Words of Radiance Delayed, State of Sanderson, Shadows for Silence

It has just been announced today by Tor that Words of Radiance, which had been tentatively scheduled for release in January, will be delayed to March 4th, 2014. Brandon is obviously working very hard at the anticipated sequel to The Way of Kings, and has finished the first draft. A lot is done, but revision is really tough, especially when you consider that Words of Radiance is about the length of A Memory of Light. It isn't exactly trivial to make such huge epics awesome.

So yes, obviously we are all disappointed that it is delayed, but we also want the book to be as amazing as all the anticipation should suggest. I know that giving Brandon enough time will make the book succeed far beyond our expectations, and it'll be even more awesome than we hope. (And plus, you know, we're still getting a sequel sooner than, say, some other fantasy series that shall remain nameless)

In other news, Brandon posted an extensive blog about the State of Sanderson and all the things coming out in the near future, the foreseeable future, and the far future. There's a lot more that you may not have expected given Brandon's work on Words of Radiance, but the way he stays prolific is by doing other projects too. The Rithmatist sequel is coming, Shadows of Self--the sequel to Alloy--is going to be written early next year, and we'll also get Firefight, the sequel to Steelheart. So 2014 is going to be a really great year for Brandon fans.

For hardcore Sharders, we also learn of a few new cosmere books. The Sixth of Dust was brainstormed on Writing Excuses, and it will be a cosmere novella. Nice. Then there is also Skyward, which is a YA cosmere novel. We've never heard of it until now, so your guess is as good as ours, but it's great to see more cosmere.

Also, did you remember that Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell, Brandon's novella coming out in George R. R. Martin's Anthology, Dangerous Women, is coming out in December? Will it be enough to tide you over till Words of Radiance? Well, probably not, but realize that Shadows for Silence is also cosmere, on a minor Shardworld. And Tor just posted a preview of it. It's just as haunting as you'd expect from a title like that. It's great. Get excited.

So yes, Words of Radiance is delayed, but we still have a ton of Brandon stuff coming up. Check out Brandon's State of Sanderson post for a more extensive look at his pipeline for the next... well, long freaking time.