Are you a Maze Runner fan? How big of a fan are you? You can’t be that big of a Maze Runner fan if you don’t know all about James Dashner, author of The Maze Runner series including this week’s film adaptation The Scorch Trials. It’s ok, we won’t tell anybody your secret. And don’t worry, you can catch up on everything you need to know about Mr. Dashner right here in our handy dandy guide to the author behind The Maze Runner series and The Mortality Doctrine series.

Mr. Dashner is originally from a small town in northern Georgia. He attended college at Brigham Young University, a private religious university in Utah where students practice and adhere to the tenants of Mormonism. Mr. Dashner’s first foray into YA territory was in 2003 with the first book in The Jimmy Fincher Saga. The Jimmy Fincher series of books follows the adventures and trials of a young boy who discovers that something mystical and maybe sinister awaits him in his own backyard, leading to a series of events that leaves Jimmy as the only one who can save his family and the world.

 

Jimmy Fincher was followed by The 13th Reality series in which our hero Atticus Higginbottom aka Tick discovers an odd secret about the universe–multiple realities exist, a new one created every time you make a choice with a significant consequence. When something begins to threaten the natural order of the multiple realities, it’s up to Tick to save all the realities and the world. The Journal of Curious Letters was the first book in The 13th Reality series, published in 2008. The books from this series were released concurrently with the books from Dashner’s next BIG YA series…The Maze Runner.

The Maze Runner was released in 2009 and tells the familiar tale of Thomas and his fellow Gladers who are stuck next to the maze and its dangers day in and day out, until of course, Thomas shows up and starts to question the “rules” of the Glade and the maze. The film adaptation of The Scorch Trials, in theaters Friday, September 18th, is the second installment in the series and it follows Thomas and the other Gladers who (spoiler alert) escaped the maze and now find themselves on an entirely new quest. They travel desolate scorched landscapes in order to discover the secrets of an entity known as WCKD, secrets which could explain the maze and the Gladers’ role in the future of humanity.

There is a sequel to The Scorch Trial, The Death Cure. The book is out now, but the film adaptation is set to start filming this February with eyes toward a 2017 release date, though nothing is set in stone. There are also two prequels to The Maze Runner Series: The Kill Order which is out now, and a new prequel called The Fever Code which is expected to be released some time in 2016, but again, nothing official has been set in stone.

With all that success and a blockbuster film franchise notched on his belt, what has Mr. Dashner been up to since The Maze Runner? Another epic series of course!!!! The Mortality Doctrine series follows uber gamer Michael as he discovers some truths about the gaming world, truths about virtual reality, reality, and what’s really at stake in “the game.” The first book The Eye of Minds was released in 2013 with the second book out in 2014. The third book in The Mortality Doctrine series The Game of Lives is expected for release this November 17th!!

Mr. Dashner and his family now call Colorado home. He lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains which is where he comes up with all these crazy/incredible/awesome stories that we all enjoy so much.