Brandon Sanderson

Today's WARBREAKER annotation covers the epilogue. There's just one annotation left, folks. The WARBREAKER html version is also now completely uploaded. This week's Writing Excuses podcast has another of our microcasting episodes. Mary, Howard, Dan, and I fielded questions from people on Twitter and answered them briefly. We discussed the following topics: How do you hold the whole story in your head when it's a thousand pages long? What steps do you use when creating a character? As an outliner, when do you start putting in the details? How do you patch plot holes? How do you come up with names? Is there one writing skill you'd like to get better at? Writing groups: what do you look for? In other news, Ta'veren Tees, the officially licensed Wheel of Time T-shirt company, is giving away a free T-shirt every Friday during August. Just hit "like" on their Facebook page and then watch their wall on Fridays to see if you are a winner. I also did an interview with SciFi Bulgaria. If you read Bulgarian, check it out. Now for the big announcement. Crafty Games' Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG's cover art has been revealed, and they're running a preorder special from August 4th through 7th. The RPG comes out in November, but you can preview it at Gen Con this weekend if you're lucky enough to be attending. The book's many illustrations, including the cover, come from artist Ben McSweeney, who also provided illustrations for THE WAY OF KINGS and THE ALLOY OF LAW. The book also includes the Kelsier short story that I mentioned back during the Mistborn 2 annotations. Some readers have been clamoring for this for years, so if you want to find out about Kelsier's training with his master Gemmel, pick up the RPG. Source

The deadline to turn in your filled-out ballots for the Hugo Awards is this Sunday night, July 31st, at midnight Pacific time. I've talked about this before, but if you weren't aware and would like to vote for the Hugos, you can still become a registered member of Worldcon in order to vote. Writing Excuses made the final ballot in the Best Related Work category, and Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and my editor Moshe Feder are also independently nominated for awards. See my earlier post on the subject for more information on how voting works. Renovation, the 69th World Science Fiction Convention, will be held in Reno from August 17th through 21st, and the Hugo Awards will be presented that Saturday night. I and many other writers will be there, and I will be participating in about three events each day. I'll post my schedule later, as the convention approaches. Source

THE ALLOY OF LAW, my new Mistborn novel set 341 years after the events of THE HERO OF AGES, is coming out on November 8th. If you haven't been aware, there are preview chapters up at Tor.com; chapter four just went up today. Below is my U.S. and Canada tour schedule. I'm going to Vancouver BC for the first time, though the details aren't quite worked out on that stop yet. I'll also be heading somewhere else immediately following the Brooklyn date; keep your eyes on my events calendar. It's a good idea to tell me what city you live in if you want me to send an email reminder when I'm going to be near you. Note: There WILL be an organized way to get signed and numbered copies by mail as there was in previous years, but we won't be ready to announce the details on that until the middle of August. It also looks like Murder by the Book (see below) will let you ship three other books to them for me to sign for every copy of ALLOY you buy from them. That may interest some of you. (As always, my own signed books store is also available for older books—I don't put any books there until a hardcover has been out for a year, so I don't compete with the bookstores. Your local bookseller is still the best place to buy my books; the more copies they sell, the more likely they are to keep ordering copies to put on the shelf so people see them.) THE ALLOY OF LAW Midnight Release, Provo, UT Date: 11.07.11 Time: 9:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m.Place: BYU BookstoreAddress: Wilkinson Student Center (WSC)Brigham Young UniversityUniversity HillProvo, Utah 84602Phone: (800) 253-2578Type: ReleaseSchedule: Doors open at 9:00 p.m. on November 7th. The book will be released three hours after that. Books at this signing will be numbered; line numbers will be assigned starting around 8:00 a.m. on November 7th. Check back later for more details. Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego Date: 11.09.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: Mysterious Galaxy BookstoreAddress: 7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. Suite #302 San Diego, CA 92111Phone: (858) 268-4747Type: Signing Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach, CA Date: 11.10.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Bella TerraAddress: 7881 Edinger Ave. #110Huntington Beach, CA 92647Phone: 714-897-8781Type: Signing University Books, Seattle Date: 11.11.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: University Book Store, SeattleAddress: 4326 University Way NE Seattle, WA 98105Phone: 800.335.7323Type: Signing Vancouver BC, Canada Date: 11.12.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: Location and time TBA Joseph-Beth, Lexington, KY Date: 11.14.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: Joseph-Beth BooksellersAddress: 161 Lexington Green Cir # BLexington, KY 40503Phone: (859) 273-2911 Murder by the Book, Houston Date: 11.15.11 Time: 6:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m.Place: Murder by the BookAddress: 2342 Bissonnet StHouston TX 77005 Phone: 713-524-8597Notes: Store policy requires that you buy one copy of THE ALLOY OF LAW at the store to get anything signed. I believe you can buy it there ahead of time and bring your receipt; call to make sure. They can also get books signed for you if you can't attend; see their site and/or call for details. Barnes & Noble, Brooklyn, NY Date: 11.16.11 Time: 7:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m.Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Park SlopeAddress: 267 7th AvenueBrooklyn, NY 11215Phone: 718-832-9066PLEASE BE AWARE: This will be a SIGNING ONLY event. There is not enough space for a standard reading and Q&A. If you have questions for me, you may ask them while I'm signing your specific books, but please be courteous to everyone else waiting to get their books signed. Source

I've added some events to my events calendar. First up is a joint signing with Peter Orullian (The Unremembered) in West Jordan on August 4th. I also added three conventions I'll be going to in Australia in April 2012; there will probably be bookstore signings between these events, but that hasn't been worked out yet. The Superstars Writing Seminar I'll be teaching at in Las Vegas after I return from Australia is also there. These items join my Worldcon trip to Reno, which is coming up in just three weeks. Tor.com has posted my November tour for THE ALLOY OF LAW, but a couple of the events are still in flux, so I think I'll hold off on putting them up until everything is confirmed. I will also be having another tour somewhere else immediately following this one . . . details coming soon. This week's episode of Writing Excuses discusses what an agent does. Dan's agent Sara Crowe is the podcast guest, so there's a lot of good information shared. Check it out. The annotation for the final WARBREAKER chapter is up. As you should expect, it has too many spoilers to summarize here. That leaves two more annotations, one for the epilogue and one wrap-up annotation. There's also a new collection of Twitter posts up. Source

I had a great time at Polaris in Toronto this past weekend. If you couldn't be there, you can check out an mp3 of the Q&A session that I did, which @Thesleepingwolf has posted online here. (If you want to download it and can't figure out which link to use, it's the one that says "Download File 9.43 MB." Or you can just listen to it on that page.) If you haven't heard me tell the story of how Harriet first got in touch with me, this is a good medium. It also covers several other topics including Mistborn, the Way of Kings, etc.. I'll be flying out to San Diego in a couple of hours for Comic-Con. I posted my schedule in the last blog entry (I'll basically just be there on Thursday). If you didn't know, InkWing is run by Mistborn/Way of Kings interior artist Isaac Stewart, and they do the official T-shirts for my books. They have a contest every month or so that usually involves giving away free shirts, and this month they also have a coupon code. Check out their post here. There are also official Wheel of Time T-shirts at Ta'veren Tees, and they have a teaser trailer for a new shirt that will be available this month. Check it out too. Last week's Writing Excuses podcast episode covered Cyberpunk. So this week Dan, Mary, Howard, and I do one of our brainstorming episodes, in that genre. This week's WARBREAKER annotation covers the biggest climax chapter. It's chock-full of spoilers, of course. Source

I'm on my way to the Polaris convention in Toronto right now (the schedule for that is here, with one correction: the Details, Filler, and Plot panel is now Saturday at 11 and the Ethics and the Wheel of Time panel is Sunday at noon). But since Comic-Con starts earlier next week, I think it's a good idea to post my Comic-Con schedule now. WEDNESDAY, July 20th, Preview Night: I may stop by the Tor booth, #2707, sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. This is nothing formal, though. THURSDAY, July 21st: 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m., Room 6A“Putting the ‘Epic’ in Epic Fantasy: Writing to Excite!” PanelPanelists: George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, Christopher Paolini, Peter Orullian, K.J. Taylor, & Kevin J. Anderson. Moderated by Michael Spradlin. 1:15 p.m. to 2:15 p.m., official autographing areaPost-panel signing hosted by Mysterious Galaxy. 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., Tor booth #2707Brandon Sanderson signing. Tor will be giving away 48 copies of the MISTBORN paperback and five ARCs of the new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW. The booth will also be giving out the THE ALLOY OF LAW broadsheet (I'm bringing a few copies of this to Polaris as well). Click for a bigger photo. I hope to see you there! I'm heading back home Thursday night. Source

It's been listed on my events calendar for months, but in case you live near Toronto and weren't aware, I will be there this weekend as a Guest of Honor at Polaris 25. My schedule is below. Address: Sheraton Parkway Toronto North600 Highway 7 EastRichmond Hill, Ontario, CanadaL4B 1B2 FRIDAY 06:00 p.m., YorkOpening Ceremonies 07:00 p.m., Room 1080Meet The Pros 08:30 p.m., Markham-ABlastoff Party SATURDAY 11:00 a.m., NewmarketEthics and the Wheel of TimeBrandon Sanderson (M), Rebecca Lovatt, Bill Cameron, Kirsten BlandRobert Jordan is on record as having said that he began writing a work of high fantasy in order to seriously explore issues of good and evil. What is the moral status of someone whom we might find attractive and sound as a character, except that she approves of a reprehensible practice which is supported by her wider culture? What is duty, and is it always best to follow one's agreed-upon duty? Is it justifiable to do one's duty even when it does more harm than good? 12:00 p.m., RichmondSigning: Brandon 01:00 p.m., UnionvilleFinding Alpha Readers: Writing GroupsBrandon Sanderson (M), Erik BuchananWriting groups are a terrific way to hone your craft—you can receive unbiased feedback and find out what works and what doesn't. But what should you look for in a writing group? What do you need in order to join one? 03:00 p.m., YorkMainstage: Brandon(Main address and Q&A) 05:00 p.m., Room 1080Cartography in Scence Fiction and Fantasy: Worldbuilding - LiterallyBrandon Sanderson (M), Jane C. Petrovich, Bill CameronLord of the Rings was one of the first big fantasy epics where the land was as much a character as the characters. Whether it's following the map of a single planet, like Pern, or a whole region of space, following along on a map is sometimes as much fun as following the plot. 06:00 p.m., Room 1080Magic: The Gathering SUNDAY 11:00 a.m., NewmarketSo She Likes Coffee... Big Deal!Derwin Mak, Kelley Armstrong, Brandon Sanderson, Rob St. Martin (M)Writing interesting characters involves more than just giving them a laundry list of likes and dislikes, a hair colour, or a catchphrase. It involves backstory and philosophy, and can be altered by the events of the plot. Not everything about a character is necessarily visible on the page. What goes into creating memorable characters who seem as real as any flesh-and-blood person? 12:00 p.m., AuroraDetails, Filler, and PlotBrandon Sanderson, Erik BuchananIt's all very well and good to build an interesting alien world, or to craft characters who are unique, realistic and relatable, but they also have to have a story worth telling. And then there are the subplots: the story within the story. How can you craft a plot that will keep your readers eagerly turning pages to find out what happens next? And perhaps more important—how do you keep track of the plot of your own story when it gets complex? 02:00 p.m., RichmondSigning: Brandon Sanderson 03:00 p.m., AuroraReading: Brandon Sanderson 05:00 p.m., OakridgesBrainstorming the EndingBrandon Sanderson (M), Sarah McCully, Erik BuchananSometimes, in writing, the beginning is the worst place to start. A story is sometimes constructed by coming up with the climax first, and working backwards. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach? How do you know whether or not it will work for the story you want to tell? 06:00 p.m., YorkClosing Ceremonies Source

Fantasy Faction did a video interview of me while I was in Europe. The result is over 30 minutes long, and covers topics such as the Way of the Kings, the Alloy of Law, Mistborn as a series, my writing process, The Wheel of Time, and the fantasy genre. Check it out. There have been a few recent Writing Excuses podcast episodes that I haven't linked yet. First Dan, Howard, Mary, and I did a microcast covering seven different writing questions from listeners. Then we talked about query letters. And this week we talked about Cyberpunk. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation covers a part of the climax that was one of the cinematic focus scenes I envisioned before I started to write the book. There's a new collection of Twitter posts up. And besides also having a Facebook page I now have a Google+ account, though there probably won't be much content there until I can start importing my Twitter feed. And congratulations to The Leading Edge (BYU's science fiction/fantasy magazine) on publishing its 30th anniversary issue. Dan Wells and David Farland contributed stories to this issue, and they've also printed an essay of mine entitled "Sanderson's Second Law." It starts out like this: 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. If you want to read the rest, you'll have to get a copy of the magazine. (At least until I post it on the website a few months from now. I also gave an address on the topic at JordanCon this year.) Source

I've put up a new WARBREAKER annotation about chapter 55. Plus there's also a new Writing Excuses episode up on professional organizations. As our cohost Mary Robinette Kowal is also the vice president of SFWA, she has many useful things to say on the topic. About a week ago, I finally got back from my extended stay in Europe. I have to say, you guys treated me very well over there. I hope to be back soon. One of the highlights was my impromptu event in Amsterdam. If you didn’t follow that little fiasco on Twitter, I ended up missing my connecting flight to Oslo because of an air traffic controller strike in France. This resulted in an eight-hour layover. Well, I tweeted about what was happening, and some very kind (and somewhat determined) fans convinced me I should go out and see the city. I did. And it was awesome. By the end, there were about twenty of us. We grabbed food at a local place, and I asked what was considered authentic Dutch cuisine. I was told pancakes by one person and potatoes by another. So, I ordered pancakes and fries. Strange looks ensued. Apparently “pancakes and potatoes” meant “pancakes or potatoes.” But I stuck to my guns. (And this was by no means just an excuse to order some fries...) The signing in Oslo was awesome. I loved the store, and the turn-out was great. Seriously, if you live in the area, you need to check out Outland Kirkegata. They’re the only bookstore that has ever flown me internationally on their own dime just so their readers could get some signatures. And, speaking of bookstores, I did sign some books in a few places, wherever I found them. So here’s a list of places you’ll find signed copies: Simply Books, Salt Lake City AirportTop of Concourse C Borders Books, Cincinnati Airport</br>Terminal 3BPhone: 859.767.4960 Outland Kirkegata, OsloKirkegata 230153 OsloPhone: 22 33 04 10 The American Book Center, AmsterdamSpui 121012 XA AmsterdamPhone: +31(0)20 625 55 37 Forbidden Planet Megastore, London179 Shaftesbury AvenueLondon WC2H 8JRPhone: 0207 420 3666 Waterstone's, Guildford71-73 High StreetGuildford GU1 3DYPhone: 01483 536366 I had a great time in London. It was my first visit to the UK, but I intend to get back soon. And of course France was awesome, as always. One regret of the trip was that after we’d set my dates in stone, we realized I was not only doubly nominated for the David Gemmell Legend Award for Best Novel, but would be leaving Europe only a few days before the ceremony. We looked into changing things around, but the cost—and the fact that I was plain exhausted from the trip—was too much. We went ahead and regretfully returned on schedule. To my great surprise, THE WAY OF KINGS actually won. I hadn’t been expecting this. I’d been nominated three times before without winning. This year, with two books up for the award (like last year), I was convinced I’d split my votes again and have no shot at it. Beyond that, the competition was pretty steep this year. I now wish I’d made the extra effort to stick around. Still, my publisher was there, and we’d talked about them accepting the award for me in case I did win. At least we were represented. Either way, I’m deeply grateful to you all for your votes for THE WAY OF KINGS. Once I get the award, I’ll be sure to take photographs and post them up for everyone to admire. And now, back to work on A MEMORY OF LIGHT. (Also, p.s., I’ve been invited to Comic-Con International in San Diego again this year, with a request that I appear on the fantasy panel. I wasn’t intending to go, but with the invitation on the table, I decided it was worth the diversion. So if you’re attending, plan on seeing me there. I’ll bring some ALLOY OF LAW goodies to give away.) Source

First a couple of updates. There's a new Warbreaker annotation up covering chapter 54 (with more about Old Chaps's background, aside from the usual discussion about the climax), and there's a new collection of Twitter posts. And the second Writing Excuses podcast episode with Mary Robinette Kowal as an official member covers internal character motivations. The new Mistborn book, THE ALLOY OF LAW, comes out on November 8th. Today, Tor.com released the first batch of sample chapters, with the prologue and chapter one. They will put up five more chapters before the release date, which means that the preview is going to be about a third of the book. That's a large fraction, but I felt that after chapter six was the best stopping point for the preview: it's a satisfying chunk on its own, and it gives a good overview of the different aspects I wanted to include in the novel. It actually takes you up through the end of what I intended to be a short story when I started writing it. Of course well before that point I knew I'd keep writing the story to its natural conclusion, and it turned into a 95,000-word novel. (For comparison, the first Mistborn book was 215,000 words.) I think you'll like the preview. Go check it out on Tor.com. Source

The rest of my France schedule is below. But first a couple of updates. Writing Excuses enters its sixth season with an exciting announcement: Mary Robinette Kowal joins Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, and me as our fourth full-time cast member. For the first episode of the sixth season we revisit our very first (unreleased) episode, Can Creativity Be Taught?. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation is another one on the avalanche that is the climax. It covers chapter 53. Dance, dance, dance. Fantasy Tavern, Paris, France, June 8 19.30 pm: Please RSVP if you wish to attend. Space is very limited. Bloggers/Booksellers/Journalists meeting, Paris, France, June 9 19.00 pm: Please RSVP if you want to attend this event. Priority given if you are a bookseller, journalist, or blogger, but they will also fit 25 other people. Etonnants Voyageurs, Saint-Malo, France, June 11–13 SATURDAY15.00 pm: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse)18.00 pm: panel "We are a legend" / "Nous sommes une légende" (E.M.M., salle 3 – Intra Muros, avec: Claudine GLOT, Gilles SERVAT, HOBB Robin)19:30 pm: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse) SUNDAY11.45 am: panel "How to use magic" / "Du bon usage de la magie" (MAISON DE L’IMAGINAIRE - Intra Muros, avec: FFORD Jasper, STROUD Jonathan)14.30 pm: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse)18.00 pm: panel "How to deal with someone else's world" / "Comment je me suis emparé de l’univers d’un autre" (MAISON DE L’IMAGINAIRE - Intra Muros, avec: COLIN Fabrice, FFORD Jasper, FRUCTUS Nicolas)19.15 pm: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse) MONDAY10.30 am: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse)14.30 pm: book signing (Librairie M’Lire jeunesse)15.30 pm: panel "Greet Brandon Sanderson" / "Pour saluer Brandon Sanderson" Source

Today my flight out of Strasbourg was delayed, so I missed my connecting flight to Oslo in Amsterdam. The result of that was an eight-hour wait in Amsterdam before the next flight, so I got to hang out with some of the local fans while eating pancakes and fries. If you're in Amsterdam and you missed it, that's probably because you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Sorry for the really short notice, everyone, but you can't really plan missing a flight like that. I do hope to return to the Netherlands sometime in the future, but it could be a few years. Tomorrow I'll be signing in Oslo, Norway. The Outland Kirkegata bookstore is flying me out, so I hope a ton of Norwegian fans can show up at the signing and make it worth their while. That's the major reason I sent out another newsletter today, but I also talked about my progress on A MEMORY OF LIGHT and about the THE WAY OF KINGS paperback release (it's out now!). If you're not on the mailing list, you can request to be added here. Also tell me your city and state if you want email reminders when I'm appearing nearby. This week's Writing Excuses episode covers a bit of a different topic from usual. Howard and I sat down with Tom Smith at Penguicon to discuss filking and writing music. Don't know what filking is? Check out the podcast. We did manage to get a WARBREAKER annotation put up last week. It's the one for chapter 52, and covers a lot of spoilerific things leading into the climax. Source

This morning my plane took off for the first leg of my European tour. The flight was delayed, but I have a long layover in Cincinnati, so I'll still get there in time for my connection. Anyway, here is my schedule of events. Les Imaginales, Épinal, France, May 26–29 THU MAY 263:00 p.m. panel "Brandon Sanderson contre les infâmes bibliothécaires" ("Brandon Sanderson vs the Evil Librarians") followed by book signing. FRI MAY 2711:00 a.m. panel "La Fantasy" followed by book signing.2:00 p.m. panel "L’état de la fantasy aux USA" ("How is fantasy today in US?") followed by book signing. SAT MAY 2810:00 a.m. panel "Dieux vivants, aventuriers, filles du people" ("Living Gods, adventurers, common girls") followed by book signing. SUN MAY 293:00 p.m. panel "Meeting Brandon Sanderson" followed by book signing. Outland Kirkegata, Oslo, Norway, June 1 Time: 5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.Address: Kirkegata 230153 OsloNorwayPhone: 22 33 04 10Type: Signing Forbidden Planet Megastore, London, UK, June 4 Time: 1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.Address: 179 Shaftesbury AvenueLondon WC2H 8JRUKPhone: 0207 420 3666Type: Signing Waterstone's, Guildford, UK, June 6 Time: 12:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m.Address: 71-73 High StreetGuildford GU1 3DYUKPhone: 01483 536366Type: Signing Fantasy Tavern, Paris, France, June 8 Time: 7:30 p.m.–8:15 p.m.Address: 38 rue de la Bienfaisance75008 ParisFranceEmail to RSVP: [email protected]: Radio show and signing Another signing in Paris?, June 10 Not sure at the moment if this will happen. I'll keep you updated. Etonnants Voyageurs, Saint-Malo, France, June 11–13 The panel and signing schedule for these three days isn't yet clear, but I'll post it when I know more. I finally get back home on the 15th. I've wanted to meet readers in Europe for quite a while, but this is going to be exhausting. Pemberly will be joining me for the second half, starting in the UK, and we'll be able to get some sightseeing in. I'm sorry if I'm not appearing anywhere near you this time. I'm sure I'll be back in Europe again in the future, but it could be a few years. Next April I'm going to Australia. Source

We've got a few more parts of the website working. The percentage bars on the left column are now functional again, and my assistant was able to put up another Twitter posts collection. New annotations and library items will have to wait for later though. There are two new Writing Excuses episodes up. First, Howard and I sat down with Jim Hines to discuss parody and satire. Then we talked with John Scalzi about dialogue. Both episodes were recorded at Penguicon. This past weekend at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards banquet, my friend and past Writing Excuses guest Eric James Stone was presented with the award for Best Novelette of 2010 for his story "That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made." Congratulations, Eric, and congrats to all the Nebula winners! If you want to read the story, Eric has posted it on his site. It has also been nominated for a Hugo Award in the same category. I want to talk a little more about the Hugo Awards. I've mentioned before how anyone who registers for Worldcon can vote for the Hugos, and a little about how voting works. I haven't said much before about how there is a cheaper membership you can get that basically allows you to vote but not to attend the convention. The Supporting Membership goes for $50, which is well worth it especially if you consider the value of the following: the Hugo Voter Packet. The Hugo Voter Packet came out at the end of last week, and it's an ebook package containing ebooks for every single work nominated for a Hugo. Most are available in ePub, mobi (for Kindle), pdf, and rtf files so you can convert them to work on the device of your choice. Now, I should mention here that the $50 Supporting Membership fee, the $100 Young Adult Attending Membership fee, and the $195 Attending Membership fee (prices good until July 17, 2011) do not actually pay for these ebooks. The ebooks are free for registered members, like the DVD screeners sent to members of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when they're deciding what to vote on for the Oscars. So to support the authors whose works appear in the Hugo Voter Packet, you should still buy the physical books or the commercial ebooks, since the authors do not get any royalties from this packet. (By the way, membership fees only support the running of the convention and are not used for profit.) But the Hugo Voter Packet is a great way to check out works that you wouldn't otherwise have read, so that you may make an educated choice when you fill out your ballot. The packet contains the full text of eight novels: Blackout by Connie Willis (All Clear, the second half of the story, is not included) Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold The Dervish House by Ian McDonald Feed by Mira Grant (pen name of Seanan McGuire) The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells (Campbell nominee) Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (Campbell nominee)Moxyland by Lauren Beukes (Campbell nominee) (There are also excerpts of other novels by Lauren Beukes and Lev Grossman.) Four complete graphic novels: Fables: Witches by Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham Girl Genius, Volume 10: Agatha Heterodyne and the Guardian Muse by Phil and Kaja Foglio with colors by Cheyenne Wright Grandville Mon Amour by Bryan Talbot Schlock Mercenary: Massively Parallel by Howard Tayler with some colors by Travis Walton<li>The Unwritten, Volume 2: Inside Man by Mike Carey and Peter Gross (For those who measure their graphic novels in megabytes, that's 685 megabytes of sequential art.) Two complete nonfiction books: The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg<li>Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O’Shea(There are also excerpts from the two other Best Related Work nominee books and links to all the episodes of Writing Excuses Season Four.) Dozens of short fiction pieces, including every story in the November/December 2010 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the September 2010 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, the September 2010 issue of Analog Science Fiction and Fact, the anthology The Way of the Wizard, and the anthology Godlike Machines (all in the Best Editor, Short Form section). In the Campbell (Not a Hugo), Short Story, Novelette, and Novella sections, short fiction is from nominated authors Lev Grossman, Saladin Ahmed, Rachel Swirsky, Ted Chiang, Elizabeth Hand, Geoffrey A. Landis, Alastair Reynolds, Sean McMullen, Allen M. Steele, Aliette de Bodard, James Patrick Kelly, Eric James Stone, Carrie Vaughn, Mary Robinette Kowal, Kij Johnson, and Peter Watts. Plus samples of work from nominated artists Daniel Dos Santos, Bob Eggleton, Stephan Martiniere, John Picacio, Shaun Tan, Brad W. Foster, Maurine Starkey, Steve Stiles, Taral Wayne, and Randall Munroe. And I haven't looked in detail at the contents of the sections for Best Semiprozine, Best Fanzine, and Best Fan Writer, but it looks like they also contain tons of complete stories and articles. This is a very large amount of high-quality award-nominated reading material (some of the works are already award-winners, those that picked up Nebulas this past weekend). If you've been waffling on whether to buy a membership to Worldcon, the existence of this packet is something you should consider. And Worldcon members who are already registered, now's the time to get reading and get ready to vote! (The ballot closes July 31st, 2011.) Source

The short list of six nominees for the David Gemmell Legend Award is out, and for the second year in a row I have two books on the list. Towers of Midnight and The Way of Kings join Brent Weeks's The Black Prism, Pierre Pevel's The Alchemist in the Shadows, Peter V. Brett's The Desert Spear, and Markus Heitz's The War of the Dwarves. Once again I'm honored to have two books nominated for the award named for David Gemmell, as he was such a fantastic author. (My favorite of Mr. Gemmell's titles is Knights of Dark Renown.) Because this is a reader-voted award, that means you all took the time to stop by and give my books a nominating vote. That means a lot to me. Thank you so much! I do find it amusing that I've now managed to lose the award more times than it's been offered. But did you know that the winner gets a battleaxe? I definitely want to hang that battleaxe on my wall one of these days, but as always there's stiff competition from a set of very worthy nominees. All of these books deserve a read. You can vote for the 2011 David Gemmell Legend Award here. If you already voted earlier in the year and are wondering what happened to your vote then, that's how the field was narrowed down to these six finalists. All vote totals were reset when the short list was announced, so you should vote again if you have a preference on what book wins. (Voting for the 2011 David Gemmell Morningstar Award and Ravenheart Award for best fantasy debut and best fantasy book jacket is also now open.) In other award news, this past weekend I went to the Whitney Awards ceremony at the LDStorymakers conference. The Way of Kings won the Best Speculative Fiction award, and it also tied with Dan Wells's Mr. Monster for Novel of the Year. I'm happy the book has been so well received, and sharing an award with Dan is awesome. (See the following links for a complete listing of the nominees and winners.) There are a couple episodes of Writing Excuses up that I have not yet mentioned. First Dan, Howard, and I did another braingstorming episode covering urban fantasy. Then at Penguicon, Howard and I sat down to record an episode with Nebula and Campbell nominee Saladin Ahmed to talk about non-traditional settings. Check them out. Things are mostly working on my website after its recent server move—the library, annotation, and store pages are all accessible and functioning—but there's still some work to be done in the site's backend. The upshot is that I can't yet add new annotations or library items. So the WARBREAKER annotations are on hiatus until that gets fixed, as are the WARBRAKER html chapters, and the expanded "I Hate Dragons" short will also have a delayed posting in the library. Source

Thank you all for helping me out with the Delta situation (and for helping my brother win his goofy contest.) I wanted to do something nice, so I dredged up the chapters I wrote of "I Hate Dragons" as a writing exercise a few months back. I had originally written these as part of a dialogue exercise, writing no narrative. After I finished them, as a second part of the exercise, I went back and added narrative to fill them out. (Though they're still heavily dialogue.) Enjoy! Source

Two big updates for today. The first is related to a tweet I made last night. I'm scheduled to fly to France later this month, and that trip is going to be smack-dab in the middle of working on the last WoT book. I worry that the trip is going to throw me out of my momentum writing the book. I was really hoping to be able to spend my skymiles to get myself a business class seat, where I could work the entire way and not worry about my laptop running dry or the seating keeping me from working. Unfortunately, we're running into some snags getting me upgraded. I have the skymiles, I have an upgradable ticket (which my French publisher bought at considerable cost) but things just aren't working. So, I'm looking for someone at Delta who can somehow make this happen for me. It would not only help get AMoL out faster, but would make me very grateful. So, if you work for Delta in the right division (or know someone who does) and you think you can make this happen, drop me an email. I'll owe you a big favor, and I can make some cool things happen for WoT fans whom I owe a favor. It's probably a long shot, but I thought I'd ask. Who knows. Maybe it will work out. The second issue is that our website is having hiccups as we move to a new hosting plan. (You guys visit way too much; not that I'm complaining.) Our new server has php 5 instead of 4, so a number of things are broken, and Producer Jordo is away on a business trip so things probably won't be back to normal until next week. Right now most of the section pages on the site don't work, but the individual pages still do—e.g. you can go to WARBREAKER chapter 51 using this link or the link in the sidebar, but the section links on the library page don't work. The same goes for the annotations and the store pages. Links to individual items or annotations function, but the section links are broken. You can manually visit any other library item, annotation, or store item by changing the number in the URL. Anyway, this should be fixed next week. Source

This weekend I'm a guest of honor at Penguicon, which is a hybrid convention for science fiction/fantasy and open source software. Howard Tayler is the toastmaster, so it should be a lot of fun. If you're in the Detroit area, consider registering at the door if you haven't preregistered. PenguiconTroy Marriott200 W Big Beaver RdTroy, MI 48084 FRIDAY 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., Dennison 1Attack of the Plot!Ferrett Steinmetz, Brandon Sanderson, Christian Klaver, Charles ZaglanisHow authors attack the idea of plot. 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Big TopOpening Ceremonies 8:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m., Dennison 1To Series or Not to Series. That Is the Question.Stephanie Osborn, Steven Lake, Merrie Haskell, Brandon Sanderson, Jim C. HinesThe pros and cons of writing a series. SATURDAY 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., Board RoomA Reading with Brandon Sanderson 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Ballroom AAnd Let It Be Said!Stephanie Osborn, Steven Lake, Merrie Haskell, Brandon Sanderson, Christine PurcellA look at dialog and scene/action description in writing, and how to effectively pull off quality dialog and scene descriptions your readers will remember. 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m., Ballroom AIt's OKAY, the First Draft Is SUPPOSED to Suck!Stephanie Osborn, Brandon Sanderson, Jim C. Hines, Lydia Nyx, Michael CieslakTurning off the inner editor. 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m., Ballroom GThe Art of the CritiqueFerrett Steinmetz, Merrie Haskell, Brandon Sanderson, Christine Purcell, Charles ZaglanisWhen you're writing stories, one of the quicker ways to get better is to have talented people critique you. But where do you find good people? What does a good critique consist of? And how can you use that feedback to improve your story? 10:00 p.m. – 1:00 a.m., Dennison 2/3/4Magic: The Gathering Non-Sanctioned Booster Draft TournamentBrandon Sanderson, Timothy GeislerWe are having a non-sanctioned booster draft tournament. Space is limited. SUNDAY 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m., Ballroom AWriters GroupsBrandon Sanderson, Jim C. Hines, Michael Cieslak, Stewart Sternberg, Charles ZaglanisThe pros and cons. 11:00 a.m – noon, Ballroom ALet There Be Life!Ferrett Steinmetz, Stephanie Osborn, Brandon Sanderson, Lydia NyxHow writers form characters and make them seem real. 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m., NilesWriting Excuses PodcastHoward Tayler, Brandon Sanderson 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Big TopClosing Ceremonies Source

First off, there's a new Warbreaker annotation that covers Vasher sneaking into the God King's palace. It also talks about why one character doesn't just kill another character. This week's Writing Excuses episode, season 5 episode 34, covers story bibles. Dan, Howard, and I talk about different ways to collect the background information on your story that you need in order to keep things straight as you're writing it (or the sequel). Give it a listen. The big news is that the previous season of Writing Excuses, season 4 (starting with this episode), has been nominated for a Hugo Award for Best Related Work, which is given out annually to (usually) nonfiction works relating to the field of science fiction and fantasy. Traditionally the winner has been a book (for example, John Scalzi won it in 2009 for a printed collection of his best Whatever posts). Writing Excuses Season Four joins four other nominees this year: Bearings: Reviews 1997–2001 by Gary K. Wolfe The Business of Science Fiction: Two Insiders Discuss Writing and Publishing by Mike Resnick and Barry N. Malzberg Chicks Dig Time Lords: A Celebration of Doctor Who by the Women Who Love It edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Tara O'Shea Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century, Volume 1: (1907–1948): Learning Curve by William H. Patterson, Jr. Who can vote? Anyone who registers for the 69th World Science Fiction Convention (this August in Reno) before the voting deadline July 31st. (Rates go up July 17th, so registering before then is best.) The ballot is available now, but most people will wait to vote until they've had a chance to read, listen to, or watch enough material from the nominated people and works to make an informed decision. I have more details on how voting works in a previous post. That's not the only Hugo category, of course. Here's the full list. Many of my good friends are also nominated—my cohosts Howard Tayler and Dan Wells are respectively nominated for Best Graphic Story and the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer (not a Hugo); my and Dan's editor Moshe Feder is up for Best Editor, Long Form; Mary Robinette Kowal has a short story nomination; Eric James Stone has a novelette nomination; Larry Correia is also up for the Campbell; and two of my books' cover artists, Dan Dos Santos and Stephan Martiniere, both garnered Best Professional Artist nominations. All the nominees in each category are luminaries in the field and deserve your attention. It's an honor to be included among them. Source

Last week I talked about the charity auction to get your name in the next Stormlight Archive book. Well, the auction is now over. The winner is Jason Lynn Pittman, and his winning bid was $1,825, which will go to support Utah's science fiction and fantasy symposium Life, the Universe, and Everything. Once I sit down to plan out the book (after I've written the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT), I'll figure out where Jason's character will fit in and how to adapt his name to Roshar. If you're interested in donating directly to LTUE, I said how at the bottom of the previous post. Plus there's also another auction going on right now for a pretty cool king-sized dragon quilt that also benefits LTUE. InkWing has yet another contest—they're giving away two Kaladin T-shirts and two button packs. And Ta'veren Tees has a new band of the red hand/it's time to toss the dice shirt up for preorder. I got one of these at JordanCon and it's pretty cool. Check out their announcement here. In the most recent WARBREAKER annotation I talk about the vote to go to war against Idris. And this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode covers what a writer wants and does not want in an alpha reader. There's also a new Twitter posts collection on the site. Source

Tomorrow my assistant Peter and I are off to JordanCon in Atlanta. Their full schedule is listed here. My panels are below. Please pay special attention to the details of the Magic draft on Friday night, if you want to participate. There are also a couple of other updates. TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT has made it to the semifinals of Audible's Tournament of Audiobooks, but it is currently behind in votes to MATTERHORN by Karl Marlantes. If you liked the TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT audiobook, consider giving it your vote. (Of course you can vote for MATTERHORN instead, if you think that was a better audiobook.) The Stormlight Archive character name auction is still going on. The local newspaper did an article on it. I haven't linked this week's Writing Excuses podcast episode yet. Recent episodes were recorded at LTUE when I was at ConDFW, so I don't appear, but this episode marks my return. Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and I talk about urban fantasy. JordanCon III, Atlanta Date: 04.15.11–04.17.11Place: JordanCon III: ConSakenAddress: Crowne Plaza Hotel Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia4355 Ashford DunwoodyAtlanta, GA 30346 FRIDAY 1:00 p.m., Oakwood ABOpening Ceremonies 4:00 p.m., CamelliaSigning, Brandon Sanderson & Harriet McDougal 9:00 p.m., AzaleaMagic the Gathering Draft with Brandon SandersonPreregistration is required. Email Brandon if you want to get on the list. There will be a small buy-in of around $10 or $15. Also, if someone wants to come judge the match, you would be welcome. SATURDAY 12:00 noon, AzaleaFantasy Writing (Brandon Sanderson)A 90-minute crash course in writing fantasy novels. 2:30 p.m., DogwoodKaffeeklatsch: An hour with Team Jordan (Brandon Sanderson, Alan Romanczuk, Maria Simons)Limited to 10 pre-selected participants. Slots are already full; sorry about that. 4:00 p.m., Oakwood ABA Memory of Light: Status Report (Harriet McDougal, Brandon Sanderson, Maria Simons, Alan Romanczuk, Richard Fife) 5:30 p.m., Oakwood ABCostume Contest (Brandon Sanderson, Harriet McDougal, Linda Taglieri, Richard Fife)Show off your tailoring skills or just come to watch the parade of Seanchan, Aes Sedai, Asha'man, and more! 10:00 p.m., AzaleaMagic with BrandonCan you muster a successful Magic the Gathering deck and defeat the Brandon Sanderson? Bring your deck and find out. SUNDAY 11:30 a.m., CamelliaSigning, Brandon Sanderson 1:00 p.m., AzaleaJordanCon's Got Talent (Brandon Sanderson)Come give your 30-second book pitch to our experts! Source

Ever since I started announcing on Twitter the names of fans that I was adapting to go into THE GATHERING STORM and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, readers have been asking me how to get their names put into the next book. Well, there will be another oppoturnity to participate in a charity drive and have a chance to get your name put into A MEMORY OF LIGHT, but that's not what I'm talking about today. Instead, I'm talking about how one person can get his or her name (or most likely a variation thereof; see below for examples) used for a significant second-tier character in the next Stormlight Archive book. There's a charity auction for naming rights going on right now at eBay, with a final bell Saturday evening at 9:30 p.m. Mountain time. Proceeds will benefit the local science fiction and fantasy symposium, called Life, the Universe, and Everything (LTUE). (Yes, that is a Douglas Adams reference.) As it was held at my university, LTUE was one of the science fiction and fantasy conventions that I attended regularly while trying to break in, and it was always an invaluable experience. Now that my books are published and available worldwide, I like to take opportunities to give back to the community that fostered my development as a fan and as a writer. I was Guest of Honor myself at LTUE in 2010 (my first stint as a GoH), and for a science fiction convention the crowd at my Guest of Honor speech was amazingly young—full of people in their twenties. (If you want to know why this is significant, do a Google search for the "greying of fandom.") In my opinion, local conventions of this sort, which promote the sharing of our excitement for the genre among the up-and-coming generation of readers and writers, deserve all the support they can get. LTUE has been running for nearly 30 years, but it is and always has been organized by unpaid volunteers. For one reason or another there are always funding issues, especially they try to keep registration free for students—a practice I support, as I can easily recall how little money I tried to spend while working my way through college and writing thirteen novels at the same time. So I'm more than pleased for the proceeds from this name auction to go toward keeping LTUE going next year. The auction listing follows. And see the bottom of the post for information on donating directly. LTUE Benefit Name Auction Brandon Sanderson Here’s your chance to become immortal! Bid now on naming a character in a forthcoming novel from New York Times Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson. Up for auction: Brandon will 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 for a second-tier character who plays a significant role in a few scenes in the book. All proceeds from this auction will benefit Life, the Universe, and Everything: The Marion K. “Doc” Smith Symposium on Science Fiction and Fantasy held in Provo, Utah. LTUE is an annual event dedicated to helping students, up-and-coming authors, and professionals hone their craft and network with their peers. Now in its 30th year, LTUE is the premier genre publishing event in the Intermountain West. 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. As the host of this auction, UtahSF reserves the right to reject any bid at its sole discretion and to screen any and all bidders regardless of their eBay feedback history. Brandon will adapt the winning bidder’s submitted name to fit the world of the Stormlight Archive (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. Do not bid if you are not 100% sure that you can follow through with payment at the winning bid price promptly. You will also be bound to make full payment even if a higher bid has been removed for whatever reason, resulting in you becoming the high bidder. Be aware that if a family member, another person in your household, or any other person who has access to your account uses your eBay or PayPal account, you are still fully liable and cannot avoid payment if you win the auction. All sales are final. UtahSF is a 501©3 organization, so your winning bid amount (or portion thereof) may be tax-deductible. Contact a tax accountant or advisor for specific information. 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. Donating Directly As you can see, the auction itself is already up above a thousand dollars, which means many readers won't have a chance at winning. But if you would like to donate a few bucks toward the convention without bidding, that's something you can do. Make a check or money order out to UtahSF, print on the info line that this is a donation for LTUE, and mail it to: LTUE Donationc/o Joe MonsonPO Box 360Orem, UT 84059-0360 Note though that this isn't like the Wheel of Time charity drives; it doesn't mean you have a chance of your name showing up in the book just by donating. That's mostly due to the way I create names for my books as opposed to Wheel of Time books. Roshar is a world very different from our own, so its names bear little resemblance to names in our world but rather are in line with principles I have worked out for the planet's languages and cultures. The Wheel of Time, however, takes place in a world that is ours in both the distant future and distant past, so names adapted from those in our current culture blend in well there, and Robert Jordan adapted many names from mythology and the world around him. Still, if you do donate directly to LTUE, feel free to drop me a line and tell me. You never know what might happen. Anyway, happy bidding! Source

If you're in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand and have been wondering how the cover art of Gollancz's version of the next Mistborn book will appear, look no further. If you missed the US Tor cover and the cover flap synopsis, head over to Tor.com to see both. The book comes out in November. Amazon is currently saying November 8th in the US/Canada and November 17th in the UK (and I assume Australia and New Zealand). This could shift around by a week or so by the time November rolls around. Source

Want your name to appear as a character in the Stormlight Archive? There's going to be an auction for just that starting on Wednesday to benefit the Life, the Universe, & Everything (LTUE) symposium. I'll post more details when the auction begins. This year's LTUE hosted the recording of a number of episodes of the Writing Excuses podcast, one of which aired this week. In it, Dan and Howard are joined by Robison Wells and Sarah Eden to talk about writing romance. The most recent WARBREAKER annotation is a long one covering chapter forty-nine. It talks about Vasher's temper and using the priests as scapegoats, among other things. In Suvudu's cage matches, Vin managed to hold off Jon Snow and Perrin was defeated by Quick Ben. Which sets up two matches, as Suvudu announced here. Starting on Wednesday, Vin will face Quick Ben and Perrin will have a consolation match against Jon Snow. Suvudu is accepting writeups for consolation match; see the announcement for details. They also have a forum where you can make suggestions about future cage matches. And superfan Terez is holding her own contest for best Vin vs. Quick Ben writeup. Some people have sent me links to their music recently. Joey Maker has a passing reference to Rand Al'Thor in a rap song of his . And Darin Porter wrote a whole song about Kaladin called "You Can't Go Back." Source

This is just a quick note to say that my Writing Excuses cohost Dan Wells's final John Cleaver book in the trilogy that began with I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER is out in both hardcover and trade paperback. The title is I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU, and it is brilliant. [Assistant Peter says: I liked the first book and thought the second took it up just a notch, but the third book blows both of them away.] Dan has posted his tour schedule on his site. He'll be at the Barnes & Noble in Orem tonight, and then in ten other cities. Source