Pierce Brown

Pierce Brown's Backstory

Early life

Pierce Brown was born on January 28, 1988, in Denver, Colorado.¹ His family moved seven times before he turned 18, and he went to more than ten schools; he has said his grandfather’s tall tales gave him his love of stories.² He studied political science and economics at Pepperdine University.¹

Six books first

Brown began writing the summer after high school, and over five years he wrote six novels and received more than a hundred rejections from literary agents; he has said he nearly gave up at 22.² Meanwhile he worked in social media for a tech start-up, in production at ABC Studios, as an NBC page and as an aide on a U.S. Senate campaign.³

Red Rising

The idea for Red Rising came on a mountaineering trip: he had been reading Sophocles’ Antigone on the drive, and while climbing at dawn he began to wonder what kind of man a girl who defied cold power would love, and what would become of him without her.⁴ That question became Darrow. He wrote the book in about two months above his parents’ garage in Seattle, drawing on a long fascination with Roman history.⁴

Del Rey published Red Rising on January 28, 2014, his 26th birthday, and the next month Universal Pictures bought the film rights in a seven-figure auction.¹ The book entered the New York Times best-seller list at No. 20; Golden Son (2015) reached No. 6, and Morning Star (2016), which closed the trilogy, reached No. 2.¹ Goodreads readers voted him best new author of 2014.¹

The second sequence

Iron Gold (2018) picked up the story ten years later and began a new run of books, followed by Dark Age (2019) and Light Bringer (2023).¹ With Rik Hoskin he also wrote Sons of Ares, a prequel comic published by Dynamite.¹ By September 2024 the series had sold six million copies, according to Wikipedia.¹

Red God and the screen

A seventh and final novel, Red God, was announced in July 2022 and has no release date; Brown said in 2026 that he wanted the book to be better before it is finished.⁶ In the meantime he began The Book of Lorn, a mix of prose and comics drawn by Giannis Milonogiannis, first released to his Patreon supporters.²¹ The Universal film rights eventually reverted to Brown.¹ In October 2026 TheWrap reported that Paramount is developing a Red Rising film with Francis Lawrence directing and Brown as an executive producer.⁵