Patrick Rothfuss was born in Madison, Wisconsin on June 6, 1973. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point in 1991. While attending the University of Wisconsin he changed his major from chemical engineer, to clinical psychology to undeclared. During this time he bagan a fantasy novel The Song of Flame and Thunder. He also began to write the "Your College Survival Guide" column in The Pointer, the campus paper. His most well known creation during this time is a spoof warning about the Goodtimes Virus, a well-known computer virus hoax of the time. While working at the campus computer lab, Rothfuss tired of receiving queries about the computer virus and sending out the University's standard denial. On December 6, 1996, he wrote a parody of the original warning and released it on the Internet. This humorously claimed that the Goodtimes virus could also erase floppy discs sitting near the affected computer, as well as melt ice cream and drink beer. The parody ended by observing that the computer virus was "a rather interesting shade of mauve." The spoof circulated even more widely than the original computer virus hoax. He graduated in 1999 with a B.A. in English. After receiving his MA at Washington State University, he returned two years later to teach at Stevens Point. After completing The Song of Flame and Thunder, Rothfuss submitted it to several publishing companies, but it was rejected. In 2002 he won the Writers of the Future 2002 Second Quarter competition with The Road to Levinshir. His novel The Kingkiller Chronicle, won the 2007 Quill Award for best sci-fi/fantasy and was listed on the New York Times Best Seller list. The Second book in the series, The Wise Man's Fear, is the #1 New York Times Best Seller on the March 20th Hardcover Fiction list.
