Brandon and Book News

    Today we're taking a look at a really special thing. It's a Stormlight Archive album called Kaladin, by a group called The Black Piper. This is quite a huge project that has been worked on since 2015, and consists of three producers and several Hollywood composers and orchestrators. About half of the album has been recorded with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. In other words, this is a very legit and awesome project. 

    The Black Piper has given 17th Shard a look at fourteen tracks--half of the album--and we're here to tell you about all of them to try to give you a feel for what these are. We're going to talk about the people involved with the project, and also, we're going to talk about the Kaladin Kickstarter they have. 

    As we talked about last week, Tor.com is posting sample chapters of the third Stormlight book, Oathbringer, and will eventually post all of Part One of the book! And yesterday, they posted the final version of the prologue! The prologue has been at readings before, but this is now the final version.

    It seems as though Tor.com is posting these Tuesdays at 12:01am Eastern time, so if you're desperate for the next posting (of the first the chapters), that's when you'll get it. Next week we will be more timely with our news article on it. After all, that's when the real new stuff begins!

    Hey there Sanderfans. This weekend is the fiftieth anniversary of the Best Four Days in Gaming. That’s right, GenCon 50 started this past Thursday, and there is a bunch of Sanderson related awesomeness happening there. First and foremost is the fact that the man himself is in attendance. You can check out his schedule of events in the post about GenCon on his site. Brandon and Steve Argyle (who did two paintings of Vin for the Mistborn: The Final Empire leatherbound) are giving away special tokens that can be used in games like Magic: The Gathering (aka Brandon’s favorite game). The Warrior will be given to anyone who asks either Brandon or Steve for one, whereas the Assassin is the prize for a special scavenger hunt that Brandon explains in his GenCon post. If you aren’t there at GenCon don’t worry about missing out, Brandon has said that he will try to have them when he goes on tour.

    Tor has revealed that the Oathbringer sample chapters will begin Tuesday, August 22nd. How many chapters will they be releasing? Quite a lot: thirty-two chapters, all of Part One of the book. It's a lot of the book, but don't worry, there's so much more of the book after that. Part One is just 26% of the novel, of 1240 total pages. Yup, it's a beast of a thing. 

    We have some exciting news to announce today. So far in order to obtain some unpublished works of Brandon's, you'd have to email him through his sites, and his assistants would distribute them. Well now you won't need to wait for that, because now we will be in charge of distributing out Aether of Night!

    Getting it will be simple. Simply head on over to the Aether of Night Manuscript Request topic, and post that you want it (for this, you will need to register a 17th Shard account, but that's all you'll need).

    Hey there Sanderfans, I just want to let everyone one know that there is a Brandon-themed Humble Bundle available now. It will be running for the next two weeks and features most of Brandon's novellas, a selection of Mistborn Adventure Game sourcebooks, as well as the Graphic Audio editions of Elantris and Warbreaker. Check it out here!

    In other news Amazon.com has a listing up for preorder for a solo hardcover release of Edgedancer. Previously, Edgedancer was going to be exclusive to Arcanum Unbounded for five years but it looks like Tor is amending their contract with Brandon in order to give it an individual release in October 2017. Just in time for a re-read before the release of Oathbringer in November!

    Nauvoo Games, who are making the Reckoners board game, has also posted some pictures on Twitter, from an event they did last month.

    It's slightly late, but for today and tomorrow, on Tor.com, you can download the first book in the Stormlight Archive, The Way of Kings, for free. You have to download it between 12:00 AM ET, March 23rd and 11:59 PM ET, March 24th, 2017. This is a crazy great deal, though, so if you don't have an ebook of this, do this right now!

    Today, we got the cover for the third Stormlight novel, Oathbringer. It's also by Michael Whelan, featuring Jasnah being totally awesome. This scene is quite evocative, so maybe you can glean some plot details from this. We also get the scheduled release date for the book, and an Oathbringer update on Reddit.

    Whelan describes the scene in the Tor.com article: "We’re centered on a scene where Jasnah confronts the invaders. A giant has smashed a breach in the city wall, and Jasnah is called upon to restore it. After dispatching several invaders with her Shardblade sword, she covers the gap with a brassy wall of magical metal. It’s a very visual scene, in which I saw a lot of possibilities for good images."

    Deadline has recently reported that the Mistborn: The Final Empire film, being produced by DMG, now has a scriptwriter attached. The scriptwriter's name is F. Scott Frazier, and he's only written a few films so far, although in addition to Mistborn he has been tapped to write two more scripts for other companies. I would like to remind everyone that just because it has a script writer does not mean that a film will definitely go forward. Also, do give Frazier a chance, he may be early in his career, but everyone has to start somewhere. Hopefully he ends up wowing us a fantastic adaptation.

    In other news, we have new cover art for Snapshot, Brandon's new novella coming out February 17th (which, in case you missed has just been optioned for film by MGM) and for Dreamer, a short story originally published in the Games Creatures Play anthology edited by Charlaine Harris. The artist Howard Lyon has posted them on his twitter, and I really must say he did a great job.

    Last year, following the release of the 2015 State of the Sanderson I did a lengthy post comparing it to previous States. Well, with the release of this year's State earlier this week (http://brandonsanderson.com/state-of-the-sanderson-2016/), I've updated last year's post with all of the new information. Now, without further ado:

    Finished books being released in the near future:

    Snapshot

    This is a novella Brandon wrote during his trip to Dubai back in March. It’s a science fiction story where the police solve crimes using exact re-creations of a given day. Brandon did a reading from it back in June and I must say I found it quite interesting. Also of note is that it takes place in one of the other worlds in the Reckoners multiverse. It is due out in February.

    Shortly ago, late this night, Brandon has completed the first draft of Oathbringer, the third Stormlight Archive novel. This draft weighs in at a tiny word count of 461,233 words--which, as a comparison, is longer than Way of Kings (which was 387,000), Words of Radiance (at about 400,000), and the Lord of the Rings trilogy (at 455,000 words). So, you know, it'll fit right in your pocket. Brandon says, of course, there is much work to do and that it will be out November 2017. In the process of editing, generally the word count is trimmed quite a bit as prose tightens. 

    THE END IS NIGH! Or at least the end of the first draft of Stormlight 3 is almost here. The progress bar on Brandon's site is currently sitting at 98% and should reach 100% very soon. At Wednesday's San Fransisco confirmed that it will be released in November 2017. Unfortunately that is still about a year away. I think last week's release of Edgedancer has helped cut the worst of our cravings, but if it still wasn't enough I have good news. The Unfettered II anthology, originally scheduled to release on December 6th has had its ebook released early, and as we reported earlier, it includes the first FOUR Dalinar flashback chapters! I for one plan on picking it up as soon as I can and there will be a spoiler forum where they can be discuss them soon.

    In other news forum member @David_Fonti just released a computer animated Stormlight fan film that he and a team made. I really must say, they did a fantastic job. It gives a taste of what a Stormlight adaptation could be, and I hope we see more. In addition to the film itself he's posted a behind-the-scenes documentary on how the film was created which I found quite interesting. Discuss it here!

    The time is here. There is an anniversary edition of the first Mistborn book, in gorgeous leatherbound, and it's going on sale tonight, December 1st, at midnight EST. That's just over six hours away. It does have a hefty price tag, like the Elantris leatherbound, at $100. But I will say that the Elantris leatherbound was spectacular, and its first printing went out of stock rapidly. If you're interested, don't delay. Note that these Mistborn leatherbounds will not be guaranteed for a Christmas delivery, due to Brandon's tour schedule and tour delays.

    Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection is finally here. This is a big, 670+ page book, with a ton of stuff. This has every single cosmere story that has been published outside of the main novels in one convenient collection. It has: The Hope of Elantris, The Emperor's Soul (which is incredible), The Eleventh Metal, "Allomancer Jak and the Pits of Eltania, Episodes 28 and 30", an excerpt from White Sand (both graphic novel and from prose), Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, The Sixth of Dusk, and, for the first time in physical print, Mistborn: Secret History. That's a ton of value, just considering Secret History and Emperor's Soul. 

    But that is not all. Its main headline feature is a large, 40,000 word long Stormlight Archive novella: Edgedancer. It's a novella about Lift, of course, and covers her story after we saw her interlude up until the end of Words of Radiance. Not only that, but Arcanum Unbounded has some crazy cosmere information--essays from the author of the Ars Arcanum, Khriss, on each of the star systems--and star charts.

    Today on Tor.com, Brandon has posted a preview of Edgedancer, the new Stormlight novella that comes in Arcanum Unbounded. It includes Chapters 1-3 of the novella, featuring Lift being, well, awesome. (That's not a spoiler.) This snippet is the same as from the newsletter Brandon sent off earlier this year. Edgedancer is brand-new, and only found in Arcanum Unbounded, but it is quite a long novella, so there's a lot of value there. Plus, as Lift would say, it is awesome.

    There's just a few days until the Arcanum Unbounded release on Tuesday, but there's plenty of news to discuss! This week, Oathbringer--Stormlight 3--passed 93% on the progress bar on Brandon's site. As is customary, Brandon posted another Oathbringer Update on Reddit, with this one being his fifth. He thinks there will be one or two more to discuss the editing process, but this will be the last one for the writing portion. I'll do my best to sum it up! 

    Hey everyone, just in case you forget (and not obsessively counting down the days like I am) Arcanum Unbounded comes out a week from tomorrow! Following last week's reveal of the Drominad system essay, Google Play has released a preview from Arcanum Unbounded as well. It includes a preface from Brandon discussing the collection and the origins of the Cosmere, Khriss' essay on Scadrial, and the text of The Eleventh Metal. Check it out here!

    Also, if you are interested, don't forget about the HumbleBundle including three Mistborn Adventure Game books. There's just under two days left!

    Hey everyone, just a reminder Arcanum Unbounded comes out in 15 days! Before we get on that particular hype train though I do want to let everyone know that three of the rulebooks for the Mistborn Adventure Game from Crafty Games are in a HumbleBudle. Specifically it's the core rulebook, the Alloy of Law supplement, and the Terris: Wrought of Copper supplement. This particular HumbleBundle has the theme of pen and paper rpg's based on popular science fiction and fantasy fiction, such as A Song of Ice and Fire and The Dresden Files.

     

    Last week Tor.com posted the table of contents for the collection, which showed how the books was set up, and also revealed the name of the system First of the Sun (the setting of Sixth of the Dusk) is in. Today they posted a sneak preview of the system map and essay, written by Khriss, about the system. Go check out the Drominad system essay over on Tor.com and then join in on the conversation about it on the forums. The two art pieces, a symbol that seems to represent First of the Sun and the system map are both really well done.

    Today came out with some crazy, crazy news: the entire cosmere has been optioned for films by DMG Entertainment, according to Variety. That's right, all of the cosmere. Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker, Emperor's Soul, and all other rights are all in one place, with the intent to create the universe for the big screen.

    You might not recognize that the name of that company, but they aren't nobodies. DMG has produced real movies that you've absolutely heard of or seen: Iron Man 3, Transcendence, and Looper. DMG is serious about these, too. According to Variety, DMG has committed to spending $270 million so far, which supposedly will cover "half the money needed to back the first three movies made."

    Hey everyone, Tor.com just posted the tour locations for Brandon's Arcanum Unbounded tour in late November/early December, check them out below! Remember if you are planning to go to any of these signings to read the details carefully. Some of these events are ticketed and some are being held at separate location from the store hosting them.

    In other news Brandon recently revealed over on Reddit that his submission to the Unfettered II anthology, edited by Shawn Speakman, is the first four Dalinar flashback chapters from Stormlight 3! That anthology will be released on December 6, 2016 and you can check out the full list of contributing authors here.

    The day has finally come. The day that many have been waiting for, for far longer than is fair (Thanks, Scholastic! Clearly the best time to drop a series is at the cliffhanger before the last book! Clearly, they’ve been taken over by Librarians, in order to keep this story under wraps). Alcatraz 5 is upon us, and Brandon’s been promising that we’ll finally see the long foretold altar scene.

    This is going to be a review of both the Starscape re-releases of the first four Alcatraz books, as well as a review of the fifth book in the series, though it will fail spectacularly on the latter point.

    Hey there Sanderfans, we are officially less than a week a way from the release of The Dark Talent! Brandon will be doing two signings for it, a release party on September 6th in Salt Lake City, UT and a signing on September 10th in Springville, UT (check Brandon's Upcoming Events page for more information). Brandon is also currently at DragonCon in Atlanta, GA with quite a few signing events and panels. Not to mention The Missing Volume booth has early copies of The Dark Talent for sale! Check out Brandon's schedule here.

    Hey there Sanderfans, those of us who are also fans of board games certainly have a lot to look forward to! Not only do we have Mistborn: House War (and Mistborn: The Siege of Luthadel) on the horizon but board game company Nauvoo Games just recently announced they will be creating and releasing a board game based on The Reckoners series.

    For Alcatraz fans the Tor/Forge blog has posted the first chapter of The Dark Talent (which is only a little over a month away from release)! Check it out here.