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Michael J. Sullivan (author)

American writer (born 1961)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ6831515 ↗
Source-derived summary

Michael J. Sullivan (born September 17, 1961) is an American writer of epic fantasy and science fiction, best known for his debut series The Riyria Revelations, which has been translated into fourteen languages. In 2012 io9 named him one of the "Most Successful Self-Published Sci-Fi and Fantasy Authors". His books have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Czech, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian, Japanese, Georgian, Bulgarian, Russian, Portuguese, Italian and Turkish.

Career

Sullivan started writing books at a young age in order to entertain himself. He started The Riyria Revelations to teach his daughter, who suffered from dyslexia, how to read.

Sullivan has written four series. The Riyria Revelations and The Riyria Chronicles were published by Orbit Books (fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group) and The Legends of the First Empire released by Del Rey Books (owned by Random House). The Riyria Revelations is a six-book epic fantasy series while the Riyria Chronicles is an ongoing series that centers on the early adventures of the two main protagonists of the former series. The Legends of the First Empire is a six-book epic fantasy series set in the same world as the Riyria books, but in the distant past, making it a standalone series. His first science fiction novel, Hollow World, was released by Tachyon Publications in April 2014.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Michael J. Sullivan (author)” is american writer (born 1961). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Michael, Sullivan and author, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1961, 2012, 2014—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1961-09-17. For this dossier, Michael, Sullivan and author is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american writer (born 1961)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6831515. VIAF identifies the subject as 122256791. The Library of Congress control number is n2010035170. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2012 and 2014.

Critical limits

Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Michael J. Sullivan (author)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Michael J. Sullivan (author) primary sources, Michael J. Sullivan (author) archive and Michael research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Michael J. Sullivan (author)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Michael J. Sullivan (author)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.