Kingsdaughter613 Posted July 6, 2021 Report Share Posted July 6, 2021 1 minute ago, Jofwu said: Word on the street is that Brandon will do... a few signings? from the Dragonsteel booth. Not sure when that will be, but I'm sure it will be made clear enough sooner or later. Outside of those opportunities... If I saw him just casually hanging out then I wouldn't hesitate to walk up and ask... But I think it's likely that he'll be busy every moment that he's in public. So... might be able to spot him in a moment that doesn't feel rude, but otherwise I'd just ask when those signings will be when you get there! (if they aren't announced ahead of time) Thank you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormrunner1730 Posted July 8, 2021 Report Share Posted July 8, 2021 Okay, so I have a few questions in regards to meeting up. Are people from the site/community planning on meeting up at any particular time (I also don't want to be awkwardly presumptive/intrude on any plans that have been made)? And are people planning on going to any of the panels together (I have a few that I'm definitely looking at- besides all three Saturday Sanderson track ones)? Would it also be better to talk about this on the Discord? Sorry for the many questions haha. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted July 8, 2021 Report Share Posted July 8, 2021 Discord is definitely going to be your best bet, it's much more real time. I don't know if anyone has anything planned at this point, but I imagine I and the people I know will set something up and generally move as a single group, with individual people coming and going at times. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormrunner1730 Posted July 9, 2021 Report Share Posted July 9, 2021 22 hours ago, Argent said: Discord is definitely going to be your best bet, it's much more real time. I don't know if anyone has anything planned at this point, but I imagine I and the people I know will set something up and generally move as a single group, with individual people coming and going at times. That sounds good! I'll use the Discord then. That makes sense. There are a few panels my friends and I want to go to, but it would be really cool to meet some people from the community! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted July 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2021 FAQ's been updated with how to find Brandon: Quote Will Team Sanderson be doing any book signings? Absolutely! Team Sanderson will be doing signings throughout the weekend at the Dragonsteel booth in the Dealers Hall. Times for the signings are: Brandon Sanderson Friday: 3:45pm – 5:45 pm Saturday: 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm Sunday: N/A Isaac Stewart Friday: 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm Saturday: 12:00 pm – 2 pm Sunday: N/A Howard Lyon Friday: 2:30 pm – 3:45 pm Saturday: 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Sunday: N/A How do I get a signature from someone on Team Sanderson? Go to the Dragonsteel booth in the Dealers Hall. Request a time card for your desired signing. Yes, you can request a specific time *from what is available.* Each card is good for 2 people. Brandon will personalize 1 book per person, but you may have any number of other books signed. At your appointed time you will be allowed to line up at the Dragonsteel booth. Not before. This helps cut down you wait time and assists with our social distancing guidelines. Which doesn't seem quite right, since Isaac's Saturday signing appears to be double-booked with the Team Sanderson panel. But maybe he's not gonna be on it this year. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jofwu Posted July 12, 2021 Report Share Posted July 12, 2021 Hey everyone, we're planning to have a 17th Shard meet-up on Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm going to tentatively say we will meet in the Game Room, but location is TBD and might be a last minute decision. We picked this time so that it doesn't overlap with any of the other Sanderson Track panels or the Dragonsteel signing times, so hopefully people are relatively free. Everyone is welcome to stop by! We will probably be hanging out until it's time to make our way to the Cosmere Speculation panel at 4:00. I'm sure some of us will meet up and interact before this, but we wanted to make sure to have at least one "official" 17th Shard hangout time so that people can schedule around it if needed! Keep an eye on the #events channel in our Discord server to stay in the loop on location, or in case we need to change times. And note that #events will be temporarily renamed #jordancon for the duration of JordanCon. Feel free to use that channel for meeting up (for this or other times), asking questions, or anything else related to JordanCon. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormrunner1730 Posted July 13, 2021 Report Share Posted July 13, 2021 On 7/12/2021 at 10:12 AM, Jofwu said: Hey everyone, we're planning to have a 17th Shard meet-up on Saturday at 2:30 in the afternoon. I'm going to tentatively say we will meet in the Game Room, but location is TBD and might be a last minute decision. We picked this time so that it doesn't overlap with any of the other Sanderson Track panels or the Dragonsteel signing times, so hopefully people are relatively free. Everyone is welcome to stop by! We will probably be hanging out until it's time to make our way to the Cosmere Speculation panel at 4:00. I'm sure some of us will meet up and interact before this, but we wanted to make sure to have at least one "official" 17th Shard hangout time so that people can schedule around it if needed! Keep an eye on the #events channel in our Discord server to stay in the loop on location, or in case we need to change times. And note that #events will be temporarily renamed #jordancon for the duration of JordanCon. Feel free to use that channel for meeting up (for this or other times), asking questions, or anything else related to JordanCon. Thanks for posting this here (although I'll definitely be following the Discord)! My hype is steadily increasing haha. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsdaughter613 Posted July 14, 2021 Report Share Posted July 14, 2021 How does asking questions work? Also, would it be impolite to ask if a second book can be personalized on Friday, since I’m not comfortable bringing the books to a signing on Saturday? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted July 14, 2021 Report Share Posted July 14, 2021 This is all pretty different from the usual process, so I don't know. No harm in asking there though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jofwu Posted July 15, 2021 Report Share Posted July 15, 2021 18 hours ago, Kingsdaughter613 said: How does asking questions work? Also, would it be impolite to ask if a second book can be personalized on Friday, since I’m not comfortable bringing the books to a signing on Saturday? My guess would be that they'll ask people to only take one signing slot. But I could be wrong. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsdaughter613 Posted July 15, 2021 Report Share Posted July 15, 2021 52 minutes ago, Jofwu said: My guess would be that they'll ask people to only take one signing slot. But I could be wrong. Ok! Thank you! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsdaughter613 Posted July 16, 2021 Report Share Posted July 16, 2021 (edited) @Pagerunner I asked Isaac if: Spoiler The Ghostblood symbol is a stylized Marewill flower. He RAFOd this, then WAFOd (Watch And Find Out). So I guess we’ll find out eventually. Edited July 16, 2021 by Kingsdaughter613 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ookla of Colors Posted July 16, 2021 Report Share Posted July 16, 2021 Where is it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsdaughter613 Posted July 18, 2021 Report Share Posted July 18, 2021 Also from Isaac regarding the Steel Alphabet: I has a dot on top of tin; E is under There is no C Q is KW If Isaac creates a typewriter font, I claim credit for giving him the idea (by accident). An alternate version of the Allomantic alphabet was created, but not used. Isaac may now repurpose it for the aforementioned typewriter font. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LewsTherinTelescope Posted July 18, 2021 Report Share Posted July 18, 2021 (edited) Alright, here's transcriptions for some of the more Cosmere-relevant WoBs from The Sanderson Collector's video of the Q&A, since the audio's not on Arcanum yet: Spoiler Awakening a blanket to be warm Quote Questioner Disclaimers so that you can't say like "well if a Shard...": if a regular Awakener, just a mundane Awakener with nothing more than 200 Breaths, and not like any other outside influences, is there some Command they could give a blanket to get the blanket to turn warm? Brandon Sanderson So not in just a normal situation. I mean, technically, you could tell the blanket "start rubbing one part against another part" or set yourself on fire, right? But that's not what you're asking. For Awakening to work, you have to work within the intrinsic properties of the matter you're making, except it can move around a bit and with a few other little things it can do. It's not outside the realm of possibility you could activate those Breaths as Investiture to do something else, but you'd need more than just the simple magic system of Awakening. Harmony and Discord Quote Questioner Is there a significance between Harmony and Discord being musical terms? And would they be considered different Investiture tones? Brandon Sanderson So, yes and no. So what's going on here is that, it is significant, I chose those two terms very specifically. Not gonna tell you a lot about Discord or things like that, but the idea is that idea of Harmony is in- the sounds are in harmony, they are working together. In Discord they are not. I wouldn't call them Investiture tones, more the way two tones are responding to each other. Ishar and Kelsier Quote Questioner With regards to certain experiments, would it be fair to say Ishar and a certain Scadrian have similar goals? Brandon Sanderson I don't know that I would say that 100%. The certain Scadrian you reference has been able to achieve the goals that he wants- let's see if I can circumlocute this- there's a certain set of bones floating around that already has a Connection to this individual, which was useful in achieving what he wanted to do, which is not a luxury that Ishar has. Why does Investiture return to the Dor? Quote Questioner Investiture in the Cosmere when used returns to the Spiritual Realm, except in one place. What determines which Realm Investiture returns to when it's being used? Brandon Sanderson Too many factors for me to actually say right here, Evgeni, so I'm gonna RAFO this one. There are lots of reasons it could go in different ways and different places. Questioner How many of those reasons are rule of cool? Brandon Sanderson Rule of Cool is definitely a reason. I think he's trying to get at why Sel things are weird, and I have not explained why things are weird on Sel yet. Does Roshar use food-related euphemisms for same-sex couples? Quote Questioner So on Roshar, it's kind of tradition men eat spicy foods, women more sweeter. Could it be possible that a sort of euphemism for gay men or gay women is, "does he eat sweet?" and "does she eat spicy food"? Brandon Sanderson I could see people saying that, yes. Has the Seventeenth Shard found Hoid? Quote Questioner The Seventeenth Shard was looking for a certain individual on Roshar. Have they found him yet? Brandon Sanderson They never managed to find him. He is tricksy, as you might imagine, he is a tricksy hobbit. And so they have never managed to find him. They think they got close a couple times, but they actually didn't. And by the point of Rhythm of War they have given up and left the planet, because he kinda went behind their backs and was talking to people and things like that. We will catch up to those three at some point, I hope, and find out what they've been up to. They kept looking in the wrong countries. Does Roshar have ice cream and popcorn? Quote Questioner Does ice cream and popcorn exist on Roshar? Brandon Sanderson Unfortunately, neither of them do. Crowd *collectively groans in disappointment* Brandon Sanderson I know. You can go to Scadrial and get some, right? But Roshar... so, they do get cheese and things on Roshar from sow's milk and things like this, but they are just not as milk-based as some cuisines on Earth. And you're just... ice cream is just not a thing. They also, like, ice is not a thing that they're really doing a lot with. And popcorn, y'know, requires maize, which are, y'know... Questioner You said lavis is the corn? Brandon Sanderson Yes, it is the corn, but if you pop it it's gonna pop a lot more like barley. And it's not gonna be the same, right? That's what lavis is gonna be like. So it is the corn, but more in the idea that it's, uh, it's probably more similar to a barley. Chasmfiend hunt Quote Questioner So, that first chasmfiend hunt, in Way of Kings, did not go as planned. Was that sheer bad luck, or was someone or something making that happen? Brandon Sanderson Sheer bad luck. Sometimes bad luck is just bad luck, there were no mysterious people pulling the strings behind the scenes on that one. Is Vargo's boon and curse still in effect? Quote Questioner A certain person went to a certain spren and got a boon and a curse, and later on, very recently, their fortunes have risen very *inaudible*. Is the boon and curse still in effect? Brandon Sanderson RAFO, but you will get answers in the fifth book about that. Excellent question, but this is a RAFO with a "yes it's coming", not a nebulous RAFO. Is Edgli non-human? Quote Questioner So in the past we discussed the mechanism with which Breaths are decided to be doled out on Nalthis. And you said that there is an intellect that is doling them out, but that their intentions or that their goals are difficult to predict or not standard. And my question is, are they nonstandard because the base Vessel behind them does not have, at its core, a standard human psychology? Brandon Sanderson RAFO! Good question. Excellent question. RAFO, I like the way you're theorizing. I have said before, that there are multiple nonhuman Vessels in the Cosmere. So, your theorizing perhaps is going to bear fruit. Questioner *inaudible* Brandon Sanderson Did someone say "chulls"? No, it's not the chulls. There are no chulls that are holding Shards. Footnote: The questioner is referring to this WoB. Can Hoid eat Soulcast bacon? Quote Questioner Can Hoid eat Soulcast bacon? Brandon Sanderson Yes. He could probably eat lab-grown meat if he knew it was - or magic-grown meat - he probably could. His psychology will be influencing this, right? Which is why I say probably. But the magic would allow it. Questioner I have a follow-up to that: If somebody lied to him about the nature of the meat, could he eat that? Brandon Sanderson No. Well, okay, if they lied and said it was Soulcast, yes, then he probably could. Questioner It's based on his perception. Brandon Sanderson It's based on his perception, yeah. Sorry, I got that one reversed. Horneater novella timeline Quote Questioner I really miss Rock. Is that, as I believe I've heard, is that going to be part of the Words of Radiance Kickstarter? Brandon Sanderson Yes. It will be part of the Words of Radiance Kickstarter. So there will be a novella about Rock as part of the Words of Radiance Kickstarter. If I don't give myself the deadlines, then it might turn into Rithmatist 2, where it's like "oh I'll do it someday", so I've committed to doing that. It will be the thing I write right after Book 5, and it should come out right before Book 5, in the same way that I did with Dawnshard. That's at least the plan right now. More Axies? Quote Questioner Are we ever going to get more Axies the Collector scenes? Brandon Sanderson It is very likely that you will. Have we seen any Whimsical machinations onscreen? Quote Questioner We had some unnamed Shard namedrops in Rhythm of War. Has there been any kind of Whimsical machinations onscreen, or have they been mostly absent? Brandon Sanderson RAFO! Crowd *collectively groans in disappointment* Brandon Sanderson Sorry, sorry. I think there's a mention of Whimsy in Wax and Wayne 4, so *hums in a self-satisfied and slightly mocking manner* Soulcaster vs Forger re: understanding of souls Quote Questioner Assuming they have the same years of practice, who would have a better understanding of objects' souls: a Radiant Soulcaster or a Forger? Brandon Sanderson It's gonna depend on the individual, I think that they both could make an argument, and I'm not sure. I think it's gonna go neck-and-neck. Seons' innate understanding of their Aon Quote Questioner Do seons automatically know what they mean? Like, was Ashe created being like "I am Ashe and I mean 'light'", or did he have to have someone draw him and see what happened? Brandon Sanderson No, he knows intrinsically. Good question. Edited July 18, 2021 by LewsTherinTelescope 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thegatorgirl00 Posted July 18, 2021 Report Share Posted July 18, 2021 Here’s a couple I asked Isaac that I don’t think were on any recordings. Spoiler What would Nazh think of Monsters Don’t Wear Underpants? Nazh would get very caught up in it needing to bet he right kind of underpants. What would Nash’s favorite monster be? I think Nazh would be very interested in the pink dragon because Nazhhas never met a pink dragon before. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pagerunner Posted July 19, 2021 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) Good weekend, all said and done. First things first, Brandon read the prologue to The Lost Metal: Spoiler Brandon Sanderson I am going to read to you from Wax and Wayne 4. It is always a little bit of a trick to figure out what to read, because I also generally don't want to spoil too much for people who have not read the series. But the Wax and Wayne, it's always been fairly easy because the prologues of each of them are flashbacks to the past. Like I do in Stormlight with flashback characters, we get basically one flashback sequence per book in the Wax and Wayne books. So this is actually going to be from the prologue of The Lost Metal, which is from Wayne's viewpoint as a little boy. Brandon Sanderson Wayne knew what beds were. A few of other kids in the settlement had them. Sounded much better than a mat on the ground, especially one he had to share with his mom when nights were cold because they didn't have any coal. Plus, there were monsters under beds. Yeah, he'd heard stories from the other kids in the settlement about mistwraiths. They hid under your bed and stole the faces of people you knew. So beds sounded real nice; soft and squishy on top, with someone underneath you could talk to. Sounded like rustin' heaven! The other kids were scared of those things, but Wayne figured those kids just didn't know how to properly negotiate. He could make some friends with something that lived under a bed. You just had to give it something it wanted, like someone else to eat. Maybe he could ask Ma to have a little brother. Anyway, no bed for him; no real chairs. They had a table built by uncle Gregor, before he got crushed by a billion rocks in a landslide and mushed up into a bloody pulp what couldn't hit people no more. Wayne kicked the table sometimes, just in case his spirit was watching somewhere, 'cause he'd made that table and maybe it'd make him mad. Rust knew there was nothing else in this little one-windowed home that Uncle Gregor had cared about. Best Wayne had for sitting was a stool, so he sat on that and played with his cards, drawings hands and trying to hide cards in his sleeve as he waited. This was a nervous time of day; every day, he thought, maybe she wouldn't come home. Not because she didn't love him; Ma was a burst of sweet spring flowers in this sewage pit of a world, and he'd punch anyone who said otherwise. No, he worried that, one day, Ma wouldn't come home. Pa hadn't come home one day. Uncle Gregor (Wayne kicked the table) hadn't come home one day. So... Don't think about that, Wayne thought, bumbling his shuffle and spilling his cards all over the table and floor. And don't look. Not until you see the light. He could feel the mine out there. Nobody wanted to live next to it, of course, so Wayne and his Ma did. Just under the window was a pile of laundry that Wayne had done for the day. His Ma's old job, what hadn't paid real well. So he did it, while she pushed mine carts. He didn't mind the work; spent half the day trying on all the different clothes, from ones sent by Gramps to the ones sent by young women, pretending to be them. His Ma had caught him a few times and seemed angry, minding why he did it. That exasperation still baffled him. Why wouldn't you want to try them all on; that's what clothes was for! It wasn't nothin' weird; he just like it, and what harm did it do? None to nobody. Besides, sometimes folks left stuff in their pockets, like decks of cards. He fumbled the shuffle again as he gathered the cards up, and he did not look out the window. Not until he spotted the light. He'd feel it, anyway, though, the mine, that gaping artery, like a hole in someone's neck, red on the inside and spurting out life like blood and fire. They had to go, dig at the beast's insides, searchin' for metals, then escape its anger. And you could only get lucky so many times. Light. With relief, like fire on a frigid night, he glanced out the window and saw someone walking on the path, holding up a lantern to illumine her way. Wayne scrambled to hide the cards under his mat, then he was certain to lay on his mat with his lamp out, pretending to try to sleep with the door open. She'd have seen his light, of course, but she appreciated the effort he put into pretending. She settled down on the stool, and Wayne cracked an eye. His Ma wore trousers and a buttoning shirt, her hair up, clothing and face smudged. She sat just staring at the light in the lantern, watching it flicker and dance, and her face seemed more hollow than it had been before, like someone has taken a pickaxe to her cheeks, digging away like rock in the wall. That mine's eatin' her up, he thought. Even if it hasn't gobbled her all whole like it did Pa, it's gnawing on her like rats on a barn wall. Ma blinked, then fixated on something: a card he'd left on the table. Ah, hell. She picked it up and looked right at him. He didn't try to pretend to be asleep no more; she'd dump water on him. She'd done it before. "Wayne," she said, shifting on the stool to look at him. "Where did you get these cards?" "Don't remember." "Wayne..." "Found 'em," he said. She waved her hand toward him, and he reluctantly dug the rest out from under his met and handed them over. She tucked the one she'd found into the box. He knew from experience she'd look all day through the settlement for the one who'd lost them. She didn't have time for things like that; he wouldn't have her losing more sleep on account of him. "It's <Tarn Vestingdow>," Wayne mumbled. "It was in a pocket of his overalls. "Thank you," she said softly. "Ma, I gotta learn cards. See, that way, I can earn a good living for carin' for us." "A good living?" she asked. "With cards?" "Don't worry," he said quickly. "I'll cheat. Can't make a livin' if you don't win, see?" She sighed, rubbing her temples. Wayne looked at the cards in the stack. "Tarn," he said. "He's Terris, like Pa was." "Yes," she said. "Terris people always do what they're told," he said, "so what's wrong with me?" "Nothing's wrong with you, love," she said. "You just haven't got a good parent who can help you." "Ma," he said, scrambling off the mat. He took her arm. "Don't talk like that, Ma. You're a great ma!" She hugged him to her side, but he could feel the tension in her. Ah, hell. What had they found? "Wayne," she asked softly, "Did you take <Demmy's> pocketknife?" "He talked?!" Wayne said. "Rust that rustin' little bastard!" "Wayne, don't swear like that!" "Rust that!" he said in a rail worker's accent instead. "The rusting bastard!" He looked at her innocently and was rewarded with a smile she couldn't keep in. Silly voices always made her grin. Pa had been good at them, but Wayne was better, particularly now that Pa was dead and couldn't say them no more, anyway. But then, her smile faded. "You can't take things what don't belong to you, Wayne. That's somethin' thieves do." "I don't wanna be a thief," Wayne said softly. "I wanna be a good boy. It just... happens!" "She hugged him closer. "You are a good boy. You've always been a good boy." When she said it, he believed it. "Do you want a story, love?" she asked. "I'm too old for stories," he lied, desperately wishing she'd ignore the objection. "I'm eleven. One more year, and I can drink at the tavern and prove how old I am." "What? Who told you that?" "Doug." "Doug is nine!" "Doug knows stuff." "Doug. Is. Nine!" "So you're sayin' I'll have to snitch booze for him next year, because he can't get it himself yet?" He met her eyes, then started snickering as she smiled. He helped her get dinner; cold oatmeal with some beans in it. But at least it wasn't only beans, and there was some oatmeal. Then he snuggled into his blankets on the mat, pretending he was a child again to listen. It was easy to feign that; he still had the clothes, after all. "This is the story," she said, "of Blatant Barm, the Unwashed Bandit." "Ooooh," Wayne said. "A mean one?" His mother grinned, then leaned forward, wagging her spoon toward him as she spoke. "He was the worst of them all, Wayne: baddest, meanest, stinkiest bandit. He never bathed, you see." "'Cause it takes too much work to get properly dirty," Wayne said. "No, because he... wait, it's work to get dirty?" "Gotta roll around in it, you see," Wayne said. "Why in Harmony's name would you do that?" "To think like the ground." She smiled again. "Oh, Wayne. You're so precious." "Thanks!" he said. "Why ain't you told me about this Blatant Barm, if he was so bad? Wouldn't he be the first one you'd told stories about?" "You were too young," she said, sitting back, "and the story too frightening." "Ohhhhhhhh this is gonna be a good one!" Wayne bounced up and down. "Who got him? Was it a lawman?" "It was Allomancer Jak." "Him?" Wayne said with a groan. "What?" "Jak brings them in," Wayne complained. "He never shoots a single one. "Not this time," Ma said, digging into her oatmeal. "He was young this time. He knew Blatant Barm was the worst killer to the core. Even his two sidekicks, Gug the Killer and No Ways Joe, were ten times worse than any other bandit ever walked the Roughs." "Ten times?" Wayne said. "Yeah." "That's a lot; almost double!" His Ma paused, then leaned forward and got back into it. "They robbed the payroll, taking not just the money from the fat men in Elendel, but the wages of the regular folk." "Bastards!" Wayne said. "Wayne." "Fine. Regular old turds, then!" Again, she hesitated. "Do you know what the word 'bastard' means?" "Yeah, it's a real bad turd. The kind when you really got to go, but you hold it in too long!" "And you know that because...?" "Doug told me." "Of course he did. Well, Jak wouldn't stand for stealing from the common folk of the Roughs. Being a bandit is one thing, but everybody knows you take the money what goes toward the city. The trick is, Blatant Barm, he knew the area real well, so he rode off into the most difficult part of the Roughs to reach, and he left one of his men to guard each of the spots along the way. So Jak, he was gonna have to fight his way through all three." "Why's it always three in stories, Ma?" Wayne asked. "Three bandits, three guns, three mines." "Well, how high do you think most bandits can count?" "Probably not that high," Wayne agreed. Ma always had good answers to such things. "Fortunately, Jak was the bravest," she said, "and the strongest." "If he was the bravest and the strongest, " Wayne said, "why was he a lawman? He could just be a bandit, and nobody could stop him, right?" "Well, what's harder, love?" she said. "Doing what's right? Or doing what's wrong?" "The right thing." "So who gets stronger? The fellow what does the easy thing, or the fellow what does the hard thing?" "Huh." He nodded. "Yeah, I can see that." She leaned forward, grinning in the light. "Jak's first test was the River Human, the vast waterway marking the border with what had once been Koloss land, but now was controlled by bandits entirely. The swift waters moved at the speed of a train; the fastest river in the whole dang world! And it was full of rocks. Gug the killer had set up there across the river and watched for lawmen. He had such a good eye and a steady hand with his rifle that he could shoot a fly off a man at three hundred paces!" "Why'd you ever wanna do that?" Wayne asked. "Better shoot men right in the fly, right? That's gotta hurt somethin' bad!" "Not that kind of fly, love," Ma said. "So, what did Jak do? Did he sneak up? Not very lawman-like to sneak. I don't think they ever do that ever. I bet he didn't sneak." "Well..." Ma said. Wayne clutched his blanket, waiting. "Jak was an even better shot," she whispered. "When Gug the Killer sighted him, Jak shot him, right across the river." "How'd Gug die?" Wayne whispered. "... by bullet, love." "Right through the eye?" "I suppose." "And so Gug took sight, and Jak took sight back and shot him right in the eye! Right in the eye, right, Ma?" "Uh..." "And his head exploded!" Wayne said. "Like a fruit, the crunchy kind, all ripe so the shell is tough but it splats anyways. Is that how it happened?" "... yes." "Dang, Ma. That's gruesome! You sure you should be tellin' this story to me?" "Should I stop?" "Hell, no. How'd he get across the water?" "He flew," Ma said. She absently set the bowl aside, oatmeal finished, and made a flourish with both hands. "He had powers, Jak did. Allomancy powers. He could fly, and talk to birds, and eat rocks." "Woah... eat rocks?" "Yep. And he flew right over the river, but the next challenge was even worse. The Canyon of Death." "Ohhhh. Bet that place was pretty." "Why'd you say that?" "'Cause no one is gonna visit a place called Canyon of Death unless it's pretty. But someone visited it, right, because we know the name. So it's pretty, right?" "Beautiful," Ma said. "A canyon carved through the middle of a bunch of scattered, crumbling rock spires, the broken peaks lined with colors. But the place was deadly; as deadly as it was beautiful." "Yeah," Wayne said, "that figures." "But Jak couldn't just fly over this one, for the second of the bandits hid within the canyon: No Ways Joe. He was a master of pistols, and could also fly, and turn into a dragon, and eat rocks. So if Jak tried to sneak past, Joe would shoot him from behind." "That's the smartest way to shoot someone," Wayne said, "on account of them not being able to shoot back." "True," Ma said. "So Jak didn't let that happen. He had to go right into the canyon. But it was filled with snakes." "Bloody hell!" "Wayne..." "Regular old boring hell, then. How many snakes?" "A million snakes." "Bloody hell!" "But Jak, he was smart," Ma said, "as well as bein' a great shot and able to eat rocks, too. So he thought to bring some snake food." "A million bits of snake food?" "Nah, just one, but he got the snakes to fight over it, so they mostly killed each other. But the one that was left was the strongest, naturally." "Naturally." "So Jak talked it into biting No Ways Joe." "And Joe turned purple!" Wayne said, "and bled out of his ears, and his bones melted on account of the poison being so bad, so the melty bone juice leaked out his nose while he was bleeding, and he collapsed in a puddle of deflated skin, all while hissing and blubbering 'cause his teeth was meltin' too." "Exactly." "Dang, Ma. You tell the best stories." "Wait," she said softly, leaning down on the stool, their lantern burning low. "Because the ending has a surprise." "What surprise?" "Wait and see," she said. "Because once Jak was through the canyon, what now smelled like dead snakes and melted bones, he spotted the final challenge: the Lone Mesa. A giant plateau in the center of an otherwise flat plain." "That's not much of a challenge," Wayne said. "He could fly over the top." "Well, he tried to," she whispered, "but the mesa was Blatant Barm!" "What?" "That's right! He joined up with the Koloss, the ones that could change into big monsters; not the normal ones, like old Mrs. <Gnaw>. They showed him how to turn into a monster of humongous size, so when Jak tried to land on the mesa, the mesa done gobbled him up." Wayne gasped. "And then?" he said. "It mashed him between his teeth? Crunching his bones like--" "No," Ma said. "It tried to swallow him. But Jak, he wasn't just a good shot, and he wasn't just smart; he was somethin' else." "What?" "A big damn pain in the ass!" "Ma, that's swearin'!" "I meant it in a good way, though, love." "Oh, well, that made it all right, then." "He," Ma said, "was always goin' about doin' good, helpin' people, makin' life tough for the bad ones. Pokin' his nose into things, askin' questions. He knew exactly how to ruin a bandit's day, he did. He stretched out his legs and pushed and made himself a lump in Blatant Barm's throat what so the monster couldn't breathe. 'Cause monsters like that needs lots of air, you know, and right then Allomancer Jak done choked him from the inside. Then, when the monster was dead on the ground, he sauntered on out down his tongue like it was some fancy mat set down outside the carriage for a rich man." "Woah. That's a good story, Ma." She smiled, stepping over and kissing Wayne on the forehead. "Ma," he said, "is the story about the mine?" "Well," she said, "I suppose we all gotta walk into the beast's mouth now and then, so maybe, I guess. "You're like the lawman, then?" "Anyone can be," she said, blowing out the lantern light. "Even me?" "Especially you." She kissed him on the forehead. "You are my love, Wayne. You are a whatever-you-want. You're the wind, you're the stars, you are all endless things." It was the poem she liked; and he liked it, too, because when she talked, he believed her. Ma didn't swear, and she didn't lie. So he snuggled into his blankets and let himself begin to drift off. Because a lot was wrong in the world, but a few things were right. And as long as she was around, stories meant something. They was real. Until, one day, there was another collapse at the mine. And that night, his Ma didn't come home. JordanCon 2021 (July 17, 2021) Not a huge Wayne fan, so I didn't find the chapter all that exciting. But as I was working on transcribing it, I remembered the recent Lost Metal Outline reveal. I couldn't help but notice that Wayne's Ma's story had three parts, and some of the descriptions of Jak felt a little more like Wax. So I'm wondering if that's some foreshadowing for the structure of the rest of the book. But let's get back to the beginning. On Friday, Isaac had the first signing, and I got him to personalize all of my Arcanum Unbounded star chart prints. I asked him to put a snarky Nazh comment on each one, complaining about every planet. He said they are non-canon, of course. Here's what he wrote and said for each: Quote Threnody: "Would love to get back here, if you'd just loan me that thing." This is why the personalization is non-canon; Isaac said that he and Brandon hadn't canonized what the "thing" is, though Isaac had some ideas to run past Brandon. Taldain: "Darkside parties are the best!" After he wrote that, he paused, and said it wasn't a complaint, but that it was true and we'd see why eventually. Roshar: "Aggh - this place again? It's [sic] smells like fish!" Scadrial: "This place just hasn't been the same since the change in management." Drominad: "Do not skinny dip on First of the Sun. I'm warning you!" Sel: "I can't tell you how much I hate Sel. Yet you keep sending me back here, you sadist!" Before writing this, Isaac said that Nazh had gotten stuck on Sel before. I don't remember if that's referenced at all on the Elantris maps; I think it's new. Nalthis: "Too colorful. It makes me sick... Shadows!" And then, during Brandon's signing right afterwards, I got him to add a new planet to my constellations print: He drew in the dot, and then wrote "Here there be Aethers!" He said he did not have a name he could canonized there, though. Isaac took a picture of the chart afterwards, so I believe this will be the canon location on future star charts. So I now have a very nice set of personalized cosmere space-stuff to go up on my office wall. I got in more questions in the signing line, and the line was actually pretty empty for a while (thanks to an art panel that Isaac was doing at the same time), so I got to slip in a few extras. They'll all be transcribed eventually, but here's the gist for now Spoiler I asked about why the specific word "ralkalest" is being used on different worlds, instead of "aluminum." He likes the concept of this mysterious name for metals for flavor reasons, and that they are using their own ancient names that get the usual translation artifact for our books. But whenever they use their ancient names, we get the Yolish word for aluminum. I asked about the difference between hemalurgic atium, lerasium, and nicrosil. Brandon gave me quite the long answer which I honestly barely understood at the time and will not attempt to replicate here. The transcription will be very cool. What I remember is that he said Breath would be stolen with nicrosil; the ability to master sand would be atium. I went with some rhythms stuff around ettmetal and bronze mistings. My theories were mostly wrong but kind of right, so another one to wait for a transcription. Since Hoid was on Yolen in The Traveller, I asked if it had a perpendicularity. It has something that we would probably call a perpendicularity, but there is no Shard in residence on Yolen. I asked about brollins, which made the cut into the Mistborn leatherbound when sprites got turned into spren in the revision. They're just a goofy little Scadrial myth; Brandon wants some local stuff among folklore. I got RAFOd on: *Exactly how iron and steel reverse polarity in fabrials. Definitely not an epigraph error, though. There's something there. *If Malli, Felt's wife, was the kandra on Roshar. *The silver-nickel alloy, and if it's a Pulling/Pushing opposite of how silver affects Cognitive entities like Shades. *If Tanavast was a dragon. And those were all the questions I got in. I got a good haul on the opening day, so I let off the gas for Saturday. Brandon and Isaac each had another signing, and then in the evening Brandon scheduled a last-minute reading and Q&A. Everything there got recorded. (My recorder unfortunately ran out of batteries during the Q&A portion, but a lot of other people got it. It was great seeing everyone again who I saw again, and meeting everyone I wasn't seeing again. Until next time! Edited July 21, 2021 by Pagerunner 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argent Posted July 20, 2021 Report Share Posted July 20, 2021 We have a couple of WoBs coming from Sandertrack director Billy Todd, which he reported verbally to me soon after he got them, and in text to @Kaymyth. Instead of including Facebook Messenger screenshots, I am just going to transcribe them verbatim: Quote Billy: You previously said that there's a Shard that has decided to go into hiding, looking to survive. Brandon: Yes. Billy: It's sort of practicing the art of not being seen. Brandon: Yes. Billy: Is that Shard the same Shard as Autonomy, or is it a different Shard? Brandon: I like the way you worded that; no, it's not the same Shard as Autonomy. Billy: The other Shard, have we seen it on screen? Brandon: RAFO. Billy: Have we seen it "practicing the art of not being seen" on screen? Brandon: RAFO. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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