Columns and Features

It's the last SpanReads for the 2023, our last Cytoverse SpanReads, and Defiant is just days away! Last up we are talking about lore in Cytonic, and oh boy there's a lot to discuss!

It's time for characters and relationships in Cytonic, and our longest SpanReads yet! There's just a few Jessie rants, as well as some discussion at the end of general Brandon comments too.

Hey Sharders, I’m sure you’ve been enjoying the wealth of official art we have gotten in the Year of the Sanderson as we’ve been reading through the four Secret Projects. All the books may be out now, but that doesn’t mean all the fun is over yet! We were fortunate enough to be able to ask Aliya Chen, the artist behind the cover and interior art for Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, some questions about her wonderful illustrations and the process that went into their creation. Keep reading to check out what Aliya has to say and also check out her website to learn more about her and her work.

Beware of spoilers!

It's onto our last Cytoverse SpanReads: Cytonic! This is certainly not a controversial book, and we didn't have too much to say... Oh wait, this is one of our longest SpanReads. Also featuring Defiant hopes, some general Brandon comments, and the ocean.

It's our last Skyward Flight SpanReads, where we discuss the lore in the Skyward Flight novellas! 

It's time to discuss the characters in the Skyward Flight novellas, and oh boy, there's so much to discuss in these, from all three protagonists, romance, and more!

We're onto to the Skyward Flight collection, the novellas written by Janci Patterson in collaboration with Brandon. We talk about our thoughts and compare them especially with Cytonic!

Oh boy, we learned about so much lore in Starsight! Let's talk about it. We talk about delver mazes, figments, slugs, and of course, Twilight Imperium.

This week on SpanReads, we are onto Starsight, the sequel to Skyward. How do we feel about this controversial book on a reread? Stay tuned to find out.

This week on SpanReads, we are talking about the Lore in Skyward! We talk about foreshadowing for the future, and inconsistencies.

This week on SpanReads, we are talking about the Characters & Relationships in Skyward! We talk about M-Bot, Cobb, Skyward Flight and Jorgen, and of course, ZEEN NIGHTSHADE.

It's time for possibly our last Secrets in Stained Glass story! This one occurs during Secrets in Stained Glass itself, showing an important scene the main characters didn't witness. Major spoilers for Episode 5 of Secrets in Stained Glass. You can download a PDF of this story here!

So this Saturday, we are doing two Secrets in Stained Glass streams. First, at 8:30am Pacific / 11:30am Eastern, we will be talking with Matt and Grace about Grace's PC, Cecily, and some other NPCs. This will go for about an hour, then at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern we will have the full cast on and we will answer your questions!

One of the key aspects of Secrets in Stained Glass that really made the series shine is the art. Our resident art guru, Argent, recommended several excellent artists we could hire for this project. We reached out to each of them, and in the end landed on the wonderful Eli, who you can find on instagram as @elisgardor, for the character art, and Connor Chamberlain (@conjchamberlain), who you’ll recognize from the backgrounds for the original Diceborn series, for the background art once again. Finally, Matt and Alyx commissioned Diego López (@digeolopez_artist) to bring to life a scene from episode 3, which was initially meant to be private, but ended up in the final version of the episode, and really gave it a special touch. They all went above and beyond, and we’re thrilled with how everything turned out.

It has been a little bit of time since we had a piece of fanart to show you, but it's time to wrap up this series of June commissions and make way for some new ones.

Spoilers for The Rhythm of War below.

Welcome to Reveals in Stained Glass, our Secrets in Stained Glass talkback show, where we discuss all sorts of SiSG things now that the show has concluded! We discuss all sorts of behind-the-scenes stuff, like character creation and more, as well as some new secrets! And of course complaining to Matt that he's too good at this.

It's time for another Secrets in Stained Glass story! This is an Eliane and Dier story, set before the main series. We hope you enjoy! You can see all Secrets in Stained Glass content in our tag, and our last bit of main content will be an over three hour long video of some of the cast discussing Secrets in Stained Glass on Sunday, September 3rd, and on September 9th, we will have a Q&A stream!

For a PDF version of this story, click here! 

SpanReads, our reread show, returns! For 2023, in anticipation for Defiant's release, we are doing the Skyward series! We're doing three episodes on each book, and this one is Reactions & Retrospectives. Importantly, unlike our cosmere SpanReads, we need to compare with the rest of the series, so this does have full Skyward series spoilers, excluding Defiant, of course, because it isn't out yet. So, what did we think of Skyward on a reread? Stay tuned to find out.

The main episodes of Secrets in Stained Glass have concluded, but we do still have some content to show you! Below is one more entry in Jenna Tekiel's journal, set after the end of Secrets in Stained Glass. Very big Secrets in Stained Glass Episode 5 spoilers follow! 

Diceborn: Secrets in Stained Glass is finally complete, and today we're bringing some final assets from the show to you: the show soundtrack and the full post-advancement character sheets for our cast and key NPCs!

Be warned, there are MAJOR spoilers for Diceborn: Secrets in Stained Glass under the cut, click with caution!

Welcome to the the finale for Diceborn: Secrets in Stained Glass, our Mistborn Era 1 miniseries! It all leads to this... Secrets are revealed, confessions are given, and the mysteries of this dangerous night are unraveled.  Who's behind it all, and what do they really want? Only one way to find out.

We are fast approaching the finale of Diceborn: Secrets in Stained Glass, which airs Sunday, August 20th, 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern, but before that we have one more piece of prose content for you, an excerpt from Maevis Elariel's journal. Secrets in Stained Glass Episode 4 spoilers follow! 

Episode 4 released on Sunday, and we have just one more episode, which airs August 20th at 10am Pacific. Until then, though, we will have three more pieces of story content before the finale. This one is a Jenna story, covering a key moment in her past which you may have wondered about from the show. This is the longest story, and we hope you enjoy! Major Spoilers for Episode 3 of Secrets in Stained Glass are below; definitely go watch that first. You don't need to have watched Episode 4, however!

If you missed some of our other stories, check out our Secrets in Stained Glass tag. For a PDF version of the story, click here!

Content Warnings: Graphic depictions and glorification of violence, swearing, suggestive content, description of a hanging, physical threats by a romantic partner, brief description of someone being on fire.

1009 FE: Six months after the Elariel manor fire

Jenna Tekiel, heir of House Tekiel, prowled through the slums of Luthadel.

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