[2] He became interested in maps and mapmaking at primary school,[3] and in the 1990s was noted as having New Zealand's largest collection of Lego.

I have this pet theory that there's a common link between my love of maps and the fact that I'm an obsessive Lego collector, a computer programmer, and a science-fiction fantasy lover.He has worked on a number of atlases, including as deputy editor of the New Zealand Historical Atlas (1998), which won the readers' choice award at the 1998 Montana Book Awards,[1][7] and as author of the Contemporary Atlas of New Zealand (1999), which had sold more than 20,000 copies as of 2009[update].

[7] A 2004 review by The New Zealand Herald of Across the Face of the World noted that Kirkpatrick had spent 16 years writing the book, an "investment [which] seems to have paid off" in terms of world-building and the creation of a detailed atlas.

[12] In 2008, Across the Face of the World was published in the USA and was the best-selling science fiction or fantasy debut in that year.

[15] Jason Nahrung, reviewing Path of Revenge for The Courier-Mail, noted the praise Kirkpatrick has received for his mapmaking, and said he "has managed to not only paint a working, believable world in this, the first of a new series, but inhabit it with real people as well".