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.

Time to sit down and talk about some things. I hope this doesn’t get too rambly for you, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions about TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT and THE WAY OF KINGS, so I thought I’d give you some updates regarding what’s been happening over here at Dragonsteel Entertainment HQ. (Also known as my basement.)

First off, TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. The progress bar has been stopped at 82% for about two months now. Why is that? Well, mid-to-late December, two things happened. First, I decided that I couldn’t work any further on new material for TOWERS until I did some substantial rewrites to the book. This happens frequently with my novels; it’s not something to worry about. I did this twice on HERO OF AGES. The more complex the book and the series, the more often I find myself doing midbook refining drafts like this one, making certain I’ve got the voice, motivations, and plot sequences right.

TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT is going very well. I’m very pleased with how it’s turning out, and I’m confident it will be ready in time for a release later this year as promised. It will be longer than THE GATHERING STORM, which is another reason the progress bar stopped. I’m just not sure how long the book will end up being, so a percentage is harder to judge right now. The actual length of the book right now—after putting together all the pieces I’ve been working on over the last six months—comes to 291,294 words. THE GATHERING STORM was around 300,000 words. I estimate this one at around 320,000 or so after revisions and edits. (It might get as high as 350,000, then get sliced back down. I always trim a lot off books in later drafts when I tighten up the language.)

I figured that since I was doing revisions, and since getting to “100%” at 300,000 words would give the wrong impression, I’d just let the progress bar sit for a time. As long as I turn in the book by this summer, it will still be ready for a late fall release. So there’s no need for anyone to panic yet.

I’m afraid I can’t say much about what I’m working on in the book. Out of respect for Harriet’s wishes, I need to remain tight-lipped. I know it’s not very satisfying to hear, “All is well, please keep waiting.” But . . . all is well, please keep waiting.

I put that progress bar up so that you can keep track of me, and because I feel that readers deserve to see how things are going on my books. It’s just how I like to do things. But don’t let it become too much of a crutch to you, an absolute indication that things are moving or not moving. I’m always working, and these last two months have been no exception. (Arrival of my second son notwithstanding—I sent out a newsletter about that, and if you didn’t get it, you might want to drop me an email through the form on my website and ask to sign up. Be sure to let me know what city/state/country you live in so that I can let you know when I’ll be stopping by on tour.) If you didn’t get it, here are the details on Meatloaf’s arrival:

A baby boy has come to the Sanderson family. Dallin Matthew was born on January 19th, weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. He joins his two-year-old brother Joel as heir to Brandon’s literary legacy. (Though Joel has only recently started speaking much English. He used to talk and talk and talk, but apparently in an alien language with inflections that sounded maddeningly familiar. Anyway, Joel’s favorite word in English is “cars.”)

Emily, Brandon’s wife and business manager for Dragonsteel Entertainment (her official company title is “Queen”), is adjusting to being the mother of two boys. Joel is helping her out by learning not to throw things; I haven’t seen him throw anything off the second-floor balcony in weeks!

Here’s a link to some pictures of Dallin. (Photos by Faith Jennings.) Isn’t he cute?

The other thing that happened in December to slow me is that production from Tor started to get anxious because they didn’t have THE WAY OF KINGS (book one of my new series, The Stormlight Archive) in final form yet. So I had to spend a lot of time working on another draft of that book, along with getting some of the interior artwork done.

Talk has already started to float around the internet about KINGS. I’ll start posting more about the book in the upcoming months. I wanted this update to be focused on the Wheel of Time.

Remember, I do often make little notes on my Twitter and Facebook pages (the two are mirrored) about what I’m doing and how it’s going. So if you’re salivating for info, you can keep an eye on one of the two. There’s not a ton of information there, but there is some.

Welcome to Brandon Sanderson’s first newsletter since, as far as I can tell, July 2006. 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.

Hi! I’m Peter Ahlstrom, and I’ll be providing the voice of today’s newsletter. I’ve been Brandon’s assistant for the last nine months, and what a nine months it has been! First we had the WARBREAKER release, followed by ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE KNIGHTS OF CRYSTALLIA, and then THE GATHERING STORM and its massive book tour. Many of you who wrote to Brandon mentioned what city you were from, so we were able to send you emails telling you when Brandon was signing within a couple hours of you. At the signings when Brandon asked who had come after getting one of these reminder emails, many people raised their hands. So if you haven’t let Brandon know what city you live in or near, now’s your chance.

UPCOMING BOOKS

THE WAY OF KINGS, the first book in Brandon’s new epic fantasy series The Stormlight Archive, is coming out in August. ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS, the fourth book in the series that began with ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS, is scheduled for an October release. And TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, book 13 of the Wheel of Time, will come out around November if everything goes according to plan (Brandon is in the middle of major revisions, but he thinks hitting that date is still possible). Tor currently wants Brandon to do a two-week book tour for the release of each book, both THE WAY OF KINGS and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. I plan to send out another newsletter with more details on each book as release day approaches, and there will be sample chapters going up (or at least linked to) on the website. The prologue for THE WAY OF KINGS should also be appearing in the back of the WARBREAKER paperback, due out on March 30th.

NEW ARRIVAL

A baby boy has come to the Sanderson family. Dallin Matthew was born on January 19th, weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. He joins his two-year-old brother Joel as heir to Brandon’s literary legacy. (Though Joel has only recently started speaking much English. He used to talk and talk and talk, but apparently in an alien language with inflections that sounded maddeningly familiar. Anyway, Joel’s favorite word in English is “cars.”)

Emily, Brandon’s wife and business manager for Dragonsteel Entertainment (her official company title is “Queen”), is adjusting to being the mother of two boys. Joel is helping her out by learning not to throw things; I haven’t seen him throw anything off the second-floor balcony in weeks!

Here’s a link to some pictures of Dallin. (Photos by Faith Jennings.) Isn’t he cute?

SUPERSTARS WRITING SEMINAR IN PASADENA

Brandon was invited to teach at the Superstars Writing Seminar March 19th through 21st along with fellow writers Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Rebecca Moesta, and Eric Flint (whose 1632-series books are some of my personal favorites). Many people write to Brandon asking for writing advice, and besides the podcast Writing Excuses that he does, a seminar like this is one of the only opportunities he gets to help people out.

Brandon and the other instructors at this seminar are all New York Times bestselling authors and all have tons of good advice. I can personally attest to David Farland’s teaching; I was in a class of his that taught me a great deal about the publishing industry (though I took that advice in a separate direction from Brandon, who was also in that class, since my talents lie more in the editorial field than in writing novels). Other writers I know like Eric James Stone and Alethea Kontis attest to Kevin and Rebecca’s instruction. And Eric Flint cultivated many a first-time published writer with his Grantville Gazette and with his editorship of Jim Baen’s Universe.

FREE TICKET DRAWING: This week only, the seminar organizers are holding a drawing for a free pass. If the seminar is a bit out of your price range but you really want to go, this is your chance. The contest ends on February 14th, 2010, so head on over there now! http://www.superstarswritingseminars.com (the drawing has now ended).

OTHER EVENTS

Brandon has a pretty full convention schedule this year, including LTUE in Provo (this week!), Minicon in Minneapolis, ConStellation in Lincoln, ConDUIT in Salt Lake, and JordanCon and Dragon*Con in Atlanta. For a full schedule, check out https://coppermind.brandonsanderson.com/events

FOLLOW BRANDON

Main blog: https://coppermind.brandonsanderson.com/blog
Livejournal: http://mistborn.livejournal.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/BrandSanderson
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrandSanderson

That’s it for today’s newsletter. From now on I’ll try for a better frequency than once every four years, but I don’t expect you’ll ever be getting one more than four times in a year. Let me know what you think!

Best,

Peter Ahlstrom
Assistant to Mr. Sanderson