Brandon Sanderson

This is just a quick update as I recover from my Taiwan trip and get back into the swing of the second draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. First off, this week's ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation talks about the dedication page. The most recent Writing Excuses episode draws back the curtain and talks about how Writing Excuses got started. It's horribly indulgent, but you may enjoy it anyway. My assistant Peter sent out a newsletter late last week, mostly covering my 2012 convention appearances (including Australia in April), and you can see it here. If you want to be on the mailing list, or want reminders when I'm going to be appearing near you, sign up here and tell me your city and state. Source

"Legion" is a novella I wrote on the flight home from France last summer. It came from an idea I'd been kicking around in my head for a few months, and the time seemed right to explore it on paper. As it turned out very well, I sent it out to my agent—and we had a Hollywood option by the end of the year. Immediately, readers started to ask when they would see it. The thing is, it wasn't long enough for me to do as a full Tor release, and I didn't have time (while working on A MEMORY OF LIGHT) to expand it to something longer. The solution was to do a Subterranean Press edition. They do fantastic collector's editions of books and novellas, and I had been wanting to work with them for a while. (Peter Brett, for example, spoke in high praise of what they did with on of his novellas.) This story is a modern-day thriller/mystery with some science fiction undertones. It's about 17,000 words, and I will do an ebook release of it (priced at a couple of bucks) around the same time as the Subterranean version. Anyway, hope you enjoy it! It's due out sometime in the summer or fall this year. Best, Brandon Source

The upcoming Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas that I'll be an instructor for at the end of April/beginning of May is having a drawing. For details, I'll just quote their press release below. The first time I taught at this seminar, I was blown away by how awesome an experience it was. It was an all-around incredible mixing of creativity, information, and fun. I think it was not only worthwhile, but a bargain. Dave, Kevin, Rebecca, and Eric know a ton about this business. And having only broken in a few years ago, I was able to add a bit of unique information. I think this will be an extremely helpful event for anyone aspiring to break into publishing. The Superstars Writing Seminars has just announced a free drawing for prizes in conjunction with the upcoming seminar in Las Vegas, NV, April 30-May 2, 2012. The drawing is open to all interested writers, with no entry fee. First prize: free tuition for the next seminar ($1499 value); second prize: complete set of MP3 audios of both the 2011 and 2010 sessions ($300 value); third prize: complete set of DVDs of the 2010 seminar ($200 value). Sign up to enter at this link. The Superstars Writing Seminar is unlike most other writing workshops. The sessions are devoted to the intricate nuts-and-bolts of the writing and publishing business, with the focus on teaching serious authors, both aspiring and professionals, how to manage a career. Superstars is taught by five phenomenally successful writers, all international bestsellers—Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Brandon Sanderson, Eric Flint, and David Farland. About Superstars, Farland says, "Writing isn't just about art, it's also a business. Some people excel at art but don't understand the business at all. At the Superstars Writing Seminars, the business aspects of writing are taught by those who have proven how to handle their careers." The three-day curriculum is packed with detailed, practical insider information on the economics of commercial publishing, dealing with editors, pitching to Hollywood, developing your work into an intellectual property, understanding eBook publishing, networking and self-promotion, advances, copyright, productivity, agents, book contracts, and other topics that all serious authors need to know. Previous guest instructors have included bestselling authors Sherrilyn Kenyon and Tracy Hickman, graphic novelist Howard Tayler, and TV producers Steven L. Sears and Marc Scott Zicree. This year's guest instructors include well-known authors, editors, and commentators, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. Kevin J. Anderson, one of the lead instructors, says, "I can't tell you how much I wish something like Superstars existed when I was just starting out. We had to learn all this crucial information by ourselves. Now, we present seminar attendees with days packed with all the professional advice we can give. It's like drinking from a firehose!" The third Superstars Writing Seminar will be held at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas from April 30-May 2. Previous seminars have been held in Pasadena and Salt Lake City. The contest is currently open and runs through Feb 9. Winners will be announced on Feb 10. Curriculum, testimonials, and sample videos are available on the Superstars website. Source

Peter here filling in for Brandon since he's on a flight to Taiwan for the book expo. Below you'll find most of Brandon's convention schedule for 2012. There might be a couple more one-day stop-ins with Utah conferences, and we're waiting to hear back about an invitation to an autumn convention somewhere in Canada. April will be Brandon's first visit to Australia. Swancon and Supanova have pooled resources to fly him out, so we hope Australian readers can send them the message that this was a good idea by attending in droves. This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about sensory writing with Sam Sykes, and there's an ALCATRAZ annotation talking about the lack of a map in the book. Taipei International Book Exhibition Dates: February 2–4, 2012<br/>Place: Taipei International Book Exhibition 2012<br/>Address: Taipei World Trade Center<br/>District 5, Section 5, Xinyi Road, Sinyi District<br/>Taipei City<br/>Taiwan 110<br/>Type: Signing<br/>Schedule: FRIDAY 2012/2/3<br/>14:15–15:15 TIBE HALL1<br/>Reading/Q&A/Signing SATURDAY 2012/2/4<br/>14:00–15:00 TIBE HALL2<br/>Signing<br/>19:00–21:30 Eslite Shin-Yi store, 3F<br/>Main Event: Interview/Q&A/Signing Notes: Brandon is a guest of Fantasy Foundation. Life, the Universe & Everything, Orem, Utah Dates: February 9–11, 2012<br/>Place: Life, the Universe & Everything 2012<br/>Address: Sorensen Student Center<br/>Utah Valley University<br/>800 W University Pkwy<br/>Orem, UT 84058<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Schedule: Brandon will be there Friday and Saturday only. There will be a live recording of Writing Excuses at 2:00 on Friday, and Brandon is currently scheduled to be on panels at 11:00 and 2:00 on Saturday.<br/>Notes: Remember that this year, LTUE will be held at UVU. Doom-Con, Swancon 37, Perth, Australia Dates: April 5–9, 2012 (Easter weekend)<br/>Place: Doom-Con, Swancon 37<br/>Address: 207 Adelaide Terrace<br/>Perth, Western Australia 6000<br/>Australia<br/>Phone: +61 8 9224 7777<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Notes: Brandon is International Guest of Honor. Supanova Melbourne 2012, Australia Dates: April 13–15, 2012<br/>Place: Supanova Melbourne 2012<br/>Address: Melbourne Showgrounds<br/>Epsom Road<br/>Ascot Vale<br/>Victoria 3032 Australia<br/>Type: Convention Supanova Gold Coast 2012, Australia Dates: April 20–22, 2012<br/>Place: Supanova Gold Coast 2012<br/>Address: Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre<br/>2684 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach<br/>QLD 4218, Australia<br/>Type: Convention Superstars Writing Seminar, Las Vegas Dates: April 30–May 2, 2012<br/>Place: Superstars Writing Seminar<br/>Address: Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino<br/>129 East Fremont Street<br/>Las Vegas, NV<br/>Type: Writing Conference<br/>Notes: Brandon is an instructor alongside Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Rebecca Moesta, and Eric Flint, with special guest speakers Kristine Kathryn Rusch & Dean Wesley Smith.<br/>Prices go up April 1, 2012. BayCon 2012, Santa Clara, CA Dates: May 25–28, 2012<br/>Place: BayCon 2012<br/>Address: Santa Clara Hyatt<br/>5101 Great America Parkway<br/>Santa Clara, CA 95054<br/>Phone: (408) 200-1234<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Notes: Brandon is a Guest of Honor.<br/>The official con name this year is BayCon 2012: Pleasure Cruise, but we're pretty sure there is no actual cruise involved. Comic-Con International, San Diego Dates: July 12–15, 2012. Preview night July 11.<br/>Place: Comic-Con 2012<br/>Address: San Diego Convention Center 111 W. Harbor Dr. San Diego, CA 92101<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Notes: Brandon is a Special Guest. LibertyCon 25, Chattanooga Dates: July 20–22, 2012<br/>Place: LibertyCon 25<br/>Address: The Chattanooga Choo-Choo<br/>1400 Market Street<br/>Chattanooga, TN 37402<br/>Phone: (800) 872-2529<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Notes: Brandon is a Guest of Honor. Gen Con Indy 2012 Dates: August 16–19, 2012<br/>Place: Gen Con Indy 2012<br/>Address: Indiana Convention Center<br/>100 S Capitol Ave<br/>Indianapolis, IN 46225<br/>Phone: (800) 529-EXPO<br/>Type: Convention Bubonicon 44, Albuquerque, NM Dates: August 24–26, 2012<br/>Place: Bubonicon 44<br/>Address: Albuquerque Marriott Uptown<br/>2101 Louisiana Blvd NE (Louisiana & I-40)<br/>Albuquerque, NM 87110<br/>Phone: (800) 228-9290 — make sure to mention Bubonicon<br/>Type: Convention<br/>Notes: Brandon will be a Guest of Honor. This is a small convention and in recent years memberships have been close to selling out in advance, so preregistration is strongly recommended. Dragon*Con 2012, Atlanta Dates: August 31–September 3, 2012<br/>Place: Dragon*Con 2012<br/>Address: Various hotels in the Peachtree Center area. See the website.<br/>Type: Convention Source

In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about brevity. Since all the chapters of my abandoned novel MYTHWALKER have now been uploaded, it's time to start dishing out something else for your weekly bonus content. So my assistant has put up the first annotation for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS. This one talks about the process of coming up with the title for the book, with the various (and often ridiculously long) options that were considered. If you're not familiar with my book annotations, think of them as the director's commentary on a special edition DVD. On your second read-through of a book, you may be interested to hear what I have to say about each chapter. Currently I have completed annotations for ELANTRIS, the Mistborn trilogy, and WARBREAKER. Check them all out. (Spoilers from later in the book than the current chapter are hidden.) My assistant also uploaded another Twitter posts archive. The leatherbound Wheel of Time charity auction for Worldbuilders is currently at $1,725.00. Wow! I believe there are still slots available for the Magic the Gathering: Dark Ascension prerelease in West Valley this Friday. They don't count a slot as filled until you prepay, so give them a call. Source

Hey, all. The new Magic the Gathering set is coming out in a little while, and the prerelease is this weekend. Dan and I had a lot of fun at the prerelease last time, so we’re going to be doing it again—with a twist. Like for Innistrad, we’ll be going to Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley at midnight on Friday. However, to shake things up, instead of drafting we’ll be doing a sealed deck tournament. (If you aren’t familiar with this, you get six packs and build a deck out of those packs.) We will do an 18-person tournament, not including Dan and me. (So, 20 people.) As 12 of the 18 people play games against one another, Dan and I will team up against the six others in an Archenemy game with both Dan and me as the archenemies. Then, when those games are done, the six who played us will rotate out and six others will come in to play against us. And then, not surprisingly, we’ll play the last six. This means we only have EIGHTEEN slots. We need to restrict it so that the tournament will work and so that we don’t end up staying TOO late. Therefore, if you want one of the slots, you’ll have to call Epic and preregister/prepay. There’s a chance I’ll be open to playing side games, like always, but I can’t guarantee it. (And, as always with these, I'm happy to sign books and might even have some copies of my novels for sale/trade. I'll try to show up around 11:30 if anyone needs books signed.) So, details again:<br/>Day: The night of Friday the 27th of January.<br/>Time: Midnight (okay, so that means technically this starts on Saturday...)<br/>What: 18-person Sealed Deck tournament, with special games against Brandon and Dan.<br/>Where: Epic Puzzles & Games3612 W 4700 S #4<br/>Salt Lake City, UT 84820<br/>How: Preregister by calling this number: (801) 982-0167 There will be some other fun things to this. (Beat Dan and me, and you will probably get a prize. Also, it’s likely that the tournament will be two-headed giant. We’ll explain the rules when you come, but if you have a buddy and want to sign up in pairs, go ahead.) Hopefully we’ll see many of you there. Or, at the very least, 18 of you... Brandon Source

Every year for the past several years, NAME OF THE WIND and THE WISE MAN'S FEAR author (and good buddy of mine) Patrick Rothfuss has run a charity drive where he matches at 50% donations to Heifer International through his Worldbuilders team page. Everyone who enters the general drawing gets a chance at a huge number of prizes. There are also individual auctions on several of the most desirable items. Pat explains it best. I've donated various books to the prize pool before, and this year I and Badali Jewelry have teamed up to donate a special Wheel of Time package to the auctions. My contribution is from among my personal leatherbound copies of THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. With each Wheel of Time book that is released, Tor puts out a limited edition of 126 signed copies, 100 of them numbered for commercial release, and 26 of them lettered for publisher and author use. I received copies B and S of both books, and I'm donating the matched set of S copies. Please see Pat's description below. The auction itself is here, and you can see the other auction items here. And remember, for every 10 dollars you donate on the Worldbuilders Team Page, you get a chance to win a book from the general prize pool. AUCTION: signed, leather-bound copies of The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson with Wheel of Time jewelry. These gorgeous gold-lettered books are leather-bound and designated "S" out of 26 lettered copies. The books come in their own matching leather slipcase, feature a facsimile of Robert Jordan's signature, and are signed by Brandon Sanderson. In addition to these stunning best-selling books, this auction includes three lovely pieces of jewelry inspired by Jordan's series: an Asha'man Dragon Pin, a Dedicated Sword Pin, and a Great Serpent Ring. We are very grateful to Brandon Sanderson for his donation of these rare books, and to the folks at Badali for making things even sweeter with the addition of the jewelry. To see more pictures of these gorgeous books, or to place a bid on the auction, click here. Source

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode covers more on fauna and flora. Check it out. My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts archive and the final chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He's also put up my Sanderson's Second Law article, which was first printed in the June 2011 issue of LEADING EDGE SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY. The failure of MYTHWALKER was a contributing factor that led me to develop the Second Law. A few years back, I wrote an essay on creating magic systems that I titled Sanderson's First Law. It had to do with the nature of foreshadowing as it relates to solving problems with magic. In that essay, I implied that I had other "laws" for magic systems that I'd someday talk about. Well, that time has come, as I've finally distilled my thoughts for the second law into an explanation that will work. I'll start, however, by noting that none of these "laws" are absolute. Nor am I the only one to talk about them. By calling them "Sanderson's Laws" I'm merely referring to them in the way I think of them—they are rules I try to live by when designing magic systems for my books. There are a lot of ways to write, and the only real "laws" are the ones that work for you. These work for me. I think they are actually all principles of good writing, not just writing as it pertains to magic systems. However, because magic systems are one of the things I most like to toy with in my writing, I have designed them in such a way that they encourage me toward stronger, and more interesting, magic in my fantasy books. Read the rest here. Source

My assistant put up another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. This one is exciting. There's just one chapter left. In this week's Writing Excuses episode, Dan, Mary, Howard and I talk about worldbuilding flora and fauna. Check it out. It's award nomination season again, so here's a quick reminder of what I've released that's eligible this year. Eligible in the category Best Related Work: Writing Excuses Season SixEligible in the category Best Novel: The Alloy of LawEligible in the category Best Novella: Infinity Blade: AwakeningEligible in the category Best Short Story: "The Eleventh Metal" (in the Mistborn Adventure Game)You can nominate at this link by March 11th, 2012, if you are a member of the 2011 (Reno), 2012 (Chicago), or 2013 (San Antonio) World Science Fiction Conventions by January 31st, 2012. For more information on how the Hugo Award works, see my breakdown last year. My fiction is additionally eligible to be nominated for a Nebula Award by February 15th, 2012, if you happen to be a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. I've also learned that THE ALLOY OF LAW is on the long list of nominees for this year's David Gemmell Legend Award, and the first round of voting is open now and runs through March 31st. Last year The Way of Kings won the award, to my great pleasure, so I already have the awesome battleaxe. Please vote for the book you think deserves it this year. Plus I have a vested interest in the nominations of Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Howard Tayler, my Writing Excuses partners (aside from my brother Producer Jordo, whose only eligible work is Writing Excuses itself). Last year Mary won the Best Short Story Hugo for "For Want of a Nail," but Howard and Dan were defeated by worthy opponents in their categories. This year Dan is eligible with I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU and A NIGHT OF BLACKER DARKNESS for Best Novel and "The Mountain of the Lord" in MORMONS & MONSTERS for Best Novella, Howard with SCHLOCK MERCENARY: FORCE MULTIPLICATION and "Deus Ex Nauseum" from SCHLOCK MERCENARY: EMPEROR PIUS DEI for Best Graphic Story, and Mary with "Goodhouse Keeping" from COURTS OF THE FEY for Best Short Story, "Kiss Me Twice" from the June 2011 ASIMOV'S for Best Novella, and "Whatnot" (a puppet play performed at the 2011 Worldcon) for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form. Source

Forum member FeatherWriter posted this image of the Soulcaster that her mother made her for Christmas. Cool! Season 7 of the writing advice podcast Writing Excuses that I do with Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells has just kicked off. In the first episode, we talk about when good characters go bad. My assistant also uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. There are three chapters left. Source

This week's Writing Excuses episode is titled "Help, I Can't End My Book!" This is the final podcast of this season for Howard, Mary, Dan, and me. Check it out. There's a new chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up. My assistant has put up a new Twitter posts collection that includes my live-Tweeting of finishing the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. If you want to cut to the chase, the part you really want to read is here below. I'll post more details later. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>Ladies and gentlemen, A Memory of Light--the final book in The Wheel of Time--has been finished. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>Now I'll open a metric gigaton of Magic cards that have been sent to me by fans, sleep for a day, and rest until next week.Then: revisions! BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>As for when the book will come out, Tor should do an announcement soon. Revisions will take a good six months. So fall, I expect. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>Another common question: How many revisions will I do? The last two took about a dozen. (On non-WoT books, I do about seven or eight.) BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>Also, it's going to be tough to give direct replies to questions right now, what with like 1000 people tweeting/facebooking at me. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>But lots of people are asking about outriggers/prequels. The answer is still the same. We'd rather not risk exploiting RJ's legacy. (more) BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>It is a step I don't think we want to take. Better to stop while we're ahead. I'm sorry, but they probably won't ever happen. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>And now, yes, I will go to sleep. 7am here. That's 10 hours of solid writing after a full day of solid writing, so I'm beat. BrandSanderson Wed Dec 21<br/>Thank you all for the good wishes. May you find water and shade. Source

My assistant has uploaded another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. He also put up a new Twitter posts archive. This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talking about character foils. Give it a listen. The biggest news for this week is that the long-awaited Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG from Crafty Games is now available in ebook form. The hardcover and paperback copies will come next month or so, and we are planning a local release party for those once we have more details on the exact date. Anyway, I do hope to be able to share more thoughts on the exciting release of this game once I can take a breather from writing A MEMORY OF LIGHT (that deadline is coming up fast, and I'm very hard at work on it). Source

I'll be signing twice in Utah this week in the run-up to Christmas. Details are below. Sorry, Idaho Falls folks, but I don't currently plan to go there as I usually would this time of year. I need to keep buckling down here and finish writing A MEMORY OF LIGHT. As always, you can tell me your city and I'll email you when I'm visiting nearby. And check my events calendar to see my current schedule for next year. Barnes & Noble, West Jordan, UT Date: Thursday, 12.15.11 Time: 6:30 pm–8:30 pm<br/>Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Jordan Landing<br/>Address: 7157 Plaza Center Drive<br/>West Jordan, UT 84084<br/>Phone: (801) 282-1324 Barnes & Noble, Orem, UT Date: Saturday, 12.17.11 Time: 2:00 pm–4:00 pm<br/>Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – University Crossings Plaza<br/>Address: 330 E University Parkway<br/>Orem, UT 84058<br/>Phone: (801) 229-1611 I'll sign any book of mine that you bring or buy at either store, but it's nice to buy at least one book (it doesn't have to be one of mine!) that day in order to support the store hosting me. Source

First some updates. The naming rights auction for a Stormlight (or other) character that I talked about last week ends in 38 hours, as do most of Orion's other auctions benefiting the UK charity Samaritans. My assistant Peter has put up another chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER. Quite a bit happens in this one. And he also put together another Twitter posts archive. This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman talking with Mary and Dan at the recent World Fantasy convention. Interstitial Art is the topic--books that don't fit well in any particular genre category. Mistborn and Stormlight Archive T-shirt store InkWing's T-shirt contest this month involves Koloss Head-Munching Day (December 19th). They're also asking for photos of people wearing the Koloss Head-Munching Day shirt. In related news, Ta'veren Tees has a Wheel of Time Christmas ornament they're giving away with orders over $40 that use a coupon code, and they're also in the middle of a "Twelve Tees of Christmas" sale. Many of the booksellers I visited during my recent tour still have signed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW. Check my events calendar to see if I'll be near you anytime soon. If I won't be, give one of the following stores a call. (You can also tell me your city and I'll email you when I'm visiting nearby.) Mysterious Galaxy 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Suite #302 San Diego, CA 92111 (858) 268-4747 Alone among the stores on this list, Mysterious Galaxy has signed copies of a lot of my other books, not just THE ALLOY OF LAW, and will ship worldwide. Give them a call. Murder by the Book, Houston 2342 Bissonnet Houston, TX 77005 (713) 524-8597 (888) 424-2842 Murder by the Book's copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW are signed not only by me but also by interior artist Ben McSweeney, who illustrated the book's newspaper broadsheet. Chapters Metrotown Metropolis, Metrotown 4700 Kingsway Burnaby, BC V5H 4M1, Canada (604) 431-0463 This Chapters will have your cheapest shipping option for delivery anywhere in Canada. Forbidden Planet 179 Shaftesbury Avenue WC2H 8JR London, United Kingdom 0207 420 3666 Forbidden Planet will also ship worldwide, but they're probably your best bet for getting a signed copy of THE ALLOY OF LAW in Europe. Their copies are all the UK edition of of the book. They also have some signed THE WAY OF KINGS split paperbacks: Part 1, Part 2. I will eventually add this book to my website store as well, but I won't do that until it has been on the shelf for about a year and the mass market paperback has been released already. Please support your local bookseller. Source

I know we just finished one of these for A MEMORY OF LIGHT and JordanCon, but while I was in the UK, Marcus from Gollancz/Orion told me about the charity auctions they were going to be doing. 100% of their proceeds go to the Samaritans charity there in the UK, and they're auctioning off items like getting thousands of words of your writing reviewed and edited by specific Gollancz editors, lunch with editors and an author, every Gollancz proof or ARC for 2012, etc. Anyway, it seemed like a good cause, so I agreed to do another name auction for them. I also signed a bunch of books and a shirt and posters among other goodies. The full text of the naming auction is below, or check out the listing. We did already have a naming auction for Stormlight 2 earlier this year (won by Jason Pittman), so that's why this auction is less specific than previous ones. Jason has priority for a new character in Stormlight 2 (which I'll start writing in January after finishing a couple drafts of A MEMORY OF LIGHT), but if I find room for two secondary characters with roles of near-equivalent importance, I'll adapt the name of this new auction's winner as well if it seems right for the book. If not, I'll find another project for the winner's name to go in, perhaps an upcoming novella or something I haven't considered yet. If I do end up using the name in a short piece, the character could be even more important than secondary—it's really all up in the air right now. At the very least, it's a good charity that the auctions are going to support, so check them out. Here's your chance to become a character in a bestselling fantasy book! Bid now on naming a character in a forthcoming novel or project from New York Times Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, author of the Mistborn, Stormlight Archive and Alcatraz series, as well as much more. Brandon is also the author who was selected to complete Robert Jordan's bestselling WHEEL OF TIME series. Brandon has very kindly donated the rights to name a character in one of his upcoming works. He will soon begin work on the second Stormlight Archive book, a sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS, due for release in late 2012 or early 2013. As the winner of this auction, you can submit a name (or variation thereof) that will appear in that book, or another upcoming project of Brandon's choosing. There is no guarantee that the name will be used in a specific book, but it will be used somewhere, and whatever he does is bound to be great. The character named may play a minor or major role in the work, depending on where the writing leads Brandon. There is no promise of dialogue or impact on the plot, but Brandon will do his best to make the appearance more than just a passing cameo. All money raised from this auction will go to the Samaritans, Orion Books Charity of the Year. Do check out or other auctinos, including reviews of your writing by Gollancz editors, lunch with an author and more! Naming Examples Some examples from winners from past auctions for names illustrate the variations that Brandon may use when the novel actually appears. For example, charity auction winner Brian Neff's name appeared as Naeff in THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. Winner Scott Franson's name appeared as Llarimar ("Scoot") in WARBREAKER. Aaron Yeoman's name appeared as Yomen in THE HERO OF AGES. Rules and Conditions If you participate in this name auction, you acknowledge that you understand and agree to the terms and conditions below. You must have an active PayPal account to bid. Brandon will adapt the winning bidder's submitted name to fit the world of the Stormlight Archive or other project (as seen in the examples above). Usually this means altering the spelling/pronunciation to fit the culture of the fictional world. However, Brandon reserves the right to reject any name he may find to be inappropriate. If the winning bidder chooses to submit the name of someone else (such as a friend or family member), the winning bidder must submit a written release from this other person giving permission to use his/her name. Finally, we hope it doesn't have to be mentioned but the submitted name will be rejected if Brandon feels that it is in any way offensive, mischievous, or ill-intentioned, or if it is disruptive to the story. This auction is for the name only. The winning bidder may not dictate the character's personality, description, or role in the story. If the winner supplies any of these things as part of the name submission, Brandon may or may not draw from that when implementing the character in the novel as the story demands. Any such ideas become the sole property of Brandon Sanderson with no further compensation or acknowledgement. Your bid is a legally binding contract and it requires that you make full payment of your bid amount if your eBay ID is the highest bidder. You must make full payment through PayPal within 2 days of the auction close. If you are the winning bidder, you must provide contact information (email address, physical address, telephone number) with the payment email for ongoing correspondence as the submitted name is processed. Novel Release Date As mentioned, the release date for the novel is in late 2012 or early 2013. However, publication dates are naturally subject to change. The winning bidder may receive email with updates on the actual release date. The auction ends in one week. And by the way, late 2012 for Stormlight 2 to come out is looking less and less likely. Right now I'm guessing early 2013. I do still have to write the book first, but it's really coming together in my head. Source

For those who do not know, Darrell Sweet—illustrator of all of the Wheel of Time covers—has passed away. The first of his covers I can remember seeing was his beautiful cover for THE EYE OF THE WORLD. I’m sure it wasn’t actually the first, however. Mr. Sweet was one of the premier fantasy artists for many years in the business. I have a healthy appreciation of what he accomplished, and I’m not sure many new readers realize just how influential and important he was as an illustrator. We’ve gone far more realistic these days in fantasy art than Darrell’s style was complimentary toward. However, when I first got into fantasy books, the covers were not like what we had today. The genre was still in its infancy, and fantasy illustration was equally youthful. Publishers were still trying to figure out how to illustrate it. We usually either got conceptual covers like the sf ones you can find on this thread or, far worse, the dreaded woman in a chain mail bikini—a trope I consider downright stupid in a genre almost universally populated with strong female protagonists. (Note that I don’t intend this as a dismissal of Frazetta or Vallejo. Though I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of that style, often their art was on the right books. A Conan cover SHOULD have art like that. However, this style (as seen in this link) was even prevalent on things like the Pern books, where it didn't belong.)For more research, look through this whole archive of fantasy and sf covers, many from that era. That was the sort of thing we were dealing with. Grim, dour, oiled up, or silly was the norm. With that in mind, compare what Darrell brought to us. Into these realms, Darrell’s artwork was a breath of fresh air. He's beautiful with colors, his creatures are fantastic and fanciful, and he gets across a truly magical and wondrous feel to his art. When Mr. Sweet came along, that's when fantasy illustration started to change. Now, a lot of Wheel of Time fans like to gripe about inaccuracies in the Wheel of Time book covers. They have that luxury because we, as a genre, have seen huge strides in illustration over the last two decades. However, it would be unwise to dismiss the illustrators who—through their majestic use of imagery and color—lifted us up to this point. Sir, I picked up THE EYE OF THE WORLD in large part because of your wonderful cover, which is a true masterpiece that I would put up beside any other piece of fantasy art. You gave us beauty, wonder, and magic. You will be missed. Rest in peace. Brandon (As a side note, people are wondering about the last Wheel of Time cover. Mr. Sweet did finish a concept, which I have seen, but did not finish the entire illustration. No decision has been made yet whether another artist will take this concept and do a final piece according to it, or if the book cover will be scrapped and a new concept done. I will let you know.) Source

In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I build fantasy settings that you can use. It was a bit of an experimental episode; I hope you enjoy it. The deadline to order signed books and have them shipped to U.S. addresses in time for the holidays is in about an hour. Of course you can order anytime year-round, but we can't guarantee on-time arrival if an order comes after the deadline. I've put two new Utah signings on my events calendar for next week. There's also a new chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER up. There's a new interview with me by Helen Lowe that went up today. She also has a contest giving away two copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW—open to residents of New Zealand and Australia only. The official Brandon Sanderson fansite, 17th Shard, is also having a giveaway of massive proportions. The deadline to enter is noon tomorrow, Mountain time. Here's what they're giving away: A signed, numbered copy of THE ALLOY OF LAW (#781) The Mistborn Adventure Game by Crafty Games A paperback of THE WAY OF KINGS A Mistborn trilogy box set A WARBREAKER paperback A signed copy of ELANTRIS A full set of the cosmere: ELANTRIS, the Mistborn Trilogy, WARBREAKER, and THE WAY OF KINGS A set of the four Alcatraz books—ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS, ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SCRIVENER'S BONES, ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE KNIGHTS OF CRYSTALLIA, and ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS There are no geographic restrictions on their contest. Comment on their news post to enter. Source

So, I’m going to be heading up to Epic Games on Monday to do a spot on Dungeon Crawlers Radio. (Listen live from 6:00 to 7:00 on Monday. Details below.) I realized that if I’m going to be in a game store, I must play some Magic! I also feel like it would be a nice treat following three weeks of pretty brutal touring. However, I realize it’s short notice. So this time, instead of just doing a “Come if you want to play!” shout out, we’ll reserve spots for those who email me. That way, we’ll know for certain if we have enough to play. (The store has to get ready, since this isn’t a normal drafting time for them.) The cost is $14, and you keep your cards and maybe win prizes. Time is 7:00, Monday the 5th. If you want a spot, drop me an email! We’ll email you back and confirm with you. If we don’t get enough people, we’ll drop you an email and let you know if it’s on or off for certain. And for the rest of you, have a listen to me as I chat with the Dungeon Crawlers guys about geek type stuff. It’s a fun program, well worth a listen. Best, Brandon Dungeon Crawlers Radio<br/>Monday, December 10, 6–7 p.m. Mountain time<br/>Listen live here Epic Puzzles & Games<br/>3612 W 4700 S #4<br/>Salt Lake City, UT 84820 Source

My assistant Peter has uploaded a new Twitter posts collection and another MYTHWALKER chapter. This is a novel that I abandoned back in 2001, but I cannibalized the parts that were working into WARBREAKER when I started writing that. This chapter contains the first scene that another scene in WARBREAKER parallels, though I rewrote it entirely from scratch. In this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode we discuss mystery plotting. We also recently put out very short pep talks for people participating in National Novel Writing Month: from Dan, Mary, and me. I also did an official pep talk for the NaNoWriMo folks that you can read here. Here's an excerpt: In the year 2002, Thanksgiving in the U.S. fell relatively late in the month of November. So it was that on November 30th, I found myself at my mother’s house, home from college for the weekend. I lay on the log bed in the guest room, my stomach full of turkey leftovers, furiously pounding at the last novel I would finish before landing a book deal the following year. I’d done NaNoWriMo the previous year, and had found the experience to be wonderful. This year, my friends and I were holding a competition to see which of us could finish first, and it came down to the last day. I won. And I didn’t. You see, while I’ve had a lot of fun with NaNoWriMo over the years, I think it’s time to come clean. Though I’ve participated seven times so far, and I’ve never actually won. Oh, I’ve completed the fifty thousand words. I commonly write 50k words in a given month these days, as writing is my profession. However, what I’ve never done is start a brand new project on the first of November, then keep writing straight through on it. Read the rest on the NaNo site. Source

In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode, Dan, Mary, Howard, and I talk about characters who do dumb things. There are a lot of traps that writers fall into involving this, and we talk about how to avoid them. InkWing has a limited number of Mistborn- and Stormlight-themed gamer bags for sale. They're also running another T-shirt giveaway contest. This week's chapter of my abandoned 2001 novel MYTHWALKER features Siri's wedding. And there's a new Twitter posts archive uploaded. Several of the stores I've signed at recently have autographed copies of my books that they can ship to you. Forbidden Planet in London, Murder by the Book in Houston, Joseph-Beth in Lexington, UBooks in Seattle, among others. Check my Facebook past events page and give the store nearest you a call. (You don't have to be a Facebook member to see the info.) And I'll be signing throughout the UK all the rest of this week, so check out my events page to find the signing nearest you. Also, this year's Great Hunt is still going, even though industrious readers have already pretty much decoded the entire excerpt. So we've added some new surprises that further codes will unlock. Source

I'm in the middle of my tour for THE ALLOY OF LAW right now; I'm in Houston today and will be in London by Saturday. If you want email reminders when I'll be near you, sign up and tell me your city. Meanwhile this year's Great Hunt continues, and readers have gone a long way toward deciphering the encoded file from Robert Jordan's notes. By the way, THE ALLOY OF LAW was one of five write-in candidates to be added in its category as a 2011 Goodreads Choice Award semifinalist. If you think it deserves the award, you can vote for it here. Competition is pretty stiff, though! This week's Writing Excuses episode features Andrew P. Mayer joining Howard, Mary, and Dan at Dragon*Con to discuss taking ridiculous-seeming over-the-top concepts and using them to create brilliant literature. In the newest chapter of MYTHWALKER, my abandoned novel from 2001, the switch is on. You knew it was coming. Yesterday on Twitter I participated in a #torchat. The first half of it is also up in my newest Twitter archive post, and I'll put up the rest next week. Several readers have reported that the ebook version of THE ALLOY OF LAW has images that are hard to read. Tor is working on a solution right now, but in the meantime, I've uploaded all of the images to their own page here. You can see them below. I'm including a color version of the Elendel city map (by Isaac Stewart, who also runs the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive T-shirt store) that doesn't appear in the book. And you can download a full-resolution broadsheet PDF if you are a Tor.com member. By the way, broadsheet (and Shallan's sketchbook) artist Ben McSweeney will be with me at my Houston signing today, so fortunate readers there can get his autograph as well. Ta'veren Tees has a new T-shirt available for preorder. I think I'll let it speak for itself. Source

Hey all, just a quick note that Mysterious Galaxy, where I signed last night in San Diego, now has a bunch of autographed copies of THE ALLOY OF LAW. If you want a copy and couldn't get one from Sam Weller's before they sold out, give Mysterious Galaxy a call. They can ship worldwide. Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore<br/>7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Suite #302<br/>San Diego, CA 92111<br/>Phone: (858) 268-4747 Source

Well, I’m off on my tour. The THE ALLOY OF LAW release party was a blast, even though the bookstore was a little light on copies. We managed to get everyone a book, I think. So huzzah, and forward. One of the things I announced yesterday on Twitter and Facebook was another Great Hunt to coincide with my tour. If you aren’t familiar with it, this is a concept from the Wheel of Time books which I (very loosely) adapted into a scavenger hunt to hold while on tour. I leave codes hidden around the world for Wheel of Time fans to locate, and they collectively input them into a web page which slowly unlocks text for everyone to see. (You can read a recap of last year's Great Hunt here.) I have some thirty codes to reveal, hide, or otherwise give out while on tour this time. I may hide some inside books in certain bookstores. I might give them to individuals (like Tor employees) for safe keeping, and require you to figure out who they are. Or, perhaps, you might have to do something else. Whatever strikes me. Before we go farther, however, some ground rules: The codes are inside envelopes this year, with a label requesting that a bookstore employee NOT open the envelope and read the code over the phone. I’ll probably prepare the bookstore employees for what is coming. You are required to fetch the codes yourself, or at least send someone you personally know to get the code. I don’t want you bothering employees of any store—whether it be bookstores or someone from a store next door—to do the work for you. They aren’t being paid to fetch codes. If you know someone in the area and can send them, go for it. Avoid bothering strangers. All but four of the codes need to be entered in order to reveal the secret, but each one inputted will reveal small bits. This is a collective endeavor. Share information, work together. Once you find a code, input it on this page. Everyone else, feel free to watch the page and try to figure out what the secret is going to be as more is revealed. It is okay to try to guess codes. They have something in common. In a way, they are some fun information themselves.<li>If you want to get involved, both Theoryland and Dragonmount (among others) are likely to have threads where you can post, participate, and see what codes have been found and what others have been tried. You can follow the hunt's progress by searching for the hashtag #wotgh on Twitter. Now, as to the secret itself, I feel I should manage some expectations. Last year, we revealed a chapter from the upcoming Wheel of Time book. There are no chapters that are ready this time; they’re all in first-draft stage. So the secret this time will not be something quite so earth-shattering. (Sorry.) I still think it is cool, though it is more in the ‘cool curiosity’ category rather than the ‘sneak peek’ category. This is something that was written by Robert Jordan himself, and is taken directly from his notes. People have frequently asked us to show some of the notes, and Harriet agreed to let us show you this chunk. It is illustrative of the kinds of things you’d find in the notes themselves. So, swear the hunter’s oath and get to it! Let’s have some fun. I plan to give away some of these in each city I visit, so UK Wheel of Time fans, you should have plenty of opportunities this year to help out. Best, Brandon Source

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode features Jonathan Mayberry talking with Mary, Howard, and Dan about avoiding pigeonholing yourself as a writer. There's a new chapter of my unfinished 2001 book MYTHWALKER up. The big news, of course, is the release of my new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW, tonight at midnight. The BYU Bookstore is already handing out line numbers as of 7:00 this morning; some dedicated fans camped out a week ahead of time to get the lowest numbers. For more details on how the signing tonight will go, please see the events calendar. I should be sending out a newsletter tomorrow with a reminder of my upcoming tour stops, so if you want to be on the mailing list, be sure to tell me the city where you live. Some fans put together a for the book, which although not strictly accurate is still pretty awesome. (By the way, only the prologue of the book takes place in an Old West-type setting.) Source

First, on an unrelated topic, the charity auction for getting your name in A MEMORY OF LIGHT is now live. There will be one winner, and the auction ends November 10th. You can also still donate to the drawing through December 1st and have a chance at your name getting used. Today I have a guest blog piece up over at the Tor/Forge blog entitled "My 14-Year-Old Self Might Take Issue with The Alloy of Law." Here's an excerpt: As we get ready for the release of The Alloy of Law, I find myself wondering what the teenage me would think of what I’m doing in this book. You see, I became a fantasy addict when I was about fourteen, and one of my mantras quickly became, “If it has guns, it’s not good fantasy.” Now here I am, adding guns to my most successful fantasy series. Go read the piece, and then if you haven't yet checked out the sample chapters, read those too. Next Monday evening I'll head down to the BYU Bookstore for the midnight release of the book, and then I'm off on a whirlwind tour of the US, Vancouver, and the UK. Check my events calendar for details and to see if I'm coming near you. If you want an email reminder when I'm going to be near your city, tell me what city you're in (or the nearest large city you'd be willing to drive to). One of my former students, shrain, has uploaded a video (below) of me talking about the concept behind the book and reading from the prologue and second chapter. Source