Hello again. Brandon’s assistant Peter here with another recommendation. It’s been a long time since the last one, whew!

Today the fifth and final book in the Lightbringer series by Brent Weeks, The Burning White was released. If you’ve read the previous books, the most important thing here is: It’s fantastic, so go buy it. I do have some more thoughts below if you’re interested, but personally if I already suspect I’m going to like a book, I just go out and read it without first reading reviews so I don’t get accidentally spoiled.

For everyone else, if you haven’t read the series, I highly recommend it! I’m going to crib liberally from my recommendation for the third book in order to explain why you should read it.

If you’re seeing this review, you obviously like Brandon Sanderson’s writing. Well, when I read the first Lightbringer book, The Black Prism, back in 2012 or so, it was the most entertaining book without the name Brandon Sanderson on the front cover that I had read in years—and in many ways it was very much like reading a book that had Brandon’s name on the front cover. I loved every minute.

Now that the fifth book is out and the series is finished, does it hold up all the way through? The answer is a resounding yes. This is a fine example of what great epic fantasy is, and the ending is every bit as epic as I had hoped.

Before I get into that though, let’s go over my caveats from last time—the content issues that a Brandon reader may not be expecting. But first: if you haven’t reread the first four books recently, this book does start things off with helpful summaries. Reading those myself was a big help. Now the caveats:

Sexual content: There’s certainly more sexual content than you’ll find in one of Brandon’s books. Not only the few on-screen sexual situations, but banter and jokes among friends that have a sexual theme. The amount of this content increases somewhat in the fourth and fifth books, but it’s not particularly gratuitous. In fact, a major plotline of the fourth book includes the serious treatment of one character’s struggles with a type of real-world sexual dysfunction. That’s not something I’ve seen a lot of in genre fiction, and I really like the way that Brent treated it. Kudos.

In my book 3 review I wrote that there weren’t horribly foul-minded characters. In the final two books there is one character who has a very sick mind indeed, but thankfully we have very few glimpses into it. (Ugh, I hate this person.)

Language: Again, there’s more profanity than you’ll find in Brandon’s books. It’s believable considering the characters involved.

I also called out the writing style in my book 3 review, but it’s really a minor issue that doesn’t merit a bolded heading. Yes, Brent’s non-italicization of internal thoughts did take some getting used to, but by the fifth book it didn’t bother me.

Now, about that epic climax.

Like I said before, books like these are why I read epic fantasy. Strong male and female characters, well-defined magic, politics, fighting, cosmology, emotional entanglements, the works. There are times like in the middle of The Way of Kings where you don’t know where everything is going, but you’re along for a great ride, and everything pulls together eventually. I give some examples of that in my other review, but now we’re at the finale.

This is, at last, the book where everything really comes together. At the beginning of this volume it takes Kip a while to figure out what was bothering him about the situation at the end of the fourth book, but once he does, everything converges on one colossal final conflict. You know how the final book in The Wheel of Time, A Memory of Light, has that 190-page chapter “The Last Battle” where everything comes to a head? Well, Brent doesn’t have his final battle in just one chapter, but it’s about 220 pages of nonstop climax, nearly a quarter of the book. It actually compares favorably to the one in A Memory of Light; there’s even a character detached from the others who in parallel undertakes a more psychological battle at the same time, the way Rand did in that book. When you start reading the climax, you’d best be prepared to not be able to put the book down for a long time. I lost quite a bit of sleep myself.

And that 220 pages is even more than it would have been in previous Lightbringer books. This novel is a long one—from chapter one to the end of the epilogues (yes, multiple) is 913 pages. The book is actually a few thousand words longer than The Way of Kings, because the publisher squeezed more words onto each page. And don’t by any means expect pages and pages of meal descriptions (though this book is all meat for sure). All you “big fat fantasy” lovers out there, this is one for you.

(Side note—there is a lengthy glossary/appendix at the end, but just so you won’t mistakenly think there’s a lot more left in the book than there actually is, these pages are helpfully marked in the hardcover with a grey edge. I think that’s a great idea! Doesn’t help people reading the ebook or audiobook though, alas.)

It’s not just a big battle. As with Brandon’s Mistborn trilogy, Lightbringer ups the stakes in the finale so that it’s not just a human conflict that matters. Things that were once considered only the realm of religion or myth spill out into the world of the characters, yet in a way that is deeply human. And as in the previous books, there are those “oh my goodness” moments where you have to reinterpret everything you thought you knew before about something, but since this is the final book there are quite a bit more of those. And it’s very satisfying.

What I appreciate most about reading a book is my emotional reaction. And there are a ton of character moments that prompt those emotions. Beneath all the magic and politics, this is truly a very character-driven book. Again and again, I laughed, I cheered, and I cried.

As in my earlier review, I’ll run down the characters here:

Kip: Even Andross Guile manages to be impressed by him, and if you’ve read the books you know that’s saying a lot. He continues his growth from the fourth book and really becomes a great leader. Like the best of them, he’s willing to sacrifice for his people, and oh boy does he.

Teia: Continues to be one of my favorite characters. What she has to do in this book is heartbreaking, with very serious consequences to her personally.

Gavin: He’s really been put through the wringer recently, and that doesn’t stop. Facing his flaws head-on leads to a few things we’ve been wishing would happen for quite a while.

Karris: I said I couldn’t wait to see what she did next, and I’ll just say that I was not disappointed.

Liv: Her transformation from the beginning of the series until the end is a very different character path from what we usually see. I somehow feel bad for her and admire her at the same time.

The Mighty: Kip’s friends really stood out to me in this book more than previously. They’re a lot more individualized and I finally feel like I really know them. There’s a very believable decision on their part that goes horribly wrong. Gee thanks, Brent.

Murder Sharp: I really never expected to list him here. But somehow he earns this spot. There’s a depth to his character that I really appreciate.

Andross: Comes even more to the forefront in this finale. As the character who really embodies “the ends justify the means,” some big surprises for him are still in the cards.

Again, I love how important the family relationships are in this series. Decisions of parents, grandparents, and siblings decades ago have far-reaching implications on the current story. It shows a verisimilitude that I’m very happy that writers like Brent are putting into their books.

I loved reading this series, and it came to a very satisfying conclusion, even though not every character’s fate was what I wanted it to be. That’s just the sign of good writing. Now, I’ve heard that next Brent will be going back to the world of his Night Angel series, so I’ll have to start reading those!

Thursday through Saturday I’ll be at the Salt Palace for Salt Lake Comic Con. I’m on various panels and am signing multiple times all three days. I’ll also be doing a Magic: The Gathering draft on Thursday night; see details below on how to sign up ahead of time.

Plus we have Shadows Beneath on sale at the Dragonsteel booth at $20 for the hardcover and $5.99 for the ebook during the convention. Other books will also be available at the Dragonsteel booth and at the Wordfire booth.

Here’s my full schedule!

THURSDAY, September 4th

3:00–3:50 p.m., Room 151G
Building Plot: How to Implement Rising Action, the Try/Fail Cycle and Character Arcs into Your Stories
Have a great beginning to a story? A killer ending? What about the parts in-between? Join our panel of esteemed bestselling authors as they discuss the art and craft of keeping an audience engaged in a story.
Brad R. Torgersen, Brandon Sanderson, Brandon Mull, Jessica Day George, David Farland, Larry Correia, Kevin J. Anderson

4:00–5:45 p.m., Wordfire Booth #728
Brandon Sanderson Signing

6:00–8:00 p.m., Dragonsteel Booth #2215
Brandon Sanderson Signing

8:00 p.m.–after midnight, Room 155
Magic Draft with Brandon Sanderson
This will be a Return to Ravnica draft, with a choice between Augmented Cube and a Conspiracy. Brandon will explain how this works at the beginning of the draft.
Slots for the draft are limited, and there will be an entry fee. Talk to Dawn Christensen at the Epic Puzzles & Games booth in Room 155 at the convention, or to sign up early (this is recommended!) call or come in to Epic Puzzles & Games in West Valley. 3958 W 3500 S Ste C, phone number (801) 982-0167.

FRIDAY, September 5th

12:45–1:45 p.m., Badali Jewelry Booth #817
Brandon Sanderson Signing

2:00–2:50 p.m., Room 255B
Is Epic Fantasy Still Relevant to the Genre?
Most of modern Epic Fantasy literature’s roots can be traced back to JRR Tolkien and the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. With the rising popularity of other fantasy subgenres, namely Urban Fantasy, Steampunk, Dark Fantasy, Alternate Reality (Historical Fantasy), Romantic (Paranormal) Fantasy, Magical Realism, where does Epic Fantasy fit into the mix? Has the recent popularity of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit films, along with George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones TV series oversaturated the genre, or is it now more popular than ever? Our panel of authors weigh in.
Michelle Witte, Brandon Sanderson, Brian McClellan, Megan Hutchins, Paul Genesse, Valerie Gardner

3:00–4:45 p.m., Shadow Mountain Booth #210
Brandon Sanderson Signing

5:00–5:50 p.m., North Ballroom
Credible Magic Systems: Method to Madness
Move over Doctor Strange! Fire all your magic missles unerringly at their target! The time has come to explore how magic has been presented effectively and disastrously in past and present pop culture outlets, and to join the always-fun discussion for creating realistic systems of believable sorcery.
Margaret Weis, Brandon Sanderson, Brandon Mull, Tracy Hickman, David Farland, Larry Correia

6:00–7:00 p.m., Dragonsteel Booth #2215
Brandon Sanderson Signing

SATURDAY, September 6th

12:30–2:30 p.m., Wordfire Booth #728
Brandon Sanderson Signing

3:00–3:50 p.m., Room 250A
Celebrating Fantasy Literature: The Worlds of Brandon Sanderson
From Elantris to Mistborn to completing the Wheel of Time series to The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson sits at the nexus of modern fantasy literature. Join him for a discussion of his work, his worlds, and his plans for the future of both.
Brandon Sanderson

4:00–7:00 p.m., Dragonsteel Booth #2215
Brandon Sanderson Signing

7:00–7:50 p.m., Room 250A
Writing Excuses: The Panel
Members of Writing Excuses will gather for a behind-the-scenes discussion of their Hugo Award-winning podcast, what they’re up to, and anything else which may be on their minds.
Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, Brandon Sanderson

Hey, all. I’ve long wanted to start using my Goodreads account, and it seemed like reviews would be a good place to begin. Eventually, I hope to be able to get some more questions answered there—for now, I’m just going to try to post periodic book reviews.

Be warned, I’m not intending to be a real reviewer. As I explain in my review guide here, I consider this more a place to send people when they ask, “What have you read recently that you’ve liked?” If the reviews all look positive, that’s because they will be—I’ll only post about the books I like. But I will try to slant the second half of the review toward writing advice, using the book in question as a guide, for those looking to improve your craft.

More explanation in that link above.

I figured a nice place to start would be with Ghost Talkers, Mary’s new book. If for some reason you’ve never tried her work, this would be an excellent place to start! Find my review here.

Thanks, all! I should have another update on Stormlight Book Three very soon. It’s going well, and we’re almost to the 3/4 mark.

Brandon

I haven’t mentioned this year’s Writing Excuses retreat (September 17th–24th) very much, but I thought I’d drop a note about the impending price rise. Due the the cruise line’s requirements, May 31st is the last day to register at the current rate, and we hear it will go up quite significantly in June.

A few years ago, the Writing Excuses cohosts and I started holding the week-long Out of Excuses Writing Workshop and Retreat, which includes workshop and instruction time from Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler, and me, as well as time to just sit down and write with (hopefully) few distractions. The retreat had a couple successful years in Chattanooga, and then last year’s retreat was moved to a cruise ship in the Caribbean.

The cruise version of the retreat proved to be very popular, and we arranged for additional writing instructors to come along. This year we’ll be joined as instructors by writers and publishing professionals Claudia Gray, DongWon Song, Tananarive Due, Steven Barnes, Desiree Burch, Lynne M. Thomas, Michael Damian Thomoas, and Navah Wolfe—in addition to Mary, Dan, Howard, and me. You can see a lot more details about the retreat cruise here.

For all the writers out there interested in attending, I look forward to seeing you in September!

It’s 2016 and time for Writing Excuses to embark on a new season. This year we are going to explore what we write and why we write, but our guidepost will be the concept of Elemental Genres. In January we’ll stay high-level and firm up the framework. Starting in February we’ll drill down on each of the Elemental Genres and explore the writing process.

We understand that the word “genre” has a lot of weight to it, and arguments can ensue because of it. In the season’s first episode, Introduction to Elemental Genre, we bypass all the long, tedious, and overwhelming arguments by adding an adjective and defining a new term: Elemental Genre.

Here is a preview of what the 2016 season of Writing Excuses will look like:

• January: Introduction
• February: Wonder
• March: Idea
• April: Adventure
• May: Horror
• June: Mystery
• July: Thriller
• August: Humor
• September: Relationship
• October: Drama
• November: Issue
• December: Ensemble

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, How to get the Most Out of a Conference, we sit down with Kathy Chung, who runs the Surry International Writing Conference (a professional development event, rather than a fan-run convention). So naturally, we invited her to talk with us about conferences and conventions so she could share her expertise with us firsthand.

I have some more exciting news for Writing Excuses: the 2016 Writing Excuses Retreat is fast approaching (register here, and a scholarship is explained here), and we have all the guest instructors lined up. I have listed some pretty basic information about them below, and hopefully it will help you determine which courses you want to focus on while on the retreat.

Steven Barnes The novelist, screenwriter, writing instructor and life coach has published more than 25 science fiction, fantasy and horror novels, written New York Times bestsellers and won an NAACP Image Award. He has been nominated for Hugo, Nebula and Cable Ace Awards. His modern classic A Stitch in Time episode of Showtime’s The Outer Limits won an Emmy. He has also has written for The New Twilight Zone, StarGate, Andromeda, Ben 10, The Wizard and The Real Ghost Busters. His solo novels include Streetlethal, The Kundalini Equation, Gorgon Child, Firedance, Blood Brothers, Far Beyond the Stars, Charisma and his highly acclaimed and his highly acclaimed Lion’s Blood and Zulu Heart.
Once a nationally ranked karate competitor, he now makes his home in Southern California with his wife, American Book Award winner Tananarive Due, and his son, Jason. His daughter Nicki graduated from UC Irvine in 2009 and is currently doing theater in Central California.

Desiree Burch is a writer, comedian actress and New York to London transplant. Her full-length solo shows, 52 Man Pickup and Tar Baby have toured NY, L.A., San Francisco, Seattle, New Orleans, London, Amsterdam and Edinburgh. Tar Baby received a Fringe First Award for new writing at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and was shortlisted for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award. Desiree is also the 2015 Funny Women Awards Stage Award Winner, and her stand-up and solo work have been featured at places like Carolines, Joe’s Pub, P.S. 122, 59E59, LaMama, the New Museum and WNYC’s The Greene Space, as well as on VH1, MTV and E4. She was a founding member of the New York Neo-Futurists and her work has been profoundly influenced by her experiences as a creator/performer in their long-running show Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. She is also a performer in Young Jean Lee’s Untitled Feminist Show and is the voice of former Mayor Pamela Winchell on the top-five podcast Welcome to Night Vale. She has worked regionally and nationally as an arts educator (American Place Theater, Perry-Mansfield) and speaker (TEDx), and was an Artist-in-Residence of Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn where she hosted the cult storytelling and performance show SMUT. Desiree received her B.A. in Theater Studies from Yale University.

Tananarive Due is an author, screenwriter and educator who is a leading voice in black speculative fiction. Her short fiction has appeared in best-of-the-year anthologies of science fiction and fantasy. She is the former Chair in the Humanities at Spelman College (2012-2014) and teaches Afrofuturism at UCLA. She also teaches in the creative writing MFA program at Antioch University Los Angeles. Due has a B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Leeds, England. The American Book Award winner and NAACP Image Award recipient is the author of twelve novels and a civil rights memoir. In 2010, she was inducted into the Medill School of Journalism’s Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award in the Fine Arts from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.
Due collaborates on the Tennyson Hardwick mystery series with her husband, author Steven Barnes, in partnership with actor Blair Underwood. Due and Barnes also collaborate on a young adult horror/science fiction series including the novels Devil’s Wake and Domino Falls.
She and her husband live in Southern California with their son, Jason.

DongWon Song is an agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency representing science fiction, fantasy, YA, science, food, and pop-culture. Previously, he was an editor with Orbit where he launched multiple New York Times bestselling series including FEED by Mira Grant and THE EXPANSE by James S.A. Corey. He has also worked as a digital bookseller for ebook startup Zola Books where he was the head of product for the ecommerce and ebook apps. He lives in Portland, Oregon where it does not rain nearly as much as people say.

Lynne M. Thomas Three-time Hugo Award-winner Lynne M. Thomas is the Co-Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Uncanny Magazine with her husband, Michael Damian Thomas. She was the co-editor of the Hugo Award-winning Chicks Dig Time Lords with Tara O’Shea, Whedonistas with Deborah Stanish, the Hugo Award-finalist Chicks Dig Comics with Sigrid Ellis, and the anthology Glitter & Mayhem with Michael Damian Thomas and John Klima. Lynne is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Hugo Award-finalist Apex Magazine. She moderates the Hugo Award-winning SF Squeecast, a monthly podcast (with Elizabeth Bear, Paul Cornell, Seanan McGuire, Michael Damian Thomas and Catherynne M. Valente) in which a group of SF/F professionals get excited about stuff they like, and contributes to the Verity! Podcast (with Erika Ensign, L.M. Myles, Katrina Griffiths, Tansy Rayner Roberts and Deborah Stanish), where a bunch of smart women talk about Doctor Who.
Lynne is also the Curator of Rare Books and Special Collections at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, IL, where she is responsible for the literary papers of over 70 SF/F authors and the official archives of SFWA.

Michael Damian Thomas is the Co-Publisher and Co-Editor-in-Chief of Uncanny Magazine with his wife, Lynne M. Thomas. He was a two-time Hugo Award finalist as the former Managing Editor of Apex Magazine, co-edited the Hugo-nominated Queers Dig Time Lords with Sigrid Ellis, and co-edited Glitter & Mayhem with John Klima and Lynne M. Thomas. Michael is a member of the Down and Safe Blake’s 7 podcast with Amal El-Mohtar, L.M. Myles, and Scott Lynch.
Michael lives in DeKalb with his wife Lynne, their daughter Caitlin, and a cat named Marie. Caitlin has a rare congenital disorder called Aicardi syndrome, and Michael works as her primary caregiver.

Navah Wolfe is an editor at Saga Press, Simon & Schuster’s science fiction and fantasy imprint, where she has edited critically-acclaimed novels such as Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke and Persona by Genevieve Valentine. She is also the co-editor, along with Dominik Parisien, of The Starlit Wood, an anthology of cross-genre fairy tale retellings, coming next year from Saga Press. She was previously an editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, where she worked on many bestselling books, including some that have won awards such as the Printz Honor, the Pura Belpré Award, the Pen/Faulkner Award, the Stonewall Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Schneider Family Award. She has previously worked as a bookseller, a rock climbing wall manager, and a veterinary intern at a zoo. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two young children.

Claudia Gray is the pseudonym or pen name of a bestselling, Chicago-based novelist. She is perhaps best known for her four-book Evernight series, which follows a girl named Bianca, who is sent to Evernight Academy, a boarding school for vampires. Not knowing the school’s true nature, Bianca is subsequently thrust into the middle of a conflict between supernatural forces beyond her understanding.

Gray has also published Balthazar, a spin-off of the Evernight series about Bianca’s vampire friend, and a stand-alone novel entitled Fateful, the tale of a young serving woman aboard the doomed ship Titanic, and a dark stranger who is pursued by werewolves. Gray’s short stories have been featured in anthologies such as Immortal, Enthralled, and Vacations from Hell.

Before working as a full-time novelist, Gray worked as a lawyer, a disc jockey, a journalist, and a waitress (a terrible one by her reckoning). She enjoys hiking, traveling, reading, and listening to music, but says she loves writing best of all.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Kaladin seemed to be fighting depression, Shallan hid in the darkness while Amaram attempted to interview Talenel, and as a result of her work she was welcomed into the Ghostbloods. This week, in Chapter 64, we go back in time again, as Shallan tries to make a difference for her family.

My assistant Adam is has updated the twitter blog for December and January.

Hey, all. I’m back from tour at long last, and am hard at work on Stormlight 3. In fact, because it’s national novel writing month, you might see me posting daily wordcounts on social media. Back in 2002, I finished the original draft of The Way of Kings over NaNoWriMo. (Finished it the Friday after Thanksgiving, I believe.) Seems thematically appropriate to me to post about it again, now that it’s November.

This book won’t be ready until next year around this time, at the earliest. Fortunately, I can point you toward a few new releases that might keep you busy for a little while. The first is The Wheel of Time Companion. This is the official name and release for the encyclopedia that Harriet and Team Jordan have been working on for many years. (I believe they started compiling it way back even before the release of Knife of Dreams!)

They’ve put a ton of effort into this volume, and it shows. If you’ve ever wanted a comprehensive encyclopedia of the people, places, and terminology of the Wheel of Time, this is for you! And it will look very handsome on the shelf beside your other Wheel of Time books.

The second release is tangentially Wheel of Time-related as well. Jason Denzel, webmaster for the largest Wheel of Time fansite, has become a good friend of mine over the years. He was the first person in Wheel of Time fandom to really reach out to me when I was announced as the guy who would finish the series. (He actually found me on tour with a backpack full of Magic cards.) He was an awesome resource all through my working on the books, and we’ve remained buddies ever since.

It happens that Jason is also a storyteller. He’s done mostly independent films up to this point, but a few years back he wrote a novel called Mystic that he let me read. It’s very good—a kind of Celtic-inspired fantasy with some very intriguing worldbuilding. It’s one of those books that straddles the line between young adult and adult (much like the early volumes of the Wheel of Time, actually) and is a quick, well-paced read. Give it a look!

Meanwhile, I’ll get back to work.

[Note, I’m still on tour for Shadows of Self. If you’ve somehow missed the fact that I have a new book out, then read these blog posts, and come see me on tour! Events are listed here.]

Last year, we got a very intriguing offer. A production company in Minneapolis was filming a series on mythology for the History Channel, and they wanted to know if I’d be interested in appearing as a guest.

My initial inclination was to turn down the request, as my time these days is at a premium. Also, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be on a program reminiscent of the one done with the “aliens” guy.

However, talking to my agent, I decided to just roll with it. It was a fun opportunity, and most importantly, they were contacting us in relation to my professor’s hat—they wanted an expert on mythology, storytelling, and what makes human beings intrigued by certain types of stories.

Now, I’d been on the small screen before. Including that fateful moment where I appeared on a local news channel in front of a bunch of stormtroopers, beside the actress who played the evil Kryptonian woman from Superman 2 back in the day. Ah, the places my life has taken me…

Well, I’m pleased to say that despite my reservations, the experience of filming for this series (titled True Monsters now, instead of True Myths as in the original pitch to me) was excellent. Though the series pitch was about whether or not these mythological monsters are real (hint: they’re not), the questions directed at me were exclusively within my particular wheelhouse. We talked about why people want to believe in myths, why they tell stories, and why we consider some myths real (like my own religious faith) while we disregard others.

It was actually a very fun shoot, with me getting to be very professorial and talk about things I love and am passionate about. Now, upon writing this, I can’t say how it turned out. I haven’t seen a cut, and who knows how they spliced me in—or if they even ended up using me at all! However, I did find out that a certain Patrick Rothfuss was also interviewed, so it should be a fun program to watch either way.

Perhaps this thing will come together in a way that makes it seem like I’m telling you all that bigfoot is real. (And, in so doing, help prove the complaint that sensationalism is infecting our educational programming.)

However, my experiences with the producers are making me lean the other direction. I’m anticipating a fun program, which might toy with the real-world explanations of why certain myths started, then dig into what makes human beings so fond of telling stories to one another.

And if not, well, let me just get this out of the way:

True Monsters will be airing on the History Channel on October 9 (that’s today) at 10/9c.

Hey, all. I’ve just finished revisions on Calamity, and have turned the book in to my publisher. Which means the Reckoners as a series is a wrap! I’m very pleased with the result and with the beta reader reactions, and am very much looking forward to you all getting to read the book.

It’s not out until February, however, so I thought I’d make you aware of a book (that is out right now) by an author friend of mine. Janci Patterson is a wonderful author whom some of you may know from her guest spots lecturing at my writing class when I’m away on tour. She’s one of the best writers I know. Her stories are frantic, fun, and thoughtful all at once.

Her newest book, A Thousand Faces, is a teen thriller about a shapeshifter who, with her family, gets hired to do jobs—mostly corporate espionage. I read it about a year ago, when it was in an early draft, and fell in love with it. Janci has this way of writing teen characters that avoids the stereotypes of the genre. When there are romances, they are messy and authentic. The characters stick with me, get into my head, and I find myself thinking about them even months later. And Janci’s plotting is top-notch.

She’s self-publishing this one, after beating her head against New York publishing for a number of years, but the book is as professional as anything I’ve read from a major publisher. If you’re interested in thrillers, teen novels, or just like supporting independent writers of quality and merit, I suggest you take a look at this book. (And Janci’s other works.)

My next project is the revision of The Bands of Mourning, Mistborn #6. (Which is coming out in January.) Don’t forget my upcoming tour for Mistborn #5 in October, where at every stop I’ll be doing a reading from the new Stormlight book.

As always, thanks for reading.

My Cosmere novella Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell has been on sale on Kindle in the US, and a few other vendors, during August. The 99¢ price is ending soon, so take a look if you haven’t already.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Breaking In, with Charlie N. Holmberg, Charlie, whose debut novel The Paper Magician was released by Amazon’s 47 North imprint just one year ago, joined us in front of a live audience at the World Science Fiction Convention to talk about breaking in to the industry today.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Adolin takes over another of Dalinar’s roles as he goes out to meet with Eshonai about the Parshendi proposal. This week, in Chapter 52, Shallan and Kaladin each improve their skills as they take steps toward their intermediate goals.

My assistant Adam has updated the Twitter post archive for August.

Hey, all! I need to make you aware of a time change to one of my events on the upcoming Shadows of Self tour. Soon after announcing the schedule, I had a reader mention to me that they were sad to have to choose between me and Jim Butcher, who was apparently going to be signing in Denver the same day. (And not too far from my own event.)

The reader wasn’t complaining to get me to change; they were simply lamenting their wealth of options, so to speak. However, I still felt bad. Jim had his event scheduled first, and we (unwittingly) then dropped something down by way of competition. I’m a big fan of Jim’s writing, and I think what we did was unfair to the many readers who enjoy books from us both. Though the realities of publishing mean we won’t always be able to do something about conflicts like this, I was able to persuade the publisher and bookstore to allow me to move the time of my signing.

So, my signing in Denver (which was scheduled for 7:00 on the 6th of October) has been moved to 6:00 p.m. on the same day. I will try to arrive a half hour early (at 5:30) and quickly sign the books of those who were planning to attend both signings. I’ll do my presentation/reading from 6:00 to 6:45, giving enough time (hopefully) for those who want to attend both signings to slip out and still get to Jim’s reading.

Thanks! And sorry if this inconveniences anyone. I will still be at my signing past 7:00, so if you can’t make it until then, I will sign your books. (Most of my signings go three or four hours, depending on the location and the day, so it’s a safe bet I’ll be at the bookstore until 9:00. But no promises, so if you’re going to be very late, please call the bookstore and get an update on how late I’ll be staying.)

Best,

Brandon

p.s. You should all go read Jim’s new book, The Aeronaut’s Windlass.