Bands Chapters 4+5, Weller's Signed Books Change, and more!

The release of The Bands of Mourning is just under two weeks away and the preorders for the Signed and Numbered editions from Wellers Book Works have just gone up in Brandon's store. Be warned however that Brandon has changed his policies regarding these preorders, the reasoning for which you can read in his blog post here. The short of it is that signing these preorders is a time-consuming process, and it's only gotten more time-consuming as time has gone on and the number of people wanting more extravagant personalizations has increased. As such if you want something beyond just the signature and number the price is going up, with the extra money going as a donation to the Waygate Foundation. I think this is a nice compromise as he was considering doing away with personalizations altogether, but this way people who really want them still can and there is money going towards a good cause.

There are two tiers of personalizations. The first, requiring a $5 donation, is for those who would like their name and a short phrase (i.e. "Happy Birthday") or a quote of Brandon's choice (i.e. "Life Before Death" or "Hands All Red"). The second, requiring a $20 donation, is for the more unusual requests, like limericks, drawings, and cosmere questions, as long as the request is within reason. (Do note that Brandon will no longer answer questions like "Tell me something about XXX" you much ask something specific, and even then he may RAFO if the answer is too long.)

If you want one of these, there is a limited number, and the deadline for ordering is January 20th!

In other news Tor.com is currently holding a giveaway for a copy of The Bands of Mourning here. Unfortunately this is only open to those in the US and Canada. The deadline to enter is January 16th at 12:00 PM Eastern time.

Tor.com has also continued releasing previews of Chapters 4 and 5 of Bands. Chapter 4 is from the point of view of Wayne, which is always a treat, and features a great bit of character progression for him. Chapter 5 is back to Wax and features some information about the world outside of Elendel and a great conversation between Wax and Steris.

Also don't forget that the Tor re-releases of the Alcatraz series start next month with Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians and The Scrivener's Bones being released on February 16th (the same day as Calamity). Amazon.com has turned on their "Look Inside" feature for these two books giving us a sneak preview of the awesome illustrations by Hayley Lazo. Thank you Peter Ahlstrom for bringing this to our attention!

Check out our forum topics here to discuss Chapter 4, here to discuss chapter 5, or here to discuss the Alcatraz illustrations!