In 2006, Rothfuss sold his novel The Name of the Wind to DAW Books, which was released in 2007. It won a Quill Award and was listed among Publishers Weeklys Books of the Year. It also won an Alex Award in 2008. 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. The Slow Regard of Silent Things was published in October 2014 as a companion tale for The Kingkiller Chronicle, featuring the character Auri. Rothfuss has also released two novella-length 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 Lightning Tree," released in Rogues in June 2014, featuring character Bast. The whole anthology was nominated for the 2015 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology. In July of 2020, Rothfuss's editor and publisher Betsy Wollheim said, "I've never seen a word of book three" and that she doesn't think Rothfuss has written anything since 2014.
Charity
Rothfuss organizes the charity Worldbuilders, which, since 2008, has raised over $9.5 million, primarily for Heifer International, a charity that provides livestock, clean water, education, and training for communities in the developing world. At the end-of-year fundraiser for 2017, Worldbuilders raised $1,225,357 for Heifer International.
Podcasts
In August 2012, Rothfuss began a monthly podcast, The Story Board, on fantasy, featuring authors such as Terry Brooks and Brandon Sanderson. The Story Board ran for eight episodes. In June 2015, he and Max Temkin started a podcast, Unattended Consequences, then named Untitled Patrick Rothfuss.
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. Rothfuss has played a character named Viari in the Penny Arcade's live Dungeons & Dragons games known as Acquisitions Inc. from Season 7 onward, as well as a guest role in its spin-off show "The 'C' Team". He also role-played as guest character Kerrek in Geek and Sundry's show Critical Role episode 56, "Hope," and again in episodes 81–84. He also recorded a letter his character wrote which was heard in episode 69, "Passed Through Fire". Rothfuss was a guest on Wil Wheaton's Tabletop, playing Lords of Waterdeep on Episode 10 of Season 2, which he won. He was a member of the Story Design team for inXile's game.
"The Lightning Tree" – short story. Rogues, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.
"How Old Holly Came To Be" – short story., Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman.
The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle Part I: The Thing Beneath the Bed.
The Adventures of the Princess and Mr. Whiffle Part II: The Dark of Deep Below.
"The Road to Levinshir" – An excerpt from his then-unpublished Kingkiller Chronicle novel The Wise Man's Fear, Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy. Also published in EPIC: Legends of Fantasy Anthology, Edited by John Joseph Adams.
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