Newsletter from Brandon

[Kurkistan]

Hey guys and gals,
 
A lot of you are probably already signed up for the newsletter, but I imagine a few aren't, so I'll post it in it's entirety here. Big news is that the prologue for Steelheart will be online sometime tomorrow and that WoR might be pushed back a bit, depending on stuff. Personally, I feel like WoR has been sneaking up on us all this time, so I'm fine if it slows down a bit.

 

Also, the Stewarts (of Inkwing fame) have joined Dragonsteel Inc., so congrats to them!

 

In this Newsletter:
1) The Rithmatist is out!
2) The Rithmatist Tour
3) Steelheart is coming in September. (Prologue going live tomorrow!)
4) Baby Melvin is here, and growing up too quickly
5) Words of Radiance (Stormlight 2) update

From Brandon. You're receiving this because you signed up or sent
me fan mail. If you'd prefer not to get emails like this in the
future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

THE RITHMATIST IS OUT!

Hey, guys and gals! A few things to update you on. The first is the
release of my new book, THE RITHMATIST. Though this is being
marketed as a Young Adult book (and I hope teens love it) I really
think everyone who enjoys my books will like this one. I've done an
extended blog post on it, but the relevant part is the pitch:

Imagine a world where people duel using a magical, StarCraft-like
system where one draws units and structures in chalk. Those come to
life once you complete them, though they remain two dimensional,
and you can use any drawing surface as a dueling platform. The main
character, Joel, gets to go to a school specializing in this magic,
though he can't actually use it himself. (He is the son of the
cleaning lady, so he gets free tuition.) Students start
disappearing, and he gets mixed up in the mystery. (Read more here:
http://brandonsanderson.com/blog/1164 )

THE RITHMATIST TOUR

I'm on a tour for this book as we speak. (Or, well, as we exchange
impersonal emails via newsletter.) Here is the list of dates:

Tuesday, May 14th: Books of Wonder, New York
Wednesday, May 15th: Children's Book World, Philadelphia
Thursday, May 16th: Tattered Cover, Denver
Friday, May 17th: Barnes & Noble, Omaha
Saturday, May 18th: Maple Street Book Shop, New Orleans
Monday, May 20th: Blue Willow, Houston
Tuesday, May 21st: Hicklebees, San Jose
Wednesday, May 22nd: Alamosa Books @ UNM, Albuquerque
May 23rd�26th: Phoenix Comicon
Monday, June 3rd: The King's English @ Provo Library
Saturday, June 22nd: Costco, Spanish Fork, UT

As always, feel free to bring any of my other books to get signed,
including Wheel of Time books! Most signings allow only three books
a time going through the line, but if you wait until the end, you
can usually get everything signed.

As a disclaimer, though, do look up your specific event for info
about whether a ticket, or purchase of THE RITHMATIST, is required
to attend the signing. I try my best to make sure every venue will
allow people in who don't have the new book, but in some rare
occasion, this doesn't work out. For events that aren't ticketed,
it's also nice to support the store hosting me by buying one book
(it doesn't have to be one of mine!) at the store on the day of the
event. Details and links are here:
http://brandonsanderson.com/events

STEELHEART

In other fun news, STEELHEART (releasing in September) is getting
some extra cool love from the Onion AV Club. They're going to
release the prologue tomorrow, which is awkward timing for this
newsletter, but hopefully you'll remember to look for it tomorrow.
http://www.avclub.com/section/books/

This prologue is its own pitch for the book. Check it out! (And
yes, we will be doing numbered copies through Weller Book Works, as
well as a tour, for this book. Watch the blog in coming months for
more info.)

BABY MELVIN

Baby Melvin arrived in January, right in the middle of my tour for
A MEMORY OF LIGHT. (Don't worry, we planned the tour so I could be
home in time.) Melvin (not his real name) is our third child, all
boys. Right now, he's growing very practiced at gnawing on things
and/or barfing on them. He's growing up too quickly. At this rate,
by the time I get home from tour, he'll be jumping on the
trampoline playing Lego Batman with Limeboy(5) and Meatloaf(3).
(Also not real names, just in case you were wondering.) As always,
if you see my wife, give her a hug and a thank you for putting up
with a husband to gallivants around the world scribbling illegibly
in people's books and playing Magic the Gathering with them. She's
awesome.

WORDS OF RADIANCE UPDATE

And now, as many of you have been hoping to read, some news about
WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS.

The book is progressing well. But it's also going slowly. Big epics
just take so much TIME. It's not simply the wordcount; the longer
and more complex the book gets, the more time it takes to produce
each page. A weaving of a half dozen characters and plots is a
difficult thing to juggle. I love it, but boy is it hard.

I'm at 260,000 words as of this writing. (The target is 300,000
words, or about the length of THE GATHERING STORM.) Awesome things
are happening in the book, but I worry that it feels too
fragmented, with everyone doing their "own thing" and without a
stronger narrative to hold the book together. This was an issue
with the first book, but the powerful Bridge Four sequence served
as a backbone for the entire book and held it together.

This book needs more of an eye toward the entirety, and that's my
main focus right now as I finish up the last chapters and turn
toward revisions. I wanted passionately to have it out by November
of this year, but that's growing more and more difficult. I know
you all would rather have a better book later, and I'm not going to
force anything.

At this point, we still have a "soft" release date of November, as
listed on Amazon. However, we haven't committed to retailers for
that date, and we haven't bought marketing space for it. (Which are
the two big things that lock in a publication date.)

THE WAY OF KINGS was turned in in May 2010 and came out in
August/September 2010, and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT was turned in in
August/September 2010 and came out in November 2010. So there is
still plenty of time, but I can't promise anything. It could come
out anywhere between November 2013 and May 2014. (Though it's
highly unlikely to be later than that, considering how much I have
done, and how well the writing is going.)

If you haven't been aware, I uploaded a series of YouTube videos of
me writing a new interlude for the book. This may help tide you
over. You can see the high-speed version here:

Take care, and happy reading.

Brandon

P.S. I'm also happy to announce that Isaac and Kara Stewart are now
joining my other assistant Peter to work for my company Dragonsteel
Entertainment full-time. You will recognize Isaac as one of my
interior artists for Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive. Isaac
will be handling art direction for me as well as administrative
duties, and Kara will be running my store. I'm thrilled to have
them onboard.

If you don't want to get these newsletters in the future, just ask
to be taken off the list. And if you're on this list and want email
reminders when I'm signing near your house, email me your city and
state if you haven't done that already.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Kurkistan

[Joe ST]

Congrats to the Kara and Isaac and to the Sandersons on the arrival of Melvin

[Kurkistan]

Well now I feel like a horrible human being. Oh yes, congrats on a baby too. 

 

In my defense, I didn't talk about it because it was "old news".