News

Not a lot new this week, but there's still some exciting things, such as a sweepstakes to celebrate the launch of Rhythm of War in paperback, and some fun previously-known things occurring such as the release of ReDawn (the second Skyward Flight novella) and a stream this weekend.

Chiller week this time, in comparison to the past few. Brandon's released his schedule for Dragonsteel Mini-Con, as well as details about how to sign up for his class. He also gave us a tease about "movie stuff" he can't give any details on yet.

We love Brandon Sanderson here; that's why we've done over a hundred and fifty of these Shardcasts. But you know, we have some beefs too. We did a Cosmere Beefs episode long ago in 2018, and so it's time for some new (and updated) beefs for 2021, with some of our newer cast members as well! We have some funny beefs along with some serious ones too, but we hope our complaining is entertaining! Put your beefs in the comments; we'd love to read yours! There are some Skyward spoilers in addition to cosmere ones, which we have put on screen so you can skip past (or you can look at the chapters).

Brandon has officially revealed the US cover for ReDawn, the second of the Skyward Flight parallel novellas! As with the rest of the Skyward series, the cover is by Charlie Bowater. (UK covers will happen eventually, but no word on when. Apparently the novellas moved pretty quickly and Gollancz, his UK publisher, got involved too late to have the covers out yet… which is about the most Brandon way this could have gone :lol:)

Weekly Roundup time! Lots of progress updates on books (Wax & Wayne 4, Skyward 4, and an unspecified book that's probably a Dark One story), and lots of YouTube stuff coming up (two livestreams this month, and an interview with Will Friedle)! Also, The Way of Kings leatherbounds have been added to the store, as have Strength before Weakness T-shirts!

Some more exciting news this week: Sunreach is out, the first revision of Wax and Wayne 4 is finished, Skyward 4 is started, and Mistborn playing cards are up for preorder! Additionally, all orders have been shipped for the tenth anniversary Kickstarter for The Way of Kings. (Summary's a bit late, due to school stuff, but this turned out to be fortuitous, as Brandon's newsletter today contained some announcements of its own to put in.)

Hello, hello!

As the last rays of the Scadr-- er, Northern Hemisphere's summer touch down upon the land, and fall's rains and mists come to conquer the land, we have a (mostly)... somber piece for you. Our patrons wanted to see Wax's breakdown from the end of Shadows of Self, and that's what we have here.

August's art commission comes to you from the ever-amazing-to-work-with Eli Gardor, who not only did a fantastic job at capturing Wax and Steris, but managed to sneak a bunch of little details in the background too, for the thorough observer. See how many you can spot :)

The string of exciting news in the updates continues, as this week we got release dates and blurbs for all three Skyward Flight novellas and a cover for Sunreach (the first one), as well as a preview chapter for Cytonic! On a more somber note, Brandon went over and apologized for the bugs with the Mini-Con site (which we covered in our main post on the event). And of course, the progress bar for The Lost Metal ticks ever-upwards, now at 75%.

On this stream, we will be answering questions from our patrons over on Patreon! We probably won't be able to answer many questions in chat, but hopefully you find this Q&A stream fun! Our patrons have sent in some pretty good questions so far. But everyone can watch this, and it'll start Sunday September 19th at 10am Pacific.

Jam-packed Weekly Update this time! Brandon has released his schedule for FanX later this week, and the second draft of The Lost Metal has hit 70%. Cool stuff, wonder if there's anything else. I think that was all of it, right? Yeah that should be the las- fine, fine, I'll stop dragging it out. Biggest news (and reason this article is late :ph34r:) is, we finally have details about the Dragonsteel Mini-Con! You can learn more about that in our article.

Dragonsteel has finally announced details about the new Dragonsteel Mini-Con, being held just in time for Cytonic's release! Full details can be found on the official site, but we'll summarize the biggest pieces of information below.

First, though, it must be noted that while COVID-19 vaccination and masks are requested, neither is required for attendees.  Attendees who may be sick or diagnosed with COVID-19 are requested to stay home, but are not barred from going. Additionally, Utah's case numbers are high right now, and with increased traffic through the area due to the Mini-Con and Thanksgiving week, this may inevitably increase. Make sure to weigh the risk factors of you and those around you carefully when deciding whether to attend, and to follow Dragonsteel Entertainment's requests–such as getting vaccinated and staying home if sick–if you decide to do go. You can find the full COVID policy on their website.

We got a new Brandon Sanderson book this year already, and it is Lux! It is an Audible original set in the Reckoners universe, and it's time for us to talk about it. Overall we liked it, but we obviously get into the weeds, because it's Shardcast. Spoilers for the original Reckoners trilogy (Steelheart, Firefight, and Calamity) here, but if you haven't listened to Lux yet, we start with spoiler-free reactions. Chapters are below! 

After skipping last week due to assistant Adam being on a well-earned vacation, Brandon is back again with another Weekly Update, and I'm back again with another summary!

This week brings progress updates on Evershore and The Lost Metal, as well as a poll about covers for The Emperor's Soul.

Welcome to the third annual official Cosmere Inktober, which begins October 1st. If you are unfamiliar with Inktober, it is a month-long drawing challenge that focuses on ink-based mediums, traditional and digital alike. Every day of October, people from around the world draw their interpretations of that day's prompt. This year we have a Cosmere-themed prompt list available a month early, to give those of you who would like to participate a chance to plan out your daily drawings

Here's our second Word of Brandon episode from JordanCon 2021! Here lay answers to critical questions like, if a tree falls in the Forests of Hell and no one is around to hear it, do the shades still get angry? And watch many questions from the general Q&A where people try to talk their away around spoilers in hilarious ways, like about a certain Scadrian's bones. 

Round up, round up! Come one, come all to the amazing Two-Armed Brits Chouta stand!

This time, we'll be going through the lovely menu of chouta flavours that we were provided from the Way of Kings Leatherbound Kickstarter exclusive drinks coaster. We decided we could definitely give making these a go. Let us know how you think we did! Leave a comment down below on what you'd do differently!

It feels like it's been some time since we did a bigger piece here, with the May one taking a while (while we'll stop bringing up; it's shaping up to be as good as many of the paintings you see inside the leatherbounds, so it'll take as long as it needs to), and the June one being a series of small subjects. So why don't we slingshot in the other direction and go big?

Our patrons voted for New Seran in the July art poll, and New Seran we deliver! The city is not awfully important for the plot of The Bands of Mourning, and is usually mostly known as the location of The Hotel Scene (though it is also where Wax meets with Kelesina Shores), but it is a visually stunning location, with its tiers of rocky plateaus and cascading waterfalls. We've wanted to get Lyraina (Twitter) to paint an environment for us for a long time, and this was as good of an opportunity as we were ever going to get - especially since she graciously gave us a massive discount for this one piece. So, enjoy the city whose people think that Harmony must've been showing off when he was shaping it.