Introduction

We are approaching Koloss Head-Munching Day—the day of the year that happens, by utter coincidence, to coincide with my birthday. (December 19th.) I’m turning forty this year, which isn’t as dramatic for me as it might be for some others. From the way I act, people have been joking for the last twenty years that I was “born forty.” I guess I’m finally just catching up.

It’s been almost twenty years since I finished my first book. I can remember joking with my friends in college (whom you might know as Lieutenant Conrad from Mistborn and Drehy from Bridge Four) that by forty, we were all going to be rich and famous.

The thing is, I always intended to make that dream happen. Not necessarily for the “rich” part or the “famous” part, neither of which interested me a great deal. I just knew that without a solid, stable writing career, I’d never be able to make the Cosmere happen.

Perhaps that’s where this whole “born forty” thing came from in the first place. I basically spent my twenties writing, slavishly trying to figure out how to craft stories. Friends would tell me to relax, but I couldn’t, not when these dreams of mine were so big. It should be mentioned that despite what our society would like to believe, hard work doesn’t always equate with success. For me, luck played a huge part in my being able to sit here and type this out for you.

Still, here I am, and I honestly can’t imagine things having gone better. People often seem bemused by my productivity; when I get together with fellow authors, they sometimes jokingly refer to me as “the adult” in our group. I get this—for a lot of them, writing is more of an instinctual process. Sitting and talking about the business side of things, or their goals for writing, flies in the face of the almost accidental way they’ve approached their careers. And it works for them; they create great books I’m always excited to read.

However, sometimes there’s also this sense—from fans, from the community, from us authors in general—that whispers that being productive isn’t a good thing. It’s like society feels artists should naturally try to hide from deadlines, structure, or being aware of what we do and why we do it. As if, because art is supposed to be painful, we shouldn’t enjoy doing our work—and should need to be forced into it.

If there’s one thing that has surprised me over the last ten years, it’s this strangeness that surrounds my enjoyment of my job, and the way my own psychology interfaces with storytelling. People thank me for being productive, when I don’t consider myself particularly fast as a writer—I’m just consistent. Fans worry that I will burn out, or that secretly I’m some kind of cabal of writers working together. I enjoy the jokes, but there’s really no secret. I just get excited by all of this. I have a chance to create something incredible, something that will touch people’s lives. In some cases, that touch is light—I just give a person a few moments to relax amid the tempest of life. In other cases, stories touch people on a deep and meaningful level. I’ll happily take either scenario.

Almost thirty years ago now, I encountered something remarkable in the books I read. Something meaningful that I couldn’t describe, a new perspective, new emotions. I knew then that I had to learn to do what those writers were doing. Now that I have the chance to reach people the same way, I’m not going to squander it.

I guess this is all a prelude to a warning. I’m working on a lot of projects. Many of these tie together in this epic master plan of mine, the thirty-six-(or more)-book cycle that will be the Cosmere. Even those books that aren’t part of the Cosmere are here to challenge me in some way, to push me and my stories, to explore concepts that have fascinated me for years.

These last ten years have been incredible. I thank you, and I thank God, for this crazy opportunity I’ve been given. I don’t intend to slow down.

I’m not embarrassed to be “the adult.” Even if I’ve only just hit the right age for it officially.

My Year

2015 was a bit slower than last year was, as I spent a lot of time editing.

January–May: Calamity

The bulk of my writing time this year was spent on Calamity, which I’d been putting off last year in order to write the two new Mistborn novels. Looking back at my records, I finished the last chapters in early May.

This was interrupted, on occasion, for revisions of various books—and for the Firefight tour, along with a trip to Sharjah in the UAE. Busy times. So busy, in fact, that it’s taken me all the rest of the year to give full feedback to the writers who took my class. I managed to grade their papers in May, somehow, but promised them each a personalized look at their final story submissions, which I’m only now finishing up.

June–August: Stormlight Three

I did squeeze in some writing time for Stormlight in here, though not a whole ton of it got done. I had to stop for revisions, touring, and travel through most of September and October.

September–October: Revisions and a Secret Project

Traveling so much made it difficult to do Stormlight 3 writing, which requires a lot of time investment. So between revisions, I managed to finish a project I’ve been working on for about a decade now. (Yes, a decade.) You’ll see this soon. It’s a novella.

November–December: Stormlight Three Again

I plan to keep on this one until I finish it, as I’ll talk about below. However, if you want to read a little about my writing time in November, you can read this other blog post.

Big List of Things I’m Working On

Now, let’s get to it. Each year around this time, I take stock of my many projects. You can read last year’s post here, to compare and see how things have been progressing. (And to see how well I did in my plans for 2015.)

Thank you in advance for continuing to give me the freedom I feel I need to jump between different worlds. While I know it’s frustrating sometimes that I’m not working on your world, the greater plans I have for all this require me to approach things in a certain way. Both for my health as a writer, and to bring about some large-scale awesomeness.

I’m going to go down the list of projects I’m working on, starting with what I consider my “main” projects. These are getting the focus of my time right now. From there, I’ll move on to things that I’m still toying with doing sometime soon.

Then it gets a little more speculative.

Enjoy!

Main Book Projects

The Stormlight Archive

Stormlight is going very well. I’m working on Book Three, which I’m calling Oathbringer. (That is likely at this point to be the final title.) This is my main project, and I won’t be writing any new prose on other stories until it is done. You can follow the progress bars!

Release dates for this book are still in flux. Even if I finish it early next year, it could be a year or more until you see the book. The amount of editing, continuity, and art that these books require creates a need for a long lead time. I’ve told people that Fall 2016 is the earliest they’d see it, but my team has been warning me that’s not realistic. We’ll see, but for now you should assume on a 2017 release.

What does this mean for my once optimistic “one Stormlight book every eighteen months” goal? The more I work on these books, the more uncertain I am about that. The outline for Oathbringer, for example, took about a year for me to nail down. Considering how many moving pieces there are in these books, it’s tough to judge how long they will take to write. And while there are books I can force through if some things aren’t right, I can’t afford to do that on this series.

I’ll continue to write Stormlight books at as quick a pace as is reasonable. I consider this my main project for the next decade or two, and am dedicated to it. But each book, as I’ve said before, is plotted as four books in one. So even if I release them once every three years, you’re getting four “books” in three years.

We’ll see. I’ll try to pick up the pace. In the meantime, I’ll try to get some short stories in the world out for you. (More on this later.)

Status: Book Three in Progress

The Reckoners

The last book of the trilogy is complete, revised, and turned in. It’s coming out in February, and is—indeed—the ending.

I have not closed the door on doing more in the world, but it will not be for a while. If I do return, it will be like a Mistborn return, where the focus of the books shifts in some way and I create a new series. I like leaving endings as endings, even if the world and some of the characters do progress.

I’m extremely pleased with the last book. I look forward to having you all read it, and I am grateful to you all for supporting this series. There were voices that told me something outside the Cosmere would never sell as well as something inside—but this series is neck-and-neck in popularity with Stormlight and Mistborn. It’s a relief, and very gratifying, to see that people are willing to follow me on different kinds of journeys.

Status: Completed!

Mistborn

And speaking of Mistborn, how is Scadrial doing? My current plan is still to have the Mistborn books stretch throughout my career, establishing stories in different eras of time with different sets of characters.

The original pitch was for three trilogies. The Wax and Wayne books expanded this to four series. (You can imagine Wax and Wayne as series 1.5, if you want.) This means there will still be a contemporary trilogy, and a science fiction trilogy, in the future.

I have one more book to do in the Wax and Wayne series, and I’m planning to write it sometime between Stormlight books three and four. Until then, Wax and Wayne three—The Bands of Mourning—comes out in January!

Status: Era 1.5 book three done; book four coming soonish

Secondary Book Projects

Elantris

I do still intend Elantris sequels. (And the enthusiasm for the leatherbound edition proves that people are still interested in the world.) Right now, I have them scheduled to be slotted in once Wax and Wayne is done. We’ll take a break from Scadrial at that point, go back to Sel and do some Elantris books, then hop back to the 1980s era Mistborn series.

This slots an Elantris sequel into the spot between Stormlight books 4 & 5. It is coming, just more slowly than I’d once hoped.

Status: Delayed, but coming before too long

The Rithmatist

Book two of The Rithmatist (called The Aztlanian) is another thing on my schedule that I need to get to soon. If you didn’t read last year’s update on the book, I tried writing this—and found I didn’t have a strong enough grasp on the historical period and culture to do it justice. So I stopped and did a bunch of research, but by the time I finished, I needed to be back to work on my main projects.

Therefore, I’ve slotted this in after Stormlight 3 as well. Hopefully it won’t get pushed back again. Usually I try to do about equal in pages to a Stormlight book between Stormlight books. That gives me room for three smaller books. Right now plans are for these three books to be The Lost Metal (Wax and Wayne 4), The Atzlanian, and a new project. (See below.)

Status: Delayed, but maybe coming soon

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians

Here’s another one we’ve been able to clear off my list. With Tor republishing the first four books of this series throughout the spring next year (starting in February), I am at last able to get the fifth book (and the final one Alcatraz will write) out to you fans.

The new art for these editions has me very excited. For once I think we have covers that indicate to readers the tone of the books. Book Five should be out in the summer, though I believe Tor is scheduling it for August instead of June. It is written, and I’m doing final edits on it right now. (In the evenings after I feel I’ve hit my wordcount goal for Stormlight.)

If you haven’t read these books, give them a browse once they come out again in the spring. They’re very fun, but very different from my other books. They’re insane, fourth-wall-breaking comedies, so they’re certainly not for everyone. They have been an excellent way for me to blow off steam and refresh myself between longer, more ponderous books.

Status: Book Five Completed!

White Sand

For those who don’t know, this is a book I wrote around the same time as Elantris—but which I didn’t ever sell. Once I was published, I considered releasing it, but felt it needed a solid revision before I could do so.

Well, that revision was delayed time and time again, until the point where I decided I probably would need to just rewrite the book from scratch if I ever did release it. An interesting opportunity came along a few years later, however, and that changed my perspective. You see, the comic book company Dynamite Entertainment had come asking if I had anything, perhaps an unpublished novel, that would make a good graphic novel.

This seemed the perfect opportunity to make use of White Sand. I didn’t have time to do revisions, but another writer could take my words and adapt them (really, what the book needed was a trim anyway) into a graphic edition. We said yes, and started into the process.

I’ve said before, Dynamite has been excellent to work with. Rik Hoskin, the person hired to do the adaptation, is a fantastic writer—and he really managed to preserve the core of my story, using my own dialogue and descriptions, while cutting out all the chaff. The artist Julius Gopez, the colorist Ross Campbell, the letterer Marshall Dillon, and the editor Rich Young have all done a fabulous great job.

The novel is big (no surprise), so it’s going to be released as three graphic novels. The first of these is almost ready, and we’re expecting a release sometime next year. The fine folks at Dynamite have given me permission to post some teaser pages here, so here you go! The first look at White Sand, the graphic novel:

Tertiary Book Projects

Now we move on to some of the projects that are itching at me, and I do intend to do someday—but which are delayed indefinitely until I figure out the right time to do them.

Warbreaker

While some characters from Nalthis have made appearances in other books, I still don’t have a specific timeframe for when I’ll go back and write the second Warbreaker book. (Titled Nightblood for the time being.)

I know a lot of people really want this book, and I intend to do it, but I have to find time for the Elantris sequels first. So you’re unlikely to see it until Elantris is finished. (Sorry.)

Status: On Hiatus

Legion

I owe people another (and final) Legion novella, and I plan to do this as well. Novellas aren’t as big a commitment as novels, obviously—that’s part of why I do them. But I don’t know when I’ll squeeze this in, with all the things I’m doing right now. It could happen literally at any time—but I don’t expect it in 2017, to be honest.

Status: On Short Hiatus

Cosmere Short Fiction Collection

For a while I’ve been thinking that I need to collect all the various pieces of Cosmere short fiction and put them into a single collection, for those who don’t like hunting around for them.

This might be the year to do that. If Stormlight doesn’t make it into 2016, we might be able to get a collection (with a Stormlight novella) out by the end of the year instead. Something to tide you over, at least, until book three comes out.

If we do this, my goal will be to have it include every piece of short fiction from every source up until now and bind it together in a handsome hardcover that will look nice on the shelf next to your other books.

This will give you multiple options for the short fiction, if you want to collect it. We will continue to do our little two-novella collections (like the Perfect State and Shadows for Silence double that we just released.) So if you’d prefer to collect those in the smaller size, I anticipate everything eventually being released in that format too. However, if you’d like one thick tome, every ten years or so you should see a bigger collection.

More on this as it develops. Right now I’m toying with the title Arcanum Unbound, and would love to include a star chart of all the cosmere worlds in it.

Projects in Development

These are projects you might have heard of, but for which no solid evidence of them ever being released is out there. On occasion I might do readings from them, and I might tinker with them—but I don’t have much specific to tell you about release dates.

New YA Series

I am developing a new YA series to be released after the Reckoners with the same publisher. I can’t say much about it right now, though we will probably do some announcements regarding it during the Calamity tour. If all goes well, the first book of this trilogy will be the third shorter novel I write between Stormlight 3 and 4.

I always need to have something new to be working on, if only in the back of my mind, to help prevent burnout. I’m excited about this series right now, and actively working on the outline. But I won’t be digging into writing it until next summer or fall, depending on when Stormlight Three is done. So I don’t expect a release for a while yet.

Status: Outlining

Adamant

Some of you have heard readings from, or seen excerpts of, this epic science fiction series that I’ve been working on. I finished one novella in the world, and am pleased with it, but I have no immediate plans for writing the rest. Perhaps I’ll feel different once Stormlight is done and I’m satisfied with it. (It’s always possible I’ll need a break between projects where I can do something very different.) We shall see. I have no plans to release this in 2016.

Status: On Hiatus

Dark One

A perennial favorite on the State of the Sanderson is this YA series about a boy who discovers he’s the Dark One, a figure from prophecy fated to destroy the world. My outlines are looking okay for this one, but it doesn’t feel like the right time to do it. I pitched it to my editors at Random House along with the new YA series above, and we all agreed the other project was a better follow-up to the Reckoners.

Dark One is bound to get done someday. That day isn’t now.

Status: No Projected Start Date

Death by Pizza

I had a nice breakthrough on this book recently, making the main character far more interesting. (For those who don’t know, this is about a necromancer who owns a pizza joint.) However, this remains a very out-of-left-field project for me, and something I did mostly for fun. (I have a nearly complete draft of the entire book.)

I don’t anticipate doing this anytime soon, though I did briefly consider it as an alternative to the new YA series listed above. It’s still just too strange for me to want to do right now. Perhaps eventually.

Status: On Hiatus

Dragonsteel/Liar of Partinel

This is Hoid’s origin story, a prequel to the entire Cosmere. The time is not right. It’s going to happen eventually, but I feel that I shouldn’t dig into this until Stormlight is completely done. (All ten books.) So don’t hold your breath on this one.

Status: Loooong way off

Silence Divine

This story (which is the one about a world where catching a disease grants you magical talents) is another perennial State of the Sanderson participant.

I did some work on a short story in this world a while back, and liked it, but didn’t have time to finish. (This is the thing I did readings from during the Words of Radiance tour, I believe.) It’s set in the cosmere, and I have plans to someday write this—but I’m not sure when I’ll do it. Could be a long way off still.

Status: On Hiatus

Soulburner

This is an outline I developed last year during a lull—a kind of space-opera-fantasy-hybrid like Dune or Star Wars. The setting is awesome, one of my favorites. Very distinctive.

I don’t have a story for it yet though. I’m just putting it on here so that you know that wacky things are still bouncing around in my head, looking for a way out. It’s not something I’m going to release anytime soon, but if I ever do, you can point here and say, “Hey, I saw this first!”

Status: No Projected Start Date

Aether of Night

Another of the books I wrote around the time of Elantris, and another one that’s not half bad—but still in need of a solid revision.

I’ll likely do something with it someday. In the meantime, if you want to read it, you can send us an email to ask for a copy. (Consider it a thank you for getting this far in this huge post.) I’d ask that you’d consider signing up for my mailing list when you do email me, as that’s how I get the word out on when I’m doing signings and when I have cool new things to release. But that’s not required in order to get the book.

Projected Novel Release Schedule

There’s a good chance I won’t hold to this, but just so you know, here’s how I view my upcoming novel release schedule (not including any novellas or short stories that may or may not appear during moments when I need to do something new):

January 2016: Wax and Wayne 3
February 2016: Reckoners 3 (final book)
June 2016: Alcatraz 5
Sometime 2017: Stormlight 3
Sometime 2017: Rithmatist 2
Spring 2018: New YA project 1
Fall 2018: Wax and Wayne 4 (final book)
Sometime 2019: Stormlight 4
Sometime 2019: New YA project 2
Sometime 2020: Elantris 2
Sometime 2020 New YA project 3 (final book)
Sometime 2021: Stormlight 5 (ending of first arc)
Sometime 2022: Elantris 3 (final book)

Conclusion

Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you that the list was big.

It’s been quite the year. Lots of travel, lots of meeting people and signing books. My tenth year doing this. I’ve spent the last decade kind of looking at myself as one of the new kids in the fantasy market, but I suppose it’s time to admit that I’ve become—albeit not a member of the old guard—one of the genre’s more established names.

As always, you make this possible. Here’s looking to another excellent year. Merry Christmas, and a Happy Koloss Head-Munching Day, to you all.

Brandon Sanderson
December 2015

Hugo nomination season is upon us! If you are unaware, the Hugo Award is given by fans attending that year’s Worldcon. (This year’s convention will be held in San Antonio, Texas. I do plan to attend, as I went to Dragon*Con last year, and I try to vary which one I go to.) To nominate for the Hugo Awards, you have to be a member of this year’s convention or the previous year’s or following year’s convention, and the nomination form is here.

By longstanding tradition, potential nominees avoid aggressive Hugo campaigning. Instead, we make a note of which of our works are eligible, so that they can be considered. In my case, I have Writing Excuses Season Seven eligible in the Best Related Work category.

I also have two stories that might be worth your time: The Emperor’s Soul (Tachyon Publications, November 2012) and Legion (Subterranean Press, August 2012), both of which are novellas.

While I’m quite fond of both pieces, I think that The Emperor’s Soul is more appropriate for award consideration. If you are interested in reading one of my works, I’d point you toward it—and I’d actually like to give you a free copy.

Therefore, if you are a valid member of this year’s Worldcon or the 2012 or 2014 Worldcons, feel free to send me an email at ebooks@brandonsanderson.com requesting an ebook of The Emperor’s Soul and saying which Worldcon you’re a member of. No, you don’t need to send me proof. I will trust your word on it. In this day and age, someone who really wanted to pirate a copy could do so at their leisure anyway.

Additionally, if you’re a SFWA member considering nominations for the Nebula, you can find a link to download the story on the SFWA forums. A blurb for the story can be found below. Thanks for your consideration!

Brandon

From the Back of the Book

When Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.

Shai is given an impossible task: to create—to Forge—a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai’s only possible ally is the emperor’s most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent.

Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape . . .

Since it’s been out for a year and the mass market paperback has been released, I’m now putting THE ALLOY OF LAW in my signed hardcovers store. I also have a 6-pack that includes the four Mistborn books, Elantris, and Warbreaker for a special holiday price of $140. I’ll sign any and all of my hardcovers in the store and personalize them at your request. Note though that today is the deadline for international orders if you want them to arrive by December 24th.

The Audible version of A MEMORY OF LIGHT is also now available for preorder. I don’t think Audible had preorder capacity before, so this is new!

The most recent podcast episode of Writing Excuses is a “project in depth” episode where we focus on analyzing one of our works. In this case, it’s my recently released novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL. The podcast does have spoilers, so I advise reading the novella before listening to the episode.

I will be signing in Idaho Falls later this month; check my events page for details. If you haven’t been able to get to a signing of mine recently and want a signed copy of THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, contact one of the following stores to see if they still have signed copies in stock:

The Missing Volume
Raleigh, North Carolina
info@TheMissingVolume.com
(321) 297-6635

Kathmandu Books
Winter Park, Florida
info@kathmandubooks.com
(321) 439-8187

The Book Scouts
Hamilton, Canada
thebookscouts@shaw.ca

Michael Walsh, Bookseller
Old Earth Books
Baltimore/Washington DC
publisher@oldearthbooks.com

Weller Book Works
Salt Lake City, Utah
books@wellerbookworks.com
(801) 328-2586 or (800) 333-7269

Chapters
Markham, Ontario
(905) 477-1756

Also very briefly, my assistant has uploaded two more Twitter posts archives.

My novella THE EMPEROR’S SOUL came out in trade paperback a few weeks ago, and the ebook version is out today. You can find it at most of the ebook stores, but we’re still waiting to hear from Google Play about this and LEGION. Note: the audiobook has also been released, so enjoy!

If you bought the trade paperback already and want the ebook for free, email your paperback receipt, or a picture of yourself holding the book, to ebooks@brandonsanderson.com. We should get it to you within a couple of days.

Tuesday night will mark the official release event for the trade paperback of THE EMPEROR’S SOUL, and I’ll also do another signing on Saturday. Here are the details:

Date: Tuesday November 6th
Time: 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.
Place: Weller Book Works
Address: 607 Trolley Square
Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: (801) 328-2586
Type: Signing
Note: I will number books at this event only.

Date: Saturday November 10th
Time: 6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – University Crossings Plaza
Address: 330 E University Parkway
Orem, UT 84058
Phone: (801) 229-1611
Type: Signing

If you want to come to either signing but want to read the book beforehand, consider buying your book at that store ahead of time.

In unrelated news, the most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode is another microcasting episode covering a bunch of questions asked by listeners. Regular visitors to the Writing Excuses page will also know about the Out of Excuses writing retreat and workshop that we are offering in Chattanooga next June. You also know that it sold out in nine minutes. Well, one of our longtime listeners is chipping in to help us offer a scholarship to one more attendee, and you can read the details here.

I’ve flown up to Toronto for the World Fantasy convention. My schedule is below. I’m also doing an off-site bookstore signing at Chapters in Markham on Saturday. See below for details. Hope to see many of you there!

The convention is sold out—but I have ONE WORLD FANTASY MEMBERSHIP TO SELL. Pemberly was going to attend the convention with me after half a week in New York, but Hurricane Sandy changed our plans. So if you are in Toronto but don’t already have a membership and are interested in seeing dozens of big-name authors and editors (everyone on this list and this list), consider buying Pemberly’s membership. This is the most expensive convention that exists in the field (the cost is $250 Canadian), but if you’re serious about publishing, it’s worth it. A previous World Fantasy in Canada (in Montreal, 2001) is where I met my Tor Books editor, Moshe Feder. So if you’re interested, drop me an email using the email interface on my website.

If you don’t have any desire to go to World Fantasy but just want to get some books signed and ask me a couple of questions, I’d love to see you at the signing at Chapters!

World Fantasy Convention, Toronto

Date: November 1st-4th, 2012
Place: World Fantasy 2012
Address: Sheraton Parkway Toronto North
600 Highway 7 East
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
L4B 1B2
Type: Convention
Schedule:

FRIDAY

8:00-10:00 p.m., Grand York Ballroom
Autograph Reception
Features the dozens of pro writers attending the convention. A bigger collection of bestselling fantasy writers in the same room than you will find anywhere other than another World Fantasy.

SATURDAY

12:30-1:00 p.m., King room
Brandon Sanderson Reading

2:00-4:00 p.m., Chapters Markam
Bookstore signing. See details below.

SUNDAY

1:00-3:30 p.m., Grand York Ballroom
World Fantasy Awards Banquet and Presentations
(Ticket required for luncheon.)

Chapters Markham, Toronto

Date: November 3rd, 2012
Time: 2:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m.
Place: Chapters Markham
Address: Woodside Centre, 3175 Highway 7 East
Markham, Ontario L3R0T9
Canada
Phone: (905) 477-1756
***SCHEDULE CHANGE!*** Be aware that the signing is now in the afternoon, not the evening.
Note: If you want to come to this signing but want to read THE EMPEROR’S SOUL before this date, consider buying your book at this store ahead of time. Thanks! I will also sign any other book you bring that I wrote, but it’s nice to support the store hosting me by buying at least one book (by any author) in the store that day.

This post will be another run-down of a bunch of different topics.

Weller Book Works is once again handling a signing-by-mail for one of my releases. In this case, since THE EMPEROR’S SOUL is already out in bookstores, it’s going to run slightly differently. They are limiting it to 200 copies, and I’ll be signing and numbering them the same day I do my in-store signing there, November 6th. They’re also experimenting with cheaper shipping this time around (the book is a trade paperback and much smaller than my usual, which helps), and I hear that the email they sent out to people who ordered previous books says all orders must be done via email to books@wellerbookworks.com. And a note for those of you waiting on ebooks: the ebook will come out toward the beginning of November. Anyone who orders the print version can get a free copy of the ebook (as soon as my assistant Peter makes it) following the routine we used for the LEGION ebook.

Some of you want to know how to get signed copies of my other books. If a book has been out for a year, I sell signed hardcovers in my store. (THE ALLOY OF LAW isn’t up there yet, but it will go up next week.) Many readers like buying signed copies to give as Christmas gifts, so here’s the skinny on the holiday shipping deadlines this year. My assistant Becky says that all international orders need to be in by November 12th at 5 p.m. MST, and all domestic orders need to be in by December 5th at 5 p.m. MST. I will still sign book orders that come in after those dates, but the likelihood of a delivery by December 24th goes way down.

Macmillan Audio is running a little promotion for the A MEMORY OF LIGHT audiobook on CD (sorry, US residents only). This image pretty much says it all:

Looks cool! For more details, see this link.

My pal Larry Correia, author of the Monster Hunter International series, is running a kickstarter for a MHI world book/tabletop roleplaying game. The kickstarter is actually already funded, but it looks cool. If you like shooting monsters with accurately described guns, this might be for you.

The most recent Writing Excuses episode is another live episode recorded at GenCon Indy. We spoke with James L Sutter about writing tie-in fantasy fiction. He’s the co-creator of the Pathfinder RPG system and is the editor of all Pathfinder fiction, so if you’ve ever been interested in writing in a universe like that, check it out!

InkWing, which does my Mistborn and Stormlight Archive T-shirts, has another contest where they’re giving away a free shirt. See the details here.

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Facebook, over the weekend you saw me post about trading books for Magic cards to fill out my cube. I’ve now received a bunch of cards and am getting ready to send out a bunch of books. Only super rare cards are left on my list, but you can see it here. My assistant Peter also uploaded another Twitter posts archive.

Though the official release date is still two weeks away, it appears that B&N, Amazon, and a number of indy bookstores all have copies of The Emperor’s Soul in stock. I’d like to take this chance to introduce the book to you. You can read an excerpt here on Tor.com.

In working on the Wheel of Time last year (and with the knowledge that I’d need to move on to Stormlight 2 immediately after finishing), I knew I wouldn’t be able to get out a full-length novel this year. Instead, I worked on two novellas. The first, Legion, came out a couple months ago. The second of the two is The Emperor’s Soul.

I’m extremely proud of this novella. I think it’s my best piece of short fiction to date, and stands as one of the best complete works I’ve done of any length. For those who liked Legion, I think you’ll like this as much or more. For those who were skeptical of Legion, know that this novella is not only twice as long, but is also a fantasy story with a great magic system and cool character. It reads more like a short novel than it does a long short story, and does a lot of what I do in my longer fiction.

Unlike Legion, this one is out in bookstores. And though it’s twice as long, it’s three-quarters of the price (as it is a trade paperback instead of a hardcover). Barnes & Noble took a large stock for their stores, so you should be able to find a copy or two at your local B&N. (Though you might want to call first; I’m not sure which stores are getting copies and which aren’t.) Your local indy, if they carry my other fantasy novels, should hopefully have copies in as well.

So what is The Emperor’s Soul? It takes place in the same world as Elantris, though in a very different region, with only a few ties to Elantris. So you definitely don’t have to have read Elantris to appreciate it. (Though if you have, you should be able to see some fun ties between the magic systems.) It tells the story of a woman named Shai, a thief and a Forger—a person capable of rewriting the pasts of objects in order to change their present.

She starts off in prison, but instead of being executed, she is offered an opportunity. The emperor has been wounded in the head by assassins, and has become a vegetable. His attendants have hidden this from the empire and will trade Shai her life in exchange for creating a Forgery of the emperor’s soul, hopefully making it seem like the attack on his life never happened.

I always hate coming up with descriptions of books. I like them to stand on their own, with the text I wrote for them. So I’ll leave the description there, and instead just say that I am in love with this story, and think it’s among the best pieces of writing I’ve ever done. If you’ve liked my works in the past, I hope you’ll give this one a try.

As with Legion, I will personally send a copy of the ebook to anyone who buys the print version. (We hope to have the ebook ready soon; we’re working on it. It’s not out quite yet.)

I will be doing several signings for this book. The official release where I number copies will be at Weller Book Works in Salt Lake City on November 6th. (I will also be doing a signing-by-mail through Weller; details to follow.) Then there’s another signing at the Orem Barnes & Noble on November 10th.

But my first three signings will be in Canada, in Halifax and Toronto. I will be at Hal-Con in Halifax on October 26th through 28th, and I’ll sign books in the exhibits hall there. Then I’ll be at World Fantasy in Toronto November 2nd through 4th; convention registration is sold out, so I will also do a bookstore signing in Toronto on the 3rd in the evening. For specifics on all of these conventions and signings, check out my events page. If you want to go to one of these signings but want to read the book now, please consider buying your copy ahead of time at the store hosting the signing.

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.

A reminder about the conventions I’ll be attending this month. I’ll be in Indianapolis for Gen Con August 16th through 19th, Albuquerque for Bubonicon the 24th through 26th, and Atlanta for Dragon*Con the 31st through September 3rd. I’ll put up more details and my full schedule as each convention approaches.

My novella LEGION comes out from Subterranean Press at the end of this month. I’ve talked about this before, but if you want to have one of the leatherbound limited editions when the book comes out, now’s a good time to order. I will also have a sample chapter up sometime later in August.

The final ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS annotation is up, and it covers the epilogue and everything else at the end of the book. This will be the last annotation posted for a while. I’ve written some for THE ALLOY OF LAW—but only for the middle chapters of the book, so my assistant can’t start posting any until I get around to writing the others. It’s also possible that I will write annotations for THE WAY OF KINGS as I gear up to write the second book…but that takes time, and I’m raring to just start writing the book, so I’m not sure annotations will happen soon. We’ll see.

The most recent Writing Excuses podcast episode features Eric James Stone joining Dan, Howard, Mary, and me to talk about basic astronomy for writers. There are lots of things that writers can potentially get wrong about astronomy, so give this episode a listen.

The Galley Table Podcast from Flying Island Press did an interview with me while I was at BayCon back in May. I’m pretty sure I forgot to link to this episode before, but you can listen to it here.

Readers have been asking if my forthcoming novellas LEGION and THE EMPEROR’S SOUL will be released in audio versions. The answer is that they will be—we have deals made for these, but I’m not sure how quickly the audiobooks will be released compared to the book versions. I’ll let you know when I have more details.

Another question commonly asked is whether Michael Kramer and Kate Reading will return to voice the audiobook for A MEMORY OF LIGHT. The answer is yes, and the audiobook will definitely be released the same day as the hardcover.

All of my books are now out in audio editions, including the last three Alcatraz books that were missing audiobooks for a few years. There are two different kinds of audiobooks of mine that have come out: standard unabridged readings (from Macmillan Audio and Recorded Books) and full-cast dramatizations (from GraphicAudio). Which type each book has depends on how contracts were negotiated.

Recorded Books has unabridged readings of Elantris, Warbreaker, and all four Alcatraz books.

GraphicAudio has full-cast dramatizations of Elantris and Warbreaker.

Macmillan Audio has unabridged readings of Mistborn 1, 2, 3 and The Alloy of Law; The Way of Kings; and The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight.

Amazon has most of the above for sale. Audible has everything except for the GraphicAudio editions. iTunes also has many of the books.

Tor.com has a free unabridged reading of the novelette “Firstborn.”