LDS Fiction - Notable LDS Fiction Writers

Notable LDS Fiction Writers

• Glenn Beck, a popular political commentator, has written a bestselling fiction book based on his childhood, The Christmas Sweater and a political thriller, The Overton Window (2010).
• Orson Scott Card, the popular mainstream science fiction author of the Ender's Game series, is sometimes called an LDS fiction writer. Card wrote the Women of Genesis series, based on people in the Old Testament. These books, not uniquely Mormon are also popular in the Jewish community. Another Book, Saints (also known as A Woman of Destiny) deals with Mormon pioneers. Additionally, Card's Homecoming Saga series of books is patterned on the Book of Mormon.
• Brandon Sanderson is the author of fantasy novel Elantris, the Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive series, as well as the final books of the Wheel of Time series originally penned by Robert Jordan.
• Richard Paul Evans, an author most famous for his story The Christmas Box which has crossover appeal, also wrote a book The Last Promise which was rejected by Deseret Book for possibly questionable content.
• Jerry Borrowman, writes co-authored biography and historical fiction. Three Against Hitler with Rudi Wobbe is an award winning autobiography of three LDS youth in Nazi Germany,and earned the authors the National Medal of Honor from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. His four-part series, 'Til the Boys Come Home features World War I and World War II military fiction. His first non-military book One Last Chance is set in the Great Depression. Life and Death at Hoover Dam is historical fiction meticulously researched to convey the drama of building the dam from 1931-1935.
• Betsy Brannon Green writes mystery and love stories set in a fictional Georgia community.
• Shannon Hale writes young adult fiction. She won the Newbery Honor award for Princess Academy in 2006, and the Utah State Book Award for Goose Girl in 2003.
• Jennie Hansen has received numerous writing awards from the Utah and National Federation of Press Women (1978), and was the 1997 third place winner of the URWA Heart of the West Writers Contest for Some Sweet Day.
• Tracy Hickman is a best-selling fantasy author, best known for his work on Dragonlance as a game designer and co-author with Margaret Weis, while he worked for TSR. They also wrote the Darksword trilogy, the Death Gate Cycle, and the Sovereign Stone trilogy. Tracy Hickman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. He married Laura Curtis in 1977, and together they have four children.
• Chris Heimerdinger has authored over a dozen books, most of which are considered young adult novels. The most successful of these are the Tennis Shoes Adventure Series where youth are transported back to the times of the Nephites, an ancient American Hebrew civilization according to the Book of Mormon. The original Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites was published in 1989, and nearly one million Heimerdinger titles have been sold through 2004. One of his stories, Passage to Zarahemla, was released as a film in 2007.
• Joni Hilton is the author of fifteen books, holds a master of fine arts degree in writing from USC, is an award-winning playwright, and is frequently published in major magazines.
• Dean Hughes is a BYU professor and author of nearly one hundred LDS and national-audience books. In 1979 he published his first LDS novel, Under the Same Stars. Hughes is noted for LDS historical fiction. His Children of Promise and Hearts of the Children series take place during World War II and the 1960s forward, respectively.
• Gerald Lund, author of the nine-book The Work and the Glory series, is one of the most prominent LDS fiction authors. Since his first book in 1990, over two million copies from the series have been sold. The lengthy historical fiction narratives about a family struggling through early anti-Mormon persecution sell especially well as books on tape. The first book in the series has been made into a movie, released in 2004. It was the most anticipated and expensive Mormon cinema film to date, with a budget of over $7.4 million.

• Stephenie Meyer, author of the Twilight series, belongs to the LDS Church. The Twilight Series is written for a general audience, though Mormon beliefs are apparent in the work. For example, the main character desires to practice abstinence before marriage (although this is common to many Christian denominations, and in no way is unique to Mormonism).
• Brandon Mull authored the book Fablehaven and its four sequels Rise of the Evening Star; The Grip of the Shadow Plague; Keys to the Dragon Sanctuary; and Keys to the Demon Prison. He has also written The Candy Shop War.
• Lee Nelson was a public relations and advertising copywriter before his first book was published in 1979. Lee is best known for his Storm Testament series of historical novels (nine volumes), and his Beyond the Veil series (four volumes). Lee is well known for his authentic research, which includes killing a buffalo from the back of a galloping horse with a bow and arrow, crossing the Green River many times on horseback, and riding with Mongolian nomads while gathering research for an upcoming book.
• Rachel Ann Nunes writes LDS fiction novels, focusing mainly on clean romances. She has published about 25 books.
• Clair M. Poulson is an LDS writer of mystery suspense novels.
• Anita Stansfield is a relatively edgy LDS fiction writer who concentrates on chaste LDS romance novels. Her work is popular with many LDS and non-LDS readers. In some of her 25 books published since 1994 are themes like coping with cancer, domestic violence, rape, and adoption. Indeed, one historical fiction novel, though not explicitly LDS-themed, was rejected from Covenant Communications, an LDS publisher, for reference to an out-of-wedlock baby.
• Brady Udall published a novel with a fundamental Mormon protagonist, The Lonely Polygamist, in 2010.
• Rick Walton writes picture books, with many books focused on fun with the English language. He has been writing since 1987 and teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University as part-time faculty.
• Robison Wells is a LDS humorist whose novels have met with great critical praise. His most recent works combine suspense and humor.
• Linda Paulson Adams writes novels set in a futuristic world nearing the Second Coming. She won an AML Award in 2002 for her short story, "First," Cornerstone Publishing's Fiction Book of the Year 2000, and several honorable mentions for her poetry.
• Jack Weyland authored Charly, an early LDS fiction published in 1980. The story is romance between a BYU student and a non-Mormon from New York. Weyland now has a trilogy of books based on the characters and has written other novels in his lighthearted humorous style. Charly was made into a movie released in 2002.
• Blaine M. Yorgason has written over seventy published works.
• Lance Richardson is an LDS author who wrote several stories based mostly on his own experience with his family, and struggling with his health. The most notable of which is The Message.
• Jack Lyon is an LDS author who wrote "The Moroni Code" and several other LDS fiction stories.