Stormlight 4 Readings and Info

[Gderu]

41 minutes ago, IcaroRibeiro said:

I'm growing anxious for this book. Will the chapters be published online starting in August? 

Yep

[Pathfinder]

17 hours ago, Karger said:

I don't think that is Shallan.  It also could easily be an entirely different scene. 

That just lends further credence to this not being the same scene.  We know of no way of summoning a blade like this.

As Jofwu said, the prompt was the same across the board. Any differences is artistic license. 

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

Well, that is a possibility we can say nothing about. We can look at the other picture with Adolin holding a sword. Also no scabbard.

And as jofwu stated, it was the same prompt across the board. Anything else is artistic license. The artist could have thought to represent Maya, or not. We have no idea. 

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

No. Consider how long the sword is. It would hit the ground if pointed straight down from waist level. A scabbard has to be at least as long as the blade. It would stick out, as it cannot be worn vertical. It has to be one of those with a triangular system of straps that keeps them at an angle.In fact this sword is rather close to the upper practical limit for a sword to carry on your belt. A reason to not consider this a dress sword.

And if we are using artwork so concretely, then it could just as easily be maya, since in the UK version, Shallan is holding pattern (due to obscene size of the blade)

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

The cover is on the jacket, not the dress. Her uniform jacket is also considerably shorter. It is a different version, apparently for female wearers.

It is the artists interpretation of what they think Shallan would be wearing. Two other artworks place her in two other outfits. So I don't think it confirms what her purpose is based on her clothing. That is just my own understanding. To be clear I am not saying people can't theorize or come up with things. Just I don't feel we can really rule anything out by proxy. In other words, could someone say hey maybe it is a dress for travel? Sure! But I don't think that confirms that it couldn't be a sudden travel without planning, because frankly the information does not confirm it couldn't be. 

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

Storm? In Shadesmar?

As jofwu showed twice, apparently yes as that was the prompt. 

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

For Shallan and Adolin to be together is just a natural assumption coming from their marriage in Oathbringer, yet otherwise how would they meet? Arranging a rendezvous in Shadesmar is even harder to explain. Or only the very finale of the book is in Shadesmar. Does it end with Urithiru regaining its old glory?

For all we know Shallan was on a mission the entire book away from Adolin, and they meet up at the end to travel to a new location via the cognitive realm. Just like how at the end of words of radiance, everyone ends up at Urithiru. Nothing about the cover says they have to have spent the entire book in the cognitive realm. All I am saying is it does not preclude other possibilities.

14 hours ago, Oltux72 said:

How sure can we be Shallan is in the CR?

Because the prompt mentioned it. 

[Karger]

39 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

As Jofwu said, the prompt was the same across the board. Any differences is artistic license. 

So all the covers are based on the same scene?  I thought that was just Brandon's prompt for a particular cover,

39 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

And if we are using artwork so concretely, then it could just as easily be maya, since in the UK version, Shallan is holding pattern (due to obscene size of the blade)

Pattern usually manifests as a small blade.

[Pathfinder]

24 minutes ago, Karger said:

So all the covers are based on the same scene?  I thought that was just Brandon's prompt for a particular cover,

Pattern usually manifests as a small blade.

Shallan altered the size on a bunch of different occasions but initially it does manifest large. Regardless again, artistic license. The prompt was not "she needs a sword". It was not "she needs traveling clothes". The prompt was very open ended. It was shallan, shadesmar, storm. So the only concrete things in that cover is that shallan is involved in some manner. That the cognitive realm is involved in some manner. And finally a storm is involved in some manner. Everything else is open to interpretation on the part of the artist and on those viewing the art.

[Karger]

13 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

The prompt was very open ended. It was shallan, shadesmar, storm.

But was it for both covers or all of them?

[Pathfinder]

36 minutes ago, Karger said:

But was it for both covers or all of them?

All the covers we have seen have the same prompt. 

[Karger]

Just now, Pathfinder said:

All the covers we have seen have the same prompt. 

Source?

[Pathfinder]

2 minutes ago, Karger said:

Source?

The winning artist

[Karger]

2 minutes ago, Pathfinder said:

The winning artist

Quote

The publisher of the Bulgarian translation of Stormlight Archive apparently ran a cover contest for Rhythm of War. The artists were given a brief and 18 people submitted artwork. There were four finalists and Brandon was involved. (I can't tell if he picked the top 4 and let the publisher choose, or if he picked his top 4 and the winner.)

Does not mention the UK people being included at all.

 

[Pathfinder]

5 minutes ago, Karger said:

Does not mention the UK people being included at all.

 

I was not referring to that. One of the artists stated that on Discord. I understand and respect if that is not enough for you, but Brandon also mentioned the process on his live readings. I believe it was the last or the one before that. Since unfortunately they have not been transcribed fully yet, I will have to pull up the portion, type it up, and submit it to Arcanum myself to provide the reference. If you give me this weekend, I will be happy to do so. 

Edited May 21, 2020 by Pathfinder

[Karger]

Just now, Pathfinder said:

I understand and respect if that is not enough for you, but Brandon also mentioned the process on his live readings. I believe it was the last or the one before that. Since unfortunately they have not been transcribed fully yet, I will have to pull up the portion, type it up, and submit it to Arcanum myself to provide the reference. If you give me this weekend, I will be happy to do so. 

I have watched the last several live signings and do not recall any such statements.  However that is sufficient for now.

[Chiberty]

@Karger, @Pathfinder

This is from dnavenom, one of the contestants:

Quote

Well every contest has it's rules and specification. You can see all the entries on Artline FB Page and yes pretty much that's all I can probably share, since it's obvious from the illustrations

To be honest the brief was also subject to interpretation. Elements I have though to be the main player in the cover are missing in other entries.

Take my words with a grain of salt. I've read the brief and I'm still confused by some of the entries, including the winner.

Keep in mind we didn't work with Dragonsteel directly. Something that Michael Whelan will surely do. So I expect his version to be very different from everything you are seeing here and a lot more accurate! You can be an amazing artist, but you still need art direction and that's badly lacking in our covers sadly! Still I did my best!

Also relevant:

Quote

Artstaion you will find some additional images I made during the process as well as a video. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9eGPeq

The images in the link include other interesting elements, such as Adolin, Maya, and Pattern.

[Pathfinder]

45 minutes ago, Karger said:

I have watched the last several live signings and do not recall any such statements.  However that is sufficient for now.

No problem. I only ask for time because it involves wading through 2 to 3 hours of audio per session. The arcanum helps because it is already divided into chunks, so hopefully that will expedite. 

45 minutes ago, ChickenLiberty said:

@Karger, @Pathfinder

This is from dnavenom, one of the contestants:

Also relevant:

The images in the link include other interesting elements, such as Adolin, Maya, and Pattern.

Yep yep. The whole thing is up to artistic interpretation. The only one would be Whelan, and even then there is still artistic license (for example: some say Kaladin, some say Eshonai on the cover of Way of Kings. Kaladin's features in Words of Radiance. Jasnah's pose with her body twisted towards the audience, her floating in air even though she never flies, how the wall becomes bronze when compared to the book, etc).

The chosen winner does not seem to show the storm as mentioned in the prompt, yet it won. One of the early sketches of one of the artists also includes Adolin with a sheath, while other artworks are missing one (as pointed out by Oltux). One sketch has a storm, shallan, but no overt sense its the cognitive realm. Another sketch has Shallan in a classic vorin dress, and no sword. Then the same exact drawing, but with a sword. Then another where Shallan is wearing a glove, while the earlier ones have her safehand covered like a good vorin girl. So many possibilities and permutations. 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Pathfinder

[+Oltux72]

By the way, are we overlooking something essential? What is a storm doing in Shadesmar? Shadesmar is supposed to have no drafts or winds. Now we are looking at a storm?

[Blind Radiant]

This is unrelated to the recent discussion on this thread, but I’m curious. Are there any hints as to who will be in each narrative group in this book? I know there are going to be three somewhat separate story arcs with different characters in each one, but I haven’t been able to find anything saying who’s going to be involved in each.

[Chiberty]

26 minutes ago, Blind Radiant said:

This is unrelated to the recent discussion on this thread, but I’m curious. Are there any hints as to who will be in each narrative group in this book? I know there are going to be three somewhat separate story arcs with different characters in each one, but I haven’t been able to find anything saying who’s going to be involved in each.

No confirmations yet, but there are definitely hints.

 

[Blind Radiant]

I’ll check that out. Thanks.

[GoWibble]

@Blind Radiant just a tip: the first post is really all that you need in the thread. all the other stuff is discussing what goes into the edits of the first post

[Isilel]

On 22.5.2020 at 0:34 AM, Pathfinder said:

The prompt was very open ended. It was shallan, shadesmar, storm. So the only concrete things in that cover is that shallan is involved in some manner. That the cognitive realm is involved in some manner. And finally a storm is involved in some manner. Everything else is open to interpretation on the part of the artist and on those viewing the art.

But unlike how it normally is with US and British covers, Sanderson had the final word in selecting this cover, no? So, it is less likely to seriously mispresent things. Like, I don't think that he would have picked one with Adolin on it, if Adolin wasn't present in Shadesmar with Shallan in the storm scene.

Edited May 24, 2020 by Isilel

[quadbox]

On the same subject, am I the only one going slightly stir-crazy waiting to see what michael whelan's come up with for the US hardcover?

[Goatbringer]

14 hours ago, quadbox said:

On the same subject, am I the only one going slightly stir-crazy waiting to see what michael whelan's come up with for the US hardcover?

Since we got OB's cover art in March back in 2017 I was expecting a similar timeline. Now that June is here I'm going a little crazy.

[IcaroRibeiro]

Brandon updated his website

 

Draft 4 100% finished now

[Pagerunner]

Latest newsletter has a Syl excerpt. Sign up for the newsletter here: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/#signupform

[Kingsdaughter613]

Can we discuss the fact that the excerpt suggests that Kal goes back to being a surgeon?

[StormingTexan]

 

Quote

 

Christopher Paolini

Without spoilers, what can readers look forward to? [In Rhythm of War]

Brandon Sanderson

There is a character moment that was one of the pillars of my outline from the very beginning. This scene that I was working on. There were only two or three scenes that were core pillars. My beta readers feel like it landed. There won’t be a moment like this again until Book 7 or 8.

Miscellaneous 2020 (June 12, 2020)

 

Sorry just catching up o this thread.. 

He said two or three and we have one coming in book 4 and then another in book 7 or 8. So that leave 0-1 in the previous 3 books. The summoning of the Everstorm seems like a clear one.  I would think "I am Unity" would have been one also but maybe not.