Argent

I think that's a yes, but it's all based on a gut feeling about a vague memory than I am not sure about...

I've been hoping Brandon would hop in on the Goodreads Q&A bandwagon - I like the feature a lot. Also, I encourage you to post your question(s) here as well, as we don't post duplicates. Not that it really matters, but it's good mojo.

I settled for Goblin Quest by Jim C. Hines. It looks like a pretty light read, and Jig the Goblin was the last Hines series still on my to-read shelf. After I am done with the series... well, The Broken Eye should be (nearly?) out and I'll be content.

I am half having a panic attack here, unable to choose what to read...

Lucky kids

You don't. Not in the beginning.

Finished Servant of the Crown and Hope's End. Reading The Girl of Hrusch Avenue now. Man, novellas and short stories are so... relaxing! I love epic fantasy, and it will probably always be my favorite genre, but it can be taxing sometimes, especially if it's only decent. Novellas can be so refreshing.

They don't have clear borders, yes, but if I enter Shadesmar from somewhere inside Alethkar (i.e. the Sea of Lost Lights), I wouldn't expect to find myself inside the Nexus of Truth. This is more likely, as nexus implies a center or convergence of power.

Could be magic. Something similar to Hoid's ability to navigate to interesting points in space and time, but not about spacetime travel, but about finding objects of interest and/or significance.

My problem here is that the nexus are actual locations in Shadesmar - you can point to a map and say "here, this is the Nexus of Truth." And Surgebinders of those three orders can enter the Cognitive Realm from anywhere - and end up in pretty much the same place, but on the other side.

In my experience, the fact that some people work in fields previously assumed to be handled by magic doesn't disprove the assumption - I thought software was magic before I starting creating it, and I am still convinced it's magic. Only of a much darker king, potentially involving baby and / or virgin sacrifices (I don't know these for a fact, I am not yet worthy of such power).

Your company doesn't start the week with a bear hunt? That must be awfully boring...

@Gamma Fiend, Tom Bombadill doesn't really serve any significant purpose in the story. In fact, while amusing, he might be hurting the story a little bit, as his main role is to 1) goof around, and 2) show up unexpectedly, Mary-Sue-ing the hobbits out of danger. This being said, I believe he was in the original draft of the script, but Peter Jackson cut him off because of similar reasons. Also, budget and time. Anyway, this is not a discussion we should be having in this thread (if you were planning to discuss). On topic, I finished Forsworn and am about halfway through Servant of the Crown. I do like the latter much better - and since the former is not bad at all, that's saying something. Also, if for some odd reason you've been paying attention to my reviews / comments about Promise of Blood and The Crimson Campaign, you might remember that I was mildly dissatisfied with both the lack of a female protagonist, and the lack of detail around Tamas and Erika's relationship; well, it looks like the short stories take care of both of those issues for me, which is all sorts of awesomesauce.

I like this because of the wording. The previous responses to similar questions weren't too clear to me, but this is good. I have to wonder though, where would the Spiritual Realm fit in all this? I don't think the "middle afterlife" is it, but it sounds like it might be a part of it (e.g. there are beings native to the Spiritual Realm, similarly to how spren are native to the Cognitive one, and then there are the souls of the dead who haven't yet moved to the "real afterlife"). Also. Jasnah the Explorer.

Software Engineer. Livin' the corporate life.

Delicious answers... The stuff about the Surges and their natural pairing , and especially the bit about the "God" Surges makes me wonder whether the Radiants cover all the Surges, or if there are some missing from the Double Eye. Progression and Adhesion could be considered to be such because they (or the spren associated with them) are 100% Honor or Cultivation. It would make sense, I think. Allomancer Jak - do we know what the short story is (going to be)?

Finished Mage's Blood by David Hair last night. It started off a little shaky, but eventually it picked up and ended up being a pretty solid book overall. I am actually not sure what to pick up next. Goblin Quest (and then the sequels) is one option, so I can finally have read everything by Jim C. Hines. Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana is another option - but that's starting a new author, and I will feel obliged to read everything by him. Prince of Thorns and Prince of Fools are very much in the same boat as Gavriel Kay, while Brian McClellan's short stories are in Jim C. Hines' boat - stuff I want to read so I mark a given author as completed. EDIT: I decided on Brian McClellan's short stories.

Well, what is it that you believe then?

I believe this was asked and got a "no" for an answer.

Oh, right. I remember that was an option too. I figured I could always ask him to answer something during a signing. Plus, I will probably see him at a signing before the other three, so there's that too... But on topic.I think I can buy the "Stormfather is Tanavast's cognitive shadow" theory. It makes sense and it fits the facts. My only hesitation comes from how unexplored cognitive shadows are through the published Cosmere novels. Would Brandon use the Stormfather, who describes himself as a Honor's spren to Dalinar, as a means to introduce the concept? My concern comes from how similar cognitive shadows and spren are - so putting both in the same book, and having the first shadow we encounter describe himself as a spren - even though that might be just for Dalinar's sake - might be... I don't know, confusing to anyone not lurking around the 17th Shard. Am I making sense here? My counter-argument is meta, I guess.

When I was ordering my copy, the website (or the blog?) said that I can't have both signatures (from all the authors) and personalization...

He still namedrops things like Adonalsium and Cosmere though.

Not cut off, just difficult to get to (and from?). The Cognitive Realm, which seems like the only / most popular way of worldhopping is dangerous there. Very dangerous.

If Brandon is Jasnah, I wouldn't complain.

If you haven't heard about it, Google is launching / testing its own domain registration service, creatively called Google Domains. Some of the more common domains are probably a little more expensive than what the services currently out there offer, but what caught my eye was the more... custom domains. Such as .company, .photography, or .guru (to name a few). It's an invite-only test for now, but I figured anyone (from the staff?) has been thinking about registering a new Brandon-related domain, either for a separate site, or for forwarding purposes, I'd throw the offer to serve as an intermediary. For example, here's what's available when I search for "cosmere." A disclaimer though - when I searched for "17th Shard" the .com domain (i.e. this site) showed up as available, so I don't know what's up with that...