News

It's May 14th (very early in the morning, but still), and you know what that means: it's Rithmatist day.

But Eric, that isn't a cosmere book, so I'm totally not interested in it.

Thank you, random viewer! Indeed, The Rithmatist is not a cosmere novel. If you're ever confused which books are cosmere and which aren't, just look if it contains Earth in it (for example, Alcatraz is not in the cosmere). The Rithmatist is set on Earth, but as you might expect, it's a little... different. And it's awesome.

So you have almost assuredly known that Brandon has been posting videos of an interlude in Words of Radiance, which features Rysn, a character from an interlude in The Way of Kings. After all, Brandon has posted twelve videos of it over the past while, and posted a

But, maybe you don't really want to watch a video of it. Maybe you just want to scroll at your own pace. Well, fear not, for the great and powerful Windrunner has transcribed the video for your perusal!

Welcome to the brand-new Shardkeepers Podcast! No, it's not where keep all the shards of glass to ourselves (still, you can't have them, they are our weapons), it's where we, the Sharders, are also the Keepers of knowledge. Like that Terris order, we're here to edjumacate you about... stuff. Or something.

I'm not doing a very good job of selling this one. Let's try again.

Welcome to Shardkeepers, our theory podcast. If you want theories on the cosmere, you've come to the right place. If you don't want theories, well, you can go, but watch for the shattered glass on the way out.

Welcome back to Around the Cosmere, where we blab about miscellaneous Brandon news and happenings around in the community. It’s been a while, so there's plenty to discuss.

Most importantly, Brandon is doing on AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit tomorrow, the 15th. It'll be on r/fantasy, but don't worry, we’ll update this post the second the AMA appears.

A huge congratulations to Brandon, as it was just announced today that The Emperor's Soul has won a Hugo nomination. The Emperor's Soul is simply fantastic--and in my opinion the best of Brandon's shorter works--and is entirely deserving of this honor.

We've been horrible teases, but here you have it: we're doing an awesome giveaway for the upcoming Rithmatist release. We have so much awesome swag that we have to give it away, lest our dwellings explode from the awesomeness. What all do we have? Well, we have advance copies of The Rithmatist, some ARCs of Legion, and a whole bunch of goodie bags that every Rithmatist needs. So, we will have three different prize tiers, with a total of ten winners!

What? It's been less than a year since the last Around the Cosmere and we already have another one? Less than a month even! Truly an achievement. Welcome back, folks. This week is a short news week, but there are still a few cool things that you should know about.

First up, you know you're excited about the next Brandon book, The Rithmatist, which comes out May 14th. So soon! But maybe you'd like the book even sooner, and it's hard to knock that. So Tor has you covered with its giveaway where they are giving away ten copies of the The Rithmatist along with goodie bags of Rithmatic chalk. Nice!

Today, Tor.com put up the tour listing for The Rithmatist. All of the places that Brandon will be going to for this tour are places that he didn't get to during the AMoL tour, so if he didn't make it to a bookstore near you, you should definitely take a look at this tour!

Welcome to Around the Cosmere! We've been... around. For uh, a long time. Around the cosmere. You know, doing cool stuff on Hoid’s Shadesmar Zeppelin*. But we're back for your somewhat regular assortment of Brandon news!

There's so much that has happened since the last Around the Cosmere. There is a ton of news on Words of Radiance--namely, you know, a title for that book. We also just created a Words of Radiance discussion board so you can talk about all of that good stuff, while people who don’t want spoilers can steer far away.

Speaking of spoilers...

UPDATE: All right, we're finished at a much too late at 7am! But it's here and we hope you like it. Tell us how you feel here!

Original post: Hey guys, if all goes according to plan, we will be performing fairly major software maintenance very late Wednesday. Currently we intend to begin at 11pm Mountain Daylight Time (so 10pm Pacific), and will probably go into Thursday morning until about 3am (with any luck).

The renowned Michael Whelan--the cover artist of The Way of Kings and many other fantasy covers, such as the cover for A Memory of Light--will return to do the cover for the second Stormlight novel, Words of Radiance. Tor announced the news earlier today.

It was never a sure thing that Whelan would return, as he is incredibly busy. But Whelan wrote some initial thoughts on Words of Radiance, and it seems Whelan was suitably impressed once again.

The second book in the Stormlight Archive now officially has a title: Words of Radiance.. Tor revealed it earlier today and Brandon also has comments on his choice of the title, how it changed from his original choice, The Book of Endless Pages, and more, so click the link to check it out. In case you didn't know, book two has Shallan's flashback sequence.

Also of interest is the working title of book three--Szeth's book--as Stones Unhallowed, which might change, and book five--Dalinar's--The Highprince of War, which we have reported on before. However, Brandon says that title will most assuredly change.

It's a new year, and it's time for some new news. There's that A Memory of Light thing (you know the one), but we also have Steelheart and The Rithmatist coming out in 2013, and we have some exciting things for both projects.

First up, Steelheart, the superhero novel. Entertainment Weekly has revealed its cover, which you can see to the right. There is also a freaking awesome plot summary

Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas and happy Random Winter Solstice Holiday. Are you getting stabbed in the face? Perhaps the gut? No? You humans have such strange winter rituals. I, Inquisitor Santa, give Scadrial with far superior offerings. At least, to the most brutal of taskmasters, who constantly whip the skaa (what you would call "the Nice list".)

It's one Rosharan week later (actually two, whatever), so it's time for some Shardcast, and this time it's Episode Three: Revenge of the Plot. Yes, in chapters 7-9, some inklings of the plot actually happened, so of course Eric got bored and read the rest of the book. And, as such, has no idea what happened in the actual triad we were discussing.

The illustrious Josh and Mi'chelle have gone to the recent signing on Thursday, and Brandon has read a new section of Stormlight 2 (it's untitled still, by the way). And what is it now? It's a Shallan flashback. Short, but oh so sweet.

Two weeks, in a row. For reals. We're here. We're discussing lore in Elantris, chapters 4-6. Can we make it interesting when it's all setup? Do you like talking about Jindoeese food? How many cannibal jokes can we make? Will they be better or worse than the meat jokes? Will you imagine a shirtless Hrathen fighting a giant lizard?

You be the judge.

Our illustrious Josh and Mi'ch have captured of the second half of the Stormlight 2 Parshendi reading and Nahel bonded the crap out of it. This reading starts midway through the scene that's already been read before, but appears to go to the end of the chapter.

And man, it is awesome. We'll leave in the intro. It starts at about 4:10. We hope you like it!

Hey everyone,

Everybody's been waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for the tour dates to be announced for the A Memory of Light tour. Today, Dragonmount posted the tour dates for Brandon's A Memory of Light tour! All of the dates are listed over on Dragonmount.

We're back, and better (allegedly) than ever! We're switching it up, and now the main Shardcast will be our podcast where we go reading through each book. No, we aren't narrating every book--we know, you're sad--but Mi'ch, Josh, and Eric are here to give you commentary on the books, annotations, and everything! And try to make it entertaining, somehow. This episode's entertainment comes from meat. Vegetarians need not apply. You'll see.

With Emperor's Soul out (and now out in ebook--if you bought the book, you can get the ebook for free), what's next in the Cosmere? Why, it's Stormlight 2, and here's a really, really exciting treat for you if you can't wait for more Stormlight.

Brandon read a scene from Stormlight 2. So, you know, if you don't want spoilers, I'd suggest you don't look at it.