a class on fantasy and science fiction at his alma mater. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/about/

Tor offered to publish his first novel, Elantris, in 2003, while he was still in graduate school. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/about/ He quickly followed it with the first book of the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Final Empire in 2006, and the beginning of his series for middle-readers, Alcatraz: Versus the Evil Librarians in 2007. Since then he has published multiple books each year. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/ His 2010 solo work, The Way of Kings, is the first of what he hopes will be a ten book series. http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2009/05/brandon-sanderson-interview/

On being chosen to complete The Wheel of Time: I spent a long time thinking, "Can anyone do this?" And my answer came out "No." But if someone else can try, I wanted it to be me. — Brandon Sanderson http://www.filmcritic.com/features/2009/05/brandon-sanderson-interview/

Why not do separate worlds? Because it was more interesting for me this way. This is the story I want to tell. The big, overarching story that I’ve planned out. I’ve been talking recently about how my inspiration for this is the idea that in science people have for a long time been looking for a unified theory of physics, some theory that will explain all interactions of physics in a concise way. I wanted to tell about a universe where there was a unified theory of magic, where magic worked according to a unifying principle. Despite the magic systems looking very different and doing lots of different and interesting things, hopefully original for each book, there is an underlying rationale that is keeping them all together. — Brandon Sanderson http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2010/09/brandon-sanderson-interview-stompingmad.html

This is going to take a while. I'm a fantasy author. We have trouble with the concept of brevity.— Brandon Sanderson http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/56/Splitting-AMOL

Elantris

• 2005: Elantris

Mistborn Trilogy

• 2006: Mistborn: The Final Empire
• 2007: Mistborn 2: The Well of Ascension
• 2008: Mistborn 3: The Hero of Ages

Alcatraz

• 2007: Alcatraz: Versus the Evil Librarians
• 2008: Alcatraz 2: Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones
• 2009: Alcatraz 3: Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia
• 2010: Alcatraz 4: Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens

Warbreaker

• 2009: Warbreaker

The Wheel of Time

• 2009: The Gathering Storm: Book Twelve of the Wheel of Time
• 2010: Towers of Midnight: Book Thirteen of the Wheel of Time

The Stormlight Archive

• 2010: The Way of Kings: Book One of the Stormlight Archive http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/