Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 42

Calamity is Out!

The Calamity Release Party at the Orem Barnes & Noble is just a few hours from now. This is the final book of the Reckoners trilogy that began with Steelheart, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you think of the end.

You can see my brief schedule below; check my events calendar for full details on the Calamity tour. I hope to see many of you at the signings.

Tuesday, February 16: Orem

Wednesday, February 17: Seattle

Friday, February 19: Denver

Saturday, February 20: Philadelphia

Monday, February 22: Chicago

Tuesday, February 23: Milwaukee

Wednesday, February 24: Houston

Thursday, February 25: Austin

Friday, February 26: San Antonio

Today also marks the rerelease of my humorous middle-grade books Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians and The Scrivener’s Bones in new illustrated editions. The tour bookstores will have some copies, so now’s a good time to pick up this series! Book 3 follows in April, book 4 in July, and the long-awaited book 5 will be released in September.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, The Convention Survival Kit, with Gail Carriger, Gail Carriger joined us at WorldCon in Spokane, Washington, to talk about her Convention Survival Kit, which is full of things most of us wish we’d known to bring to conventions back when we first started attending them.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Kaladin and Shallan acrimoniously began their trek back to the warcamps. This week, in Chapter 70, the trip continues.

My assistant Adam is working on updating the Twitter posts archive for February.

LTUE in Provo This Weekend

I’m getting ready to walk out the door to head to LTUE (Life, the Universe, and Everything), the local convention in Provo, UT. I’ll be there over the next three days, and you can see a brief listing of my schedule below.

My full schedule is on my events page, and for more info on what’s happening at the rest of the con, check out their website. I hope to see many of you there this weekend!

Today:

LTUE’s Let me Recommend

1:00, Cedar

Working with an Illustrator

3:00, Aspen

Kaffeeklatsch

4:00, Boardroom

Charity Magic Tournament

8:00, Aspen

Friday:

Author Branding

3:00, Zion

The Role of Magic in Your Story

4:00, Aspen

Roleplaying for Writers

6:00, Aspen

Mass Book Signing

8:00, Zion, Bryce, and Arches

Saturday

Writing Excuses Recording

1:00–4:00, Zion, Bryce, and Arches

Writing Natural Dialogue

5:00, Birch

Calamity Preorder

Hey, all! Shockingly, there’s another book launch around the corner! Calamity releases one week from today. I feel like I just did this…because I did. The Bands of Mourning, as you know, was a somewhat accidental book—and Tor slotting it in January meant that my normal release schedule of fall book/spring book has been somewhat upended.

My biggest worry about The Bands of Mourning coming out was that it would steal the thunder from Calamity—which, as the conclusion of a series, deserves as much trumpeting and attention as I can give it. This is indeed the final book of the Reckoners, and an ending is always bittersweet for me.

Sweet because I really, really like endings. And series finales get to be even more explosive than single-book endings. (I will refer you to The Hero of Ages and A Memory of Light as examples.)

It’s bitter, of course, because the journey is over and this is our last chance to spend time with the characters. However, I’ve often said that a piece of art can’t really “show off” until it is done. I haven’t ruled out the idea of doing more in the world of the Reckoners, but the story is finished. If I return, it would have to be something new, like the transformation that Mistborn has undergone.

If you haven’t tried the Reckoners, this would be an excellent time to start—you could read the first two books and be ready for the third one when it comes out right around the corner. Indeed, Firefight was just released in paperback and Steelheart is $1.99 in ebook right now.

As a sweetener, and to give the books a proper send-off, we’ve whipped up some very cool goodies for the release. Right now, if you preorder from various bookstores listed below, you’ll get a preorder goodie pack. The showpiece of this is a short graphic novel we whipped up, based on Mitosis, the story that takes place between books one and two. This is my first graphic story (though it’s only 12 pages), and it looks fantastic. The only way to get it is to preorder from these specific stores.

Also included are several punch-out figure cards, like we’ve done for previous books. These ones star David, Prof, and Megan. You also get pins from the books! Basically, the goodie packs are awesome. As a note, however, supplies will be limited—and there might be a cutoff date to when you can preorder and still get one of these. So call ahead to the store you’ve chosen, and make sure you get on the list.

The copies of Calamity that come with the goodie packs will all be signed as well. So if you get a preorder pack, I’ll have already scribbled in your book!

Some stores are providing the bundle of goodies with online preorders, while others are doing it only in-store or over the phone. I recommend that you contact each store directly for details. Here are the bookstores that are participating in the #EpicBookstore promotion:

Salt Lake City

The King’s English

Bay Area

Kepler’s Books
NYMBC
Copperfield’s Books

Portland

Powell’s Books

Seattle

Liberty Bay Books
Secret Garden Books

Bellingham, WA

Village Books

Spokane

Auntie’s Bookstore

St. Paul

Red Balloon Bookshop

Nationwide

Hastings stores

Worldwide

Weller Book Works – This is intended to be for people who don’t live near one of the other listed stores. If you can get to one of them, please go there. If you cannot, we will use the same preordering strategy as we did for The Bands of Mourning. (See the longer explanation here.)

Brandon

Calamity Tour + Updates

The Calamity release is just two weeks away! Check my events calendar for full details on the Calamity tour. I hope to see many of you at the signings. Here’s a quick summary of the tour:

Tuesday, February 16: Orem

Wednesday, February 17: Seattle

Friday, February 19: Denver

Saturday, February 20: Philadelphia

Monday, February 22: Chicago

Tuesday, February 23: Milwaukee

Wednesday, February 24: Houston

Thursday, February 25: Austin

Friday, February 26: San Antonio

I also had the privilege to be a guest on the Functional Nerds Podcast a few days ago. You can give it a listen here.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Writing and World Building for Role Playing Games, where Dan and Howard were joined for the day by Michelle Lyons-McFarland, Monica Valentinelli, and Shanna Germain. Their discussion centers around how worldbuilding for roleplaying games, and especially the manner in which the world is presented, differs from worldbuilding for novels. We don’t talk about rule sets or physics simulations. We’re after the things that players want and need to read in order to immerse themselves in the setting, and get “in fiction.”

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, a tentative expedition to observe a chasmfiend chrysalis and gather information ended in an unexpected Parshendi sighting and a collapsing bridge. This week, in Chapter 69, there’s one day to make it back through the chasms to the warcamp before the next highstorm hits.

My assistant Adam is working on updating the Twitter posts archive for February.

Mistborn Releases + Award Nomination Season

On Monday night we had a very successful release party for the newest Mistborn novel, The Bands of Mourning. It’s now available worldwide in print, audio, and ebook, and you can find links to where to get it in the tabs at the upper right of the post. If you have already read Shadows of Self (which came out in October), then check out the sample chapters of the new book. (They do have spoilers for the previous books!)

There’s also a surprise novella that came out at the same time, ebook-only for now. If you haven’t finished The Bands of Mourning yet, it’s best to pretend the new novella doesn’t exist until you finish Bands. But it’s something I’ve been hoping for years to be able to share with you, and I’m very pleased that now is the right time.

I talked about both of those, plus a Stormlight 3 update and something about what my writing space is like, in the January 2016 Brandon Sanderson Newsletter. If you don’t want to miss a newsletter in the future, sign up here.

On a different topic, it’s time again to consider your nominations for awards in the genre.

Nominating for the Nebula Awards is the privilege of active members of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. (To join SFWA, you need to be a qualifying professional.) To nominate for the Hugo Awards this year, you need to be a member of the 2016 World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, or be a member of the 2017 Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland, or have been a member of the 2015 Worldcon in Spokane. (Anyone can join Worldcon; see the bottom of this post.)

It has become traditional in the field for writers like myself to provide a list of which works of theirs are eligible, so that people who are interested in nominating can look into them and give them consideration. As always, it is better to nominate a work because you love it in particular, rather than because of your general preference for a specific author. (Except in certain cases where the creator is instead the focus of the award, such as is the case with the Campbell Award.) The Hugo Awards have only the strength, and prestige, we give them. Please consider my works below, but nominate them only if you sincerely think they are among the best works you read last year.

Brandon Sanderson’s Award-Eligible Works for the 2015–2016 Season
Best Related Work (Hugo Only)

Writing Excuses Season 10

Best Novel (Hugo or Nebula)

Shadows of Self (Tor/Gollancz)
Firefight (Delacorte/Gollancz)

Best Novella (Hugo or Nebula)

Perfect State (Dragosnteel Entertainment)

As I’ve done the past few years, where I send out a review copy of one work to eligible nominators, this year I’ll be doing the same for Perfect State. So if you have a membership for the 2015, 2016, or 2017 Worldcon, feel free to drop me an email through my website requesting an ebook of Perfect State and saying which Worldcon you’re a member of (or saying you’re an active SFWA member), and we’ll respond with a copy of the novella.

If you don’t have at least a supporting membership for Worldcon, you should totally consider getting one (currently $50). With a supporting membership, you get voting rights on the Hugo Awards, and will be sent ebook copies of most (if not all) of the nominated books and stories (last year, the publisher of several of the novels decided not to include them in the packet). To nominate, you must have your membership by January 31st (or be a member of the 2015 or 2017 Worldcons by that date). Nominations close on March 31st. To vote on the final ballot, you must be a member of the 2016 Worldcon specifically, by the voting deadline (sometime in July).

Worldcon is one of the most chill ways I know of to hang out with authors. It’s not like a comic con; there’s no frantic air of merchandising or enormous crowds. (Though I do enjoy comic cons.) Worldcon is about interacting with fellow fans and with writers. You can nominate and vote on the Hugo Awards with just a supporting membership, but to attend the convention requires an attending membership.

The Bands of Mourning Launch Party + Updates

Tonight is the night! The official launch party for The Bands of Mourning starts tonight at 10:00 pm at the BYU Bookstore. Don’t forget to swing by and get your number before 8:00 so you don’t lose your place in line (bring an ID and your proof of purchase). Just to give you another quick breakdown of the schedule (for full details, check out this blog post):

10:00 p.m. Monday, January 25th (doors open). I will be getting there a bit early to pre-sign and number all the books. Then I’ll mingle with the crowd for a while, followed by my reading and Q&A session downstairs.
12:00 a.m. January 26th Monday night/Tuesday morning (book released). You can pick up your book and go, or get in line for personalizations, which could take until 3:00 a.m.

Both Calamity and The Bands of Mourning are being featured in Audible’s Winter Preview—books that the editors at Audible are most excited for. You can check out the complete list here.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, Newton’s Laws of Writing, we decide to play around with the idea of mapping Newton’s Laws onto the process of writing.

Last week, in Tor.com’s continuing reread posts for Words of Radiance, Kaladin was released from prison. This week, in Chapter 67, Dalinar faces an unsubtle attempt to make him look foolish, and turns the tables to render the attack powerless.

My assistant Adam is has updated the twitter posts archive for January.

The Bands of Mourning BYU Midnight Release Party

At 12:00 a.m. on January 26th, I will be doing the world’s first and only signing for The Bands of Mourning. In past years some readers have enjoyed camping out at the bookstore to get a low-numbered copy. But at the Shadows of Self release for various reasons, we tried something new: a digital line. The experiment worked well, so for this release we’re using a variation on that. Numbers will be assigned by the order you enter the digital line. Further details from the BYU Store and my signing assistant Kara are below. The entry form will become available on January 15th at 10:00 a.m., and closes on January 21st at 11:59 p.m.

As I mentioned yesterday, because of the extensive tour I did for Shadows of Self (and because I’ll be going out on tour again in February for Calamity), I’m not planning to tour for this book. That’s why the midnight release is the only signing. But don’t worry, if you’re unable to get a signed copy at the midnight release or from Weller Book Works, I will always be happy to sign your book in the future. We will do what we can to make sure that my Calamity tour stops also have copies of The Bands of Mourning (as well as the new illustrated editions of Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians and The Shattered Lens).

Only one submission per person. This is a line! (Duplicates will be deleted.)

You will be required to preorder The Bands of Mourning by January 21st in order to be assigned a number and guarantee that a book will be there for you to pick up on January 25th. Books can be ordered online at byubookstore.com (choose the shipping option “Service Desk Pickup” to get your book at the midnight release party), or order in the store. Books ordered through byubookstore.com will not be charged to your credit card until January 22.

You must pick up your number in person from the BYU Store on Monday, January 25, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Bring a photo ID and your receipt or proof of purchase.

The BYU Store will reopen at 10:00 p.m. to host the book release party with some fun activities as well as prizes to be given out throughout the evening.

Around 10:45 p.m. Brandon will hold a reading and Q&A downstairs.

At 11:45 p.m., guests will be asked to begin lining up in numerical order in preparation for the distribution of books at midnight.

Once guests have picked up their signed & numbered book, they are free to leave or to get into a separate line to have their books personalized by Brandon.

If you do not pick up your number before 8:00 p.m., your number will be given to someone else. If you show up after this point to pick up your book, you will be given a different number or a refund.

Cash registers will close at 1:00 a.m. All purchases must be made by this time.

Can’t attend? See the previous post about ordering from Weller Book Works, or you can preorder a book from the BYU Store and they will send you a signed and numbered copy of The Bands of Mourning after the Midnight Release Party. You must purchase your copy by January 21st, and the numbers for these copies will be assigned after the event. Please do not sign up for the Digital Line if you’re not attending.

The bookstore has asked me to get there a bit early so I can be finished signing and numbering all the books by 10:00 or so. Once I am done, they will let everyone in and we’ll have a meet & greet where you can talk to me, ask me your burning questions, take pictures, etc. (The idea is that this will help the personalization line move more quickly after midnight.) There will also be things like trivia contests going on during this time.

Based on past events, I should be able to personalize everyone’s books, even if it takes until 3:00 a.m. Since all of the books will be pre-signed and numbered, everyone will get a numbered edition if they come. As I’m local, you can always just come, pick up a book, and leave—then get it personalized at some other signing when things aren’t so crazy. This will probably be a busy event, but it should be very easy to just come, get a pre-signed/numbered book, then buy it and take off without waiting in any lines after midnight.

Now, here’s the important part. It’s hard for stores to judge how many copies to order for this sort of event, and I’m worried that BYU might not order enough. They might run out. Therefore, they are letting you preorder to be assured you get a book. If you preorder, you are guaranteed a book. If you don’t preorder, it’s first come first served. If a lot of people preorder, they will get in more books to make sure everyone who ordered early is covered.

So, for this event, I strongly encourage you go to the website and order your book ahead of time. It will save you money and will make things easier for us. Let me say one more time, however, that you do not get your number based on when you preorder, though you do have to have paid for the book before you can get your number. You get the number based on when you signed up for the digital line. Preordering just guarantees that you get a copy, not that you get a low number. Still—please, please preorder soon so they can be sure to have enough books for the event. They have ordered a ton of copies, but it’s always possible they could underestimate and some readers could go home empty-handed. At the midnight release of A Memory of Light they were able to get a book to everyone only after a dozen people who had reserved more than one copy agreed to put off picking up their second copy until the next shipment came in!

Details:

BYU Store, Provo, UT

10:00 a.m. Friday, January 15th (digital line signups begin at this link)

8:00 a.m.–8:00 p.m. Monday, January 25th (numbers distributed at the BYU Store)

10:00 p.m. Monday, January 25th (doors open)

12:00 a.m. January 26th Monday night/Tuesday morning (book released)

Preorder by going to the BYU Store website. (For the shipping option, choose “Service Desk Pickup.”) You’ll need to bring your receipt or proof of purchase as well as your photo ID to the BYU Store before 8:00 p.m. in order to get your book number.

The Bands of Mourning Numbered Edition

It’s quickly approaching book release time again! The Bands of Mourning, the new Mistborn book, comes out in roughly two weeks on January 26th. (January 28th in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand.) Sample chapters can be read on Tor’s site. Be aware, they contain spoilers for the previous books!

Because of the extensive tour I did for Shadows of Self (and because I’ll be going out on tour again in February for Calamity), I’m not planning to tour for this book. We’ll be doing our normal release party. (Midnight at the BYU Bookstore.) And I’ll blog about that tomorrow. Today’s post is for those of you who want to get a signed and numbered copy shipped to your door by Weller Book Works.

We’ve done this with most of my books so far, and it’s been very well received. I like having a way for people who can’t reach a signing to get a signed copy. However, as my popularity has grown, doing all of these signatures has become increasingly difficult—in part because of the extravagant requests that people sometimes have for the personalizations in their books.

I have been tempted a number of times to stop personalizing for these signings, but I’ve resisted. I like the (ahem) personal connection this allows me to have with my readers. And I know that for some, these little flourishes have become very special to them. At the same time, the more word spreads, the more often I’m asked to write a limerick, quote an entire paragraph of the book, or draw a doodle while signing. And so the period I spend working on all of these signatures stretches for hours and hours.

I think we’ve finally hit on a solution. I’m still willing to do personalizations, and even the more extravagant requests, but I’m going to ask for something in exchange: a small donation to charity. To facilitate this, we’re going to have the form for selling these books on my website—but to make a point that’s probably irrelevant to you, but important to me, these books are not being sold by me. They’re being sold and shipped by Weller Book Works.

I prefer not to sell my new hardcovers on my website, as I don’t want to compete with the bookstores around the world. As always, I suggest that you support your local booksellers for my new releases.

In this case, everything worked out better for me to organize the sale. But once the orders are in, we’ll pass most of the money to Weller and let them handle getting the books and shipping them. The money that is left over goes directly to Waygate Foundation, the charity established in Robert Jordan’s honor. You can find out more about them, and the charity work they do, here.

Anyway, on to the nuts and bolts of this. We’re going to offer three tiers for getting your book.

Tier One, $28: Just the book, Signed and Numbered

This is exactly what it seems. The book itself with a signature and a number. These, like all books in this offering, will be fulfilled by Weller Book Works. They’ve decided to charge $28 for this book, plus shipping.

Tier Two, $33: Signed, Numbered, and Personalized

For this tier, you can list a name you want written in the book, and I’ll dedicate the book to that person. I also will pick a quote from the book, usually a short three-to-five-word phrase, and write it in the book. (Unless you don’t want it.)

Here, you don’t get to choose the quote. You can, however, ask for a brief “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations” instead. Or you could request a written date.

So, the rundown for this tier:

You just give us a name (exactly as you want it written), and I’ll write that name and a quote.
OR: Mention “Happy Birthday” or a similar very, very short request and a name. I’ll write the exact name you say, along with the specific greeting.
OR: Say “Signed, Lined, Dated.” I’ll write no name in this, but will still write the quote, and will date it.

The $33 price of this tier includes a $28 book and a $5 donation to Waygate. The $5 portion is tax deductible.

Tier Three, $48: More Extravagant Requests

The first two tiers should cover almost everyone who wants a book. Honestly, it’s my hope that putting a higher donation requirement on it will push more people away from this last tier. However, I am willing to do your more extravagant requests here.

Please note that I’m not offering to do anything you wish. In fact, you’re still rather limited in this tier. This is essentially restricted to a few interactions:

You can request a specific quote, of your choosing. This shouldn’t be longer than a short paragraph, maybe 30 or so words in length. It doesn’t have to be a quote from one of my books—it can basically be anything you wish. (I do ask that you avoid profanity or vulgarities.)
You can request a specific personalization beyond a simple greeting. “Happy Birthday Jim, may you have many more years of enjoying books!” or “Mary says thank you so much for the cheesecake” or “May you enjoy your new snowmobile.”
You can request a small doodle. Note, I’m terrible at drawing. Seriously. We’re talking stick figures here. But some people really like them, so if you want an awful stick figure doodle, knock yourself out.
A limerick or haiku. Someone is going to request one of these; they always do. So I’ll have to write it out anyway. If you want a copy of the one I compose for this book, you can request it. Note—it’s going to be rather bad, because I’ll think it up in a hurry. Also, my handwriting is not good. But again, if you want this, then go ahead and request it.
Ask me a question, which—if I can respond briefly—I will answer. Please note that if you ask a detailed question about the Cosmere, you might very well just get a RAFO. (Read and find out.) This is a risk you take upon yourself. You could end up paying $20 extra to get no answer, so I’d suggest that you save those questions for when you meet me in person. But if you really want to ask, you can do it here. Your question should be short and specific. Not “Tell me something new about the Cosmere!” or “Tell me something we don’t know about Hoid!” I ran out of answers to questions like those years ago.

If you want something that’s not on that list, then it’s possible I’ll still do it—but I can’t promise it. The price tag includes a $20 donation to Waygate, and that portion is tax deductible.

That should cover everything! If you’ve got questions, feel free to send an inquiry to the store through my webmail form. I hope this isn’t too confusing or too annoying for you. My goal has been to find a way to continue to get signatures to people, while allowing those who really need something specific to get it—all while donating some money to charity.

To order your signed and numbered copy of The Bands of Mourning shipped by Weller Book Works, click here. Deadline: January 20th at 11:59pm, or sooner than that if Weller Book Works sells out quickly.

Thanks, as always, for reading. More information is coming tomorrow about the release party.

Brandon

Writing Excuses News + Updates

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.

Tweets January 2016

Kookie_the_Bard Sun Jan 03
@BrandSanderson any plans to come to Colorado for Calamity or i>The Bands of Mourning… Or both?

BrandSanderson Sun Jan 03
@Kookie_the_Bard Afraid not. I was there in October.

sirgourls Sun Jan 03
@BrandSanderson dunno if you can answer this now, but if everyone is from Yolen way back when, is there a migration story? #cosmere

BrandSanderson Sun Jan 03
@sirgourls Not all humans originated on Yolen, but the first humans were there. Watch the books for myths that hint at more.

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
The Bands of Mourning comes out Jan 26 in all formats. You can read chapter 4 (spoilers for The Shadows of Self!) here: link

yurisses Mon Jan 04
@BrandSanderson @PeterAhlstrom Is there any way I can get the ebook on the 26th in France? Amazon tells me it’ll be on the 28th.

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
@yurisses @PeterAhlstrom The UK (which controls English rights outside of the US) releases new books on Thursdays, instead of Tuesdays.

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
@yurisses @PeterAhlstrom It has to do with their entire distribution chain. I’m afraid that’s why it’s showing up for you on that date.

TheGreatWilson Mon Jan 04
@BrandSanderson Now that I’m a writer, meeting you at Dragon-Con 2008, in Atlanta, puts things in perspective: Mistborn rewrote my “world”.

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
@TheGreatWilson Awesome! Keep writing.

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
Check out this nifty custom bookshelf that /u/clyguy (on reddit) built to hold my books: link

Mael_sp Mon Jan 04
Dear Mr @BrandSanderson I know the year just begun but is there any chance of seen you in Spain this 2016?thanks for your work a huge fan

BrandSanderson Mon Jan 04
@Mael_sp Small chance, but yes. I’m planning to visit Italy, and then hit a few cities in Europe, in the fall.

TrnkaRobert Tue Jan 05
@BrandSanderson Just curious where the inspiration for the word skaa came from. #mistborn

BrandSanderson Tue Jan 05
@TrnkaRobert Hard to say. It goes back decades. I can’t remember if the music was a thing by the time I was developing them or not.

BrandSanderson Tue Jan 05
The Battle of the Tower from The Way of Kings, in gingerbread form. Amazing, timmysaurusrex and sister! link

BrandSanderson Tue Jan 05
My good friend (and Nebula winner) @EricJamesStone has a book release at 7:00 PM at the Orem B&N. It’s a great book! link

n0robin Tue Jan 05
Hey @BrandSanderson, are we ever going to see Funko Pop of any of your characters? ‘-‘

BrandSanderson Tue Jan 05
@n0robin Not sure I’m widely known enough for that. But if they asked, I’d say yes.

FaffyFagus Tue Jan 05
@BrandSanderson what happens to Ishikk in the first interludes of The Way of Kings? Will he ever come back? Does he marry that girl?

BrandSanderson Tue Jan 05
@FaffyFagus No answers for you yet. Read on in the series, and perhaps you will find some.

AF_Library Wed Jan 06
Mistborn by @BrandSanderson was the community’s choice for 2016 One Book, One American Fork! Get a copy from the @AF_Library & start reading

BrandSanderson Wed Jan 06
@AF_Library Wow, really? I had no idea I was even in the running.

SFReviewsnet Wed Jan 06
The “New Ascendancy” broadsheet that came with i>The Bands of Mourning is fun to explore. @torbooks @BrandSanderson pic

BrandSanderson Wed Jan 06
@SFReviewsnet @torbooks We had a whole lot of fun putting those together.

MightythorJRS Wed Jan 06
Came home to this awesomeness! This is some fabulous marketing! Thanks @torbooks @BrandSanderson #bookmail pic

BrandSanderson Wed Jan 06
@MightythorJRS @torbooks Huzzah! I love how the broadsheets turned out.

BrandSanderson Wed Jan 06
If you got a B&N gift card for Christmas, Orem store still has a nice stack of signed Sanderson Hardcovers. pic

Plansaresatan Wed Jan 06
@BrandSanderson Do you have to call ahead to just start signing books?

BrandSanderson Wed Jan 06
@Plansaresatan I just start signing. These are leftovers from last time, though.

BrandSanderson Thu Jan 07
We just added the numbers, and I was on tour or at conventions 105 days last year. That’s…way too much.

BrianTMcClellan Thu Jan 07
@BrandSanderson I could fill in for you a couple weeks. I think I’d make a decent stunt Brandon.

BrandSanderson Thu Jan 07
@BrianTMcClellan Heh. You could probably give all my speeches as well as I could.

playfullrachel Fri Jan 08
The only major problem I have with Aether of Night is knowing I won’t be able to sate my need for a sequel @BrandSanderson unless…???

BrandSanderson Fri Jan 08
@playfullrachel Not any time soon. (Sorry.)

Mathieubutt Fri Jan 08
@BrandSanderson ooh could a Kandra pretend to be Returned on Nalthis by using the bones of a recently deceased person?

BrandSanderson Fri Jan 08
@Mathieubutt Heightenings would still recognize them as being alive, as their flesh is alive–even if they’re pasting it over dead bones.

karsyutain Fri Jan 08
@BrandSanderson The only translated book in Korea is The Emperor’s Soul. But I want more! pic

BrandSanderson Fri Jan 08
@karsyutain I would love there to be more. Tell your Korean friends about The Emperor’s Soul. The better it sells, the better our chances.

michaelhguy Fri Jan 08
Got a $25 @amazon gift card for Christmas. Thinking about buying the #Mistborn trilogy by @BrandSanderson on Kindle. Thoughts?

BrandSanderson Fri Jan 08
@michaelhguy Um, well, *I* certainly approve of that choice.

EatonMardi Fri Jan 08
@BrandSanderson My son purchased the leather bound Elantris for xmas but the cover is upside down!! Customer support not very helpful…

BrandSanderson Fri Jan 08
@EatonMardi Whom did you buy it from? From us directly? Either way, I can get you a replacement. Email me at store@brandonsanderson.com

ThatJoshJerez Sat Jan 09
I would love to see @BrandSanderson pen some short stories for @fandsf… *koff koff*

BrandSanderson Sat Jan 09
@ThatJoshJerez I have actually submitted to them before. Always been rejected. It has been a few years now. Doesn’t seem our tastes align.