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Hey, guys! More for kicks than anything else, I have a "theory" for you. The different parts of it have been disproved half a million times, but I'm putting it out here anyway since it is kind of fun. Hoid is Alcatraz. Brandon Sanderson is Adonalsium. Brandon Sanderson was "shattered", or maybe " murdered", by his sixteen most prominent fans, and now one of his creations is trying to put him back together again so that more stories will be written. Disproven by countless WoBs and common sense, Alcatraz's world isn't cosmere, by imma ignore that. Alcatraz isn't a nice person, but neither is Hoid. They've got a similar sense of humor and snazzy/sassy style. We know almost nothing about Hoid, so who knows what we could make his back story. And Brandon Sanderson being Adonalsium? Both created the cosmere. Duh. Here it goes. Brandon Sanderson created his stories, like he usually does, some connecting, some not. Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians is Hoid's TRUE back story, though only Brandon knows. Funny, poignant, and sad, sassy Alcatraz quickly grows into the Hoid we know, with his character arc stretching past the known books. And then, right after Sanderson finishes writing his last cosmere book, he is killed by sixteen angry fans because it IS the last book. After they steal the amazing creativity power that is held by Brandon, Shard stuff happens, cosmere, blah blah blah. Knowing that the murder of Adonalsium is unfair, Hoid/Alcatraz sets out to put him back together for one last story. The cosmere then becomes a cyclic storyline, restarting every time it ends, with the endpoint being Hoid/Alcatraz putting Adonalsium/Brandon back together. The book Brandon writes after being put back together is the story of Hoid putting everything back together. This silly theory ignores some very obvious facts, like that Alcatraz isn't cosmere, that Yolen would have to be Earth, and that someone would actually want to kill Brandon. What do you all think? Bring up some info that disproves - or better yet, DOES prove - that this is the true cosmere plotline. Have a nice day!

So really, has anyone noticed the different references are made in Alcatraz. I just finished listening to the first one, and noticed a few different comments that Sanderson made that had to be references to other literary works, and not just his own works, but I am sure there is a reference to the Count of Monte Cristo when they are thrown in jail. Anyone else notice these? I'm pretty sure he is referencing partially to either Harry Potter or books like that at the end where the kids always go back to where it would be easy to find them.

So I just finished reading it and I have a couple of questions. If the answers are in the next books, please say so and don't give the answer itself. Why Bastille and Draulin don't wear Warrior's Lenses? IIRC they were used only once when Kaz needed to run faster. But Bastille has used them in the first book just fine, why isn't she doing it now? Why isn't Kaz an oculator? I got the impression that while every Smedry has a Talent, only those of the main bloodline can be oculators. But if Alcatraz is from the main bloodline, so should Kaz, right? Also, if you can get Smedry Talent by marriage, why aren't Smedrys polygamous? I'd expect them to enter into purely formal marriages with the Crystin that are assigned to protect them, especially those with useful Talents (totally not thinking of it because of the Ship Tease indicated when Alcatraz got distracted by Bastille while trying to fly out of the pit trap. Totally >.>).

Now, Sanderson said it wasn't in the Cosmere, but I found something interesting. In the story The Emperor's Soul, objects specifically have a cognitive identity. In Alcatraz vs The Dark Talent, the Shamer's lens make objects explode from embarrassment. right? When using the lens, Alcatraz heard the thoughts of the objects until they blew up. They described how they felt about how they appear to others. Sound familiar? The Cognitive Realm. Using Soul Stamps, you can change how an object views itself, along with others, to the extent of changing history. Am I just grasping at straws, or could I be seeing an actual connection?

I met Brandon as a BYU student in the early 2000s, just before he signed the deal on Elantris, and it's been great to watch his success blossom over the years. My own daughter is almost 11 now. She has a complicated disability (DiGeorge syndrome) and getting her to try anything new or do anything on request is almost always an exhausting endeavor. She cries, she whines, she throws tantrums, she refuses. She also has pretty severe ADHD and it's hard to get her to pay attention to anything. Earlier this year, I told her we were going to begin reading Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. She threw her usual fit, but I insisted. She whined throughout the first half of the book whenever it was time to read, and I just kept telling her that if she wasn't sold by the end of the book, we wouldn't read the others. But towards the last 1/2 to 1/3 of the book, a change came over her. She was clearly interested. When Alcatraz unleashed the dinosaurs onto the library to help him make his final escape, she quipped, "They're not 'useless' now!" I was surprised she had been paying attention and could remember that detail. Last week, she asked to bring the book to school so she could share it for show-and-tell. We finished the book this morning, and I gave her a choice for our next book: Book 2 of Alcatraz, Little Shop of Hamsters by R. L. Stine, or Holes by Louis Sachar. She picked Book 2 of Alcatraz, no hesitation about it, and urged me to order ALL of the books in the series ASAP. I then let her know that her mother knew the author before she was born, and she began begging to meet him. "Well, he technically has met you a few times, but you were a baby." "He needs to see how much I've grown!" she said. Anyhow, looks like I need to pay attention to Brandon's event schedule so that I can take his newest young fan to meet him next time he's in Chicago. It's really wonderful to see my daughter getting enthusiastic about a book series; there have been so few. The pictures in the reprinted series are also really wonderful and help her pay attention, so I'm grateful that detail was added. I'm glad Brandon's magic won her over.

I just recently read the new editions of Alcatraz on my Kindle, and I SWEAR Brandon's changed stuff between the versions (though I don't have my old copy with me). I saw in another thread about the line "The steel skull of your archnemesis" being added, but I'm wondering, are there any other differences?

All throughout the Alcatraz series we are told not to flip to the last page. The Letter is the reason why. (I just realized this. Brandon must have planned The Letter ever since the first novel. That tricksy librarian scum. )

I recently found out that there's a new show coming out soon called Milo Murphy's Law, about a kid who suffers from a literal Murphy's Law: everything around him is going wrong, all the time. I didn't make this connection at first, but after watching the first episode (for some reason available on Amazon for $0.00 even though the show isn't actually out yet) it distinctly reminded me of Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians. Stuff breaking all the time, causing nobody to want to be around him, yet making it work out in the end. I thought it was great, and just wondered if anyone else had any thoughts on it. Best part is, the main theme song and the main character are both sung/voiced by Weird Al. Here's the main theme:

Has anyone heard whether Ramon De Ocampo will be reprising his role as Alcatraz in the Dark Talent on audiobook/Audible? My kids are huge fans of the audio series, and would be extremely disappointed if their long wait was for naught!

So.... I thought the Tor article said The Dark Talent was coming in june, but all of the vendors say it will be released september 6th.... Which one is correct?? Im SUPER HYPED Thanks, - Blad3mast3r

On Amazon, in the detail section that is listed for the 5th book, it says that it is only 220 pages in hardcover. That is 100 pages less than the shortest of the previous three (I think it's Alcatraz #1). I can't imagine the last book, that the fans have been waiting almost five years for, would be that short. Is this a typo?

So, first, some rules: The discussion thread, where we'll be planning and talking about what's going on is here: THE DISCUSSION THREAD Now, a little bit of the setting: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tenteron Smedry missed his flight. Again. He was stuck on Warsaw airport, after a series of unfortunate events, including jumping on crocodiles, taking part in some cosplay contest and running away from Librarians. What a day. For the last couple of hours he was trying to get on board of one of those crazy, primitive flying machines, that Hushlanders use to travel. Unfortunately, this is not an easy task, when your Talent is to miss things.The fact, that he was on enemy territory didn’t help either. He stood on the hallway, watching as the plane he was supposed to be on was taking off. Wearing a simple jacket and jeans, he didn’t stood out from the crowd at all. That was only because he had lost his tuxedo and top hat a few days ago in an emergency situation on one of the hushlanders swimming pools. He had to steal some clothes from somebody’s else locker. He focused on his reflection in the window. Thirty years old, with dark hair, blue eyes, covered by red tinted glasses. Cleanly shaven. From what he knew, he was considered handsome by Free Kingdom and Hushland standards. Too bad he seemed to miss all the nice ladies for all those years. Suddenly, a flash of light exploded somewhere outside the window. It was so bright, he couldn’t even tell the direction from where this light was coming. Tenteron involuntarily fell to the ground. When wearing Oculator’s Lenses, a sudden flash of light usually meant you were in big trouble, attacked by another Oculator. However windows next to him didn’t shatter, ground didn’t tremble nor did the air turn ice cold. Only a potted plant next to him fell over, but that was rather his fault than an enemy’s attack. So what was this light? It disappeared as his glasses fell of his face, so it wasn’t any normal light. Tenteron tood up and stabbed himself in the eye with a temple of his Oculator’s Glasses, missing his face, when he tried to put the glasses back on. Just as he was wincing in pain, a security officer came from around the corner. “Proszę pana, będzie musiał pan udać się ze mną…” The guard didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence, as Smedry started to run away from him. They were in the duty free zone, past the security checks of the airport. Tenteron rushed to the exit. By now, all the security guards were on alert and moving in his direction. Unless he’ll do something brilliant… He took out his Slider’s Lenses, tinted pink with transparent dots. Attica Smedry created them many years ago, however he didn’t like them and didn’t share information about the sands used to smelt them with anyone, there were only four pairs in the entire world. Tenteron put them on and looked on the ground before him. The floor began to glimmer as if it was wet or made of ice. Everyone around him started to lose their balance as the ground became extremely slippery. Tenteron slid on his knees between two guards trying to grab him and kicked one of them in his behind to gaining momentum needed to move forward the exit. He was right on his way to the door outside, when a dark figure in a suit, wearing a pair of glasses appeared in front of him. Tenteron didn’t have any time to react as a line of fire cut through the air right next to him, scorching the floor and setting a little kiosk on fire. He focused on his Talent, making sure to miss the next attack of the enemy Oculator, while he slid in his direction. He crashed into Librarian’s legs just his opponent activated the Firebringer’s Lenses for the second time. A short burst of flame launched into the hallway as the glasses fell of the Librarian’s face when he fell down. The flames hit one of the big TVs displaying departure schedule which fell down to the floor. Tenteron stood up, took off his glasses and looked at the mayhem he left behind. The floor was still slippery as a perfect rink, everyone was on the ground trying to stand up, it would be a hilarious view if not for the damage done by the fire. Fortunately it seemed that nobody got seriously hurt. Tenteron took the Firebringer’s Lenses from the ground. The enemy Oculator laid there unconscious. People from the parking lot begun to gather near the exit as Tenteron pushed through them to get away from the airport. He put his Oculator’s Lenses back on and looked behind him in the general direction from which that explosion of light came from. He could see little bright point, as if there was a star far away, shining through all the buildings. It was visible, even as he waved his hand before his eyes. Dark Oculators can surely see it too. Other Librarian orders will know about this anomaly soon as well. Investigating it would be most dangerous and risky. Tenteron thought, as he walked away from the chaos he caused at the airport. I should probably get back to Free Kingdoms and return with some backup before approaching… But what would Grandpa Smedry do? He would get to the anomaly as fast as possible, without any regard for the dangers… Because that’s the Smedry way! Tenteron entered one of the shops for tourists that were frequent in the vicinity of the airport. With a compass and a good map he would be able to pinpoint the location of the anomaly, if it was anywhere in Europe. Then he’ll just have to find a way to get there...

In book 1 of Alcatraz, in the very first chapter, there is a scene where he is tied up to an altar. But he isn't sacrificed in that book, because he says that scene will come in a future book. As subsequent books have been produced, he continues to claim that the altar scene will be forthcoming soon, and in book 4, he says that he always planned to have it in book 5. However, throughout the books, he has claimed numerous times that he is a liar. He has tried to prove it in numerous ways, and in book 2, he had the analogy of the fish and the shoes, where you are so focused on him saying he is a fish that you forget that he actually has white shoes. My theory is that he will bring these two things together, and the altar scene will never happen. It's the ultimate way of proving that he is a liar. Because you are so focused on the storyline throughout the series, you almost forget that he is a liar, but neglecting the altar scene would make you remember that fact for a long, long time.

I have no cliue what I am doing here, as I have only read all Alcatraz books (1-4), Elantris, The Emperor's soul, and Steelheart and Firefight. Ah well. I made my username, Saonae, out of the symbols in the back of the Elantris book. "Sao", means intelligence or learning, and "nae", means sight or clarity. I look forward to posting with everybody!

He lost his talent in book 4, but beforehand could he have broke time and space and entered the Cognitive Realm and/or the Physical Realm? It has been proven that breaking Time is possible (the tomb of Alcatraz). Breaking Space to travel has been shown before by Kaz's talent. Could he teleport there by breaking Time and Space? Or could Kaz Worldhop in this way? Theory 2: Kaz is Hoid? ____________________________________________________________________________________________ There's always another secret. - Kelsier