Happy New Year, everyone! Brandon here, thanking you once again for supporting my writing. You’re getting this because you signed up for the newsletter on my website. We send around three or four of these a year. If you’d rather not get the letter, just send a reply asking to unsubscribe.

In this newsletter:

• Introduction
• Firefight is out!
• Legion: Skin Deep (in case you missed it)
• Altered Perceptions
• Welcome Adam to the team
• Conventions and tours for this year
• Writing Excuses Master Class
• Newsletter exclusive contest
• Newsletter exclusive preview

Introduction

Last year was a pretty crazy one. As I wrote in my State of the Sanderson blog post (look here if you missed it), I’m worried that I’m touring too much. That said, it was exciting to get to meet so many of you around the world.

I’ve got some tours and convention appearances coming up this year as well. You’ll find those below, as well as some discussion of what’s happening around here at Dragonsteel headquarters. (Also known as my basement.) However, if you’re just here for the sneak peek, look to the bottom of the newsletter. I’ve pasted the first chapter of a certain long-awaited sequel.

Just let me reiterate here, however, my appreciation for you all. Over twenty years ago now, I got this crazy idea for an interconnected fantasy universe called the Cosmere, with an intricate timeline and dozens of stories happening on a multitude of planets, all building toward epic crossovers.

I thought back then that my dream of three dozen books all linked together into a massive uber-series was something no publisher or group of readers would ever go for. My first attempts to explain it to my editor were met with stunned silence, followed by the wisecrack, “Well, you certainly will never be accused of thinking too small, Brandon.”

Now that idea—once a farfetched dream—is actually coming together, and better than I could have hoped.

You make all of this possible. My dreams become reality because of you. You have my most sincere thanks.

Firefight is out!

Tuesday, January 6th, was launch day for my newest novel, Firefight (in the UK/Australia it’s Thursday, January 8th). This is the sequel to Steelheart, which is in turn a near-future science fiction / superhero mashup about a world where people start gaining super powers, but those powers corrupt the people who gain them.

As many of you already know, release week is the most important week of a book’s life. One oddity of the entertainment business is that week one often determines the entire life of the project. Whether it be a film, a book, or an album, the first week usually becomes a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy to reflect future sales.

I hope you all will take the time to check it out—or, if you haven’t read Steelheart, to look into that book. Sample chapters for both novels are just below.

If you liked Mistborn, I think you’ll like Steelheart as well, as they share a lot of stylistic choices. Also, I’ll be touring for Firefight these next three weeks or so. Come see me for a chance to get a die-cut figure from the books, like the one I did for Szeth on my Words of Radiance tour! (Or look below in this newsletter for a chance to win some sent to you in the mail.)

• Steelheart sample chapters
• Firefight sample chapters

Legion: Skin Deep

Also, speaking of stories that have come out: just in case you missed it, I released a second Stephen Leeds novella a couple months ago, and this is the first newsletter since that time.

Though we do release limited edition print versions of these stories, they’re mostly intended to be ebooks. This is me experimenting with style as I read and incorporate other genres into my work, something I think is essential for a writer to grow. (And extra important in the types of epic fantasies I like to write, which require intertwining plots that make use of a variety of narrative structures.)

In this case, I was looking into contemporary detective narratives, and decided to mix that with one of my screwy Brandon magic systems. Stephen Leeds has a bizarre kind of schizophrenia (maybe) where his hallucinations help him solve problems. They’re fun, short reads, and are available on a variety of digital platforms.

• Legion sample chapters
• Legion: Skin Deep sample chapters

Altered Perceptions anthology

In the May 2014 newsletter I spoke about the Altered Perceptions IndieGoGo campaign to benefit Robison Wells, who was crippled by debt caused by his mental illnesses. The campaign was successful, and backers should have received all or most of their perks by now. For those who weren’t involved in the campaign, the resulting anthology is available as an ebook. Sales of this ebook edition will go to charity, with 90% of the net proceeds benefiting Bring Change 2 Mind. The ebook is sold by the Waygate Foundation by arrangement with Fearful Symmetry.

My contribution to the anthology is six chapters from the original 2002 version of The Way of Kings, where Kaladin made a choice opposite the one he makes in the completely rewritten published novel.

For more information, see this page.

Welcoming Adam to the team

We’ve added another employee here at Dragonsteel, Adam Horne. It’s kind of ridiculous that a guy writing books needs so many employees, but we like to do weird things like release con-exclusive books and have die-cut figures to give away. I’ve kept Isaac and Peter so busy working on things like the Writing Excuses anthology and promotional material, that I felt it was time to hire someone whose entire job was to be my executive assistant. (Or, as my wife calls it, “executive minion.”)

Adam was someone we met through my sister, and he’s always impressed me with his “go do it” attitude. So far, he’s been awesome. You might see him joining me at conventions or on tours in the future, making certain I don’t get lost writing a book in my hotel when I’m supposed to be going to a signing or some such.

Just a quick rundown, then, here is “Team Sanderson” as it stands right now:

• Brandon Sanderson: Yours truly, and writer of all the things.
• Emily Sanderson: Business Manager and executive president in charge of making Brandon get his hair cut.
• Peter Ahlstrom: Vice President and Editorial Manager. He does things like maintain continuity for my books, run beta and gamma reads, and edit stuff like this here newsletter. He also watches my social media, where you might see him responding to people’s questions when I can’t get to them.
• Kara Stewart: CFO/Shipping Manager. Kara runs the store on our website, and comes up with most of the promotions and many of items we put up for sale. If your order wanders off, she’s the one to talk to.
• Isaac Stewart: Art Director. Isaac is the brilliant cartographer who did the maps for Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive, and he also manages the other art projects we do. (Which are multitude these days.)
• Adam Horne: Brandon’s Executive Assistant. He basically does whatever we need him to. (And does it very well.)

A big operation, all things considered, particularly when you add Peter’s wife Karen (who keeps my internal wiki sorted part-time) or Emily’s assistant Kathy. The whole idea is that anything I don’t have to do we give to someone else, so I can be writing. I think this is a good team, though, and I feel we’ve settled into the number of people we’re going to have for the near future. But who knows?

Conventions and tours for this year

I should be doing two tours in the United States this year—one right now for Firefight, and another for Shadows of Self (the new Mistborn book) in October. (If you’re wondering, Stormlight 3 comes in 2016.)

The Firefight tour is set, and that is posted just below. In addition, I’ll be doing international events in Taiwan in February and Sharjah (in the United Arab Emirates) in April.

Other North American convention appearances are listed below. For most, we don’t yet have details on the specific events I’m doing at the convention—so watch coppermind.brandonsanderson.com/events for details as they become available. Those of you who listed a city for us when you sent your newsletter request should get an email a few days before I attend a convention or do a signing near you. If you didn’t list a city, you can reply to the newsletter and let us know.

Firefight tour

Wednesday, January 7: Seattle
Thursday, January 8: Miami
Friday, January 16: Portland, OR
Saturday, January 17: Bay Area, CA
Tuesday, January 20: San Diego
Wednesday, January 21: Phoenix
Friday, January 23: Houston
Saturday, January 24: Atlanta (sort of)
Monday, January 26: Lexington, KY
Tuesday, January 27: Philadelphia
Wednesday, January 28: Boston
Saturday, February 21-ish: Chicago (details TBA)

Convention appearances

January 31: Salt Lake Comic Con FanXperience
February 13–16: Taipei International Book Exhibition
April 2–5: Minicon 50, Minneapolis
April 22–May 2: Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival, United Arab Emirates
May 22–24: ConQuest 46, Kansas City
August 19–23: Sasquan, Worldcon 73, Spokane
September 4–7: Dragon Con, Atlanta (tentative, I might end up not going)
November 13-14: YALLFest, Charleston (also tentative!)

Writing Excuses Master Class

Writing Excuses is on its tenth season! During that time, we’ve won a Hugo Award and released our own anthology, but for Season Ten, we wanted to try something new. We visualized the episodes this year taking a slightly different format, encompassing a year-long master class in writing a story.

So, instead of jumping topics in our usual random fashion, this year we’re going to be picking a general topic (like prewriting) and digging into it for an entire month. (Though one week out of the month we still intend to do a “wildcard” episode to shake things up.) The idea is that someone who wants to write a book, but doesn’t know where to start, could pick up this 52-week course and use it as a guide.

So if you’ve never listened to Writing Excuses, and you have a hankering to write a story of your own, starting now makes for an excellent entrance point to the podcast. Just go to the website and hit play!

Newsletter exclusive contest

As I mentioned above, I’m giving out die-cut character cards as part of my Firefight tour. (You can see a photo of them in this blog post.) I want to give newsletter subscribers a chance to get some, so: Surprise! You were all entered into a contest. Here are the first 5 winners, chosen randomly from subscribers:

• Scott McVey
• Keith Luck
• Leland Hart
• Amanda Wan
• Mark Buckley

My assistant will contact you for shipping information.

Everyone else on this mailing list also gets another chance to win. Between right now and the end of Sunday, January 11th, follow these steps:

1. Take a photo of yourself holding Firefight at your favorite bookstore.
2. Post the photo on Facebook with a caption like “Here I am holding Firefight by Brandon Sanderson at my favorite bookstore, BOOKSTORE NAME.”
3. Tag the bookstore’s Facebook page (if one exists, and if that’s possible) as well as tagging me (facebook.com/BrandSanderson — if you have trouble tagging me, send a message to my assistant Peter, facebook.com/ahlstrom.peter and he will fix this).
4. Mark your photo public.
5. Don’t mention that you’re doing this for a contest or that you want to win character cards. (Unless you win—then you can mention it!)

On Monday, January 12th, Peter will randomly select 5 winners from among contest entrants, and then he will message you asking for your shipping address (anywhere in the world). The message might get sorted into your “Other” folder on Facebook, so be sure to check that folder on Monday.

Good luck! There will be a few other ways for people to get the die-cut cards, but this particular method is exclusive to newsletter subscribers.

Newsletter exclusive preview

Fiction for you! Note: this is a rough draft, and it could change substantially before it’s released! Thanks so much for subscribing, and have a wonderful new year!

Brandon

(The preview was just for newsletter subscribers. Sign up for free.)

Hey, all. Brandon here with a quick newsletter. I’ll be heading out to the Writing Excuses retreat very soon, and after that will be at New York Comic Con. But before I go, I wanted to mention a few books to keep your eyes out for. (And at the end, there’s a surprise for you, as thanks for being on the mailing list.)

Paperback of Steelheart is out!

First item of business is the Steelheart paperback, which launched this past week with brand-new cover art. I’m very excited about this book, and the sequel is coming out in January, so I hope you’ll give it a look if you haven’t already.

Here’s the blurb:

There are no heroes.

Every single person who manifested powers—we call them Epics—turned out to be evil.

Here, in the city once known as Chicago, an extraordinarily powerful Epic declared himself Emperor. Steelheart has the strength of ten men and can control the elements. It is said no bullet can harm him, no sword can split his skin, no explosion can burn him. He is invincible.

It has been ten years. We live our lives as best we can. Nobody fights back . . . nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans who spend their lives studying powerful Epics, finding their weaknesses, then assassinating them.

My name is David Charleston. I’m not one of the Reckoners, but I intend to join them. I have something they need. Something precious, something incredible. Not an object, but an experience. I know his secret.

I’ve seen Steelheart bleed.

And here’s a link to sample chapters. Give the prologue a read if you’re curious. It stands pretty well on its own!

The Way of Kings is free in ebook in the US!

If you missed the news, The Way of Kings is free as part of a promotion on iBooks in the US for the launch of iOS 8. From now until the end of the year, you can download it completely free in iBooks on your iOS device or a Mac, or just using iTunes even on a Windows computer. And, not to be outdone, Amazon price-matched it for the Kindle in the US, though I’m not sure how long that will last. (Do note also that the book is DRM-free, so if you download it from either place, you should be able to read it on a variety of devices—or even your desktop computer.)

This is pretty awesome, so go grab a book before it goes back to regular price! And if you don’t mind sharing the link with your friends, I’d appreciate it. I figure with Book Three in the works (no release date yet, sorry), the more people who read the first, the better!

A Cosmere story, “Sixth of the Dusk,” in Shadows Beneath

If you follow my blog and social media feeds you heard about this a couple of months ago, but I’ve released an anthology with the Writing Excuses crew (Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells) called Shadows Beneath. It includes four pieces of short fiction, as well as:

• Transcripts of the original brainstorming sessions for each story, recorded on Writing Excuses. (You can listen to them here.)
• The first draft of every story, for comparison purposes to the final draft.
• Transcripts of workshopping sessions we did for each story. (These also ran as episodes of Writing Excuses here.)
• A special “visual changes” version of each story, where we compared the first draft with the last one and put a strikethrough on each word deleted and an underline on each word added. (This will allow you to directly see the editing process of each writer.)
• Plenty of other bonus features for each story, including essays on writing and the editing process, other drafts, and other surprises.

If you are a writer or know someone who wants to become one, or if you just love to see things behind the scenes, I can’t think of another resource like this one. In this anthology you can see the step-by-step process of four different writers and follow the journey from ideas to polished works. But even if you aren’t a writer, this collection has four amazing stories that are well worth the value. (And check out the cover by Julie Dillon, who won a Hugo Award this year for her artwork.)

My story in the anthology is a novella set in the Cosmere, the universe shared by Mistborn, the Stormlight Archive, Warbreaker, Elantris, and the novellas The Emperor’s Soul and “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell.” This new novella, “Sixth of the Dusk,” takes place on a previously unseen planet where people use birds to grant them magical talents, and a solitary island trapper discovers a plot to destroy his way of life—and maybe his entire culture. This story does some things I’ve been playing around with for a while, so I hope you’ll check it out. You can read an excerpt here.

Legion: Skin Deep preorder

Final item of books-coming-out business is Legion: Skin Deep. This is my second novella in a sequence about Stephen Leeds, a man with a very strange brain. This is a bit of a departure for me, a contemporary thriller instead of a fantasy novel, but each story still has its fill of Sanderson craziness.

The first one is a few bucks for digital download, and the second one (which is twice as long) has a limited edition signed leatherbound hardcover for sale on the publisher’s website. It should be released in November, and there will also be a cheap ebook edition released about the same time. (And if you buy the hardcover directly from Subterranean, you get the ebook for free.)

For those wondering, yes, there will be a non-limited-edition version of the hardcover coming probably next year sometime, after the limited edition sells out. We’re not sure when that will be, but it will be coming. (And the first book will go back into print relatively soon, so stay away from the two-hundred-dollar copies on eBay.)

You can read an excerpt of the first book here, and the beginning of the second book is here.

Bonus for newsletter readers!

I want to start adding in little scenes of what I’m working on for mailing list members, as a thank you for letting me email you. So thanks! The following is a scene from Stormlight Three. Yes, it has big spoilers for Words of Radiance, so I suggest not continuing further until you’ve read that book!

Also, do be aware that the chapter is very rough, and hasn’t seen an editor’s eyes (or even had a second look-through by me). So it’s bound to have plenty of errors, and might transform dramatically before it’s in the finished book.

Still, I hope you enjoy it—and as always, thanks for reading!

Brandon

(The preview chapter was an exclusive for newsletter subscribers. Sign up here.)

Hey, all! Brandon here. It’s been a few months since the release of Words of Radiance, and the book was a smash success. Thank you all for your continued support and enthusiasm.

I’m unlikely to tour again until early next year, so I wanted to drop you all a newsletter and let you know what I have going on in the next six months or so.

In This Newsletter

• Convention Appearances
• Writing Excuses Anthology
• Legion 2
• Firefight
• Stormlight 3
• Altered Perceptions Anthology

Convention Appearances

I’ll be attending a few conventions the remainder of this year, starting off with this weekend. I hope to see you at one of them! See my events calendar for details.

Baltimore: May 23–26, Balticon
I’m doing a blog post about my Balticon schedule on Thursday, so if you’re local, check it out!

Salt Lake City: July 3–6, Westercon
This convention will also feature the release of the Writing Excuses Anthology. See below.

Spain: July 30–August 2, Celsius 232 in Avilés
This is my one stop in continental Europe for the year.

London: August 4–6
Details of my UK appearances are still being worked out, but these are the dates I’ll be there. Check my calendar for the locations and times as August approaches.

Calgary: August 8–10, When Words Collide
I’ve almost gotten to Calgary once before, but this time you won’t be able to avoid me.

Salt Lake City: September 4–6, Salt Lake Comic Con
I’m not sure yet which days of the convention I’ll be there. Possibly just one day. Details are subject to change, and will firm up as the convention approaches.

Writing Excuses Anthology

I haven’t mentioned this anywhere else yet, but the newsletter gets a sneak peek. We’ll be debuting something cool at Westercon—an anthology collecting the stories we at Writing Excuses brainstormed on air a while back. My contribution to the anthology is a Cosmere novella titled “Sixth of the Dusk,” and you can read a preview here. Aside from being released in hardcover, the anthology will also be available as an ebook. More news on this is coming in June!

Legion 2

Revisions aren’t done yet, but Legion: Skin Deep is finished and I expect the book to come out later this year. (If you haven’t read the first Legion yet, you might want to hold off on grabbing a copy until June, as we should be running it as part of a StoryBundle where you can grab it and other books for a discount. Look for an announcement on my website on June 18th.)

Firefight

The release date for the Steelheart sequel is January 6th. I’ve finished the second draft and have feedback from my editor on the whole book. The book turned out really, really well, but there are some issues with the ending that still need to be fixed. I expect to be done with the next draft in June, and then it will start going into production. You can preorder Firefight here.

Stormlight Three

I know that the sequel to Words of Radiance is the book that many of you want most to hear about. I plan to start writing it late this summer, and you can watch the progress bars on my website as I do so! You shouldn’t have to wait nearly as long for book three as you did for book two.

Altered Perceptions Anthology

While you’re waiting for Stormlight Three, you’ll be able to read five chapters from the original version of The Way of Kings that I wrote back in 2003. They’re very different from the published novel. On tour, I mentioned that originally Kaladin made a very big decision in the first version of the book that took him in a completely different direction.

You also may want to in Stormlight Three yourself—to have your name used for a member of Bridge Four or someone else in another of my worlds. For three generous people, this will be possible. Read on.

What Is Altered Perceptions?

The Altered Perceptions anthology will collect “altered” versions of published stories—deleted scenes, alternate endings, original concept chapters, and that sort of thing. This anthology is where you’ll be able to find the five chapters of the original version of The Way of Kings. You can see a brief preview at the end of this newsletter.

These chapters are quite fun, as I consider what happened in The Way of Kings Prime (as I now call it) to be an “alternate reality” version of the events in the published books. The characters are almost all exactly the same people, but their backstories are different, and that has transformed who they are and how they react to the world around them. Roshar is similar, yet wildly different, as this was before I brought in the spren as a major world element.

If you’re a fan of the Stormlight Archive, I think you’ll find these chapters quite interesting. The anthology also includes a lot of very cool scenes, chapters, and stories from awesome authors, so please check it out.

Why Are We Doing It?

This anthology was my idea, conceived to benefit my friend Robison Wells, a writer who has nearly been crushed by the weight of severe and unexpected mental illness. The money will help him pay his debts, which came upon him as a result of losing his job following the advent of his difficulties. They came upon him quite unexpectedly, and his story serves as a reminder to all of us that mental illness—though something we speak about far less often—can come upon a person as unexpectedly as cancer or heart disease.

Rob is a great guy, and a great member of my local writing community. He has published several novels nationally, all of which are quite good, and was the primary force behind the founding of the Whitney Awards, created to honor LDS writers. He’s also the brother of Dan Wells, my podcasting buddy.

The anthology is being launched via an IndieGoGo campaign, which you can read more about here. There’s also a video with a bit more from Rob on his condition, and I talk about the idea for the anthology at around the 3:09 mark. As for what you get for contributing to the campaign, a simple ten bucks will get you the ebook of every contribution to the anthology, DRM-free, to be used on any platform you desire. However, there are also other cool things up for grabs. (Critiques, dinners, signed editions, and Larry Correia blowing things up with a big gun. Three truly generous donors will also be able to have their names appear in one of my future books. See here for details.)

Rob has been spectacular at getting a handle on his illness and learning to manage it. He has written new books and has them on submission. We’re confident that if we can help him dig out from underneath some of this debt, he will be able to cope long-term. We hope that you’ll be interested enough in this project to lend a hand and get something cool in return.

The IndieGoGo funding campaign ends in three days, and it’s still short of its goal. The anthology will be released and all perks will be delivered even if the goal isn’t met, but the funding goal is an accurate measure of what will dig Rob out of his current hole.

Local Utah television station KSL put an article about the anthology on their website today. Check it out.

And now, enjoy the following preview of the 27,000 words from the first version of The Way of Kings that will be included in the anthology.

Brandon

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If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

This is Brandon, and welcome to my newsletter.

1. Words of Radiance Is Out!
2. My Essay on Epic Fantasy
3. Stormlight Merchandise
4. Words of Radiance Book Tour and Worldwide Conventions
5. The Shardhunt

Words of Radiance Is Out!

At long last, Words of Radiance (book two in the Stormlight Archive) is out today in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook. (Note: the UK/Commonwealth edition comes out on Thursday.) I am exceptionally proud of this book, and hope that you’ll all check it out. I worked hard to give you as much value for your money as possible, and am thrilled with how this series is turning out. It’s my baby, the thing I’ve worked on since my youth, and to finally have it available for everyone to read is supremely satisfying.

I’m going to start work on book three later in the year, so the next volume shouldn’t have nearly the wait that this book did. Thank you all for sticking with me and waiting (with relative patience) until I was able to get back to Dalinar, Kaladin, Shallan, and company.

My Essay on Epic Fantasy

In celebration of the book launch, I wrote a long essay about the epic fantasy genre and Words of Radiance in particular. It’s posted over on Tor.com, so I’ll just drop a link for you here. If you’ve wondered why the books are so long, this digs into that question a little bit. Here’s an excerpt:

If you can’t tell, I love epic fantasy. I have nothing against the shorter forms of fiction—indeed, I have a blast reading stories of all sizes. But epic fantasy holds that first and most important piece of my heart, as it was the genre that made me into a reader, and that in turn made me a writer. It is hard to define myself without epic fantasy.

So, I find myself in an odd place when the genre is mocked. Most of that mockery is good natured—the genre’s thick pagecounts and sometimes ponderous leanings do paint a large target. We comment about “doorstoppers,” warn people not to drop the novels around any small pets, and joke about authors being paid by the word. Some people call the books “fat fantasies with maps” as if to reduce everything the genre seeks to accomplish to the thing you often find on page one.

Read the rest.

Stormlight Merchandise

With the release of Words of Radiance, my store manager Kara (I talked a bit about her in my last newsletter) has put up some new Stormlight merchandise. There are new T-shirts with the Stormlight Archive symbol and the Bridge Four glyphs, and there are awesome beanies with Kaladin’s slave brands on them. Kara talks more about those here.

And as always, the Brandon Sanderson store sells signed books like the Emperor’s Soul hardcover, the “Defending Elysium”/“Firstborn” double, and A Memory of Light.

Words of Radiance Book Tour and Worldwide Conventions

My book tour started last night with the midnight release at the BYU bookstore. Over the next three weeks I’ll be visiting the following areas:

• Tue, Mar 4: San Diego
• Wed, Mar 5: Los Angeles
• Thu, Mar 6: Bay Area
• Fri, Mar 7: Portland OR
• Sat, Mar 8: Seattle
• Tue, Mar 11: Houston
• Thu, Mar 13: Omaha
• Fri, Mar 14: Phoenix
• Sat, Mar 15: Tucson
• Tue, Mar 18: Lexington KY
• Wed, Mar 19: Dayton
• Thu, Mar 20: Washington DC
• Fri, Mar 21: Philadelphia
• Sat, Mar 22: Chicago & Milwaukee

Some of the signings are ticketed events, meaning the store requires you to buy the book there in order to get it signed. If your nearest signing isn’t for a few days and you want to read the book ahead of time, you can buy it at the store today and save your receipt for the signing itself. Check each signing’s details to see if it’s a ticketed event.

We’ll be following my standard signing protocol: three books personalized your first time through the line, and then if you want more, please wait until the end. (Or, have three personalized your first time through, and get the rest just signed.)

I should do a reading/Q&A at the beginning of most signings. This lasts about 45 minutes, and then I sit down and sign. I have never left a store with people still in line, so sometimes these things go late—but not all bookstores leave their doors unlocked the entire time. So if you’re planning to come late, you might want to call ahead and find out when the store closes.

The length of time I stay depends entirely on how many people are in line. During the Steelheart tour, there were nights I got done as early as 9:00 p.m.—and other nights where I didn’t finish until almost 1:00 a.m.

For those of you in Europe, I will be visiting in the summer. My main destination will be Celsius 232 in Spain, where I’ll be a guest. I also will be signing in London for certain in the days following the convention in Spain. Other dates are a possibility, but I’m not sure on the schedule, so if you really want to see me, at least you know two places where I’ll be.

I also haven’t forgotten Canada. I’ll be in Calgary in August, for the When Words Collide convention.

Other conventions I’m attending this year are JordanCon in Atlanta in April, Salt Lake City Comic Con FanXPerience in April, Balticon in Baltimore in May, and Westercon in Salt Lake City in July.

The Shardhunt

As I did last year with the Steelheart tour, I’m doing a little something extra where people find codes and type them into my website to unlock bonus content. But unlike last year, this time all the unlockables are publicly viewable—you don’t need any code just to see the content.

I’m calling it the Shardhunt, and what you’re looking for are die-cut plastic cards of Szeth that you can punch out and stand up like a miniature figurine. Tor posted a picture of the Szeth card here.

The first new unlockable hasn’t been revealed yet, but five unlockables from the last year’s Steelhunt are up, including two chapters from Shadows of Self—the forthcoming sequel to The Alloy of Law—and a sample of Legion: Skin Deep. Check them out here.

I’ll be bringing Szeth cards with me to my signings, and I’ll also hide them in airport bookstores and ship many of them to bookstores that I’m not getting anywhere near on my tour. If you are a bookseller and want some of the Szeth cards to hide in your books, let me know!

As always, thank you all for your support. I get to do what I love because you all support me in it. People often ask me why I’m so productive; it’s in part because of the debt I feel to you all. Thank you.

Brandon Sanderson
3/4/2014

Hey, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter this time around. Just wanted to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the Sanderverse these days.

Contents

• Steelheart is out today!
• Words of Radiance progress
• Steelheart Tour and Release Party
• Steelhunt and Blog Posts
• Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson
• The Emperor’s Soul won a Hugo Award!
• Steelheart Prologue

Steelheart is out today!

The big news is, of course, the release of Steelheart today. It’s the story of a young man who wants to assassinate the emperor of Chicago. I really think you’ll enjoy it. For some background on why I wrote the book, feel free to see this blog post. However, if you want the short pitch, think of the book like this:

Sanderson + postapocalyptic + dark superheroes

And lo, it is awesome.

For my last few book releases, I haven’t worried about early sales. Things like the Wheel of Time and The Alloy of Law had innate, already built-in fanbases. However, Steelheart is an unknown factor, and the publisher has shown a lot of faith in me as a writer. Our print run is enormous, and you should be able to find the book in a lot of non-traditional markets. Not just B&N and your local independent bookseller, but Target, Wal-Mart, and supermarkets.

I’m thrilled, but I’m also aware that if the book doesn’t sell for some reason, it’s going to be a very, very big issue. So if you have the inclination to check it out, I’d really appreciate it. We’ve included the prologue at the bottom of this newsletter. As always, first-week sales are very important for books—that determines how much of a push the book will get in stores, and how many copies they’ll reorder. If you’ve liked my books in the past, I hope that you’ll look into this one. Do note that in most stores, this book will be shelved in the teen section.

Words of Radiance progress

Of course, the other big thing I’m working on is the sequel to The Way of Kings. I’m almost through with the third, and most difficult, edit of the book. Once I get this one done, it should be pretty smooth sailing for the book. (Though I’ll have to be doing revisions as I tour this week, which is going to make for a busy time.)

The book stands at almost exactly the same length as the first volume, despite my (somewhat sincere) attempts at making it shorter. Release date is set right now for early March. We played with both November this year and January next year before finally settling on March, just to make sure I had enough time for revisions.

I realize this book has been a long time coming. My dedication to finishing the Wheel of Time with minimal delays meant that I had to push off Stormlight for a few years. Now that I’m done with Randland, you can expect Stormlight books to come way more regularly than they have so far. I appreciate your patience.

For fun goodies, go to this link for some fan reports of readings I’ve done of the book so far. In addition, I will be showing off a very large section of the book in the Steelhunt I’ll talk about below.

Steelheart Tour and Release Party

Because Steelheart is targeted partially at older teens, as well as my normal audience, we decided to do our release party for this one as an afternoon event instead of a midnight one. I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Orem, UT on Tuesday from 5:00 to 8:00 or possibly longer. Please consider attending if you live locally! All books will be pre-signed and numbered, so you can pop in, grab one, and go without needing to wait in line unless you want a personalization.

In addition, I’ll be doing a full tour for the book! Drop by and see me at the following events:

• Orem – Barnes & Noble – Tue, Sep 24 5:00 p.m.
• Salt Lake – King’s English @ 15th St. Gallery – Wed, Sep 25 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Houston – Murder by the Book – Fri, Sep 27 6:30 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Austin Teen Book Festival – Sat, Sep 28 8:30 a.m.
• Chicago Area (Naperville) – Anderson’s – Tue, Oct 01 7:00 p.m.
• Cincinnati – Joseph-Beth – Wed, Oct 02 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Dayton Area – Books & Co. – Thu, Oct 03 7:00 p.m.
• Greenfield, WI – Greenfield High – Fri, Oct 04 1:00 p.m. (Greenfield students only)
• Milwaukee – Boswell Book – Fri, Oct 04 7:00 p.m.
• Chicago Area (Wheeling) – Indian Trails Library – Sat, Oct 05 2:00 p.m.
• Happy Valley, OR – Fred Meyer – Mon, Oct 07 6:00 p.m. (Signing only; no group Q&A)
• Portland Area (Beaverton) – Powell’s – Tue, Oct 08 7:00 p.m.
• Los Angeles – Barnes & Noble The Grove – Wed, Oct 09 7:00 p.m.
• Bay Area (Mountain View) – Books Inc. – Fri, Oct 11 7:00 p.m.
• Bay Area (El Cerrito) – Barnes & Noble – Sat, Oct 12 5:00 p.m.
• Seattle – UBooks@UTemple Church – Mon, Oct 14 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Fort Lewis, WA – AAFES – Tue, Oct 15 4:00 p.m. (Military ID required!)
• San Diego – Mysterious Galaxy – Wed, Oct 16 7:00 p.m.
• West Jordan – Barnes & Noble Jordan Landing– Sat, Oct 19 7:00 p.m.
• New York – 92nd St. Y – Sat, Nov 16 3:00 p.m. (Ticketed event with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner)

For details please see the full event listings on my site.

Steelhunt and Blog Posts

I will be doing a really cool promotion for Steeheart, involving hidden prizes in books and codes that let you look at exclusive content on my website. Please have a look at yesterday’s blog post if you’re interested.

If you weren’t involved when I did things like this for the Wheel of Time, basically I’ll be hiding codes in books all across the country (and even other countries, if I can manage it).

In addition, I’ll be doing blog posts frequently over the next few weeks, dealing with wide variety of topics. With the Words of Radiance revision (hopefully) done, I’ll be able to take a little time to write out some posts that have been rattling around in my head forever—some dealing with the Wheel of Time, others dealing with writing. So stop in, check out the new coppermind.brandonsanderson.com website, and hopefully find something of interest to you.

Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson

Speaking of the new website, I’ve recently (well, it’s been almost six months now) hired Isaac and Kara Stewart as employees for Dragonsteel Entertainment, my company. They join Peter Ahlstrom, who has been working here since just after I started on the Wheel of Time.

You might recognize Isaac as the one who has been doing maps and interior artwork for my books since Mistborn. He is the brilliant artist behind most of the maps and icons in my books, including the colorful Stormlight endpages. He also holds the distinction of being the person who set me and Emily up on our first blind date.

Isaac will be acting as a personal assistant to me, helping me get tasks done, while also working on artwork for us. So you might see him at conventions with me in the future.

Kara, Isaac’s wife, is an organizational genius, and has agreed to come on and take over the coppermind.brandonsanderson.com store and warehouse. (AKA my garage.) She had been running the Inkwing store, which sold T-shirts based on my work, and we figured it was best to just consolidate that all into one. If you order signed books from my store, you should be getting them more quickly and efficiently now, with Kara overseeing the process.

The Emperor’s Soul wins a Hugo Award!

And finally, I want to mention that my novella The Emperor’s Soul took home the Hugo—science fiction and fantasy’s top award—earlier this month. I did a long blog post on the topic that I’d draw your attention toward.

With the last book of the Wheel of Time out, Steelheart launching, the Hugo Award, and the birth of my third son (back in January), this has been a pretty incredible year. I’m not sure how we’ll ever top it, but I do want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported me in my writing.

Ten years ago, I sold Elantris to Tor. (We’re approaching the exact anniversary of that contract being signed.) If I had been told what the next decade would bring, I think it would have sent me into fits of anxiety. Having lived through it, I’m a little surprised I can even remember my own name, so much has been going on.

At the core of it all, though, I get to tell stories for a living. That is all I ever really wanted; everything else is icing.

Thank you so much for reading, and allowing me to live my dreams.

Brandon Sanderson

9/24/2013

The Steelheart Prologue is here.

There are worldwide links to buy Steelheart here.

In this newsletter:

1. The Rithmatist is out!
2. The Rithmatist Tour
3. Steelheart is coming in September. (Prologue going live Thursday!)
4. Baby Melvin is here, and growing up too quickly
5. Words of Radiance (Stormlight 2) update

From Brandon. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

THE RITHMATIST IS OUT!

Hey, guys and gals! A few things to update you on. The first is the release of my new book, THE RITHMATIST. Though this is being marketed as a Young Adult book (and I hope teens love it) I really think everyone who enjoys my books will like this one. I’ve done an extended blog post on it, but the relevant part is the pitch:

Imagine a world where people duel using a magical, StarCraft-like system where one draws units and structures in chalk. Those come to life once you complete them, though they remain two dimensional, and you can use any drawing surface as a dueling platform. The main character, Joel, gets to go to a school specializing in this magic, though he can’t actually use it himself. (He is the son of the cleaning lady, so he gets free tuition.) Students start disappearing, and he gets mixed up in the mystery. (Read more here.)

THE RITHMATIST TOUR

I’m on a tour for this book as we speak. (Or, well, as we exchange impersonal emails via newsletter.) Here is the list of dates:

Tuesday, May 14th: Books of Wonder, New York
Wednesday, May 15th: Children’s Book World, Philadelphia
Thursday, May 16th: Tattered Cover, Denver
Friday, May 17th: Barnes & Noble, Omaha
Saturday, May 18th: Maple Street Book Shop, New Orleans
Monday, May 20th: Blue Willow, Houston
Tuesday, May 21st: Hicklebees, San Jose
Wednesday, May 22nd: Alamosa Books @ UNM, Albuquerque
May 23rd–26th: Phoenix Comicon
Monday, June 3rd: The King’s English @ Provo Library
Saturday, June 22nd: Costco, Spanish Fork, UT

As always, feel free to bring any of my other books to get signed, including Wheel of Time books! Most signings allow only three books a time going through the line, but if you wait until the end, you can usually get everything signed.

As a disclaimer, though, do look up your specific event for info about whether a ticket, or purchase of THE RITHMATIST, is required to attend the signing. I try my best to make sure every venue will allow people in who don’t have the new book, but in some rare occasion, this doesn’t work out. For events that aren’t ticketed, it’s also nice to support the store hosting me by buying one book (it doesn’t have to be one of mine!) at the store on the day of the event. Details and links are here.

STEELHEART

In other fun news, STEELHEART (releasing in September) is getting some extra cool love from the Onion AV Club. They’re going to release the prologue the day after tomorrow, which is awkward timing for this newsletter, but hopefully you’ll remember to look for it on Thursday.

This prologue is its own pitch for the book. Check it out! (And yes, we will be doing numbered copies through Weller Book Works, as well as a tour, for this book. Watch the blog in coming months for more info.)

BABY MELVIN

Baby Melvin arrived in January, right in the middle of my tour for A MEMORY OF LIGHT. (Don’t worry, we planned the tour so I could be home in time.) Melvin (not his real name) is our third child, all boys. Right now, he’s growing very practiced at gnawing on things and/or barfing on them. He’s growing up too quickly. At this rate, by the time I get home from tour, he’ll be jumping on the trampoline playing Lego Batman with Limeboy(5) and Meatloaf(3). (Also not real names, just in case you were wondering.) As always, if you see my wife, give her a hug and a thank you for putting up with a husband to gallivants around the world scribbling illegibly in people’s books and playing Magic the Gathering with them. She’s awesome.

WORDS OF RADIANCE UPDATE

And now, as many of you have been hoping to read, some news about WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS.

The book is progressing well. But it’s also going slowly. Big epics just take so much TIME. It’s not simply the wordcount; the longer and more complex the book gets, the more time it takes to produce each page. A weaving of a half dozen characters and plots is a difficult thing to juggle. I love it, but boy is it hard.

I’m at 260,000 words as of this writing. (The target is 300,000 words, or about the length of THE GATHERING STORM.) Awesome things are happening in the book, but I worry that it feels too fragmented, with everyone doing their “own thing” and without a stronger narrative to hold the book together. This was an issue with the first book, but the powerful Bridge Four sequence served as a backbone for the entire book and held it together.

This book needs more of an eye toward the entirety, and that’s my main focus right now as I finish up the last chapters and turn toward revisions. I wanted passionately to have it out by November of this year, but that’s growing more and more difficult. I know you all would rather have a better book later, and I’m not going to force anything.

At this point, we still have a “soft” release date of November, as listed on Amazon. However, we haven’t committed to retailers for that date, and we haven’t bought marketing space for it. (Which are the two big things that lock in a publication date.)

THE WAY OF KINGS was turned in in May 2010 and came out in August/September 2010, and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT was turned in in August/September 2010 and came out in November 2010. So there is still plenty of time, but I can’t promise anything. It could come out anywhere between November 2013 and May 2014. (Though it’s highly unlikely to be later than that, considering how much I have done, and how well the writing is going.)

If you haven’t been aware, I uploaded a series of YouTube videos of me writing a new interlude for the book. This may help tide you over. You can see the high-speed version here.

Take care, and happy reading.

Brandon

P.S. I’m also happy to announce that Isaac and Kara Stewart are now joining my other assistant Peter to work for my company Dragonsteel Entertainment full-time. You will recognize Isaac as one of my interior artists for Mistborn and the Stormlight Archive. Isaac will be handling art direction for me as well as administrative duties, and Kara will be running my store. I’m thrilled to have them onboard.

If you don’t want to get these newsletters in the future, just ask to be taken off the list. And if you’re on this list and want email reminders when I’m signing near your house, email me your city and state if you haven’t done that already.

In this newsletter:

• Brandon’s new novella The Emperor’s Soul is out now!
• December signings
• A Memory of Light book tour schedule
• Other events

Hi there. It’s Brandon’s assistant Peter again (plus a few words from Brandon).

Brandon’s new novella, The Emperor’s Soul

Brandon says:

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. 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—it has a great magic system and cool characters.

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. See details below.

Peter says:

The ebook can be found on Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Kobo, and Dragonmount. Links are listed here There is also an audiobook from Recorded Books (currently not available in UK/Commonwealth countries). The trade paperback from Tachyon Publications is available in most bookstores in the US. There will be a Gollancz omnibus of The Emperor’s Soul and Legion released in UK/Commonwealth countries next summer. If you buy or already bought the Tachyon Publications trade paperback and want a free copy of the ebook, email your paperback receipt or a picture of yourself holding the book to ebooks@coppermind.brandonsanderson.com. We’ll get the ebook to you within a couple of days.

Local Signings in December

This month Brandon is doing a few local signings. If you’re not local and just want to know about the A Memory of Light signings starting in January, scroll down.

12/6/2012: West Jordan, UT
Barnes & Noble – Jordan Landing @ 6:30 p.m.

12/13/2012: Orem, UT
Dragons Keep (48 W 300 N) Magic draft @ 6:00 p.m., signing @ 9:00 p.m.
Brandon says: This one will focus on all of my books, and while there might be a few copies of the Adventure Game for sale, this is my holiday signing for Utah Valley. Because of that, we’ll bring a lot of copies of various things to sell.

I will probably do a Magic Draft first, then a signing right after. So the signing probably won’t be until nine, though if you wander in after eight I will also sign books then—but the signing won’t start for real until 9:00. The Magic draft will be limited to 16 slots, so sign up early.

12/15/2012: Salt Lake City, UT
Salt Lake City Library’s Worlds of Fantasy event.
12:00 noon, Nancy Tessman Auditorium
“Fantasy Literature and the Re-imagined Myth with Brandon Sanderson”
1:30 p.m., Lower Urban Room
“Brandon Sanderson Q&A: World Building”
3:30 p.m., Night-Flight Comics at Library Square
Signing, with bookplates for A Memory of Light

12/22/2012: Probably West Valley City, UT but maybe Lehi, UT
Epic Puzzles & Games, signing @ 1:00 with Magic draft after 3:00.
Peter says: I’m pretty sure it’s at the Epic Puzzles & Games store in West Valley, but if I can find out for sure before I have to start sending this newsletter, I will change the info. Sign up for the Magic draft early.
Brandon says: This signing will focus on the Mistborn RPG.

A Memory of Light book tour

The book signing tour has now been announced. Brandon will be at the cities below, and Harriet will be joining him at the beginning and end of the tour. For more details on each signing, please see the events page.

Note that the two Canadian signings are not yet totally confirmed, but seem to be pretty solid right now. We’ll put the location details on Brandon’s events page as soon as we have them.

1/8/2013: Provo, UT
The BYU Bookstore @Midnight (With Harriet McDougal)

1/8/2013: Minneapolis (Roseville), MN
Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

1/9/2013: Chicago (Skokie), IL
Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

1/10/2013: Dayton, OH
Books & Co @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

1/11/2013: Lexington, KY
Joseph-Beth Booksellers @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

1/12/2013: Charleston, SC
Barnes & Noble @ 2:00 p.m.. Signing located off-site at Addlestone Library / College of Charleston (With Harriet McDougal)

2/1/2013: Salt Lake City, UT
Weller Book Works @ 7:00 p.m.

2/6/2013: San Diego, CA
Mysterious Galaxy @ 7:00 p.m.

2/7/2013: Los Angeles (Huntington Beach), CA
Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m.

2/8/2013: Sacramento (Citrus Heights), CA
Barnes & Noble @ 7:00 p.m.

2/9/2013: San Francisco, CA
Borderlands @ 3:00 p.m.

2/11/2013: Portland, OR
Powell’s (Beaverton store) @ 7:00 p.m.

2/12/2013: Seattle, WA
University Books @ 7:00 p.m. (off-site; University Temple United Methodist Church)

2/14/2013: Vancouver, BC
***NOT COMPLETELY CONFIRMED YET*** Watch Brandon’s events page for details.

2/15/2013: Toronto, ON
***NOT COMPLETELY CONFIRMED YET*** Watch Brandon’s events page for details.

2/16/2013: Milford, NH
The Toadstool Bookshop @ 2:00 p.m. (off-site; The Amato Center for the Performing Arts)

2/18/2013: Baltimore (Hanover), MD
Books-A-Million @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

2/19/2013: Philadelphia, PA
Free Library @ 7:30 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

2/20/2013: Raleigh, NC
Quail Ridge Books @ 7:30 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

2/21/2013: Atlanta, (Norcross), GA
Eagle Eye Books @ 7:15 p.m. (off-site; Norcross Cultural Arts Center in conjunction with the Gwinnett County Library system) (With Harriet McDougal)

2/22/2013: Birmingham, AL
Books-A-Million @ 7:00 p.m. (With Harriet McDougal)

Other Events

See Brandon’s events page for details on the following:

4/19–21/2013: Atlanta, GA
JordanCon

5/23–26/2013: Phoenix, AZ
Phoenix Comicon

8/9–11/2013: Spokane, WA
SpoCon

Brandon also plans to go to Hartford, CT this summer and to the UK (and possibly elsewhere in Europe) sometime this year, but plans are not final. There will also be book tours and probably other conventions in conjunction with the YA novels The Rithmatist and Steelheart, which are coming out in May and September. And if Brandon is able to finish writing the second Stormlight Archive book in April, it will come out before Christmas and Brandon will tour for that book as well.

Happy reading, and Brandon hopes to see many of you soon! If you’re on this list and want email reminders when Brandon is signing near your house, email us your city and state if you haven’t done that already.

Best,

Peter Ahlstrom
Assistant to Mr. Sanderson

In this newsletter:
Introduction
Brandon’s new novella, Legion, is out now!
A new Sanderson on the way
A Memory of Light is Done
A Memory of Light book tour
Stormlight Two progress
Two YA books to be released next year

INTRODUCTION

Hi, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter this time instead of having my assistant Peter step in. With AMoL done (yay!) I hope to have a little more time now for things like blogging and newsletterizing.

As always, thank you much for reading, and for your support of my writing. I’ve said it often, but I mean it—it’s because of you all that I get to live my dream. I give you thanks from deep within my heart.

I have a few things you may or may not be interested in reading. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. As always, if you want to unsubscribe to this newsletter, just fire us off and email and we’ll take you off the list.

BRANDON’S NEW NOVELLA: LEGION

First off, I’m excited to announce that my novella Legion is now for sale in most major ebook stores. I’m very excited by it, and hope that you will be too. The ebook is $2.99, and is DRM-free in the places where I could make that possible. The jacket description is as follows:

A novella from #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, Legion is a fast-paced, witty, and supremely fun thriller with a psychological bent.

Stephen Leeds is perfectly sane. It’s his hallucinations who are mad.

A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any new skill, vocation, or art in a matter of hours. However, to contain all of this, his mind creates hallucinatory people—Stephen calls them aspects—to hold and manifest the information. Wherever he goes, he is joined by a team of imaginary experts to give advice, interpretation, and explanation. He uses them to solve problems . . . for a price.

His brain is getting a little crowded, however, and the aspects have a tendency of taking on lives of their own. When a company hires him to recover stolen property—a camera that can allegedly take pictures of the past—Stephen finds himself in an adventure crossing oceans and fighting terrorists. What he discovers may upend the foundation of three major world religions—and, perhaps, give him a vital clue into the true nature of his aspects.

If you want to know more about the novella, here are some links to things I’ve written regarding it: link link That blog post has a link where you can read the beginning of the novella, plus links to the various places the ebook is for sale.

You won’t find this one in most bookstores, as we did a very small release in print. However, if you do want a hardcover, there are some being sold by the publisher Subterranean Press. Be warned, however, that Legion is just a novella—not a full novel. It’s under a hundred pages in length.

NEW SANDERSON ON HIS WAY

A new baby is on the way! We found out recently that it’s a boy, our third. Baby Melvin (not his real name) will join Limeboy and Baby Meatloaf in our family this January. We’re very excited, as you might expect. I wanted to warn all of you about this because the baby’s somewhat unexpected arrival is going to play havoc with something else big and important happening in January…

A MEMORY OF LIGHT IS DONE!

Earlier this summer, I turned in the final draft of the final book in the Wheel of Time. I did so with bittersweet emotions. (If you missed my blog post about the event, find it here. I’ve loved working on these books, and have loved interacting with the Wheel of Time community.

But all things pass, and it’s time for this venerable series to come to a conclusion. I’ve often said that I find part of the strength of a work of art in its ending—its completeness. The Wheel of Time itself may continue to turn, but the series needs to end—and it is best to do so on a high note.

People ask me repeatedly if we’ll be looking into doing more books in the world. It is, of course, Harriet’s decision—but I currently feel that this should be the ending, and that there should be no further novels. Hopefully, we’ll see other explorations of the Wheel of Time world in video game or film projects. (No news right now on either, though, I’m afraid.)

A MEMORY OF LIGHT TOUR

Because of new baby Sanderson, I’ve had to move things around for a tour. The due date is the 22nd, but our other two boys have been early, and the ultrasound indicates this boy is big enough that he’ll likely be early too. AMoL comes out on January 8th, and I will be doing a couple of tour dates that week—notably a release party (which might be in Charleston this time, instead of Provo; Harriet is still deciding). I’ll also hit a few cities that opening week, but I’ve told the publisher (with some regret) that I have to be free from the 13th until the end of the month to help with the baby. I don’t want to risk not being there for his birth.

So I ask for patience for this particular tour. I know it’s the last volume, and it’s a big deal, but I’ll be doing most of my touring for the book in February instead of January. Watch my website for details.

STORMLIGHT TWO PROGRESS

My big writing project right now is the second book in the Stormlight Archive, the sequel to The Way of Kings. I’m hard at work, and have begun some preliminary scenes. (Right now, the percentage bar for the book sits at a lowly 2%, but that will creep up as the year progresses.) I’m really hoping to have the book out for Christmas 2013, and I’ll meet that date if I can have the rough draft done by April of next year.

Keep an eye on that progress bar. (And for those wondering, we should have a new website here fairly soon. I know mine is horribly outdated.)

TWO NEW YOUNG ADULT BOOKS NEXT YEAR!

Now that AMoL is done, I can pick up some projects that have been waiting for years. The first is The Rithmatist, which was the last book I finished in its entirety before being offered the Wheel of Time work. I never had time to do the revisions needed to make the book work, so it sat on my shelf for five years.

Well, Tor is going to publish it next year, now that I’ve been able to get revisions in. It’s a young adult fantasy/steampunk/mystery about a boy who gets free tuition to a magic school because his mom is the cleaning lady—yet he has no magical talents himself. I’ll post more on it as next summer approaches.

The second project is Steelheart, a post-apocalyptic story about a world where people start to gain super powers—but only evil people get them. It follows a young man who seeks to join a group called the Reckoners, freedom fighters who assassinate people with powers. Random House/Delacorte is releasing it sometime next year, probably.

CONCLUSION

Well, I suppose that’s it for now. I’m going to get back to work on Stormlight 2.

Brandon Sanderson
9/13/2012

If you don’t want to get these newsletters in the future, just ask to be taken off the list. And if you’re on this list and want email reminders when I’m is signing near your house, email me your city and state if you haven’t done that already.

2012 Conventions: Taiwan, Orem, Australia Australia Australia, Las Vegas, BayCon, SDCC, Chattanooga, Gen Con Indy, Albuquerque, Dragon*Con

Hello again. It’s Brandon’s assistant, Peter. This newsletter is mostly about the conventions Brandon is going to attend this year, so if you keep up with the blog regularly and have already heard about them, feel free to skip it. If the locations above look interesting to you, read on. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent Brandon fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

At this very instant Brandon is in Taiwan, with his biggest event on Saturday evening, so if you’re local there, be sure to check it out. Below you’ll find most of Brandon’s convention schedule for 2012. Of note, 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.

There’s also information about this year’s Superstars Writing Seminar in Las Vegas at the bottom of the newsletter.

WHEEL OF TIME PROGRESS

Maybe you just want to know when the final Wheel of Time book is going to come out. Well, Brandon has finished the first draft of A MEMORY OF LIGHT and is in the revision stage. So far the progress bar (top left column on Brandon’s website) is at 40% on the second draft, meaning that he’s revised 144,000 out of 360,000 words. He’s been turning it in in chunks to Harriet and Team Jordan, and they’ve already sent their notes back on the beginning of the book. He plans to finish the second draft later this month, and will almost immediately start working on the third draft according to Harriet and Team Jordan’s editorial directions. This back-and-forth process will continue for several months, however long it needs to take to edit the book to perfection. Because we can’t predict the time that will be required to whip this book into the shape it needs to be in, as befits the final book of the greatest fantasy epic of all time, Tor has not yet scheduled a firm publication date, but we can pretty much say at this point that it won’t be released any earlier than late November. We should have a better idea after a couple more drafts are completed. Please bear with us.

2012 CONVENTION APPEARANCES

For complete details, see the events calendar.

Taipei International Book Exhibition 2012
Dates: February 2-4, 2012
Venue: Taipei World Trade Center
Brandon is a guest of Fantasy Foundation.

Life, the Universe & Everything, Orem, Utah
Dates: February 9-11, 2012
Venue: Sorensen Student Center
Utah Valley University
A highlight of this event will be a live Writing Excuses recording with the whole crew on Saturday.

Doom-Con, Swancon 37, Perth, Australia
Dates: April 5-9, 2012 (Easter weekend)
Venue: Pan Pacific Hotel
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Supanova Melbourne 2012, Australia
Dates: April 13-15, 2012
Venue: Melbourne Showgrounds
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Supanova Gold Coast 2012, Australia
Dates: April 20-22, 2012
Address: Gold Coast Convention & Exhibition Centre
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Note: Due to Brandon’s Australia trip in April, he won’t be making it to JordanCon in Atlanta this year. However, he is sending me in his place (though I’m a poor substitute!), and Harriet and Team Jordan should be there as well, as far as I know.

Superstars Writing Seminar, Las Vegas
Dates: April 30-May 2, 2012
Venue: Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino
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. See more details at the bottom of this newsletter.
Prices go up April 1, 2012.

BayCon 2012, Santa Clara, CA
Dates: May 25-28, 2012
Venue: Santa Clara Hyatt
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Comic-Con International, San Diego
Dates: July 12-15, 2012. Preview night July 11.
Venue: San Diego Convention Center
Brandon is a Special Guest.

LibertyCon 25, Chattanooga
Dates: July 20-22, 2012
Venue: The Chattanooga Choo-Choo
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Gen Con Indy 2012
Dates: August 16-19, 2012
Venue: Indiana Convention Center

Bubonicon 44, Albuquerque
Dates: August 24-26, 2012
Venue: Albuquerque Marriott Uptown
Brandon is a Guest of Honor.

Dragon*Con 2012, Atlanta
Dates: August 31-September 3, 2012
Venue: Various hotels in the Peachtree Center area. See their website.

And that’s it for the 2012 conventions we know about so far. 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, but I don’t know if that one will go through or not.

For this next part of the newsletter, I hope you don’t mind if I just paste the latest info on the writing seminar.

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SUPERSTARS WRITING SEMINAR OFFERS FREE PRIZE DRAWING

The Superstars Writing Seminar 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.

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That’s pretty much the newsletter for today. There’s one more little note about Subterranean Press taking preorders on the limited edition of Brandon’s new novella “Legion,” but we don’t know yet when in the summer or autumn it’s going to be released, so I’ll leave it at that. You can Google search for more details if you’re interested, or just watch the blog–we’ll post more information in a few months.

If you don’t want to get these newsletters in the future, just ask to be taken off the list. And if you’re on this list and want email reminders when Brandon is signing near your house, email us your city and state if you haven’t done that already.

Best,

Peter Ahlstrom
Assistant to Mr. Sanderson

Hi all! A note directly from Brandon here. I’m proud to present the new Mistborn book for you all, THE ALLOY OF LAW. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent me fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

I’m off on a tour of North America and the UK (those of you in our database with your location attached should be getting another email soon, if you live near where I’ll be doing a signing). At the bottom of this page, Peter will post a list of all the places I’ll be visiting on tour. You can watch my upcoming events on the events page on my webiste. (Note that I’ll be visiting Taiwan, San Francisco, and Australia in the first half of next year—among other places.)

THE ALLOY OF LAW presents an update and transformation of the Mistborn world. I’m really hoping you all find a chance to look into it. Sample chapters can be found on Tor’s website right here.

This book is something of an experiment for me. I plan to return to the Mistborn world in future years to do more trilogies of deep, involved epics. However, for now, I’m so caught up in the Wheel of Time and the Stormlight Archive that I didn’t want to start another long series in the Mistborn world too. However, I also didn’t want the series to languish for years while I finish the Stormlight books.

The result of this conundrum is THE ALLOY OF LAW, a faster-paced, shorter standalone novel in the Mistborn world. I’m hoping it will give you everything you love about Mistborn in a more self-contained package. I think of this book more as a “fun adventure” rather than a deep epic. I hope you’ll approach it with that mindset. In a way, I’m hoping books like these will balance the Stormlight Archive. Sometimes, you want a 1000-page book with hundreds of different characters. Sometimes, however, you want a quick, fun book with compelling lead characters, good action, and fun banter. That’s what this book is.

I’ve done a simultaneous ebook, audiobook, and hardcover release—trying to get the book out for everyone in the formats they like. I hope you enjoy it, and please tell your friends!

I did an interview over at Neth Space about the release of this book and my plans for the future of the Mistborn world.

OTHER NEWS

About the RPG: The Mistborn Adventure Game tabletop RPG will be released by Crafty Games on December 15th. As well as being an adventure game, it includes a ton of information on the Mistborn world and my long-promised Kelsier prequel story, entitled “The Eleventh Metal.” For more information, see the Crafty Games website.

Mistborn Movie: The Mistborn film is still coming along, though we’re not yet out of the script writing stage. No real news as of now. Hopefully soon.

Mistborn Video Game: I’ve signed a deal to do a video game in the Mistborn world. It will be a prequel to the original trilogy, and I should be heavily involved in the writing of its story. It will be cross-platform. Other than that, I can’t say anything right now.

Great Hunt: During the tour I’ll be holding another Great Hunt for Wheel of Time fans, revealing something cool that readers will enjoy. For more details, see my blog post about the hunt.

Infinity Blade: Awakening: I’ve been working on a few novellas. See this link for more information on the first one I’ve released. It’s a tie-in to the Infinity Blade iOS game from ChAIR Entertainment, and it was a fun project to be involved in. Expect to see a few more things like this next year.

TOUR DATES

For more event details (especially when it says it’s a ticketed event), see the complete list.

Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego
Wednesday November 09, 7:00 p.m.

Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach, CA
Thursday November 10, 7:00 p.m.

University Books, Seattle
University Temple United Methodist Church
Friday November 11, 7:00 p.m.
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Chapters, Burnaby BC, Canada
Saturday November 12, 2:00 p.m.

Joseph-Beth, Lexington, KY
Monday November 14, 7:00 p.m.
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Murder by the Book, Houston
Tuesday November 15, 6:30 p.m.
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Barnes & Noble, Brooklyn, NY
Wednesday November 16, 7:00 p.m.
***Signing only. No reading or Q&A.***

Forbidden Planet, London, UK
Saturday November 19, 19:00

Waterstones, Guildford, UK
Monday November 21, 12:30
***Signing only. No reading or Q&A.***

Waterstones, Milton Keynes, UK
Monday November 21, 18:30
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Waterstones, Birmingham, UK
Tuesday November 22, 12:30
***Signing only. No reading or Q&A.***

Waterstones, Nottingham, UK
Tuesday November 22, 19:00
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Waterstones, Liverpool, UK
Wednesday November 23, 12:30
***Signing only. No reading or Q&A.***

Waterstones, Manchester, UK
Wednesday November 23, 19:00
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Waterstones, York, UK
Thursday November 24, 12:30
***Signing only. No reading or Q&A.***

Waterstones, Edinburgh, UK
Thursday November 24, 18:30
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

Waterstones, Newcastle, UK
Friday November 25, 18:30
***THIS IS A TICKETED EVENT***

If you don’t want to get these newsletters in the future, just ask to be taken off the list. And if you’re on this list and want email reminders when I’m signing near your house, email me your city and state if you haven’t done that already.

Best,

Brandon