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For the last two years, following the release of the State of the Sanderson, I've done a post discussing it and comparing it to States past. Well this year's State is out so if you have already read that and want to know some more context read on! Finished books being released next year: Legion: Lies of the Beholder Brandon has finally written the third, and final, installment of the Legion series. It will be release as part of a collection with the rest of the series next September, though there will be an individual Subterranean Press edition to match those for Legion and Legion: Skin Deep. White Sand Volume 2 The second volume of the White Sand graphic novel has been sent to the printers and is expected to release in February. Works in progress: Skyward Brandon’s current main project is writing Skyward, a novel that was first mentioned back in the 2013 State. (And then never mentioned again, at least until now). Skyward is Brandon's take on the "boy and his dragon" trope, in the form of a "girl and her starfighter" which sounds like an interesting premise. If the writing goes well Brandon may write the entire trilogy in one go, but he does have to budget time for the final Wax and Wayne book. Brandon spoke more about it in a blog post earlier this week, including a mention that Skyward takes place in the continuity of something he has written before (but not the cosmere and not the Reckoners multiverse). Brandon did a reading of the prologue of Skyward during the Oathbringer tour, which you can listen to on the 17th Shard youtube channel. Stormlight Archive Brandon isn’t planning on starting to write Stormlight 4 until January 1, 2019 but he will be working on getting "rock-solid outlines" for Books 4 and 5. This may be a result of him shifting events around in order to make Dalinar's flashback sequence work in Oathbringer, as it was previously scheduled for Book 5. Brandon gives an estimated release of 2020-2021 for Stormlight 4 but does mention he hopes to write another between-book novella, this one titled Wandersail. Brandon doesn't give any information on it except for its name in the State but at the Oathbringer release he did mention Rysn may get a novella, and if you've read Oathbringer there are reasons in it that would explain why a Rysn novella could be titled Wandersail. Upcoming projects: The Lost Metal The final Wax and Wayne book is next on the docket after Skyward with plans for a 2019 release. Due to the schedule for Stormlight 4 and the length of time necessary to write this book Brandon wants to start drafting this September 1st, or preferably, before. Brandon also definitively states that the Wax and Wayne novels are Era Two. Again... Unfortunately, this will be the final, planned, Mistborn novel for the foreseeable future. Alcatraz Bastille versus the Evil Librarians: The Worldspire The actual final entry in the Alcatraz series, from the viewpoint of Bastille. Brandon did some test chapters but couldn't quite nail Bastille's voice. As a result he is going to try collaborate with fellow author Janci Patterson (a former student and long-time friend of Brandon's). Brandon's intent is to write an outline after finishing the first Skyward book, which Janci will work with. Brandon will post updates about this. Secondary projects: Elantris sequels The 2014 State said that these had to be written before the 1980s-esque Mistborn trilogy for “behind-the-scenes Cosmere bits”. The 2015 State put the first as one of the books between Stormlight 4 and 5. Last year's Sate more-or-less reaffirmed that plan, explaining that Elantris novels would likely take the place of the Mistborn Era 2 novels in alternating with Stormlight novels. This State says about the same. Nightblood No change on this. The 2015 State seemed to imply he does not plan on writing it until at least after the Elantris sequels are finished. This State really doesn't add anything new. White Sand Volume 3 The State does not mentioning anything about the third volume of the White Sand graphic novel. With the second volume's completion however, work should be starting on it soon, if it hasn't already. Hopefully it won't take as long as the second volume did. The Aztlanian Brandon again says that The Aztlanian is his most requested book at the moment. Last year Brandon mentioned that since his eldest son getting close to the age where he can read The Rithmatist, Brandon planed on reading it with him and then jumping into writing the sequel, but it seems it just didn't work out this year. The Aztlanian was originally planned to be written a couple years ago, but felt he did not have a firm enough grasp on Aztec history and culture to do it justice. He did some research but by the time he had finished did not have enough time finish writing it, and so wrote The Dark Talent instead. Brandon reaffirms his desire to deal with the time period, cultures, and viewpoints in a way that is respectful, but emphasizes that that requires a lot of research. Last year Brandon indicated that he wanted to slide this in this year, but with Oathbringer taking longer than expected, and The Apocalypse Guard being broken, the stars did not align. I really hope they do soon. Minor projects: Apocalypse Guard Brandon wrote the first book of this trilogy this year, but its broken and he doesn't know how to fix it. At the Oathbringer release he did mention that he had asked Dan Wells (his friend and fellow Writing Excuses member) to take a look at it and see if he can figure out what exactly is wrong. Until it gets fixed this series is on an indefinite hiatus. Adamant (previously The Lurker) A science fiction novella that Brandon has described as “Silence of the Lambs in Space”. He has spoken about it before but the plan is for it to be a sequence of six novellas released over the course of a year (one every other month). He has the first one written, and plans on writing three more at some point, with the last two being written by guest authors. No idea on when this will get released as he would like his sequence of novellas finished before it starts to be released. Brandon did get some work done on the outline this year, and came close to writing the second novella a few times, but it ultimately did not get put on the front burner. During the summer of 2015 he did mention that he was contemplating sliding it into the cosmere, but there is no mention of that in any of the last three States. With the knowledge that he wants guest writers coming in, that may mean Adamant becoming Cosmere is off the table, we shall see. Dark One The story of a boy discovering he is the one destined to destroy the world, takes place on an electricity-based world. It has jumped in and out of the cosmere a few times over the years (depending on whether Brandon feels it is too self-referential to the genre to be included) and is currently non-cosmere. Brandon did write an outline is very pleased this summer, skewing it "older and more twisted", and hopes to have more to announce in next year's State. Death by Pizza In the 2015 State Brandon said he had recently had a breakthrough with. While it was left out of the 2014 State it was included in the 2013 one (though at the time Brandon seemed doubtful of it ever progressing). Still no movement on this one. Dragonsteel No change on this one, it’s not going to be on the docket until after Stormlight 10. The Silence Divine No change on this project either. Brandon has written a small portion of it, which he read during the Words of Radiance tour, but it is still quite a ways off from release. Soulburner A project first mentioned in the 2015 State, it is a space opera/fantasy hybrid. Brandon does not go into too much more depth this year. No progress has been made. Aether of Night This is an old project, one of the thirteen novels Brandon wrote before getting published. Long thought to be a trunked novel, as various concepts from it were cannibalized for other projects, Brandon confirms that it is still part of the cosmere sequence (he does explain that currently the only thing canon from it is the magic system). The original draft of this is still available by request from the 17th Shard. Untitled Threnody novel A planned novel set on the same planet as Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. Brandon mentioned in the 2016 State that the original plan for this was to tell the story of the people fleeing the Homeland and the Evil, and that he was considering switching gears and telling the story of an expedition sent back to the Homeland. As of this year it seems he has decided to go ahead with that plan when he gets around to writing it. Untitled Silverlight novella Still no information about this one in the State, but Brandon did make a comment at the Oathbringer London signing that implies it may be from the point-of-view of Khriss. Probably still a ways off before he writes it. Untitled Sixth of the Dusk sequel Brandon doesn't say too much about this in the State but at the Oathbringer Newcastle signing he mentioned that he had an outline for a novella where Sixth does some exploring in the Cognitive Realm. Untitled Reckoners follow-up A potential follow-up to The Reckoners, featuring Mizzy as the main character. No indication on when it will be written, if ever. The Eyes A novella based on the Fermi Paradox (which asks the question that if there are other advanced civilizations out there, why have humans not detected any radio waves, or other forms of wireless communication) that Brandon wrote a short snippet of during last year’s Writing Excuses Retreat cruise. No mention of it in this year's State so it may have been trunked. Adaptation Updates: Mistborn The rights are held by DMG (as with the rest of the cosmere), a script has been completed and they are shopping it around Hollywood. Stormlight Archive Largely in the same place as Mistborn, in that it has a script which is being shopped around. However what it does have, which Mistborn doesn't, is a team making a VR experience titled "Escape the Shattered Plains" which DMG hopes to use in order to give filmmakers a sense of the setting. What's even better is that it will also be released on Steam so the rest of us can experience it as well! It will released in February and Brandon posted a preview video on his Twitter. The Reckoners Fox renewed the option this summer, Brandon doesn't know how the recent Disney merger will affect things. Snapshot The rights are held by MGM, work on the script should start early next year. Defending Elysium Under contract, with the first draft of a script completed. Legion Currently in negotiations for another television deal. Dark One Also currently in negotiations for a television deal, as well as a potential graphic novel.

Happy Koloss Head-Munching Day everyone! For those of you that don't know, this is a bit of an inside-joke for the fandom. Years ago Brandon was asked if there were any holidays on Scadrial, to which he jokingly replied "Koloss Head-Munching Day" (a day the koloss celebrate by having a nice head to eat). It eventually became conflated with Brandon's birthday (so yes, you should all go wish him a happy birthday) If you've been around for a few years, you might also know Koloss Head-Munching Day as the time of the year where Brandon posts his annual State of the Sanderson where he recounts what he's worked on in the past year, his upcoming projects, the status of various anticipated sequels, and potential media adaptations. Well it's here, go check it out. In other news, Eric (@Chaos) and I (@WeiryWriter) were invited to guest on the Dragons, Sexy Robots, and Adventures: A Nerd Manual podcast where we talked about Oathbringer. We had a great time working with them, and I think the episode turned out really well. Give it a listen here, and while you're at it check out some of their other episodes as well! Picture Credit: Brandon's Twitter

Last year, following the release of the 2015 State of the Sanderson I did a lengthy post comparing it to previous States. Well, with the release of this year's State earlier this week (which all of you should go read), I've updated last year's post with all of the new information. Now, without further ado: Finished books being released in the near future: Snapshot This is a novella Brandon wrote during his trip to Dubai back in March. It’s a science fiction story where the police solve crimes using exact re-creations of a given day. Brandon did a reading from it back in June and I must say I found it quite interesting. Also of note is that it takes place in one of the other worlds in the Reckoners multiverse. It is due out in February. Last week Brandon also posted the cover art on his blog: Works in progress: Stormlight 3: Oathbringer I’m not going to go into too much depth, you should really just go read the State proper as a large portion of it is dedicated to this book. Suffice it to say intial drafting is complete and Brandon is working on the third draft presently. It is currently on track for a November 2017 release. Another point Brandon made was making it clear that he just is not going to be able to release Stormlight books as quickly as he originally promised. Eighteen months simply is not feasible, the writing of Stormlight books is much too involved a process. But I think most of us saw this coming and would rather he take the time he feels is necessary rather than just rushing out a book. Upcoming projects… Apocalypse Guard The first book of this series is at the top of Brandon’s list post-Oathbringer. It’s a YA series for Delacorte (which is why it is so high-priority, Brandon needs to spread the love to all his publishers, not just Tor) and also takes place in the Reckoners multiverse, and really digs into the multiverse itself. The Lost Metal This is the final Wax and Wayne book, currently being outlined. He plans on writing it next year for a 2018 release. Brandon also definitely states that the Wax and Wayne novels are Era Two. Unfortunately, this will be the final, planned, Mistborn novel for the foreseeable future. White Sand With the first volume of the graphic novel apparently being a success, the second and third volumes are progressing. Brandon and his team do not really have much control over when they will be released, that is really more up to Dynamite and the artist. They have mentioned the idea of them being released about a year apart from each other, which would mean volume 2 sometime this coming year, but keep in mind that until we have an announced release date that is just an estimate. Secondary projects The Aztlanian We are getting closer to this one being written, with it likely being this coming year. It is also mentioned that The Aztlanian is his most requested book at the moment (which I found rather surprising, though I most certainly agree with the sentiment. It’s currently the book I’m looking most forward to!) Brandon also says that since his eldest son getting close to the age where he can read The Rithmatist, Brandon plans on reading it with him and then jumping into writing the sequel. The Aztlanian was originally planned to be written a couple years ago, but felt he did not have a firm enough grasp on Aztec history and culture to do it justice. He did some research but by the time he had finished did not have enough time finish writing it, and so wrote The Dark Talent instead. Alcatraz Bastille versus the Evil Librarians: The Worldspire The actual final entry in the Alcatraz series. Brandon does not give an estimate on when he will write it, as he needs some flexibility in his schedule. This book and The Aztlanian will slide in whenever he has the time for them. Also if you have not read it yet I would recommend reading Brandon’s bog post on this surprise sixth book. Elantris sequels These are getting closer to being written. The 2014 State said that they had to be written before the 1980s-esque Mistborn trilogy for “behind-the-scenes Cosmere bits”. Last year’s State put the first as one of the books between Stormlight 4 and 5. This State more-or-less reaffirms that plan, explaining that Elantris novels will likely take the place of the Mistborn Era 2 novels in alternating with Stormlight novels. Backburner projects Legion 3 With the upcoming Marvel tv show, titled Legion, effectively killing the chances of this series getting turned into a tv series as is, Brandon has said they are considering rebranding the series as “Leeds” (the main character’s surname) for another run at Hollywood. Another novella would help with this. It could also turn up in an eventual non-Cosmere short story collection (with stories like Perfect State). It probably will not be happening this year however. Regardless, last year he mentioned that this would likely be the final installment unless a tv series does get picked up. Nightblood No change on this. The 2015 State seemed imply he does not plan on writing it until at least after the Elantris sequels are finished. This State does not give much more information, just a reiteration of the fact that the Cosmere as a long outline, and a rather groan-inducing pun. Adamant (previously The Lurker) A science fiction novella that Brandon has described as “Silence of the Lambs in Space”. He has spoken about it before but the plan is for it to be a sequence of six novellas released over the course of a year (one every other month). He has the first one written, and plans on writing three more at some point, with the last two being written by guest authors. No idea on when this will get released as he would like his sequence of novellas finished before it starts to be released. Brandon could write the second at any time. During the summer of 2015 he did mention that he was contemplating sliding it into the cosmere, but there is no mention of that in the either last year’s or this year’s States. With the new knowledge that he wants guest writers coming in, that may mean Adamant becoming Cosmere is off the table, we shall see. Brandon did a reading from the first novella at ConQuest 46 back in May 2015. Dark One The story of a boy discovering he is the one destined to destroy the world, takes place on an electricity-based planet in the cosmere. The 2014 State did mention this as a possible follow-up to The Reckoners for Random House, but they and Brandon decided to go with Apocalypse Guard instead. Brandon is working on the outlines though. Brandon has tried writing three versions of the first chapter, which will be released one a month through the Writing Excuses Patreon in January-March. Death by Pizza In the 2015 State Brandon said he had recently had a breakthrough with. While it was left out of the 2014 State it was included in the 2013 one (though at the time Brandon seemed doubtful of it ever progressing). No real idea when or if it will be released, as Brandon did pitch it as a follow-up to The Reckoners, but that ended up being Apocalypse Guard. No movement on this one, but it is not dead. Dragonsteel No change on this one, it’s not going to be on the docket until after Stormlight 10. (Though check out that sick burn…) The Silence Divine No change on this project either. Brandon has written a small portion of it, which he read during the Words of Radiance tour, but it is still quite a ways off from release. Soulburner A project first mentioned in the 2015 State, it is a space opera/fantasy hybrid. Brandon does not go into too much more depth this year. No progress has been made. Aether of Night This is an old project, one of the thirteen novels Brandon wrote before getting published. Long thought to be a trunked novel, as various concepts from it were cannibalized for other projects, Brandon does mention that it is still part of the cosmere sequence (with seeds of the story already planted in published works). The original draft of this is still available if you request it from Brandon. I have read it and enjoyed it, so I am interested to see Brandon will handle the story going forward. Particularly with the cannibalized sections removed. Untitled Threnody novel A planned novel set on the same planet as Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. Brandon mentions that the original plan for this was to tell the story of the people fleeing the Homeland and the Evil, but is now considering switching gears and telling the story of an expedition sent back to the Homeland. Either way I am incredibly excited for a Threnody novel, I have always found it to be Brandon’s most atmospheric setting. Brandon also reveals that a Threnody novel has been part of his plan for the Cosmere since the beginning. I for one am glad to hear that as it finally makes the “36 book plan” make sense, as I could only ever figure out 35 of them! Untitled Silverlight novella Not planned to come in 2017, but Brandon says we now know enough that he can put this on the list. Untitled Reckoners follow-up A potential follow-up to The Reckoners, featuring Mizzy as the main character. No indication on when it would be written, if ever. The Eyes A novella based on the Fermi Paradox (which asks the question that if there are other advanced civilizations out there, why have humans not detected any radio waves, or other forms of wireless communication, from them) that Brandon wrote a short snippet of during this year’s Writing Excuses Retreat cruise. Brandon released the short bit that he wrote as this month’s Random Hat reward for the Writing Excuses Patreon and I found it to be a really interesting story. I hope Brandon will write the rest of it someday, but he currently has no plans. Skyward A YA cosmere series Brandon mentioned in the 2013 State and has not mentioned since. Status unknown.

Tor.com posted the preview of Chapter 3 of The Bands of Mourning, and good Harmony is it a doozy. Check it out here! I don't want to say too much about it beyond this: a long standing question in the fandom is answered and the main plot of the book is introduced. (Seriously just go read it). In case you missed it on Friday Brandon posted his third annual State of the Sanderson, discussing what he worked on over the course of 2015 and his plans going forward. Check it out here! This tradition has definitely become one of my absolute favorite things about Brandon. He has such a great reputation for transparency when it comes to his work (except of course when it comes to secret projects, but more on that later) and it is lengthy posts like this one that just goes to show how much he deserves that reputation. Before we get into the nitty-gritty details of the State, how about those pages from the White Sand graphic novel Brandon shared with us in his post? It’s been about a year and a half since it was announced that Dynamite would be adapting White Sand into a series of graphic novels, and while we’ve had some progress reports along the way, it is really nice to finally see these pages. Looking at them reminded me of how much I really did like the prose draft I read a couple years ago, it’s a fun story and it looks like a re-read maybe close in my future… The art and the colors just look fantastic, I can’t wait to see how they depict other characters, not to mention certain aspects of the world. Well, Brandon is giving us an estimated release of some time next year, so we don’t have too much longer to wait. Finished books being released in the near future: The Bands of Mourning Brandon wrote this last year, as a surprise to all of us. The Gamma/proofread was done awhile back and the book is on track for its January 26 release (only a little over a month from now!). Calamity Brandon was able to write the rough draft of the final Reckoners book over the course of January to May of this year (which is longer than he had planned on as in the 2014 State he mentioned wanting to finish by the end of March, this in turn has pushed back his other projects). The Gamma/proofread of this has been completed and the book is on track for a February 16 release. Works in progress: Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians Brandon wrote the rough draft of The Dark Talent last year and is currently working on edits for it. Tor originally announced a June release for this book but it has been pushed back (in the State Brandon says it was pushed to August, but Amazon has a September 6 release date). The re-releases are, according to Amazon, scheduled for February 2 (Books 1 and 2), April 5 (Book 3), and July 19 (Book 4). They’re going to have new covers, by Scott Brundage, and interior illustrations by Hayley Lazo. Brandon has also mentioned that the hardcover dust jackets will have a map printed on the inside. Unnamed Secret Novella This is a project that Brandon has been working on for 10 years and finally finished up during revisions over September/October. Not much is currently known about it, but it is coming “soon”. I for one can’t wait for this one to come out. Stormlight 3 This is Brandon’s current main project that he is drafting, and he’s about a third of the way through. He did start writing it, in earnest, in June (which is later than what he had planned in the 2014 State, due to the extended time on Calamity) but it’s been slow going because of numerous revisions for other works he had to work on, as well as a fairly lengthy tour for Shadows of Self. At this point, it is most likely going to be a 2017 release, just because there is so much work that goes into a Stormlight book above and beyond the text itself. Peter, Isaac and co really need the time to get everything done at a reasonable pace (and we really do not want them to stage a mutiny, now do we). There is plenty of Sanderson-goodness coming in the next year (three novels, one graphic novel, plus a potential Stormlight novella and maybe the secret novella project) that I think it will be 2017 before we even notice the wait. Upcoming projects… Arcanum Unbound This an anthology of all the cosmere short fiction published up until now that Brandon has been thinking about doing. He also mentioned during the never-ending AMA that Tor had been wanting to an anthology like this. If Stormlight 3 doesn’t make it out in 2016 (which it probably won’t) this will probably come out as a “replacement” with a new Stormlight novella to help tide us over. He also mentioned wanting to release a star chart of the cosmere as part of this as well, which is exciting, to say the least. He has mentioned wanting to do a star chart before, but I never expected for it to be released this quickly. The Aztlanian Nothing really new on this one, beyond the fact that he is planning on working on it after Stormlight 3. The Lost Metal This is the final Wax and Wayne book, Brandon didn’t have much to say besides that he is planning for it to be one of the three books he writes between Stormlight 3 and 4. New YA Project This is a new YA trilogy that Brandon is developing with Random House as a follow-up (of sorts) to The Reckoners. Brandon doesn’t say too much about it in the State but he did talk about it at the Shadows of Self release party. It is tentatively called “Apocalypse Guard” and deals with a team that travels to parallel universes to prevent world-ending events. It definitely sounds exciting. The first book is planned to be the last of the three books Brandon will write between Stormlight 3 and 4. Elantris sequels These are getting closer to being written. The 2014 State said that they had to be written before the 1980s-esque Mistborn trilogy for “behind-the-scenes Cosmere bits”. This State is currently putting the first as one of the books between Stormlight 4 and 5. That’s still projected out for a release in 2020, but at least we have a rough date! Backburner projects Legion 3 The only news on this is that Brandon is planning on this to be the last Legion novella, and that he doesn’t see himself writing it any time soon. Nightblood No change on this. Doesn’t seem to plan on writing it until at least after the Elantris sequels are finished. Adamant (previously The Lurker) A science fiction novella that Brandon has described as “Silence of the Lambs in Space”. He had mentioned wanting to do a sequence 5 or 6 novellas as a mini-series of sorts for this. Brandon does mention that he is finished and happy with the first novella, but he has no plans to release it during 2016. This is likely because he doesn’t want there to be too much of a wait between it and its sequels and he has no plans to write them in the near future. Since it is a new story/setting there isn’t as much of a push for immediate release. During the summer he did mention that he was contemplating sliding it into the cosmere, but there is no mention of that in the State. Dark One No news on this one. The 2014 State did mention this as a possible follow-up to The Reckoners for Random House, but they and Brandon decided to go with Apocalypse Guard instead. Brandon is working on the outlines though. Death by Pizza This is a project that Brandon recently had a breakthrough with. While it was left out of the 2014 State it was include in the 2013 one (though at the time Brandon seemed doubtful of it ever progressing). No real idea when or if it will be released, though Brandon did pitch it as a follow-up to The Reckoners. Dragonsteel No change on this one, it’s not going to be on the docket until after Stormlight 10. The Silence Divine No real news on this one either. Soulburner This actually another brand new, never before discussed project. Brandon doesn't say all that much about it and it is not coming any time soon. Aether of Night This is an old project, one of the thirteen novels Brandon wrote before getting published. Long thought to be a trunked novel, as various concepts from it were cannibalized for other projects, it seems Brandon is thinking about reworking it for a published release. I'm interested in seeing how this will turn out. Skyward A YA cosmere series Brandon mentioned in the 2013 State, the current status of this is a complete mystery as not only was it missing from last year’s State but this year’s as well. Check out our forum topics here to discuss the preview chapter and here to discuss the State of the Sanderson!