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that was me! I actually cosplayed as Brandon with a part in my hair, comic shirt, dress coat, and jeans, but it was subtle haha I dont think even he caught it. I have audio of the first half of his seminar, but had technical difficulties in the second half I also have audio of my personal questions for him, but the supanova staff said no recording of the main q&a so I hastily jotted down notes of anything new or interesting to me that I'll put up soon. Edit 1: Here is the transcript of me asking Brandon questions: Edit 2: Here are my hastily scribbled notes from the signing. I think I got everything that could be considered 'new'. I didn't write a lot of things about writing process, world building, new author advice, and release dates (Oathbringer coming November 14th in Aus and USA, November 16th in Britain) Edit 3: My 20 minute video file of the seminar turned out to be a little over 2 GB, so it isn't letting me upload it to Youtube, Facebook, or the shard, or email, or anything else... but honestly it isn't anything that you can't hear by listening to his posted lectures. There weren't any new WoBs of note from it and people were specifically directed to avoid spoilery things in their questions.

It’s the year 342, and the discontentment of the people at the injustice of Elendel is barely seething below the surface. As chaos errupts around the Basin, with the growing food shortages in the outer areas of the basin going unanswered by the government, now is the time to act! In Bilming, the largest port city, and home to many a university, you have made your home, and now you are fighting to keep it that way. Led by students inspired by Lord Elend and his fellows, supplies have been stockpiled, with plenty of guns and ammunition to go around. When the signal came, you rushed to do your part in setting up a barricade in a carefully chosen location. Now you make a stand as you wait for the people to rise up with you and overthrow the upper crust that doesn’t care at all for the working class. Welcome to L35: Miserables. Being unwilling to miss the opportunity to make that pun, here we have a game inspired by Les Miserables, set on Scadrial, in the Elendel Basin, around the time of the riots and chaos of Shadows of Self. But before you go any further, there's something from Doc, my Co-GM, to read. Be sure to check it out. There'll be a quiz later. It's also the shape of things to come. The Rules: The Friends of the ABC are manning the barricade to oppose a corrupt government. It’s the job of the Constabulary to end this riot by any means necessary. While they are able to keep the Friends pinned down, they don’t have the numbers to overwhelm them. So instead they have to rely on Infiltrators who have joined the ranks of the Friends to sabotage their efforts from the inside. As long as there are infiltrators in their midst, the Friends cannot hope to hold the barricade. Each cycle will be 96 hours, broken up into 48 hour ‘day/night’ turns. Note that flavour wise, this will be more like 6 hour blocks of time so that 4 full cycles will be a day of in game time. During ‘day’ turns, everyone may place a single vote on someone to lynch. The player with the most votes is killed. In the case of a tie, one of the tied players will be chosen at random. Votes are placed in red, and retracted in green. If you place multiple votes, only the earliest vote will be counted. Don't go back to older posts and edit in retractions - if you need to vote then retract, do so in the same post, otherwise post the retraction in a new post. During ‘night’ turns, the Infiltrators get to attempt a kill on one player. The game will be starting on a day turn. Roles The game will start in a week. Once I've worked out what will work best to start the game (next Saturday is a bit messy for me), and the best times for my Co-GM, I'll edit in a countdown, and give a final rollover time. One last thing to note - I have a couple more ideas for thematic roles that I may also include in the game. I will make a further post about these later if I decided to include them. Quick Links:

I'm pretty sure I found out how Tanavast looks like:

Night 6: A Traitor and a Spy Remart was relaxing quietly in his bed when they found him. His shoulder was bound, healing from the brawl in the common room, but he hadn't been able to sleep since then. He'd heard the whispers about him, some of them escalating to outright accusations. And then that insufferable Hadrian Penrod had to ruin everything! Rust and Ruin, to think he'd admitted out loud to being a thief, but instead of punishing him as would have been just, they practically glorified the man as their savior for accusing Remart of working with the Ventures. Nearly the entire remaining garrison filed into the room one after one, some looking almost ashamed, but most just angry. Penrod stood at the front, an evil grin on his face and an iron bar in his hand. "If you're going to kill me, get on with it, lads." Remart didn't even rise from the bed or open his eyes as he spoke. Hadrian stepped forward and swung his rod down at Remart's head, hard. Hard enough to crush his skull. If only his head had still been there. Remart rolled off the bed in a flash as Penrod struck, knocking the man's legs out from under him. Drawing on all of his strength, he tore off the bandage on his shoulder and launched into the other guards that had come to end him. Fists flew and men cried out, but in the end, it was futile. Backed up against the wall, out of room and out of energy, Remart took a shallow, painful breath, and spoke one final defiant statement. "House Conrad is weak, and deserves to fail. I remain a loyal servant of House Venture to the end!" He didn't say another word as they beat him into the ground, and he never rose again. ------------------------------------ Night 6 has begun! It will end at 10:30 PM, Mountain Daylight Time, June 17th. Remart (Jondesu) was lynched! They were a Venture Hazekiller! Vote Count: Jondesu (9): Hemalurgic Headshot, The Flash, Manukos, Yitzi2, cloudjumper, Droughtbringer, Elenion, Araris Valerian, Metacognition, Araris Valerian (1): Jondesu, Player List: Marv (Hemalurgic_Headshot) Barry Allen (The Flash) Jeff (Manukos) - short for Jeffonimo Lance (Ecthelion III) - The Second Nameless Metallurgist Booken (Paranoid King) - a victim of the "common word + en" method of naming Village Seeker Garshin (Yitzi2) Ribis (cloudjumper) - the bored second son of a noble from the Remote Dominance Stick McStick (_Stick_) Village Courier and Brass Spiked Remart (Jondesu) Venture Hazekiller Beet Asper (Ornstein) - an old timer who knows his stuff Metallurgist Locke Tekiel (OrlokTsubodai) - a scion of a well - respected noble house Village Captain Absolen (StrikerEZ) - a skaa worker in the Conrad fields Village Lurcher Jay (DroughtBringer) - a blind young man attempting to keep his blindness a secret Boris (Elenion) - a guard known for laziness and general apathy Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian) - hoping to ascend to Ruin Mehir (Metacognition) - a mute and paranoid guard Cluny (Cluny the Scourge) - a man who believes he is a rat with a spearhead on his tail Village Soother with a Bronze Spike Valbar (TheMightyLopen) - who always gets ignored despite his large stature Village Rioter Mila (BrightnessRadiant) - a girl from the country Venture Courier Sorren Karidor (Dalinar Kholin) - an old guard who's been here longer than any of you whippersnappers Village Thug Argyle (Sart) - a very clumsy man

Brandon was awesome as usual today! So glad I got to meet my favourite author! It was a great day

Day 7: Fall of the Steelrunner Ribis loved the nights. They were a time he could get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and be one with the mists. He laughed as he raced along the top of the wall, feeling the comforting warmth of steel burning in his belly. His stores were very low, and he hadn't been able to get any more through the black market. Rumor was that the contacts had all been murdered. Well, that was one thing they couldn't blame on him. Well, Lance maybe. But it wasn't his fault that old Beet Asper had gotten murdered. And if Lance hadn't been acting all up and suspicious like he was a Venture spy, Ribis wouldn't have gone and acted...impetuously. That was a good word, he thought, as he launched himself from the wall on wings of steel. But at least he had found out Mila. That should be worth the death of an old black marketeet, right? He landed on the top of one of the manor house's towers, feeling his reserves stretched out to their limits, and pulled out the last vial of steel on his belt. Not a lot - certainly not enough to go hunting for spies to kill tonight. But enough to give him one last flight before he turned in. He laughed recklessly as he drained the alcohol, felling the grit of the metal slide down his throat. Then, he jumped, burning steel. Or at least, he tried to. Nothing happened. He just barely managed to wonder what had happened before he impacted the ground at a...terminal velocity. He never knew that the spies had swapped his vial of steel for a different metal while he was out. Not that knowing would have made much of a difference anyways. ------------------------------------ Day 7 has begun! It will end at 10:30 PM, Mountain Daylight Time, June 19th. Ribis (cloudjumper) was killed! They were a Village Coinshot! Player List: Marv (Hemalurgic_Headshot) Barry Allen (The Flash) Jeff (Manukos) - short for Jeffonimo Lance (Ecthelion III) - The Second Nameless Metallurgist Booken (Paranoid King) - a victim of the "common word + en" method of naming Village Seeker Garshin (Yitzi2) Ribis (cloudjumper) - the bored second son of a noble from the Remote Dominance Village Coinshot Stick McStick (_Stick_) Village Courier and Brass Spiked Remart (Jondesu) Venture Hazekiller Beet Asper (Ornstein) - an old timer who knows his stuff Metallurgist Locke Tekiel (OrlokTsubodai) - a scion of a well - respected noble house Village Captain Absolen (StrikerEZ) - a skaa worker in the Conrad fields Village Lurcher Jay (DroughtBringer) - a blind young man attempting to keep his blindness a secret Boris (Elenion) - a guard known for laziness and general apathy Hadrian Penrod (Araris Valerian) - hoping to ascend to Ruin Mehir (Metacognition) - a mute and paranoid guard Cluny (Cluny the Scourge) - a man who believes he is a rat with a spearhead on his tail Village Soother with a Bronze Spike Valbar (TheMightyLopen) - who always gets ignored despite his large stature Village Rioter Mila (BrightnessRadiant) - a girl from the country Venture Courier Sorren Karidor (Dalinar Kholin) - an old guard who's been here longer than any of you whippersnappers Village Thug Argyle (Sart) - a very clumsy man

Thanks Silverblade and everyone who wanted to know more about me. (I'm changing the way people should submit their answers. I think featured members should just post these directly in here!) 1. Provide a picture (if you are comfortable with that). Have some JAPAN PICTURES. Okay, those last two are obviously not me, but Japan is weird, so I wanted to show you. 2. Provide your real name (if you are comfortable with that). Eric Lake 3. Which book is your favorite and why? This is tough! Oathbringer beat Words of Radiance for me. As for non-Brandon books, I'd say Foundation's Edge. 4. What have been your main contributions to the community? What are you known for? I'm one of the three co-founders of 17th Shard. Originally my mandate was just in running the forums, but I have a hand in basically everything the Shard does. I'm ultimately the system admin of the site (and I'm not good at that, honestly). I deal with the Shard's software. I do some coding stuff on the main site, but mostly to make the Shard look pretty. I write news articles (which I did exclusively for a while. Now Weiry does a lot, which is good). I manage all podcasts, and somehow weaseled my way to be on every podcast now or involving future plans. I also do audio editing now for Shardcast, somehow. In many respects I'm a manager, directing a lot of our people to make cohesive things. I connect the 17S design team. I'm on the Coppermind staff. I'm on the new WoB Archive staff. I'm constantly working on something. Currently the WoB Archive is sapping a lot my effort. I used to be much more involved in the theoretical discussion here, but I'm way too busy these days to do so. However, I'm directly responsible for some terms fans use all the time, like intent and Survival Shard (the Survival Shard, by the way, was a thing that was written into a book of mine). I rather aggressively pushed the idea of Adonalsium's "opposing force" and kept asking questions about it, but that eventually got me in trouble, because Brandon likes intentionally misleading me at this point. He very much knows I care deeply about the Shards. Troll. I remember at a signing when I asked him, "How many Shards have Invested themselves onto Roshar?" (This was because at the time there was some debate as to whether there could be a fourth Shard in the system.) You know what he said? "Technically, all of them have." What a troll. I still find the pinnacle of my theorizing in the cosmere to be the Principle of Intent, which was eventually revealed to be totally canonical. 5. What made you join the forum? Maybe you guys don't know the story! I'll recount it. Long ago, when the Earth was young (meaning 2010 here), Mi'chelle wanted to make a fan site because she felt the fanbase had been outgrowing Timewaster's Guide. She along with Josh Brandon gave this place its name, and once we had that, I got fed up with our coding person I bought the domain myself. Thus, I've been struggling my way through being system admin of this site ever since 6. How many hours do you spend on the Shard on a given day? The Shard itself, less than you'd think. I always have a tab of it open but I don't browse all new posts. I probably spend less than hour actually posting on the forum itself. I'm always doing stuff in the periphery of the Shard, though, like being on Discord (where you can always find me), the Coppermind, or the new WoB Archive that I really want to tell you the name of. When I spend a day working on this Shard related stuff, I'll spend the whole day on it. 7. Describe your fondest forum experience. This requires me to actually remember things? Man, that's hard. My memory is quite legendarily bad. Sometimes people will say "You told me to do it this way like a year ago!" when I tell them to do the opposite in the present day. Oops. Anyway, this is hard to narrow down. For a forum specific moment, I'm going to say that one fateful day in February 2011 where Joe kindly bought us this forum software. When we did that upgrade, Kerry and I immediately had the most stressful design night, as we had to get the crappy default IPB site to do what we wanted it to do. There was about an hour where we yelled at CSS because something wasn't centering that should have. (Mind you, the site was live this whole time.) My fondest moments are really in all the people I've met on the Shard. I've met amazing friends who I talk to all the time. I've also met people on the Shard that I dated, but as that goes, that kind of happened by accident. An extremely humbling time happened when, at either Alloy of Law's or Words of Radiance's release, I was talking with someone and she eventually screamed, "Oh my god, you're Chaos!?" Apparently I am famous to a few It was a cool and very humbling. 8. What is one thing that Brandon does really well? Endings. Brandon's such a freaking boss at endings, especially recently. I'm a guy who absolutely loves good plot and good endings, and I don't think I'd ultimately care about the connected universe stuff and his worldbuilding if his endings weren't so sweet. (Uh, Oathbringer hype.) 9. What is one thing that he could work on? Sometimes he becomes so fond of a character that he has no perspective on when to cut down on a character. I'm looking at you, Wayne in the beginning of Bands of Mourning. Brandon liked the scene and he kept it in its entirety. I think it's still the strongest thing to criticize Bands about. Brandon likes Wayne way too much... It's hard to say other things. Others are having a problem with the amount of fake character deaths, but if those people didn't infect my brain, it wouldn't bother me too much. 10. Which fictional character is the best representation of yourself? I suppose I'll go with Mistborn 1 Elend Venture. 11. Any additional comments, whether it be about your life outside of the forum, favorite food, your website, or...anything! I teach math. Math is applicable to everything, because math is logic. The universe is inherently logical. You might not see that is inherently logical, but that's just because you might lack perspective on the issue. Everything has a cause and effect. Sometimes this is phrased as, "everything happens for a reason." That's needlessly dramatic. Practically speaking things happen for utterly mundane reasons. I'm thirsty, so I'll drink some water. My feet are cold, so I'll put on socks. It applies to everything. If you crush on someone and they reject you, or a friend betrays you, their logic may seem unknowable, but there is always reason for why something occurs. (Sometimes, though, it can be a very unsatisfying answer for you, especially if a person actively tried to hurt you.) So, in a way, if you learn math, you learn about logic, and you learn about everything. Learning math has made me a better writer, because writing is not some unknowable enigma. You can design a great story. There are bits and pieces you need to make a great novel, or even pieces you would need to write a good paragraph! Anything you think is challenging has a logic to it. I think drawing is really hard, but surely there is logic to it, or else it could never be taught. The universe has rules to it! How cool is that? One could easily imagine a fantasy universe where the universe actually doesn't have rules to it and it truly is unknowable, but fortunately, it is not the world we live in. Just because you don't know a fact doesn't mean it is unknowable--it means you have more work to do. 12. How did you incorporate the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise into a calculus lecture? Actually, a student of mine wrote this on a calculus quiz when he didn't know how to answer the question. It was great. I don't think I directly mentioned in it a lecture, though.

Made it down today, got some books signed with a mate and my father. Brandon was amazing he has this energy and charisma about him in the q and a. Didn't ask any difficult questions because I wasn't sure what was currently was WoB. Met a guy who was a 17th sharder who taking down notes. Didn't catch his name but he was wearing a Superman shirt. A great experience meeting Brandon!

Here we go folks: I've made that topic six minutes after Brandon posted the update at reddit. Some say it's coincidence, some say it's fate, some try to spike me for Feruchemical chromium, I say I'm a bit fanatical at checking Brandon's reddit account.

Hey everyone! I just found this place via the cosmere FB page. I got into Sanderson from WOT, and picked up WOK for the first time about 18 months ago. Since then ive read WoR, Elantris, Warbreaker, and the first set of Mistborn. Im currently reading Alloy of law. A bit about me. Im 32 a husband and father of 2. I was an executive chef for a restaurant for the last 13 years. I am currently brewing beer for that same restaurant. Its nice to be here feel free to ask me anything you would like to know.

one of my questions that was answered today was, 'for darkeyed people that bond shardblades, does the new eye color correspond to the specific type of shardblade that was bonded?' And I got a solid yes. I didn't have time to ask about inheritance patterns though.

Alright, finally! The site I was using to make my memes is now functioning properly and I can get to creating Memedancer! Apologies for the big delay. Let's see if this will be any good Starting with Chapter 1:

I'll join as Edmond Dantès. He was wrongfully imprisoned by the elendel constabulary after being framed by four people from bilming and has arrived at the barricade to hunt them down and exact his revenge

Hello, everyone. If you have any questions about the Oathbringer release or the tour in general, feel free to post them in this thread, or look through what has already been asked in the thread. I'll try to summarize some of the Frequently Asked Questions: What are the tour dates we know so far? Nov 13, Provo, UT Nov 14, San Diego, CA Nov 15, San Francisco, CA Nov 16, Portland, OR Nov 18, Houston, TX Nov 21, Chicago, IL Nov 28, London, UK Nov 29, Birmingham, UK Nov 29, Liverpool, UK Dec 1, Leeds, UK Dec 1, Newcastle, UK Dec 2, Edinburgh, UK Dec 2, Glasgow, UK More information about the US stops, including times and bookstore information, can be found in the Tor announcement. Information about the UK tour can be found in the Gollancz announcement. I will add in links to 17th Shard topics for each event as they are created. What's the chance that Brandon will come to Los Angeles/Timbuktu/Mars? Brandon's agent schedules his tour events. If you'd like to see where he has gone in the past, you can check out ccstat's helpful map of them, or to look through Theoryland's event database to see where Brandon's other large tours have been. In the past year or two, he has been doing several smaller tours a year (for YA stuff, Arcanum Unbounded, two Mistborn books in quick succession), but since this will have been almost a year since any other major releases, I suspect the Oathbringer tour will look more like one of the three Wheel of Time tours, with lots of stops. Big cities tend to get a lot of love, and Brandon's geographic location in Utah means that there tend to be more stops out west than there are in the east (and obviously outside of the continental US). Denver, Seattle, Chicago, San Diego, and San Francisco seem to be the cities getting a lot of visits. Two big cities that seem to not get their fair share of tour visits are Atlanta and New York. The former is probably because JordanCon is held there, so Brandon has plenty of opportunities to visit them. New York has been odd, and the anecdotal reason that I've heard is that signings in the Big Apple are in absurdly high demand, and even a big-name fantasy author like Brandon is still a very small fish in that pond. Brandon could get in when he was working on Wheel of Time, but hasn't really been back too many times since he's finished it up. For outside the United States, Brandon just finished up a tour through Europe (Bulgaria, Poland, and Germany). He's said he's planning on going to England, but that might not preclude some other European stops. Anything further would be pure speculation on my part (although I seem to recall Brandon is a big hit among teenage girls in Taiwan...) How do I get a numbered book? Do I need to be at the Midnight Release? Brandon typically outsources the sale of numbered books to Weller Book Works. He will make a blog post when they can be ordered; here's the Bands of Mourning announcement. Brandon expects that you will be able to preorder from them in September. UPDATE: Here is the link to the announcement. You can order them online from Weller's Book Works, or get them in person at the BYU midnight release or at the San Diego signing on the 14th. Any way to get the book early? I'm not good at that sort of thing. If you order on Amazon, you might be able to get it a couple of days early. In my experience, I get it a couple days late, so I usually go to B&N the day of. (Actually, I usually check on Monday night, if they're putting it out before they close, but I haven't had any luck with that.) Why can't I buy it in paperback? Books like this will typically have a paperback version released 1 year after the hardcover. It's because the publishing industry is full of greedy people, and they know that you'll pay for the hardcover if you have no other choice, and it lets them leave the ebook price well above what paperbacks typically go for. (But in all seriousness, this is standard practice for a new release. It's like paying for four movie tickets vs buying the DVD.) So, you can expect to see the MMPB around November 2018. Of note for this particular book, it's long enough that it may not be possible to release as a single paperback; we might get Oathbringer Part 1 and Oathbringer Part 2. This has been pretty standard for various worldwide releases, but pretty atypical for North America, where the fantasy market is so strong they don't need to fudge their numbers by double- or triple-counting book sales. The hardcover will still be a single volume, even if they need to shrink margins and stuff like that. It's my first signing, and I'm overwhelmed. Help! Don't panic! Here are some specific questions you may be wondering: Where can I find more info about a particular signing? This forum will contain threads for each event, once more information is known. You'll be able to reach out to the bookstores that will be hosting and ask about any specifics that aren't available on their website. Do I need to buy a ticket? This depends on the event host. Bookstores around the country host events, and they may decide to ticket an event to allow them to rent a larger space to hold the signing. They also may require you to purchase a copy of Oathbringer from them, or just give a free ticket with purchase. There are two reasons they do this: first, they shouldn't lose money hosting an event like this (because if they do, they will stop doing them). Two, imposing a price tag will reduce the number of attendees and make for a better experience for those who are willing to pay. (Somewhat analogous to Uber's surge pricing.) Not all bookstores will ticket their events, but it's good manners to purchase something from a bookstore that hosts a free event. Take care of some Christmas shopping early, if you can, and you'll thank the bookstore for their work setting up the event. How long a turn will I get in the signing line? How many books or questions can I bring? This also depends on the bookstore, and the size of the crowd that turns up. Sometimes, the bookstore will have Brandon pre-sign books, so you can just snag a copy and go. If you're bringing books you already own to get signed and/or personalized, be aware that the bookstore may limit the number of books that you can take with you in the line. You can pretty much count on getting at least 3, though. While he's signing and personalizing books, you'll be able to chat with him, ask questions, or get a picture taken. I have it on good authority that waiting to go last means you can slip in a few extra questions... if you're willing to wait around all night for them. What questions should I ask? We maintain (and by "we," I mean "I think somebody does") an Ultimate List of Questions you can feel free to pull from, and if you ask in one of the event threads, people will be sure to offer suggestions. I recommend you pick something that you're personally interested in. And you don't even need to ask any questions - you could always share a story, or something else to make things a little more personal. Can I give Brandon any gifts, to show my appreciation? He likes magic cards. And fish sticks. But he repeatedly says that he doesn't really need the gifts to feel appreciated, he'll just mention them as outlets for those who love to give gifts. (Also, he hates fish sticks.) When do sample chapters start coming up? Tor typically posts those two months in advance. Everything Brandon has read at signings and conventions can be found here. UPDATE: You can find released preview chapters using this thread.

VOILA 'TIS I!! THE DOC HAS RETURNED TO SE!!! TO THOSE WHO HAVE MISSED HIM, THE ADORING MASSES, THE CHEERS! *blinks Where are the cheers? Heh. So yes. I'm back, for a short while, to help Hael with this game. I fell in love with Les Mis over the past few months, and practically begged Hael to let me help him with the parodies So yes, expect a lot[i/] of parodies over the next few cycles, and I hope you guys do your part to at least drop some verses! I don't expect you all to be familiar with Les Mis, the musical, but any song would do in any style. We can't offer a reward system like Aman's games, but really, it would be lots of fun to do, and a great game for all, yeah? And to close off, here's an extra parody from me! Master of the Game, doling out the pain Ready with PAFO cards to drive you insane! Offers parodies! Writeups galore! Spectators appreciate a little gore! Glad to do my victim friends a favor Doesn't cost me to be nice! But nothing gets you nothing Everything has got a little...price! (Hint hint, upvotes!) Master of the Game, keeper of the zoo Ready to relieve 'em of a good night’s sleep! Ready with the hints, keep em in suspense! A little teasing smirk to keep ‘em nice and tense! Everybody loves a GM! Everybody's bosom friend I do whatever pleases! Ruin! Won't I bleed 'em in the end! (of upvotes!) (And while, life. And time. And sanity.) (But upvotes) *cackles and vanishes

Yeah this WoB is pretty good (if not complete) confirmation.

Strangely, I wrote half a page of notes on just such a scenario about 2 hours ago!!

I did Les Mis for my show this year! Count me in. I shall be... Jay. (All these flash names are going to get hard to keep track of LOL)

Yes and no? THere's a difference between being okay with something intellectually and with your clothes on, when there's room for the thinking brain to go "S is enby, and enby is a thing and it's all cool," and put a check on any hormone-driven habitual reactions; and naked sexy funtimes when it's hormones driving the bus, reactions are primal and habituated, and thinking reactions are packed away in a corner somewhere. Sorin's making a fine distinction and expecting a lot of thinking from a red-blooded lusty lady, but by the same token M really should know better than 1) to think sexytimes with S will be normal, and 2) to treat S the way she's treated previous lovers. It's M's reaction to S's boobs *AS WOMEN'S BOOBS* that causes the initial problem. When S's parts engender the same look as the flirty female barmaid's parts, that's M -- however unconsciously and inadvertently! -- showing that she hasn't really absorbed the "S is enby, enby is different" idea beyond a surface understanding *despite howevermuch she might care in other circumstances.* S being awkward and inarticulate doesn't help matters, either.

Was at the BYU Store today. Guess what I found?

Tell me, in what world would Dalinar Kholin, who had just sworn an oath to unite instead of divide, disinherit his son because he's not radiant enough, or because he killed the man who left him stranded on the battle field causing the death of thousands? Do you really believe that he would break his oaths the very next book? In that case, you should call the next book oath breaker. Do you remember in WoK when Navani is trying to get some time alone with Dalinar, and she tries to get Adolin away by convincing him that his relationship with the girl he was currently courting was on the line. (Which apparently it was, since it ended shortly) She tries to convince him to bring her roses and he says I'll do it later. She then further explains that he needs to do it immediately or else his chance with her may end, which he replies by putting it off further. His relationship ended quickly. Please tell me why the guy who wasn't willing to do something as simple as get roses, and bring it to the girl he intends to marry, when there relationship is dying, is completely qualified to have a relationship. Well the person who charged toward a chasm fiend, to save the girl he found himself caring for, knowing full well that was almost surely going to die, is not. Listen, Roshar is about to be Completely obliterated by the Everstorm. Both Adolin and Kaladin are going to be incredibly busy. So who's relationship would work out depends on who's willing to sacrifice more. On this, as previously shown by my examples given above, Kaladin wins. Hands down! Besides, even if Kaladin were more busy, the fact that he is willing to give more, is far more important. If Shallan thinks other wise, than that is an incredibly disappointing flaw in her character.

So...is he coming to Dallas? Just kidding. I'll just wait and see if he's coming anywhere near here, and then I'll force my parents to take me there (hopefully) if he's close enough. I'd actually be so excited if I got to meet Brandon. He's probably my favorite author, so this would be awesome for me.

XD I thought of this one while listening to the Kaladin and Szeth fight. Szeth kept seeing what Kaladin was doing, like Syl becoming a spear/shield/halberd and so on, and kept yelling impossible!!

Hold the secret that broke the Knights Radiant. You may need it to destroy the new orders when they return. - WOR Chapter 84 epigraph (decoded) Now, as the Windrunners were thus engaged, arose the event which has hitherto been referenced: namely, that discovery of some wicked thing of eminence -- WOR Chapter 38 epigraph These epigraphs strongly imply that the Recreance was precipitated by the KR discovering some terrible fact. It doesn't seem to have been tied to any corruption that may have crept in to the Orders (the taxes for travel through Urithiru, etc.) Now, here's something anomalous. The Desolations devastated Roshar, killing something like 90 percent of the human population and knocking technology back to the stone age, at least sometimes. Yet when Honor was Splintered (after the Recreance -- he remembers it in the visions) there seems to have been no such cataclysm. Aharietiam is still seen as "the Last Desolation", which it wouldn't be if another apocalyptic event had occurred since the Recreance. Similarly, Odium Splintered Devotion and Dominion on Sel. But humanity on that planet survived; he didn't destroy the planet, depopulate it, or warp it into some kind of a hellscape. So why the devastating, lethal Desolations on Roshar before the Recreance? Because humans were fighting on Honor's side. Odium doesn't really care about killing humans, except incidentally to getting at the Shards; nothing much below the power-level of a Herald registers on his "radar screen" Therefore, my proposal for the Secret That Broke The KR is: Honor's been feeding us into a meat grinder for thousands of years to protect Cultivation and a couple of alien gods we'll never see. If we let Odium win, nothing bad really happens to humanity. Honor betrayed us. Our spren have been in on it, all along - they're pieces of Honor. So let him die.

About to take a major plunge into the Cosmere and figured it would be worthwhile signing up here. My wife had been recommending the Mistborn series to me for years, and when I finally started reading it a few months ago I got hooked. I've currently finished the first trilogy, the three available Wax and Wayne books, and am just getting started on The Way of Kings. Feel like I have a lot of things to catch up on. When not trying to catch up on the Cosmere I tend to be more of a sci-fi guy (Hyperion and Dune being particular favorites), though i do love me some Haruki Murakami novels as well.

So I'm working on getting one of my friends into the cosmere, and after reading Warbreaker, she expressed hopes of seeing more Lightsong in the future even though he died. While I don't think that will happen, it did get me thinking about how the Returned are cognitive shadows "stapled" back to their bodies with their Divine Breath, and now I'm wondering again if the cognitive realm on Nalthis is just full of redead Returned just hanging out as cognitive shadows. Does anyone know if Brandon has said anything about this? Do cognitive shadows ever get the chance to go Beyond? I have so many questions now because of this.

Another place you might look is the "Big Ideas" posts over at John Scalzi's blog, The Whatever. Scalzi has authors guest write the posts, explaining what the "big idea" behind their book was, right around the book's publication date. You can usually tell if it's something you're going to like by what the author says about it. Most of the books are sci fi/fantasy. If you're into mysteries, each of my two favorite series had new books in 2016: Strange Tide - the Bryant and May series by Christopher Fowler (octogenarian detectives in London; some paranormal undertones) Scents and Sensibility - the Chet and Bernie series by Spencer Quinn (Narrator POV is the dog, Chet, and he is delightful! But start with book 1, Dog On It) Happy reading!

Some screengrabs from the game:

10 for Roshar was planned from the start: 10 Heralds, 10 RK Orders, 10 Gas Giants, 10 Kingdoms, 10 Dawn Cities Pretty sure it's just 10 and there aren't 6 more hiding. There is another WoB out there where Brandon mentioned different Shards have different "scared' numbers, but not all of them have a 'sacred' number. But I can't seem to find it at the moment. Tell your fried to make an account - I lurker for a while, it's more fun to post than lurk around here.

One of the reasons I lurked here for so long before actively taking part in things was that I've been a child of the internet since the early 90's. Watching fandoms, and internet cultures develop can be disturbing. The Shard is such an exception... Most fandoms, even good ones, have some very unsavory sides to them. I'm sure that those things probably exist for Brandon's work too, but the fact that it's not at all visible here makes things feel... Like a bastion of sanity drifting through the cesspool of the intartubes.

Actually, he's not particularly fast at writing, (don't lynch me yet, let me finish! ) he's just very disciplined about doing it very frequently, so he doesn't work in fits or bursts like a lot of writers do. He's said he usually writes 2500 words a day on average, which is actually pretty middling in terms of writing fast, and can be managed in a couple of hours for a fast writer. It's that he does it literally every day he should, and that he had several trunk novels that he could simply revise, that have made him so prolific. Brandon is consistent, not fast, and he had a headstart because until Words of Radiance, he was essentially just heavily revising novels he'd already drafted. He also writes as a break from his main projects, so essentially everything that was a side-project, like Alloy of Law, you are getting because Brandon writes during his breaks from writing. Other authors usually have a hobby they engage in when they're taking a break to recharge on their main projects.

On the topic of Adolin and jealousy, I think both @SLNC and @kari-no-sugata brought valid points. It is true Adolin hasn't shown himself to be naturally prone towards both envy nor jealousy throughout both books. He has had occasions to grow jealous, envious of Kaladin's increasing powers, but he chose not to. He never exhibited an "Oh why not me, I deserve it more" attitude which is why I am inclined to believe it won't start harboring those thoughts within the near future. On the other hand, it is right to say Adolin certainly isn't above jealousy. In fact, we know he isn't as Brandon did confirm Adolin used to be jealous of Renarin as he was the recipient of most of the parental attention. Arguably, this WoB referred to a very young Adolin: grown-up Adolin seems completely devoid of negative feelings towards his father's treatment of his brother (to his detriment). It however shows what his trigger buttons might be and where he is most sensitive. So while Adolin isn't one to ask, to demand for more nor to envy what he feels others have earned, he can definitely grow jealous if he feels attention and love are denied from him from people he loves. I wouldn't put it pass Adolin to grow jealous of Kaladin, thought not necessarily because of Shallan. I have been thinking Dalinar's treatment of Kaladin might (might, just might, let's say there is a rational to have for it) turn him into an antagonist to Adolin. It would however demand much bigger trigger than just seeing Dalinar call him son, just as I doubt seeing Shallan potentially preferring Kaladin would also be enough. He has after all, seen too many of his courtships fail to not expect this one to follow the same course. Thus, my thinking is, if Adolin indeed grows jealous of Kaladin, it will be a multi-factorial event caused by many small times issues which will accumulate into several negative feelings. I however do not think jealous Adolin would grow vengeful: my thoughts are he is more likely to close up onto himself, work himself up to the extreme in attempt to prove he too is worthy of love and to try to obey to every single expectations more than ever. This is also how I suspect he dealt with it as a kid as I do think some of his present day issues are directly linked to his parents potentially acting as if they loved Renarin more (I don't mean to say they did, but their actions might have been interpreted in such way). I am always reluctant to start new threads having for subject Adolin... The character is already getting a lot of attention without myself starting new discussions. I mean, everyone knows I really love Adolin's character, if I were to start threads on top of answering to the ones other people have created... well it might be too much, now wouldn't it? Ah yes that's the one I'll admit I was too lazy to search it up yesterday, busy that I was watching an sillymovie I will not name in order to preserve my dignity So stable rank for Adolin is third and not fourth as I had wrongly assumed. It is thus almost safe to say, Dalinar disinheriting Adolin would promote Renarin to 2nd dahn and demote Adolin to 3rd dahn. I do not know if it is possible for him to drop lower: he would need to be kicked out of the family, stripped of his name and not be considered as "the child of a Highprince". It is also interesting to realize just how poor Heartstone truly was as the WoB does indicate the majority of the population did have the right to travel: being of the 3rd nahn and lower isn't usual. The fact Kaladin's family was the only one ranking high enough within their small village does seem to indicate how much better their life would have been had they established themselves into a bigger, richer town. I like the first point you are bringing: it does make sense for Shallan to not be entirely comfortable with her new found position. After all, she isn't used to it, she never thought she would be it and adjusting from moving from minor poor (by lighteyes standard) country household to the upper ranks within the matters of a few weeks can be quite dizzying. I would however argue Shallan has proven to be quick to adapt, as long as she has a target, a goal, something to work for. She might however falter if left to think about it for too long. Needless to say it will be very interesting to see how she navigates throughout her new obligations. I love the idea of her merging more and more into disguises in order to relieve the pressure she isn't aware she is feeling. I did wonder if Shallan might end up preferring one of her alternate personalities (thinking Veil) to her real one, though this would arguably count as "lying" and thus not be good for her bond. The one problem I foresee with Shallan is while it is true she now ranks higher than anyone else, she still does not have a wealthy income. I mean, she isn't rich by her own right. Her income still depends on Sebrarial (whom I am not too sure about). How she will evolve to secure her own finances it still not sure: it may be where she might feel she still needs an alliance with Adolin. I somehow do not think soldiers will be relieved from their duties because the War of Vengeance is over... The Desolation is looming and events within the next book is likely to quiet down all thoughts it isn't actually happening. As for Adolin, he typically appears to fear events/objects/creatures he cannot control: it seems to cause him some level of anxiety not to have agency to influence them (or not enough). Each time, his reaction has been the same: he hid it, he never let anyone know/guess he was uncomfortable, he did his very best to prevent anyone he might be afraid. He swallowed it up, cover it up, gritted his teeth and moved forward. While doing so, he did cling to events/objects/creatures he could control. For instances, Dalinar seeing visions of the future unnerves him, scares him, but he chose to focus on the upcoming meeting with Eshonai (something he can control) in order to not get overwhelm by the events he cannot control (visions). I thus do think, when the world collapses around him, Adolin would try to cling to whatever he can he feels he has control over. Ever since we had this WoB stating Adolin would get to wear something else than his uniform, my thoughts have been Adolin would stubbornly refuse to follow his father's codes anymore, ditching his uniform in the process as within the whirlwind it might be all he feels he can influence. So yeah, if Adolin feels he has no more agency within his relationship, well, I am unsure what he'll do. He might just run away. I do agree Adolin is more likely to react harshly to being treated differently, to his father doting more openly on Renarin/Elhokar/Kaladin, to people basically ignoring him. So yeah, that might be the worst for him. As far as I can tell, Adolin isn't one to adapt quickly to changes... He can handle them, within small doses, but not within the magnitude they currently have. IMO, not many people would be able to handle it. Him thinking he is a liability would be the worst: my thoughts are he might as well try to prove he is still relevant which could lead to emotion-filled rash decision making. I love you connection analysis and I do agree it makes sense for Shallan's character to cling to her connections up until they prove they are up to no good. However, what if she feels her connection to Adolin might not be love? What if she decides to develop her connection with Kaladin? What happens then? Brandon did hint his "love triangle" would focus on teenagers not being sure whom they love which does imply Shallan will do some thinking. Adding the WoB stating there would be "romantic moments" in between Kaladin and Shallan, then well, how do you reconcile your connection analysis with it? If Shallan would never be willing to dumb Adolin, well not readily, then how does it work around what we know will happen? My thoughts are WoR showed Adolin at his peak: dashing handsome dueling prince Adolin whom just fulfilled his dream of becoming the king's champion. On the reverse, Oathbringer might show him at his worst: the contrast is bond to be interesting. Also, it isn't I want to see Adolin suffer, but without suffering, there is little character development to be had. Because Dalinar believes his mission is to unite the Highprinces. His son murdered a Highprince which is against the law. He can't be seen playing favorite, pretending to be the honorable one while allowing his son to get away with it. He can't allow other Highprinces to think he might have sent Adolin to kill Sadeas, on purpose. So, all in all, Dalinar might very well not have the chance to punish his son, not to forget Brandon basically told us he would. When asked if Dalinar would punish Adolin if he knew, Brandon said yes, he would, except he doesn't know. Also, the book is named Oathbringer in reference to an in-world book which is presume to refer to Dalinar's former Shardblade and his former owner. Other theories have it might be a biography of Dalinar, but I think not as Dalinar isn't the Oathbringer, he did not name the Blade nor does he carry it anymore. All in all, punishing Adolin probably isn't against Dalinar's oaths. Gavilar was willing quick-start a Desolation in order to strengthen his kingdom and yet he too was on the path to become a Bondsmith. I say, it is quite likely the Stormfather won't care one bit what Dalinar does to Adolin.

Huh... I just did a search for yellow eyes in my kindle copy of tWoK and got this. Ch. 12 Unity It was the only result.

Good point, that would definitely be a good question.

Thank you for the correction. But don't you think that it is similar to snapping/breaking?

@Ari @Calderis Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe I remember there being an in-book mention that he needed another day of intelligence to actually interpret/understand what he wrote on the Day of Brilliance(Diagram Day, if you will) If I am remembering correctly, then his disposition on Diagram Day may not really be the deciding factor anymore. His intelligence on the Day of Interpretation helped shape how he acted on his works from the Day of Brilliance. Diagram Day could've been a day on unrivaled compassion, but if Cultivation interfered with what he saw, his disposition isn't really in charge anyway. Now, if someone were to interfere on the Day of Interpretation...

Someone already created a comic expressing the same idea awile back: Edit: It's showing up a bit blurry for me. Sorry. Dont know whats going on with it.

Ran a battle royale for my dnd players tonight. I had to push things forward faster than I would have liked in the second half as it was getting late, but it still went well and it came down to the wire on who won. Some very fortunate rolls and a major risk that paid off turned the course of the battle. I also took the opportunity to create the largest 3d terrain map I've done so far, using the majority of my dwarven forge. (My brother helped with designing and building it too which increased the quality further.) I'm quite happy with how it turned out. Here are some pics (Dog included for scale.) The bridge in the centre can change orientation to rest on either stone tower when certain levers were pulled. (Cue multiple "Pull the lever Kronk" jokes.)

Hey, welcome to the Shard! I would give you an upvote, but I've sadly reached the daily limit; tag me (using @StrikerEZ) tomorrow and I'll com every give you one!. Have a cookie instead, for now. DISCLAIMER: Side effects include, but are not limited to, hearing voices, supernatural powers, the sudden urge to kill everyone, and the complete loss of control of your mind and body. The Dark Alley claims no liability for any damage done to/by the eater of this cookie. Anyway, which books have been your favorite so far? Does your wife read Sanderson too?

There is an option that is a perfectly valid solution to Special Relativity. As long as a character can increase or decrease by a Real number, we are stuck at sub-luminal speeds. But if we can make the mass become Imaginary, then that person will never travel slower than the speed of light. Particles that do this are called Tachyons. They are theoretical and have a number of interesting properties. So, this method really depends on how creative our feruchemists can get.

On that note, I was reading an article today when I came across this sentence: "The investiture of Jews, as a people, [...]" It kind of makes me want to convert to Judaism. Or apply for citizenship in Israel. Honestly, whatever it takes to get this Jewish investiture that the author is writing about!

It’s not really a meme (and I'm not very arty), more a tribute to my younger cousin, who was diagnosed with cancer when he was 26, went to climb to Everest base camp as soon as he finished his chemotherapy, then met and married the love of his life. I've met few people the First Ideal apply to more.

As someone who has road-tripped to see Brandon I can say with surety that its worth it. I got a little lucky in the amount of time I got to spend talking with him but even if id spoken with him just at the signing line it would have been worth it, hes super cool. The talks and readings he usually gives are also usually interesting. If he isnt around Minneapolis for Oathbringer's tour I'll definitely be heading to Chicago or wherever is closest.

Here you go:

Brandon just posted a snippet on Reddit in honor of his birthday that confirms a Rock POV. This could be a one-time phenomenon, much like the Sadeas POV in WoR. But this makes me wonder whether on not Rock is now one of the characters on the famous chart.

Allow me to write that part, so hopefully, when Brandon does so, he won't have to, thus saving him time to write the rest of this epic.

The only thing I ask for Brandon Sanderson to do is for him to write more chapters in the Stick's perspective. I really think it's a very deep character and I would like to explore his story. If it's possible, I would like for the Stick to be a main PoV character in the back five books, I would really like to see its backstory and its motivations to be a stick. Definitely my favorite character, and I hope it can also be in a cover, I would love that. Anyone else agrees with me?

The process of Returning has always left me wondering, who can do it, and why? We know that the Priests of Hallandran have beliefs that are partially correct Warbreaker Annotations chapter 44 So we know that it is related slightly to bravery. My next thought was to look at the conditions of their Returning to see if there is a clue there. We all know what Lightsong did, sacrificing his life to save his niece's life. The next one we know of is Calmseer Warbreaker Annotations Chapter 47 Again another sacrifice, Calmseer gives her life caring for a sick family. The last Returned who's circumstances of Returning we know is Blushweaver. Warbreaker Annotations Chapter 58 This one is a bit different from the other two, Blushweaver gives up her life to denounce criminals. So now I started to try to draw parallels, that also fit in with the intent Endowmwnt, Nalthis's Shard. And my conclusion? It's not just dying in a heroic way that allows you to Return, although it could. If you give up (endow!) your life for someone else, or something you believe in, you are given the ability to Return. Lightsong gave up his life for his niece, Calmseer gave up her's to help people, something she found important, and Blushweaver gave up her's for the truth, something it seems likely she believed in, since she was willing to risk her life to reveal it. And infant Returned? The best idea I have is perhaps their mother's weren't going to be able to survive giving birth to the infants, so they subconsciously give their lives to let their mother's live, allowing them to Return. That last one feels a bit contrived. Any ideas, comments, or questions? Feel free to post them and let me know what you think.