Brandon Sanderson

This post will be another run-down of a bunch of different topics. Weller Book Works is once again handling a signing-by-mail for one of my releases. In this case, since THE EMPEROR'S SOUL is already out in bookstores, it's going to run slightly differently. They are limiting it to 200 copies, and I'll be signing and numbering them the same day I do my in-store signing there, November 6th. They're also experimenting with cheaper shipping this time around (the book is a trade paperback and much smaller than my usual, which helps), and I hear that the email they sent out to people who ordered previous books says all orders must be done via email to [email protected]. And a note for those of you waiting on ebooks: the ebook will come out toward the beginning of November. Anyone who orders the print version can get a free copy of the ebook (as soon as my assistant Peter makes it) following the routine we used for the LEGION ebook. Some of you want to know how to get signed copies of my other books. If a book has been out for a year, I sell signed hardcovers in my store. (THE ALLOY OF LAW isn't up there yet, but it will go up next week.) Many readers like buying signed copies to give as Christmas gifts, so here's the skinny on the holiday shipping deadlines this year. My assistant Becky says that all international orders need to be in by November 7th at 5 p.m. MST, and all domestic orders need to be in by December 5th at 5 p.m. MST. I will still sign book orders that come in after those dates, but the likelihood of a delivery by December 24th goes way down. Macmillan Audio is running a little promotion for the A MEMORY OF LIGHT audiobook on CD (sorry, US residents only). This image pretty much says it all: Looks cool! For more details, see this link. My pal Larry Correia, author of the Monster Hunter International series, is running a kickstarter for a MHI world book/tabletop roleplaying game. The kickstarter is actually already funded, but it looks cool. If you like shooting monsters with accurately described guns, this might be for you. The most recent Writing Excuses episode is another live episode recorded at GenCon Indy. We spoke with James L Sutter about writing tie-in fantasy fiction. He's the co-creator of the Pathfinder RPG system and is the editor of all Pathfinder fiction, so if you've ever been interested in writing in a universe like that, check it out! InkWing, which does my Mistborn and Stormlight Archive T-shirts, has another contest where they're giving away a free shirt. See the details here. If you've been following me on Twitter or Facebook, over the weekend you saw me post about trading books for Magic cards to fill out my cube. I've now received a bunch of cards and am getting ready to send out a bunch of books. Only super rare cards are left on my list, but you can see it here. My assistant Peter also uploaded another Twitter posts archive. Source

Though the official release date is still two weeks away, it appears that B&N, Amazon, and a number of indy bookstores all have copies of THE EMPEROR'S SOUL in stock. I'd like to take this chance to introduce the book to you. You can read an excerpt here on Tor.com. In working on the Wheel of Time last year (and with the knowledge that I'd need to move on to Stormlight 2 immediately after finishing), I knew I wouldn't be able to get out a full-length novel this year. Instead, I worked on two novellas. The first, LEGION, came out a couple months ago. The second of the two is THE EMPEROR'S SOUL. I'm extremely proud of this novella. I think it's my best piece of short fiction to date, and stands as one of the best complete works I've done of any length. For those who liked LEGION, I think you'll like this as much or more. For those who were skeptical of LEGION, know that this novella is not only twice as long, but is also a fantasy story with a great magic system and cool character. It reads more like a short novel than it does a long short story, and does a lot of what I do in my longer fiction. Unlike LEGION, this one is out in bookstores. And though it's twice as long, it's three-quarters of the price (as it is a trade paperback instead of a hardcover). Barnes & Noble took a large stock for their stores, so you should be able to find a copy or two at your local B&N. (Though you might want to call first; I'm not sure which stores are getting copies and which aren't.) Your local indy, if they carry my other fantasy novels, should hopefully have copies in as well. So what is THE EMPEROR'S SOUL? It takes place in the same world as ELANTRIS, though in a very different region, with only a few ties to ELANTRIS. So you definitely don't have to have read ELANTRIS to appreciate it. (Though if you have, you should be able to see some fun ties between the magic systems.) It tells the story of a woman named Shai, a thief and a Forger—a person capable of rewriting the pasts of objects in order to change their present. She starts off in prison, but instead of being executed, she is offered an opportunity. The emperor has been wounded in the head by assassins, and has become a vegetable. His attendants have hidden this from the empire and will trade Shai her life in exchange for creating a Forgery of the emperor's soul, hopefully making it seem like the attack on his life never happened. I always hate coming up with descriptions of books. I like them to stand on their own, with the text I wrote for them. So I'll leave the description there, and instead just say that I am in love with this story, and think it's among the best pieces of writing I've ever done. If you've liked my works in the past, I hope you'll give this one a try. As with LEGION, I will personally send a copy of the ebook to anyone who buys the print version. (We hope to have the ebook ready soon; we're working on it. It's not out quite yet.) I will be doing several signings for this book. The official release where I number copies will be at Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City on November 6th. (I will also be doing a signing-by-mail through Weller; details to follow.) Then there's another signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble on November 10th. But my first three signings will be in Canada, in Halifax and Toronto. I will be at Hal-Con in Halifax on October 26th through 28th, and I'll sign books in the exhibits hall there. Then I'll be at World Fantasy in Toronto November 2nd through 4th; convention registration is sold out, so I will also do a bookstore signing in Toronto mostly likely on the 3rd in the evening. Details to follow. For specifics on all of these conventions and signings, check out my events page. If you want to go to one of these signings but want to read the book now, please consider buying your copy ahead of time at the store hosting the signing. Source

This week's Writing Excuses episode features Janci Patterson and talks about writing contemporary YA fiction. I mentioned Janci's book CHASING THE SKIP a couple of weeks ago. She has a lot of great insights, so give it a listen! I've got a rather random collection of links for you today. First up, my friend Brent Weeks' book THE BLACK PRISM is on sale as an ebook for $1.99 with all vendors—and the sale ends today. Now, I actually haven't read this book yet since I've been so busy, but my assistant Peter says it's the best book he's read in the last year aside from a certain book that's not out yet. He thinks its characters and magic system will really appeal to people who like my books, and I trust his judgment. The sequel is also out already and he says it's just as good. There is a bit of a content warning, so do keep that in mind. Badali, the company that makes the official Elantris, Mistborn, Wheel of Time, Kingkiller Chronicle, and Middle-earth jewelry is holding a costume contest (with costumes based on those series) until November 2nd with some cool prizes. For details, check out their page. I look forward to seeing what cool costumes you come up with. (I'm not judging but I'll be sure to look at some photos.) My friend Stacy Whitman who's the Editorial Director at Tu Books, which publishes fiction for kids and teens that features multicultural characters and settings, let me know that Tu is holding a writing contest. The NEW VISIONS AWARD will be given for a middle grade or young adult fantasy, science fiction, or mystery novel by a writer of color. The contest has been running since June and will finish up at the end of October. For more details, see their site. Also, another reminder that my friend and frequent artist Isaac Stewart has the Mistborn Feruchemical Table fine art print available at InkWing (which also does my T-shirts). Limited edition numbered prints signed by me and Isaac are not yet sold out. Source

Shawn Speakman has put together a great anthology coming out in early 2013 that features a bunch of big names in the fantasy field (including Terry Brooks, Pat Rothfuss, Tad Williams, and others). He asked the authors to record videos to promote it, so here's explaining my contribution.If you're interested, you can preorder UNFETTERED here. It will also be available for Kindle and Nook once the book is released. Source

First some housekeeping. I should mention that Subterranean Press has a handful of the leatherbound signed limited edition of LEGION leftover and available for order on their site. In completely unrelated news, my assistant has uploaded another Twitter posts archive. There are two Writing Excuses episodes up that I haven't talked about yet. First Maurice Broaddus joined us to talk about writing the other—writing other cultures, races, genders, etc. Then the latest episode features Dan talking about the Seven-Point Story Structure and its use in outlining. There are two "The Science of Allomancy in Mistborn" posts from Lee Falin at Tor.com that I neglected to link. First is Pewter, followed by Iron and Steel. The rest of Lee's posts are here. I love that people are thinking about things like this and coming up with ideas on how they might work. Now for the biggest announcement today. As you know, A MEMORY OF LIGHT will be released in hardcover on January 8th, 2013. I will be touring to support its release, but they're still deciding whether the first release event will be in Provo or Charleston. As soon as it's announced, I will let you know. I realize that not everyone can make it to one of my signings. It's unfair if you live in Germany but want a numbered copy. Therefore, I've started doing virtual booksignings with Weller Book Works (formerly known as Sam Weller's)—a wonderful independent bookseller in Salt Lake City that has been a supporter of my books since I was a nobody—alongside the standard signings I do there. I will be going in to Weller's sometime right before Christmas to sign, number, and personalize 700 copies of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Weller's will then ship them out; they will try to time the shipping so the book arrives at your door on January 8th. However, they're not allowed to deliver before that date, so they can't cut things too close, and some books may arrive after the 8th. If that's the case, though, they'll try to keep the delay as short as possible. International orders will be shipped first, since those have the longest transit time. Due to the size of this book, Weller's will be shipping each book in a Priority Mail medium flat-rate box, which unfortunately drives the price up. But the book itself has a discount of 20% for preorders by December 7th, which helps offset that. Shipping will be $12.00 in-country, $34 to Mexico and Canada, and $49 to other international. If your order is shipped inside Utah, there will also be sales tax. (Note that Weller's cannot track packages internationally. They've tried.) I'm really very sorry that the shipping cost is so high, but books this big just won't fit into cheaper envelopes. On the plus side, the box can fit TWO books, so if you buy two to ship to the same address there is no increased shipping charge. When you call Weller's, please be certain to tell them (even if they don't ask) specifically how you want the book personalized. If you don't tell them specifically, they will have it signed but not personalized. Simply telling them your name is not enough. You have to tell them "I want it personalized to John" (for example). If you don't want it personalized, tell them "Signature Only" just in case. About the numbering: If you get a book from one of the two release events (Weller's or the BYU-or-Charleston midnight release), I'll number your copy. These numbers are less about being limited editions and more about getting a special add-on, an indication that you made it to one of the initial events. The numbers will trade off in blocks of 100, so books through Weller's will receive numbers 101–200, 301–400, 501–600, etc. Note that if the midnight release ends up in Charleston, I will definitely still sign books in Utah sometime during the tour, without numbering. Details: Weller Book Works A MEMORY OF LIGHT signing-by-mail Order by phone or by email: Phone: (801) 328-2586 or (800) 333-7269 Email: [email protected] Preorder deadline: December 7th Note: You may pay by credit card (on phone orders) or PayPal only. Source

My novella LEGION came out a month ago in hardcover and two weeks ago as an ebook. Now the audio version is available for download. Until the end of 2012, the Audible version of LEGION comes at a price of $0.00. (Steep, I know.) It's read by Audie Award-winning narrator Oliver Wyman, and the audiobook is unabridged at a little over two hours long. One nifty thing Audible has started doing now is their new Whispersync for Voice capability. If you have the Kindle version of the book, you can move seamlessly from reading the ebook to listening to the audiobook, and back, and it will keep your place for you. And if you have one of the three newest Kindle Fires, you can listen to the Audible version on your Kindle and have it highlight the text on the ebook as it reads it to you. I haven't tried this out (I have a Nook, personally), but it sounds very cool. One thing to note is that the Audible version is not available in UK/Commonwealth countries, but it should be available in most other territories. This may change for the UK/Commonwealth in the future, but possibly not until March or so. Sorry! Also, it SHOULD be available in Canada, but they had the wrong box checked in the backend, so you Canadians might not be able to get it immediately. They're working on that and should have it fixed soon. Another announcement for today. Tonight I'll be a guest on Pat Rothfuss's The Story Board along with Cherie Priest and Terry Brooks to talk about plot and structure for an hour. This is hosted by Geek & Sundry on their Google+ page, and it will be a Hangout on Air so you can watch it live. It will also be recorded, so once it's finished you'll be able to find it on their YouTube channel. Previous episodes (with different guests) are available here: (on urban fantasy), (on characters). The episode will air live tonight at 9:00 p.m. Utah time. Source

I've got a special announcement today. Perhaps not as special for you as it is me, but hopefully you'll find it interesting enough to read onward. You see, one of my good friends—and former students—is releasing a book tomorrow. Her name is Janci Patterson, and the book is called CHASING THE SKIP. Many of you know I now teach a class at BYU that I took when I was a student there. (And the lectures from last year are online here.) This class was instrumental in getting me published, and I didn't want it to die, so I took it over when the previous teacher left. Janci took that class the first year I taught it. I wasn't sure what I was doing that year—and I can't even remember if my advice was any good. Janci didn't really need it. She's one of the most talented writers I know, and I've been thrilled to read her books along the way to her getting published. CHASING THE SKIP is not fantasy or science fiction. It's an awesome story about what it's like to live as the daughter of a real-world bounty hunter. (Not the glorious type from fiction.) It's a YA book with excellent writing and compelling characters, and I found it a lot of fun to read. So far as I know, this is the first of my students to actually have something come out from a major publisher. Some others have sold books, and a number have agents. (Maybe I'll blog about them someday.) I'm thrilled for Janci, who really deserves it, and if you are a fan of this style of book, I suggest you check it out. She also has a launch party here in Utah tomorrow. What: CHASING THE SKIP Launch Party with Janci Patterson signing When: Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7 p.m. Where: The King's English, 1511 S 1500 E, Salt Lake City Source

The blood being in motion is part of it. Because the power, once used, returns to him--much as water, after passing over a turbine, continues on in its system. If they tried to actualize their Aon, it would have an undesirable result. In addition, the chasm broke their bond to the humans they were tied to, and you can see the result of that. So they were affected.

I've tried to be more GLBT aware in recent years, but I want to be careful. Doing it poorly could be more insulting than doing it not at all. Having Ryan, the real world Drehy from Bridge Four, as a friend does at least give me access to someone who can give early feedback and tell me where I might be going wrong. So let's just say maybe. I will keep the books, in this series at least, long. It's what the story demands. As for title...it does have a certain charm, but I worry that it just feels wrong to too many people. Three out of four laugh when I mention it. That doesn't bode well...

RAFO

I have him as a guy right now, but that could change. (It has before.) Yes. Yes. Yes. Separate summoning. He has a home base. Perhaps. I've got a few more chapters than I've posted. Including some viewpoints from the most powerful magical sword ever created. Most powerful...in that he has the most powers. Thousands of them. All useless.

Realmatic theory was part of the ancient Terris religion. Re: Alcatraz. Ha! Burn the One Ring, eh? I think it's such a powerfully invested object that it would be very, very dangerous to try.

It could happen. However, it's not really a danger with the current population of Allomancers. There just aren't enough of them.

Yes. The Parshendi are not human, but you probably already knew that. The two races of Aimaians are not human either. There are many races of sentient spren. From there, it depends if you call something like Ryshadium sentient or not. Looking into the future was not something Ruin was good at doing. That ability is confined to certain shards, and not others.

RAFO You are on the right track So, I've said before that I want to hold off on talking about different forms of compounding and types of twinborn until I can address them in the series. So I'll have to RAFO the first two. However, in answer to the third one, yes you DO expend Duralumin in the process. Ha, that IS a little silly of a method. However, on the extreme end of aluminum, I have in the notes the possibility of cleansing the spirit of unwanted effects of other investitures. You'd get really good at this, and maybe even be able to cleanse the body of other impurities. Basically, this is what ascension is.

Good question. I designed the cosmere to have much the same structure, but imagined the action happening in a compact dwarf galaxy. Still a lot going on, but far, far fewer stars and systems than our own.

It's mostly relevant for later books, but there are some things here and there. Good question. ... RAFO Sel is very cosmere aware at this point, but getting to and through Shadesmar (that's not the local term, by the way) is very difficult on Sel. That stunted them for a long while. They're still fairly far ahead. Ha. If I give you this, what will you speculate on in the future? I hate to do this, but I'm going to RAFO that one for now. Sorry.

There are interesting connections around the cosmere between linguistics and some cultures. Though different groups of humans were created on different planets, the Shards all share a single point of origin. However, the Tranquiline Halls legends are not related to a Nalthis/Roshar connection.

RAFO From world-hoppers, Shards, and those who know about the cosmere. Someone did exactly this in the original draft of Way of Kings, back in 2002. It grew out of the culture and linguistics somewhat naturally; nobody 'named' it that. RAFO Shallan will likely be doing some sketches from dueling grounds where Sharbearers fight.

This is feasible. One thing to keep in mind is that mistwraiths are people who have a blockage between the physical and the cognitive realm, messing with their ability to think. Think of them as mentally-stunted people. There's enough there to train, but then you have to dig into the ethics of it... Hemalurgy can give allomantic powers to a kandra. The process to do so is not known to anyone but Harmony.

They are in a symbiotic relationship with the chasmfiend, and are part of what allow the creatures to grow to the size they do with an exoskeleton. (Along with a high-oxygen, lower-gravity world.)

A lightsaber is actually a little more easy to wield than a Shardblade, I would guess. Shardblades were designed to fight something larger than another person; you don't actually need all of that size when fighting someone. So that gives a slight edge to you average Jedi. If it's someone like Szeth, who has a more modestly sized Blade, then I don't honestly know. That's very flattering to hear. I've made a study of leadership in many different areas, the military being one of them. It's a topic that fascinates me, and I try hard to get it right. I wouldn't say I have any practical experience in it, unfortunately--just a lot of study, questioning, and curiosity.

The middle section was scorched pretty clean. I know of a few interesting tidbits, but it's not technology. (The tech level before the Lord Ruler took over was nothing particularly special, early industrial era.) The cool and interesting things are on the southern continent. They will be known by the modern trilogy, so it's safe to assume that a discovery will happen soon. Either during the Alloy of Law era or soon after. There were groups who would go out there to escape the Lord Ruler, and the Final Empire in general. Survival was practically impossible. It's possible someone might have gotten across to the southern continent, but it would take a small miracle. RAFO. (You knew I'd do that.) Something is different. You will find out what. Thanks for reading!

That was the original plan.

Totally.