In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, “Oh Crap, the Cops are Here!”, Howard, Dan, Steve Diamond, and special guest Joe McKinney tackle law-enforcement. We invited Steve Diamond, who has been a guest before, and who has some law enforcement background, to help us grill Joe McKinney, who has tons of that background, and who also happens to be a best-selling author.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Warbreaker, Vivenna and Vasher spiked one of Denth’s guns by rescuing Nanrovah’s daughter. This week, in chapters 50 and 51, the priests debate, Siri is trapped, Vivenna is worried, and the gods vote. Well, most of them do. Then Vasher attempts another rescue, which goes… poorly.

The Twitter post archive for July is up to date.

Today’s poll, to be answered Friday, July 21st, focuses on the cosmere. As always, if you have a question you’d like to get answered by Brandon, please leave a comment in whichever location (Facebook, Twitter, Google +, or Instagram) and I will add it to the list of potential questions.

Full Questions:

• Have you ever had a stupid idea for a twist/book that someone had to talk you out of?
• What are the important factors in building a connected universe like the Cosmere?
• Before you became a famous writer, how were you able to get in touch with experts he needed advice from?
• How did you learn to shift your focus between multiple writing projects?
• How did you market your books when you first started out?

In case you missed the announcement on my social media last week, my U.K. fantasy publisher Gollancz just released their cover to Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archive. Check out series artist Sam Green’s full front cover below!