Christopher James Paolini (born November 17, 1983) is an American and Italian author. He is best known for The Inheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon (2002), Eldest (2005), Brisingr (2008), Inheritance (2011), the follow-up short story collection The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm (2018), and Murtagh (2023), the first in a follow-up duology. His first science fiction novel, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, was published on September 15, 2020. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book.