Around the Cosmere 2/9/2012

[Comatose]

Hey Sharders! Guess what time it is!

If you guessed A ) Time to be sacrificed so a new Inquisitor can be made, kindly step outside and start yelling at the top of your lungs that you are a filthy skaa half-breed with an allomantic power of your choice.

If you guessed B ) Time to be taken by the Shaod, try mortally wounding yourself and see if you die.

If you guessed C ) Time for another gripping news post on all things Brandon, you would be correct, and can continue reading.

Disclaimer: 17th Shard is not responsible for any self mutilation or public humiliation resulting from the reading of this post.

Anyways, let's get on with things, shall we?

First of all, Brandon's been busy over on his blog since we posted last. Here, Peter has been so kind as to post Brandon's current convention schedule for 2012. With conventions coming up in Australia, Las Vegas, California,Chattanooga,Indianapolis, Albuquerque, and Atlanta, Brandon seems to be going everywhere except for little old Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, where yours truly is patiently waiting for him to visit. He talks about the Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas and the potential for prizes here.

This weekend, Brandon is speaking at LTUE (Life, the Universe & Everything)at Utah Valley University. The convention began today, and there will be chances to see Brandon tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday. His schedule is posted here.

If you are interested in Brandon's recent trip to Taiwan, you are in for a treat. Inthis post, he outlines his 'haul', with some awesome pictures. By the looks of things, Brandon's Taiwanese fans may have given the North-American, Australian, and European fans a run for our money! Not only did they send Brandon home with some awesome swag(including a note etched in metal!), they also had him knight people and had cool certificates made up for the occasion. In this article for the New York Times, Brandon talks a little bit about his trip, and the Asian influences he's included in his books. He goes on to talk about the importance of fantasy as a genre in the development of imagination.

Brandon's also put out two more Alcatraz annotations in which he talks about why he decided not to include a map, and why he dedicated the book to his father.

For those who are following Writing Excuses, the two newest episodes focus on sensory writing and how the podcast first began.

In another post, Brandon mentions that his novella, Legion is now available to order at Subterranean Press. Our lovely friend KChan was very excited to see there are 1000 signed and numbered copies bound in leather (for only $45 USD), as well as a fully cloth bound hardcover edition. The books is sceduled to be released in late summer/early fall.

Both Brandon and Dan Wells made it onto the finalist list for the Whitney Awards (an award for Mormon authors) for their work on The Alloy of Law and I Don't Want to Kill You, respectively.

If you want a more thorough write-up of what is going on with Brandon, Peter has recently posted the Brandon Newsletter for February 2012, which includes some scheduling details, as well as an update of Brandon's progress with Wheel of Time.

Whew. I feel busy just typing about all the stuff Brandon is doing!

Now that we're done with the boring "stalk Brandon and find out everything he's doing" part,

we can get onto the "Look at this cool stuff!" part. Like this cool Mistborn drawing by Dan Robinson Miller that Peter retweeted.

In our part of the Cosmere, I've been told by our more dedicated theory monkeys that there are some very interesting threads in the stormlight section. Telcontar's analysis of the prelude has generated a lot of discussion about everything from the heralds, to surgebinding, to why the shattered plains are shattered, and beyond. Windrunner's thread on the city of Urithru and Elwynn has thought up about Dalinar's visions and the world of Nohadon are also threads worth checking out.

And lastly: SHARD CAR!!!!!

(Make sure to upvote the OP, cuz it's awesome!

So, for those of you who are still reading, I hope you enjoyed. To those of you who are dying of self inflicted wounds or outside hollering about being a skaa misting, I salute your suspension of disbelief.

Till next time!