[1] Brown was born in Utah and spent many years working in his family's floral and nursery business.

[2] Brown explored writing as a student at BYU, studying with Darrell Spencer, Leslie Norris, Bruce Jorgensen, and Peter Macuck.

After attending a transformational writing workshop offered by Dave Wolverton, he began to submit his stories for publication.

His short story "The Scent of Desire" appeared in the contest's 1997 anthology of winners under the pseudonym Bo Griffin.

In 2008 he signed a three-book contract with Tor Books for an epic fantasy series which begins with Servant of a Dark God.