Koloss Head Munching Day 2018

[Arkelao]

 

I’m really pleased with the new State of ye Sanderson. It’s gonna be a slow year yes, but we have big things coming so I’m patient. I’m also kind of sad for Cosmere short fiction, I was really hopping for news on First of the sun, but we will have to wait for another year. 

So...Hurrah for Stormlight 4! I expect a serious less appearance of Shallan. It’s really annoying.

Oh, I forgot. Snapshot movie! I will love that. It’s one of my favourite books! Hurrah again! De puta madre!

[Rasarr]

Happy Koloss Head-Munching Day!

I'm really happy SA4 is coming out soon (well, doorstopper-soon, which is two say in a year and a half to two years). I wonder who the flashback character for this one will be (please be Szeth, please be Szeth...). Kinda sad about WW4 being pushed back, though, but there's at least some light at the end of the tunnel now, so yay!

Going by the description, The Original isn't really my jam, but Death By ??? sounds pretty interesting. 

And, of course, Nightblood and the Elantris sequel still languishing in the SoonTM Hell. 13 years and counting, in the case of the latter... Winds of Winter's got nothing on that. 

[Toaster Retribution]

@Rasarr It is confirmed that Eshonai will be the flashback.

[Rasarr]

1 minute ago, Toaster Retribution said:

@Rasarr It is confirmed that Eshonai will be the flashback.

Yeah, but it can still change, can't it? IIRC, OB was supposed to be either Szeth's or Eshonai's until late into the writing process, and frankly, I'm really not feeling excited for Eshonai flashbacks. There just doesn't seem to be anything hiding in there, like the mystery of Dalinar's wife, Shallan's parents' death or Kaladin's how-we-got-here. The WoR interludes and OB prologue paint a pretty complete picture for me, while there are so many mysteries surrounding Szeth's how-we-got-here and Shinovar in general that I really want to dig my teeth into those flashbacks (especially since they're already written). 

Well, I imagine Brandon will find some surprise buried in Eshonai's past, but until then, I'm not super interested in it.

[What's a Seawolf?]

19 minutes ago, Rasarr said:

Yeah, but it can still change, can't it? IIRC, OB was supposed to be either Szeth's or Eshonai's until late into the writing process, and frankly, I'm really not feeling excited for Eshonai flashbacks. There just doesn't seem to be anything hiding in there, like the mystery of Dalinar's wife, Shallan's parents' death or Kaladin's how-we-got-here. The WoR interludes and OB prologue paint a pretty complete picture for me, while there are so many mysteries surrounding Szeth's how-we-got-here and Shinovar in general that I really want to dig my teeth into those flashbacks (especially since they're already written). 

Well, I imagine Brandon will find some surprise buried in Eshonai's past, but until then, I'm not super interested in it.

I agree.  Never was overly excited about Eshonai, and I don't see how the flashbacks can play into the main narrative like the previous three if the flashback character is dead.  Brandon will of course prove me wrong, but I just can't see it right now.

 

The one faint hope I have is that the... (SA spoilers just in case, not sure what the rules on the General Brandon forum are:)

Spoiler

...fan theory that something is wrong with Roshar's afterlife is correct, and we will learn of it with Eshonai.  There's a WoB that says 'Eshonai left for the Beyond' but I'm hoping against logic that Brandon is being full on Aes Sedai with that statement.  Yes Eshonai is not hanging around the cognitive realm.  Yes, she went to pass into the Beyond.  But then she got stuck.  Tranquille Halls, Braize, who knows.  But somewhere.  THAT would add a shock impact to her flashback chapters.

 

Back on topic, Brandon's comment about the new LotR and Kingkiller tv series being successful potentially leading to live Cosmere adaptions is interesting.  I get that for a studio to invest that kind of money they would want other similar adaptions to be successful, and I get so many tv and movie ideas are basically copycats.  But Stormlight is so, so different from anything else I've read I really hope the studios approach it differently.  Besides, so many 'copycat' productions end up terrible, a poor imitation of the original success.  I hope Stormlight is seen as 'the Stormlight Archives' not 'Fantasy Attempt #17'.    

[StormingTexan]

I was really hoping for some kind of surprise announcement that he secretly wrote the first draft of Lost Metal. That's ok though I can wait impatiently for it to happen. On the other hand I actually got goose bumps thinking about Brandon starting SA4 next month. Even though Eshonai's view point is my least anticipated I have a feeling we will be pleasantly surprised with how this works out. 

SotS has turned in to novella in itself. I really appreciate these updates and Koloss Head Munching Day is an official holiday on my calendar. 

[Orlion Blight]

9 hours ago, Ammanas said:

I better be getting good news today on The Lost Metal or I will be unleashing some nerd rage the likes this website has never seen before!

Just wait until you find out it was postponed for a licensed Magic: The Gathering novel. 

I'm surprised I did not get the cops called on me, due to my sustained and loud swearing at my phone screen. 

Other than that unpleasantness, it is pretty much what I expected. And I will continue to expect that we won't have a hope of The Lost Metal getting written until after Stormlight 4 is mostly completed. Main change in my thinking is that it might be written before Skyward 3.

[+Invocation]

10 hours ago, Ammanas said:

I better be getting good news today on The Lost Metal or I will be unleashing some nerd rage the likes this website has never seen before!

Honestly, me too.

[StrikerEZ]

@What's a Seawolf? @Rasarr I’m actually really excited for Eshonai’s flashbacks.

Spoilers for everything Stormlight Archive! Enter at your own risk!

Spoiler

I think her flashbacks are gonna help us understand how Venli became who she is today. Plus, they will provide insights into Listener culture, all the songs with all their amazing lore, and will explain the weirdness that is the first encounter between Listeners and the Alethi. And maybe we’ll get some heartwarming scenes between Eshonai, Venli, and their mother (possibly before the Singer version of Alzheimer’s set in) followed by a heart wrenching present day scene when Venli finds the Listeners that escaped being turned into stormform at the end of WoR (they also survived) and talks to her mother, who keeps calling her Eshonai instead of Venli, like she called Eshonai Venli instead of Eshonai. 

 

[Martin4os]

2 hours ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

Other than that unpleasantness, it is pretty much what I expected. And I will continue to expect that we won't have a hope of The Lost Metal getting written until after Stormlight 4 is mostly completed. Main change in my thinking is that it might be written before Skyward 3.

It’s pretty much what i expected also. However i do believe there is a significant chance that we would get The Lost Metal towards the end of 2020..

I believe that for SA4 to be published at a similar date, its first and second drafts have to be finished by the end of 2019. I also believe that Brandon suspects that it would take longer to finish SA4, past the self-imposed 2019 deadline, which would mean no primary book scheduled for publishing in 2020. Having thought of that, he might decide, during the summer, to take a break from SA4 and finish The Lost Metal instead for a 2020 release, and push SA4 for a 2021 release

[Rasarr]

@StrikerEZ, I'm not opposed to the idea of Eshonai's flashbacks per se, and the worldbuilder in me is quite interested in finding out more about the Listeners. This being said, I'm unexcited right now for a simple reason: Szeth's flashbacks would be more revealing to the story. There are a dozen or so mysteries surrounding the Shin, their religion, how they acquired the Honorblades and how much they know (why did they congratulate Dalinar on the Desolation?). The Listener culture would be interesting from a purely etnographic standpoint, but the Shin are far, far more fascinating to me right now. 

Quite frankly, I'd be more interested Venli flashbacks. Eshonai didn't know what was truly going on until it was far too late. Venli was implied to have been working with Ullim for a while - even before Gavilar's death, perhaps. So, even if we're stuck with Eshonai flashbacks, I'd still like to see some Venli POVs. That, or what @What's a Seawolf? suggested in the spoiler tags.

[Ammanas]

Honestly I am disappointed, but it's a business decision and Stormlight is now Tor's flagship series now that WoT is finished. What a novel (pun intended) concept of having other writers in your group of friends take a look at a troublesome book and offer help with another set of eyes! I know of a few authors that should give it a try...

Not too much to look foward to from Sanderson in the near future but The Hod King, The Blackest Heart, and Kellanved's Reach are released in January and February by three very exciting authors so that will get me by to start the year.

My nerd rage comment earlier was more of a way to make fun of myself and a reminder to not get too worked up about it. Yes, it's annoying but if the news of one of my favorite fantasy authors is delaying mistborn is the worst thing that happens to me this month, then it's been a pretty good month!

[Orlion Blight]

5 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

My nerd rage comment earlier was more of a way to make fun of myself and a reminder to not get too worked up about it. Yes, it's annoying but if the news of one of my favorite fantasy authors is delaying mistborn is the worst thing that happens to me this month, then it's been a pretty good month!

Laaaaaammmmeee! 

[Ammanas]

Haha I used to get really worked up with massive delays by favorite authors, but its just too exhausting being angry all the time. It's also much better, for my mental health, to have a more zen like attitude towards things that are outside my control. I am always trying to get better with that!

[Orlion Blight]

3 minutes ago, Ammanas said:

Haha I used to get really worked up with massive delays by favorite authors, but its just too exhausting being angry all the time. It's also much better, for my mental health, to have a more zen like attitude towards things that are outside my control. I am always trying to get better with that!

Bottling up your feelings like that is not healthy for your heart 

I feel being salty once in a while is good for my mental health. Shows I am still human! 

[Gray to]

I love stormlight as much as the next guy but I NEED a conclusion to the wax and Wayne era. Im dying over here!

[Leyrann]

OH MY GOD HE'S DELVING INTO METAL FOR DEATH (WITHOUT PIZZA)!!!

SORRY FOR CAPS BUT IM SO HYPED!

[Flou]

Quite disappointed that The Lost Metal got pushed back due to a damnation Magic the Gathering book. Other than that, no real surprises there or complaints from me. Happy to get the Stormlight 4 sometime soon, but I was really looking forward to finishing up Wax&Wayne era next year rather than 2020 or 2021.

Haven't read Skyward yet, so no idea if I've got at least Skyward 2 to look forward to next year. Well hopefully Martin finally finishes Winds of Winter....

[Toaster Retribution]

Am I the only one who is more interested in SA4 than in TLM? I really love Stormlight. 

Also it was kinda obvious, and has been kinda obvious for a long time, that we wouldn’t be getting TLM that soon. Brandon has repeatedly said that he is working on other things this year (turned out to be Magic and the Pizza thingy) and that he will begin with SA4 in January. I feel like we knew this for a while now. 

Also, I hope he manages to clear up Alcatraz next year, to clean the plate a bit more. It would be fun if he and Dan could surprise-release AG as well, though that might not happen. 

[Ammanas]

1 hour ago, Toaster Retribution said:

Am I the only one who is more interested in SA4 than in TLM? I really love Stormlight

I like them about equally, but Brandon has said it is a much easier and faster process to write the Wax and Wayne books plus all the extra stuff they do with the Stormlight artwork etc takes almost 8 months or so. So if he focused on Wax and Wayne we would be getting more cosmere much, much sooner than a focus on Stormlight. Plus it is the ending of the series; that means lots of convergences, big revelations etc.

Also not to put words in anybody's mouth, but I think Oathbringer took the wind out, just a little bit, from almost everyone's sails. It's not a bad book, and was still enjoyable, but it wasn't as good as the previous two. 

Also it's been a much bigger lapse of time for the Wax and Wayne books. We have been patient and thought we knew what the plan was; plans change but its still frustrating (even though all the signs were pointing towards it).

Edited December 20, 2018 by Ammanas

[Orlion Blight]

3 hours ago, Toaster Retribution said:

Also it was kinda obvious, and has been kinda obvious for a long time, that we wouldn’t be getting TLM that soon. Brandon has repeatedly said that he is working on other things this year (turned out to be Magic and the Pizza thingy) and that he will begin with SA4 in January. I feel like we knew this for a while now. 

 

It also wasn't until towards the end of the year that he was signaling that The Lost Metal was not getting written. Until then, it was "Don't worry, this won't take long to write, I'll still have it done by end of year!"

Finding out he did not do it because he wanted to write a Magic novella for free kinda feels like a minor betrayal. 

The state of SA4, on the other hand, has not changed. It was always planned to be written during the proposed time period and that hasn't moved one bit. There's nothing new to get excited about there. The only thing that has changed is that The Lost Metal will be out maybe in 2021 instead of 2019.

You know, unless he decides to do some free labor again for a property he doesn't own. 

[Toaster Retribution]

1 hour ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

It also wasn't until towards the end of the year that he was signaling that The Lost Metal was not getting written. Until then, it was "Don't worry, this won't take long to write, I'll still have it done by end of year!"

Finding out he did not do it because he wanted to write a Magic novella for free kinda feels like a minor betrayal. 

The state of SA4, on the other hand, has not changed. It was always planned to be written during the proposed time period and that hasn't moved one bit. There's nothing new to get excited about there. The only thing that has changed is that The Lost Metal will be out maybe in 2021 instead of 2019.

You know, unless he decides to do some free labor again for a property he doesn't own. 

I see why people are upset, but I do think that we need to be fair to Brandon. This was an opportunity to make a story for something he loves. I find it likely that the Magic thing was ”either you do it now or we have to ask someone else”, and thus, I think it is fair that he did it. After all, we have gotten a huge amount of books from him in a relatively short period of time compared to other authors, including the time when he accidentally wrote BoM. So if this project came up, and really excited him, well, I dont think we can be harsh on that. 

[Scion of the Mists]

2 hours ago, TheOoklaThatComesBefore said:

You know, unless he decides to do some free labor again for a property he doesn't own. 

I don't know that having WotC donate his share of the proceeds to charity counts as "free labor"...

[Wyndlerunner]

I can get why people are upset that TLM was pushed back by CotN, but let's be real here; if it wasn't for CotN, he probably would have written Skyward 3, because he seemed to be having a lot of momentum there. And as for CotN, opportunity knocks only once, and Brandon had the opportunity to write about something he really enjoys.

[Orlion Blight]

16 minutes ago, Scion of the Mists said:

I don't know that having WotC donate his share of the proceeds to charity counts as "free labor"...

It's released for free online with currently no plans to publish and sell it. As of now, it's free labor and only counts as a tax write-off.

 

39 minutes ago, Toaster Retribution said:

I see why people are upset, but I do think that we need to be fair to Brandon. This was an opportunity to make a story for something he loves. I find it likely that the Magic thing was ”either you do it now or we have to ask someone else”, and thus, I think it is fair that he did it. After all, we have gotten a huge amount of books from him in a relatively short period of time compared to other authors, including the time when he accidentally wrote BoM. So if this project came up, and really excited him, well, I dont think we can be harsh on that. 

 

We all ready know Brandon switches projects frequently to recharge. That implicit compromise is entered by the readers with the understanding that that will lead to some works of quality for what they really want. Of course, it's starting to look like that might not be the case. As was noted before, Oathbringer is viewed as a bit of a drop in quality. And that's when he committed to writing the book! The Lost Metal now seems like more of a burden to him since he preferred to write for free instead of on it with a tone-deaf "all is not lost!" when he made a mild possible commitment to maybe write it while taking a break from SA4.