Randy Ellefson
ALLi Author Member
Location: United States of America
Genres: Fantasy/SciFi/Speculative, Advice & How To, Writing & Publishing
Author and world building strategist Randy Ellefson has been world building since the 1980s, having worked on a single world (Llurien) for decades, while also building separate worlds for other projects. Rand has won honorable mention three times in the prestigious Writers of the Future contest and publishes fantasy novels, novellas, and short stories. His series, The Art of World Building, has reached the Top 10 on Amazon’s Bestseller lists. He’s also host of the Fantasy & Sci-Fi Author Summit. Between selling at conventions, he also appears on podcasts for writers. He holds a Bachelors of Music, Magna cum Laude, in classical guitar, and runs his own record label, which has released five of his albums (three instrumental rock, one instrumental acoustic, and one classical guitar album). His metal band, Black Halo, released its debut album in 2026, with Rand as guitarist, main songwriter/lyricist, and band manager. Rand works as a professional software architect/project manager in the Washington, D.C. area and has worked for the State Department, White House, and NASA among others. When not creating, he’s playing with his son and daughter, golfing, skiing, or swimming.
Randy Ellefson's books
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
Will impersonating a legend cost him his life? The families of the real Ellorian Champions have captured Eric and his three friends, stripped them of power, and put them in chains. Can Eric live up to the reputation of Andier, the Silver-Tongued Rogue, and persuade them he had nothing to do with the real Champions’ disappearance? Or must he and his friends try to fight their way to freedom?Will impersonating a legend cost him his life? The families of the real Ellorian Champions have captured Eric and his three friends, stripped them of power, and put them in chains. Can Eric live up to the reputation of Andier, the Silver-Tongued Rogue, and persuade them he had nothing to do with the real Champions’ disappearance? Or must he and his friends try to fight their way to freedom?
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 18+
Trapped in another world. Seven days to escape. Failure means death. When Max awakens on a different planet, he doesn’t know how he got there or why he can’t get home. And a mysterious Life Counter is steadily descending towards zero. Now he’s alone in a world unknown, where his skills as a bard might win him friends to survive. But it may already be too late – someone is hunting him and wants him dead. Gaining skills as fast as he can, Max searches for answers and freedom. But if he can’t have either, he’s determined to find the power to defy death.
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
He swore an oath to protect all life. Now he must kill to survive. Being a knight at the Renaissance Festival is easy, but when Ryan is magically kidnapped to another world, the quest he must do might leave him dead. Mistaken for a dragon-slaying knight, he must kill the dragon queen to be sent home. At least he is not alone. Three of his friends are kidnapped beside him, all of them mistaken for the Ellorian Champions. The real heroes have been missing for years, but they may hold the key to keeping everyone alive.
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 12-15, 16-18, 18+
He swore an oath to protect all life. Now he must kill to survive. Being a knight at the Renaissance Festival is easy, but when Ryan is magically kidnapped to another world, the quest he must do might leave him dead. Mistaken for a dragon-slaying knight, he must kill the dragon queen to be sent home. At least he is not alone. Three of his friends are kidnapped beside him, all of them mistaken for the Ellorian Champions. The real heroes have been missing for years, but they may hold the key to keeping everyone alive.
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
The power to heal only comes when she believes. On her quests to other worlds where elves, dragons, and magic are real, Anna can save the dying – and destroy the undead. But on an Earth where magic has awoken after a thousand-year sleep, the gods do not answer her. No one understands why it’s all happening – or that Anna and her three friends mistakenly triggered the awakening. To save everything that she loves, Anna must face her destiny as The Light Bringer, or the new reality they unleashed may destroy all life.
Genres: Advice & How To, Guidebooks, Writing & Publishing
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
Creating a unique, immersive setting one world at a time A guide for authors, gamers, and hobbyists The Complete Art of World Building brings together the first three volumes in The Art of World Building series. This how-to guide will make readers a master of inventing imaginary worlds and help your setting stand out from the multitude of fantasy and SF worlds audiences see. Creating Life (#1) teaches readers how to create gods, species/races, plants, animals, monsters, and even undead. Creating Places (#2) teaches how to create planets, moons, continents, mountains, forests, deserts, bodies of water, sovereign powers, settlements, and interesting locales. Learn the different government types, how climate impacts vegetation, and consistently calculate how long it takes to travel by horse, wagon, sailing vessels, or even dragon. Cultures and Beyond (#3) teaches how to create cultures, monetary systems, military groups, religions, the supernatural, systems of magic, magic items, names,...
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback, Hardback
Age Groups: 16-18, 18+
Only a fool steals from a wizard. Talon Stormbringer thought he knew the risk of stealing from Viland Shadowbreaker – until he got caught. The wizard will spare him if Talon fetches the deadly silver elixir from the Everway, a supernatural land of lost souls and worse, ruled by the Ever Fiend. Talon had assumed none of it was real but agrees to go despite a band of people he can’t trust accompanying him. Of all the things they might discover on their journey, one is the hardest to learn... Only a fool steals from the Ever Fiend.