Terry Goodkind is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 writer and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

 of the epic fantasy The Sword of Truth

The Sword of Truth

The Sword of Truth is a series of thirteen epic fantasy novels written by Terry Goodkind. The books follow the protagonists Richard Cypher, Kahlan Amnell and Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander on their quest to defeat oppressors who seek to control the world and those who wish to unleash evil upon the world of...

series as well as the contemporary suspense novel The Law of Nines

The Law of Nines

The Law of Nines is a thriller/speculative fiction novel by American author Terry Goodkind. The book was released on August 18, 2009. It debuted at #10 on the Times bestseller list....

, which has ties to his fantasy series, and The Omen Machine

The Omen Machine (novel)

The Omen Machine is Terry Goodkind's 14th novel, and the first in a new series about Richard and Kahlan. Events in the book take place directly after the end of Confessor.- Plot summary :...

, which is a direct sequel thereof. Before his success as an author Goodkind worked primarily as a painter, as well as doing carpentry and woodworking. Goodkind is a proponent of Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand

Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....

's philosophical approach of Objectivism

Objectivism (Ayn Rand)

Objectivism is a philosophy created by the Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand . Objectivism holds that reality exists independent of consciousness, that human beings have direct contact with reality through sense perception, that one can attain objective knowledge from perception...

, with references to Rand's ideas and novels referenced in his works.