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Wow, was I ever wrong about the size of the crowd tonight! I figured for a collection like this, that big church would maybe be half full or so. Nope. When I got there almost a half-hour before the signing, it was about 2/3 full, and by 7, it was filled up. Not to the "standing room only" point, we could have squished together quite a bit more, but I was stunned at how many people were there! Also, many thanks to Angie for bringing her fully-charged phone to record. I accidentally left my own recorder at home, and had to leave by about 9:30 anyway. But it was a marvy evening. Also: the Returned on Nalthis are cognitive shadows, shoved into and firmly attached to their dead bodies by virtue of that enormous "divine Breath" they're given. And Szeth is not a cognitive shadow; his real soul was returned to his body... it just isn't sticking very well. Hence the afterimages.

Me and my team just finished out Stormlight fan-made movie! Let me know what you think! Also there's a link in the description on a 'making-of' documentary on how I made this movie happen if you're interested http:// @BrandSanderson Also a behind-the-scenes documentary of how we made the movie if you're interested! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIdr664qpMQ

I posted these in the gallery, but wanted to add some extra commentary here, with tips for anyone who wants to try making some themselves. My son and I were making snowflake decorations for Christmas, and I thought that the intricate swirls and symmetry would lend themselves to the glyphs from the Stormlight Archive. But if you are making a stormlight snowflake, you obviously need to have one with 10-fold symmetry, not the normal 6 (or heretical 8) of standard paper snowflakes. To get 10-fold rotational symmetry, start with a "fold, one cut" five pointed stars, for which there are many different instructions online. I started out following this diagram, then switched to an angle guide for increased speed/precision. Once you have a 5-fold symmetric starting point, you can fold it in half again (giving you results like the first photo below) or proceed directly to the cutting (giving you something like the other two). Hint #1 The paper will cut more cleanly if you fold it accordion style (like this /\/\/\/\ rather than this ///\\\). So, when your paper is folded in half and creased to demarcate 18 or 36 degree sections, alternate mountain and valley folds to get your starting wedge. At first I tried starting with an 10-fold symmetric wedge and cutting around the sword glyph to give 10 identical swords in one stormflake. Here you can see my attempts modeled on the symbols for Windrunner (top) and Skybreaker (bottom). I think they turned out remarkably well, despite being "practice" runs using old print jobs. Initially I had planned to flank the swords with their associated surge glyphs, but it quickly became apparent that it wouldn't work out that way. The stack of paper is 20 sheets thick, so it gets pretty difficult to cut detailed lines and to keep the shape entirely uniform from the top of the stack to the bottom. After making the sword, I just didn't have room to add the other symbols--at least, not with the thickness of the lines I was cutting. For the next one, I started with a 5-fold symmetric wedge and cut different glyphs out from each side, resulting in 10 swords of alternating order. This stormflake features Bondsmith and WIllshaper. I actually like it a bit better than the first two, partly because two shapes are more visually interesting than one, and partly because the minimalist lines of the swords turned out cleaner than the outlines had. Or maybe it's just because these ones more clearly resemble swords rather than spokes of a wheel. (Then again, those first ones definitely resemble snowflakes more, which was initially the point.) The thinner stacks did let me cut finer detail, but once again, adding surge glyphs was infeasible. Determined to include a sword and glyph together, I started with the order glyph with the simplest lines: Truthwatcher. Cutting a large Truthwatcher glyph into the 5-fold wedge, I interspersed them with a tiny Double Eye symbol. I then added an offset circle beside the hilt to put the surge glyph in. I chose Progression as the simpler of the two surge glyphs (Illumination has like 5 times as many lines, and they are twisty! No thank you.) I used an exacto knife to cut out the shape inside that circle. This step was more labor intensive than I expected because my knife only cut through ~4 sheets at once cleanly, so I had to recreate the glyph in several batches. It's not lying entirely flat, so the Truthwatcher glyph isn't quite as clear in the photo as on the real thing. The flower petal shape was a happy accident of the swordglyph shape and of trying to give some visual separation to the individual swords. Once I saw it, though, I knew it was perfect: the surge that powers growth and an order that uses it, on a shape symbolic of growth and beauty. Exactly the theme I would have tried for if I'd known to think of it. I had been a little disappointed while making this that it was losing some of the divine numerology, but If I'd tried too hard to get 10 I never would have gotten this beautiful result. I think it looks rather like a poinsettia, which is appropriate for the non-stormlight holiday as well. As an aside, I also thought to try to include the Alethi script. It's symmetric, so it ought to be easy to add along one of the creases, right? Not so much. To cut with the precision necessary to make it legible, I would need to use an exacto knife rather than scissors, and reduce the thickness of the paper stack. I still think it's a good idea and may try it, but as with the glyphs, it is much easier to model an overall shape than to reproduce lines exactly, and with an alphabet you have to be able to distinguish the letters from each other. If I do get it to work, I'll post the photos here. Hint #2 The glyphs in SA are made up of many disconnected lines, which is difficult to reproduce in this medium. Give yourself freedom to interpret the shapes and ideas rather than trying to copy the drawn versions. I hope this inspires your holiday crafting. I look forward to seeing any stormflakes (or other creations) you decide to share.

I was there last night (as one of the last few in a very long line), and asked a few questions. My apologies if these are things that are already known - I'm afraid I didn't quite do my due diligence in making an exhaustive search of known information beforehand. Mea culpa. Also these aren't transcriptions, just the gist of what was discussed, so it might be wise to take these with a pinch of copper. Eyewitness accounts are unreliable at best, and I might be adding meaning in my retelling here which I've unintentionally fabricated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 1: On Taking up Shards (direct reference to end of Hero of Ages) Question 2: On Bind Points Question 3: Investiture in Spikes --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A bonus piece of information - my poor friend that I dragged along with me (who had only read Warbreaker) asked about the specific naming of Bio-Chromatic Breath, and Sanderson confirmed as part of his response that at least some the Five Scholars had visited worlds who had gone through the Industrial Revolution (and therefore would have more of a sense of scientific theory, that the Scholars would have picked up on). Again, not sure if that's new or not. The line was long and arduous, but it was a great event. Had a lot of fun hearing Brandon speak and answer questions, and signed books ("Shut it, Voidbringer!") are always a plus.

Harry Potter fans have trouble with the proper interpretation of the series. Like when Dumbledore says to Snape, "After all this time?" Snape clearly and logically responds: I mean, it's the only thing that makes sense for his character development!

OK, I'm sorry if someone beat me to it, but I'm pretty sure we can work out which Expanses are which by comparing the Shadesmar map to the Cosmere Map. Here they both are for those who don't have them to hand: Cosmere Map: Shadesmar Map: So. We already know that the Expanse of the Vapors is the Scadrian Cognitive Realm from here. Judging by Mistborn: Secret History, this is a pretty accurate description of what the Cognitive Realm on Scadrial looks like, so it stands to reason that the others also provide hints as to what the other Expanses look like on different worlds. So. Here goes. Expanse of the Vibrances - Nalthis Have you ever not been able to work out a puzzle, and once someone tells you, you feel like an idiot for not working it out earlier? Expanse of the Vibrances? When you have a world filled with colour-based magic? Really? *sigh* I think we can all agree this one's pretty much in the bag. My guess is that this world is filled with colour, and the more invested it is, the more 'colourful' it looks, or something like that. I really want to see the Tears of Edgli in the Expanse of the Vibrances now... That could provide some interesting answers... Expanse of the Broken Sky - Taldain At first I thought this might refer to the fact that the World didn't follow the regular day/night patterns like a regular pattern, but Skaa had an interesting idea that could provide an alternate explanation, based on Glamdring's initial theory: that the smaller sun of Darkside is really a black hole, and that the Particulate Ring is really an accretion disk. That is... a very scary thought. And, depending on how the accretion disk is seen in the Cognitive Realm, you might have a giant black hole hanging over the sky on Darkside. If that isn't enough to make it a "Broken Sky", I don't know what is... Expanse of the Densities - Sel? This is the one I feel least certain about, but Nalthis, Taldain, and Scadrial fit so well... The Cosmere map has the Expanse of the Densities leading off into nowhere, though it could conceivably shift ~45 degrees towards the inhabited planet of Sel, because the Cognitive Realm is abridged where there's no consciousness. In fact, I was almost ready to write that off as an area we haven't seen, except for the fact that the Expanse of the Densities is 'a planet we've seen before 2011'. And we've now got Scadrial, Nalthis and Roshar covered, leaving only Sel. My only possible explanation for the 'Expanse of the Densities' is that Sel's Cognitive landscape was drastically changed as a result of Dominion and Devotion's Shattering, which is why Sel is 'tricky to get to' in the Cognitive Realm. (Though, I must admit, I thought I read somewhere else that that was due to the uncontrolled power of the Dor after the Shards were Shattered or something, which might disrupt that theory, in which case, I have no idea how the Expanse of the Densities fits in with Sel.) The other 2 planets indicated - Threnody and First of the Sun - are further away from Roshar, which is probably why they don't have a corresponding Expanse. Apart from Sel, I'm reasonably confident about all of these, and if I'm right, then that means we can begin to narrow down what makes Sel the Expanse of the Densities. Actually, another thought occurs to me as I write this - the Expanse of the Densities could be a clue for something in the future. (The Shadesmar map was relevant as of the period of time of the Stormlight Archives, AFAIK - which is a while after the Elantris trilogy. We have no idea what might have gone on there after Elantris and the Emperor's Soul. In fact, Elantris 2 and 3 contain Cosmere tidbits that Brandon doesn't want us to know until after Stormlight 5, IIRC, so it's actually quite reasonable to think that a Cosmere significant event might happen there.) So, what do you all think? Are you as confident about this as I am? Any questions? I kind of did this in a rushed half-hour before bed after a long week, so if this is incoherent at all, I apologize, and I'll try to fix up any confusion in the morning.

Answers I got last night (that I think are new): (paraphrased from memory) Written question: Is VenDell changing suits or is the suit changing colors? VenDell is changing suits. No Nalthis/breath connection after all. :-( -Are all the red-eyed characters influenced by the same shard? No, but the red is significant. (it has meaning in the cosmere) quick theory: Red indicates corrupted or co-opted investiture Unfortunately, that takes some strength away from the "all those red eyes are influenced by Odium" line of reasoning. -Szeth's name does actually refer to his grandfather, Vallano. I had a thought he'd been disowned/excommunicated and had his name tied to someone infamous from the past (so as to not tie his dishonor to his family). -Do humans predate the two shards' arrival on Roshar (I said two since Odium arrived later, he specifically mentioned all three) Humans were on Roshar before Honor, Cultivation, and Odium arrived. I meant to follow this up with an Ym's "Long Trail" history vs. Alethi "kicked out of the Tranquiline Halls" history question (were there multiple human migrations to Roshar?) but completely forgot since I hadn't written it down. :-( I am totally impressed with the experience, the crowd (most of whom seemed to stay), and Brandon (both as speaker and signing author - totally gracious and friendly even by the time I got to him at hour #3 or so). Definitely going again when he's back here and could probably be convinced to make a trip farther away if he's in Vancouver/Portland/Spokane. My daughter was also pretty stoked, especially since she got my books signed to her name. I'm thinking she's staking a claim. Awesome! and thanks for the picture (Karaokeang?), despite my best efforts I still looked like a deer caught in the headlights. :-)

You know how sometimes you just feel like sharing a random story? When I was about 12, I was on a camping trip with my friends. We went on a walk out to this slide-type thing made out of half of a large pipe. I was wearing flip flops and on the way back, I stepped in some mud. As I got my feet unstuck, one of my flip flops came off. I turned around and it was just gone. We tried digging around a little, but we couldn't find it anywhere. I still don't know what happened to that shoe. Rest in peace flip flop. You had a good sole.

Arcanum vs. The Nights of Khrisstallia. /thread

I don't like to double-post, and I don't like to reference WoBs from a signing without having a transcription, but I'm going to do both since I hear that Brandon spoke about this topic at the Seattle signing. Szeth's soul was returned to his body, but it isn't sticking very well, and that's why there are afterimages. He is not a Returned, who actually become Cognitive Shadows and are then attached to their bodies.

I know a therapist if you need one

Once it no longer contains any world-shattering spoilers, I think there's a good chance we'll see it in Arcanum Reloaded or another short story collection. (What other good titles did we come up with for Arcanum Unbounded 2? The Arcanum Strikes Back? Khriss and Nazh's Bogus Journey? Arcanumman 2: The Legend Continues?)

I got almost two and a half hours of the signing line recorded before I had to leave. It may take sometime to post because it will need to be edited for some stuff that Brandon doesn't want to the public at large. I will try to get it this weekend though.

Last night at a signing I got the chance to ask Brandon if the reason Nazh's knife doesn't glow to Kelsier's eyes was because it wasn't made on Scadrial or if it was some property of the specific metal it was made from. The exact quote I was wondering about: I didn't even get to finish the question before he got a grin on his face and I knew I was about to get a RAFO. That got me thinking and unfortunately I didn't ask a followup question that might have made this theory stronger ('Does he want his knife back?') but alas, this theory only occurred to me today. What theory you ask? That Nazh's knife is Awakened, a Type IV BioChromatic Entity. This might explain why the knife doesn't glow to Kelsier, because it's already heavily Invested with something he has no Connection to and can't process. We also have Word of Brandon that Nightblood would be one of the hardest things to affect with Steelpushing owing to how heavily invested it is, so there's already confirmed 'interference' of a sort between Allomancy and Awakened metal. That however isn't the reason I think Nazh has an Awakened knife, just the reasoning I applied to my original question after the brainwave hit me. The serious evidence I think we might have for this theory is hidden in the New Ascendancy broadsheets in Bands of Mourning. One of the advertisements there reads "Do your metal tools speak to you? Your neighbors probably don't want to hear about it. But WE do! Visit 27 Ralen Place. Ask for K or N. Bring the talking metal with you." Obviously, Khriss and Nazh think there may be Awakened metal on Scadrial at this point in time. I can't see this as being a question about hemalurgic spikes because while one of those might have been repurposed as a tool, it would only 'speak' to you if you stuck yourself with it. So, Awakened object on Scadrial. The only such thing we know about is Nightblood and while it might plausibly find its way to Scadrial (based on Era 2 Mistborn happening between Stormlight 5 and 6, so for all we know it's no longer on Roshar by that point) it could never be mistaken for a tool. It's a sword, it's really good at the stabby slashy stuff but you can't imagine building anything with it. But a knife? Now that could be mistaken for a tool. I think that Nazh wants that knife back and is hoping that somone on Scadrial has found it or can give him clues to its whereabouts. Now, we know that the knife was left in the Cognitive Realm when Kelsier Ascended but Nazh doesn't necessarily knoiw that and we have no idea what happened to the knife later. If Nazh knows Kelsier is now running around the Physical Realm again, he might also suspect that the knife came with him, or that it was retreived from the Cognitive Realm some other way in the past three centuries and is on Scadrial waiting to be found. So, thoughts?

I was thinking of the atrophying effect of storing strength in pewterminds and realized something horrible you could do. Torturing a Brute ferring using his/her Feruchemy. If you got them storing strength, their necks would atrophy, then you'd fasten a pewter collar around their necks which would fit tight around. Then they'd be compelled to continue storing, otherwise their necks would swell to normal size, and the collar would strangle them. This could kill them eventually if you don't give them new pewterminds to fill when they fill their pewter collar. The other application for such a collar would be great imagery in a story in which a commander would "unleash" a pack of Brutes by removing the collars and they then start tapping strength and charging together into the fray of a battle. How cool is that!? feruchemy is my fave

Day 4: A Grave of Tomes Moro was starting to feel annoyed. Like a lot of the others, he had not come here to purchase this House – Even at the discounted price, it was still very much out of his price range. He wouldn't have said what he was here for was strictly speaking stealing either. Certainly he wouldn't say it was now, as far as he was concerned it was fair and just compensation for the nightmare that this House had put him through. But what irritated him the most was the fact that he hadn't found anything of worth. There was supposedly meant to be huge vaults of gold and gems hidden away in this place, the ancient wealth of the now-dead Heron line. But while this place was certainly ostentatious, none of it was particularly mobile or easily sell-able wealth. His fingerprints would be all over the paintings, and he wouldn't be able to hide them while looking for a fence. They would be worth a lot, but not his freedom or his life if he was discovered. Still, onwards he went in the hope of finding something lucrative. He opened another door, and swore when the heavy metal handle fell off and landed on his foot. He winced and pushed it out of the way, making his way into the room. It appeared that he had discovered a library. The sight of it almost made him turn around, kick the door in frustration and leave, but he did not. Some books could be very valuable, after all. People would pay a high price for knowledge, particularly from such a strange place as this. The issue with that though was that he didn't know that market particularly well. But considering how long it had been since the Heron family had still existed, anything in decent condition that was a first edition should be good. The older, the better. And considering the size of the library, there was bound to be something here. He felt he could practically get lost in it, and half expected to find a skeleton lying in the dust on the floor. He put the candle that he was using on a windowsill, away from the musty old bookshelves and dried paper, and carefully slid an old leather-bound tome from the shelf. It was not helpful though, as he didn't understand it. Not only was it not written in a language he knew, but it seemed to even use a different alphabet. Still, it was an interesting curio, and it might puzzle and delight some eccentric somewhere. He put it on the desk and selected the next. A treatise on BioChromancy, it seemed. Possibly worth something, possibly not, considering how the field advanced. The date inside the book's cover confirmed it was before the Manywar. Again, another antique possibly worth something, and it was even signed. He put it on the pile. Slowly he took books from the shelves, opening them to the first few pages to check what they were about. The ones he thought would be worth something, he would hide and take with him when he left. The others were simply set aside for now, and would be returned later. The candle went out, bathing the room in darkness. There was no light from the window, making it so he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He raised his hand and put it on the bookshelf, carefully feeling his way back to the desk. It was strange; in the darkness, his other senses were enhanced to make up for the lack of sight. It was only for this reason that, aside from his breathing, he heard the soft footstep behind him. Unfortunately, by the time he realised what it meant, he was too late. A thick book struck his head. His body hit the bookshelf behind him, and fell to the ground. The bookshelf wobbled a bit back and forth. The footsteps started to walk away, pausing by the bookshelf. There was a heave, a sound of exertion from behind Moro. A heavy encyclopedia slid out and hit the back of his head again. Another textbook followed suit, falling on his back. Then the entire shelf unloaded all of its books onto him with a sickening crunch. Despite their searching, though the debris caused by the attack was plain to see, the Explorers could not find his corpse the next day. Day 4 has begun! It will end at 9PM GMT on Sunday 4th. Moro (Magestar) was an Explorer with a Vial of Brass! An Omen was discovered! Character List Kasther's Pocketwatch

Hey, my name's WritingBookworm (or Writing -- some people shorten it to that). I was looking for a new forum to spread my wings to and I found this one. I've read a few of Sanderson's works. I'm very slowly forging my way through Way of Kings, I've completed the Steelheart trilogy (even though that isn't a part of the Cosmere), and I'm almost done with the original Mistborn trilogy -- like, I only have 20 pages to go in Hero of Ages. I'm gonna finish it up once I'm done typing this. So while I'm not the most well-read of Sanderson's fans yet, I'll get there. Pleased to meet you all!

Arcanum Unbound, just to screw with everyone.

When you write an entire rhetorical analysis essay on Stick...

Appendix to the Special edition all 10 Stormlight Archives box-set? Never give up hope.

There is a long line and it's almost 10 PM, but a big thank you to Brandon for patiently answering questions asked by everyone. Personalized copy - " Dedication from a resident of Yolen please" "May two worlds become one to you" He stressed that it's worlds not realms. I'll give a link to the picture later. Here are the questions I asked: 1.a. Is it possible to reliably deduce what a Shardworld's Cognitive realm will look like if we knew a lot about its Physical realm? For example, mists in Scadrial, spheres in Roshar etc. (Thanks @Argent) A. Yes, but it works in odd ways. So it may not work in the logical way that you think 1.b. Why spheres on Roshar? Something related to the highstorms makes more sense, right? A. Yes there is a reason for them being spheres. RAFO 2. How do we pronounce Bavadin? Have we see his/her influence on other worlds till now – like Austre in Nalthis or other religions which Sazed studied on Scadrial for example. A. ba-va-din (ba as in batman, va as in want, din as in dinner). Yes you have seen her influence in other worlds other than Taldain. He wouldn't confirm if it is Nalthis or Scadrial or any other planet. 3. a. Is there more significance to the 10 other planets around the Rosharian start system and them being gaseous? We know that Roshar's moons have unnatural orbits; so there seems to be some astronomical manipulation in the system. A. Yes there is significance of 16 in cosmere and 10 in Rosharian system. 3. b. The outer 10 gas giants in the Rosharan system suggest a tie to the number 10 that predates the arrival of the current Shards. Is the prominent numerology we see around the Cosmere an inherent property of the planets, rather than the Shards who invest them? A. Big RAFO 3. c. Would Ashyn/Braize share the 10-centric numerology of Roshar? A. Yes 10-centric is for the entire Rosharian planetary system...wait Braize is 9-centric 4. Do Ym, Stump belong to Edgedancer? Will we see Stump again in the future? A. Ym is not an Edgedancer. You will see Stump in the future novels though you may not see Tashikki much again. 5. Is Vax present (lurking) in any of the star systems explained in Arcanum Unbounded? Personally I think there will be more star systems that would be discovered in the future and Vax might be part of them. Comment? A. RAFO for Vax. Yes, there might be more stars. The picture on the cover is the sight observed from one particular place (Silverlight? RAFO). Let's just say that there are more planetary systems present in the existing star chart itself that you don't know yet. (He RAFO-ed when I asked if Yolen is present in the dragon constellation) 6.a. Have we seen any of the system or the world that has end-negative magic system other than Hemalurgy? A. Yes there is one more end-negative magic system and you have seen minor hints of it. 6. b. What about Hemalurgy in other worlds other than Mistborn? A. Yes. (I again asked with the exception of Kandra, have seen Hemalugry such as people who may have been spiked. He repeated "You have seen Hemalugry in other worlds." (In other words he is tight-lipped about Kandra part - neither yes or no) 7. What would have happened if Kelsier hasn't taken Preservation or later Sazed hasn't taken Ruin and Preservation powers? Would the earth have been destroyed due to so much raw power much before the actual destruction due to Ruin's actions? A. Yes. Bad things would have happened (Me - "Like Sel?" Him - "Not going to answer that. Just bad things would have happened") At the end he thanked me for the questions!! I was almost stammering while asking all these questions since I'm so excited and nervous. Luckily I have the questions printed on paper. While leaving, I thanked him a lot. First time meeting him and what a memorable event!! Undoubtedly one of the most humble and good-natured author I have met.

I made these and wanted to share. Comes in two flavors. That's all! Latest Revision: Old Revisions: 1: Original. 2: Ishar at top and divine attributes. Numbers removed, numerals moved. 3: Surge symbols, gemstones, and essences. Divine attributes moved. 4: Made from scratch for clarity and misalignment problems. Colorful order names. Minor moves and resizing. Multiple black options. 5: A few more varieties of black, just with different shades for the white text. 6: Fixed spelling of Pailiah

I've seen a few comments here and there but thought it would be a good idea to pull them together as a separate discussion topic. So, it's pretty clear that Ishar was blatantly lying to Nale about being able to stop the desolation by just going around slaughtering surgebinders left and right. And a few pages later: It's thus very heavily implied that he has betrayed the heralds, and may have been working for Odium for quite some time. After all, it was at his suggestion that they decided to break the Oathpact in the first place: My question is, why? Nale obviously has nearly unshakable trust in Ishar, despite massive amounts of evidence contradicting everything he said. We also know that Ishar was instrumental in the original creation of the Knights Radiant: Finally, I think it's very plausible, if not likely, that this part of the Diagram is referring to Ishar as well: I'm guessing that his betrayal happened sometime after the creation of the KR, possibly after the Recreance? But I have no idea what his reason, and what the implications for Dalinar and the Bondsmiths, could be. I encourage and welcome any and all rampant speculation on these topics.

I found Hoid. LOL. That must have been what started the event that Hoid referred to when he talked about spending "the better part of a year in a large stomach, being digested" back in WoR.

I can't believe he is actually coming to Canada. This is by far the closest he'll ever be.

@Orlion Determined Hmm... I don't know that I can really disagree with your assessment, and yet I still do, to some degree (but maybe in such a way that we more or less see things the same way but express it differently). For example, would I say that it's not as good as The Emperor's Soul? Well, kind of. TES is an excellent standalone novella. Which do I, personally, like better? Probably Edgedancer. It is very much a chapter in The Stormlight Archive--an essential one, even--and Stormlight is my favorite Cosmere series. As a Stormlight novella, it is exactly what it should be. If it were more like TES, it wouldn't be as good for what it is, even if it were better as a standalone novella. I definitely agree with your observations on the contrast to Secret History. Sure, Edgedancer probably wouldn't be all that satisfying to someone who had not read the rest of Stormlight, but a casual fan of the series would still love it, while someone who had read Mistborn without getting obsessed with the deeper mysteries would read Secret History and be like, "Wut." Now, here's the sticky point: does Edgedancer justify the purchase of the collection all on its own? It basically did for me, and I had zero buyer's remorse after reading it. If Edgedancer hadn't been in the collection, I may have bought AU eventually, but I sure wouldn't have pre-ordered it. It's nice to have physical copies of stuff I had otherwise only read digitally--which, along with the artwork and bonus material from Khriss, makes the price worth it to me--but that isn't enough of a draw on its own to drop $20. If I had no interest at all in the rest of the material? I guess I can imagine someone who might fit that description (but, surely, they're relatively rare in this fan community), and for them, the price might be a bit steep. I still think most would reluctantly buy it anyway, be a little miffed about having to pay so much, but still end up happy with the story.

ASD just got its release date! Coming to a store near you on August 7th!

One of the funnier exchanges I've seen in awhile

Soooo... After images are caused by the way he died and was brought back. Means I Was wrong, but it's good to know for sure. New theory: How was Szethy's "death" different than any other character's? (Wait for it) He got a post-publication re-write! No wonder his soul isn't sitting properly in his body.

There is a group in my company that has recently gotten a certain amount of oversight into some of the things that my team does. We have been very diligent in explaining things to them; what we do, how we do it, and what all of the things mean. For example, we explained very clearly (multiple times) that "UFO" does, in fact, stand for "Unidentified Flying Object." We explained what criteria we use to classify* said objects and what information we need to gather about them. And we also emphasized very heavily the part where they are all flying. So why, then, did they come to us today asking, "So how do you handle ground-based UFOs?" WE DON'T. You know why? BECAUSE THERE IS NO SUCH THING. *Disclaimer: this is not actually what I do, though the joke wound up fitting this specific situation to a level of appropriateness that I would never have expected.

@Pagerunner, do we know that the Purelake is one?

Hear! Hear! @PallonianFire. I can't see why this was not acknowledged better on the other thread. It is almost so obvious that people seem to e trying to make it harder. I'm not sure why... To the theory, I think we have to stick with what we were given. No black hole. Why would the dust cloud be gone? No explanation there. If the cloud can be seen in the physical, people are aware and thinking it exists, so it should exist in the CR. Further, people in the CR do not see the all light as souls. Just souls, metal and investiture. Since we do not know where that is on Taldain, (I know the theories about sun, atmosphere, etc.) and they have very little metal, (see the text), and Kelsier does not mention any celestial bodies. I don't know what they would see in the sky. Do you?

Arcanum Unbounded HD I.8 Final Chapter Prologue

I don't think the Unmade have access to the Shards' thoughts, and even if they did, I'm unsure as to why Moelach would pass that along to a dying man. No, this is Kaladin protecting Elhokar (whom an earlier chapter title branded "The One Who Killed Promises") from Moash (who IIRC saved Kaladin's life back in WoK).

Look at you, casually (dis)proving at least two theories in as many lines of text! I am interested in seeing the exact transcription of these two (more so the first one), however. I think wording might be important here.

Now we have three.

Chop chop, @Mandamon! Give us the Pitmad scoop! Saw some hearts and a retweet! In AFD news, just moved out of editors edits to copyeditor edits. Onwards and upwards!

I was just about to post on another thread (related to the cause of the Recreance), when I thought I'd better go look, and see if someone else thinks the same thing. I have always thought it most likely that Nale convinced the KR that they needed to abandon their oaths, in order to destroy the Nahel Bond, to prevent a further desolation. What other possible reason could ever get everyone to act in concert? - Not war (because if they thought it wasn't right, they wouldn't participate) - Not politics (because they would deal with the problematic politician/s...and they were already somewhat divided anyway, so all agreeing is very problematic) - Not a cataclysm (which is what they are there for) ...so what other possible reason could result in ALL of them agreeing to break the Nahel Bond at the same time? Not just all amongst an order, but all amongst all the orders? (which seems likely, or an order would have survived to this day, you would think) Whether or not someone else convinced Nale of that 'truth' seems irrelevant to me. It's not the KR that cause it: - Desolations occurred before the KR, so it's not the KR that cause it. -It's not using investiture either (which is what Nale directly when talking about Lifts use of stormlight), because the Heralds went to 'another place' in between desolations, and the use of Investiture like the KR only came about when spren discovered the Nahel Bond...some time after the Heralds were founded, but before Nohadon wrote Way of Kings. So my bet has always been that Nale was looking for some explanation, no matter how tenuous, to justify his betrayal of: - Tanavast - the Oathpact; and perhaps worst of all (as it would likely play on his mind constantly) - Taln Such a massive betrayal must have profound / severe psychological consequences. So in order to deal with it, he gripped onto 'it's not my fault, it must be the Knights' Radiant', and 'my betrayal is okay, because I can work to stop another desolation' and has been hunting fledgling KR ever since.

Huh. This is nicely fitting, and also awfully surprising in its reveal. To continue the thought, this is actually an excellent clue of how Jasnah acquired one. They were probably like "OMG.... This is some awesome writing she is doing!!! Must... bond... NOW...."

Just got off the phone with Lauren and I got three more from her, paraphrased (unfortunately) that she asked and jotted down notes on herself. Q: What kind of spren is Ivory? A: Inkspren Q: Does Damnation exist in all three Realms? A: Yes, all three. Q: Are odiumspren the only spren who live on Braize? A: Only odiumspren are welcome on Braize, but they're different from anything we've seen so far.

Additionally / Alternatively (take your pick), he could be doing it to keep this oath he made ages ago: That as surgebinders are popping up without precepts and laws... he is destroying them like he promised to. Using Nale to do his dirty work.

Or, you know, she ate the pancakes like this (excuse the hasty Paint illustration):

Cycle 7 - Breaking Point They found what must have been part of a trail. There were relatively even spacings between the trees, and there was some evidence of the ground being flattened in places, although the land had long since fought back. Midmorning, they’d come across a small stone pillar covered in an odd green-grey growth. Idoya surmised it was meant as some sort of marker, though she didn’t recognize any of the pictograms on it. They’d spent an hour there, so she could sketch some of the markings for her notes. It didn’t help when a fight broke out. Returning to the camp, quite the scene confronted her. The group had divided itself into three parts. One group wanted to return - proof of the rumours had been found, but someone had been killing them to try stop them from getting here. They were arguing it would be best to leave it for whoever wanted it, and then maybe everyone would get out of it alive. Another group argued that they’d come this far, it was foolish to not see the journey through. The last group was arguing that they’d killed the last of the traitors the other day, and so everything was safe. But everyone was suspicious everyone else for it. Then a rock got thrown, and the result was a massive brawl. When the dust settled, everyone was bruised and battered, and there were 2 corpse - Doc had seemingly hit his head and bled out, and ‘This could also be you’ was lying there with a knife in his chest. Everyone was awfully quiet after that. Doc was lynched. He was a Researcher. Clanky was killed. He was a Researcher. Vote Tally Nyali(2): Doc, Jond Doc(3): Nyali, Assassin, Aman Assassin(2): Stick, Clanky

Yes, lovely Seattle traffic, especially across the bridges. *sigh* General rules on the signing: Ask only very broad-interest questions during the Q&A time, so as not to get too detailed for the whole audience. While you're in line for the signing table, someone will likely come along with post-it notes, write down your name (or what ever form of address you want) for personalization, and put it in the book(s) at the page he'll sign. If you want more than your name, it's probably a good idea to have it written out ahead of time - legibly. You can ask as many questions as he can answer while he's signing your book(s), and this is the time for more intricate questions that might need clarification. You can also get your picture taken with him if you'd like; I'll probably be standing there doing "master-servant duty" taking pictures, at least for a while. His rule (at this signing, at least) is usually that he'll sign as many books as you want, but he'll only personalize three per person. If you want more than that personalized, you have to go back to the end of the line for the rest. But he or one of the bookstore people will explain all that before the signing line gets started. Oh, and he will ask whether you have any questions.

Shun the nonbelievers, Charlie. Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun.

I love the idea of crazy/sarcastic/awesome commentary. Can I suggest, like Sunbird did here, that we do half a sentence of what the meme is reacting to, and what page of the topic it's on, for easy reference? i haven't started reading yet so here's my meme reaction to this project: