Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 68

Steelheart Launch Day

It’s here! Steelheart is out!

The trailer is here, if you haven’t seen it. Also, if you live in Utah, please come see me tonight at the Orem Barnes & Noble! 5–8:00 p.m., with signed and numbered copies. Yesterday I talked about the tour and the Steelhunt I’m doing along with it.

Now, I’ve got to admit something to you all. I might have made a bit of a rash bet regarding this book.

When I was looking for a publisher for Steelheart, one of the first things I did was call my friend (and sometimes rival) James Dashner. He had been publishing with Delacorte, a Random House imprint, and he mentioned how much he loved his editor there. I asked him to give me an introduction.

In the end, I ended up going with his editor Krista Marino for the book. (The team at Delacorte really impressed me.) This meant that Dashner and I were now with the same editor and publisher. We started doing some publicity interviews together, as he’s launching a new series in the next few weeks as well: The Eye of Minds comes out on October 8th.

One thing led to another, and during one of our taped interviews, I kind of ended up making a friendly wager with him based on whose book sold the most its opening week. The loser has to, ahem, change his Facebook and other social media pictures into images of Justin Bieber.

Now, I’m not 100% sure who Justin Bieber is—only that tween girls really seem to like him and he tends to wear very strange pants. I’m sure he’s a nice guy with nice music. I’m also sure my Facebook page will look remarkably silly as a Justin Bieber fan page.

I’m also reasonably certain this is going to backfire on me, as a lot of my fans are probably very eager to see me have to do this. However, for the sake of my pride, don’t let it keep you from looking into the book today.

In all seriousness, a book’s first-week sales are one of the most important litmus tests the industry uses to determine success. Up-front sales will encourage more reorders from bookstores and help a lot with book placement. So if you’re considering Steelheart, it would mean a lot to me if you’d drop by your local bookstore this week and check it out. Give the prologue and first few chapters a browse (or listen to the Audible preview below); I think you’ll like what you see.

Anyway, this bet with Dashner is actually a real thing. Our editor gets to choose the pictures of Bieber we have to use if we lose. Though many of you might not realize it, I am quite the underdog in this contest. Dashner’s Maze Runner books have a film coming out early next year, and his books sell a lot of copies. Let’s give him a run for his money, though, and see how many we can sell of Steelheart opening week. I’m counting on you, guys!

So if thinking of me being forced to become Bieber makes you laugh, please consider how much more funny it would be if Dashner had to do it.

I’ll be back in the coming days with some fun blog posts, as well as some spotlights on the various editions of Steelheart out there. (A few of the retailers have editions you can find that have an extra art page or the like inside.)

Brandon

Brandon Sanderson Newsletter for September 2013 – STEELHEART out now!

Hey, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter this time around. Just wanted to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the Sanderverse these days.

Contents

Steelheart is out today!
Words of Radiance progress
Steelheart Tour and Release Party
Steelhunt and Blog Posts
Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson
The Emperor’s Soul won a Hugo Award!
Steelheart Prologue

Steelheart is out today!

The big news is, of course, the release of Steelheart today. It’s the story of a young man who wants to assassinate the emperor of Chicago. I really think you’ll enjoy it. For some background on why I wrote the book, feel free to see this blog post. However, if you want the short pitch, think of the book like this:

Sanderson + postapocalyptic + dark superheroes

And lo, it is awesome.

For my last few book releases, I haven’t worried about early sales. Things like the Wheel of Time and The Alloy of Law had innate, already built-in fanbases. However, Steelheart is an unknown factor, and the publisher has shown a lot of faith in me as a writer. Our print run is enormous, and you should be able to find the book in a lot of non-traditional markets. Not just B&N and your local independent bookseller, but Target, Wal-Mart, and supermarkets.

I’m thrilled, but I’m also aware that if the book doesn’t sell for some reason, it’s going to be a very, very big issue. So if you have the inclination to check it out, I’d really appreciate it. We’ve included the prologue at the bottom of this newsletter. As always, first-week sales are very important for books—that determines how much of a push the book will get in stores, and how many copies they’ll reorder. If you’ve liked my books in the past, I hope that you’ll look into this one. Do note that in most stores, this book will be shelved in the teen section.

Words of Radiance progress

Of course, the other big thing I’m working on is the sequel to The Way of Kings. I’m almost through with the third, and most difficult, edit of the book. Once I get this one done, it should be pretty smooth sailing for the book. (Though I’ll have to be doing revisions as I tour this week, which is going to make for a busy time.)

The book stands at almost exactly the same length as the first volume, despite my (somewhat sincere) attempts at making it shorter. Release date is set right now for early March. We played with both November this year and January next year before finally settling on March, just to make sure I had enough time for revisions.

I realize this book has been a long time coming. My dedication to finishing the Wheel of Time with minimal delays meant that I had to push off Stormlight for a few years. Now that I’m done with Randland, you can expect Stormlight books to come way more regularly than they have so far. I appreciate your patience.

For fun goodies, go to this link for some fan reports of readings I’ve done of the book so far. In addition, I will be showing off a very large section of the book in the Steelhunt I’ll talk about below.

Steelheart Tour and Release Party

Because Steelheart is targeted partially at older teens, as well as my normal audience, we decided to do our release party for this one as an afternoon event instead of a midnight one. I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Orem, UT on Tuesday from 5:00 to 8:00 or possibly longer. Please consider attending if you live locally! All books will be pre-signed and numbered, so you can pop in, grab one, and go without needing to wait in line unless you want a personalization.

In addition, I’ll be doing a full tour for the book! Drop by and see me at the following events:

Orem – Barnes & Noble – Tue, Sep 24 5:00 p.m.
Salt Lake – King’s English @ 15th St. Gallery – Wed, Sep 25 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
Houston – Murder by the Book – Fri, Sep 27 6:30 p.m. (Ticketed)
Austin Teen Book Festival – Sat, Sep 28 8:30 a.m.
Chicago Area (Naperville) – Anderson’s – Tue, Oct 01 7:00 p.m.
Cincinnati – Joseph-Beth – Wed, Oct 02 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
Dayton Area – Books & Co. – Thu, Oct 03 7:00 p.m.
Greenfield, WI – Greenfield High – Fri, Oct 04 1:00 p.m. (Greenfield students only)
Milwaukee – Boswell Book – Fri, Oct 04 7:00 p.m.
Chicago Area (Wheeling) – Indian Trails Library – Sat, Oct 05 2:00 p.m.
Happy Valley, OR – Fred Meyer – Mon, Oct 07 6:00 p.m. (Signing only; no group Q&A)
Portland Area (Beaverton) – Powell’s – Tue, Oct 08 7:00 p.m.
Los Angeles – Barnes & Noble The Grove – Wed, Oct 09 7:00 p.m.
Bay Area (Mountain View) – Books Inc. – Fri, Oct 11 7:00 p.m.
Bay Area (El Cerrito) – Barnes & Noble – Sat, Oct 12 5:00 p.m.
Seattle – UBooks@UTemple Church – Mon, Oct 14 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
Fort Lewis, WA – AAFES – Tue, Oct 15 4:00 p.m. (Military ID required!)
San Diego – Mysterious Galaxy – Wed, Oct 16 7:00 p.m.
West Jordan – Barnes & Noble Jordan Landing– Sat, Oct 19 7:00 p.m.
New York – 92nd St. Y – Sat, Nov 16 3:00 p.m. (Ticketed event with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner)

For details please see the full event listings on my site.

Steelhunt and Blog Posts

I will be doing a really cool promotion for Steeheart, involving hidden prizes in books and codes that let you look at exclusive content on my website. Please have a look at yesterday’s blog post if you’re interested.

If you weren’t involved when I did things like this for the Wheel of Time, basically I’ll be hiding codes in books all across the country (and even other countries, if I can manage it).

In addition, I’ll be doing blog posts frequently over the next few weeks, dealing with wide variety of topics. With the Words of Radiance revision (hopefully) done, I’ll be able to take a little time to write out some posts that have been rattling around in my head forever—some dealing with the Wheel of Time, others dealing with writing. So stop in, check out the new brandonsanderson.com website, and hopefully find something of interest to you.

Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson

Speaking of the new website, I’ve recently (well, it’s been almost six months now) hired Isaac and Kara Stewart as employees for Dragonsteel Entertainment, my company. They join Peter Ahlstrom, who has been working here since just after I started on the Wheel of Time.

You might recognize Isaac as the one who has been doing maps and interior artwork for my books since Mistborn. He is the brilliant artist behind most of the maps and icons in my books, including the colorful Stormlight endpages. He also holds the distinction of being the person who set me and Emily up on our first blind date.

Isaac will be acting as a personal assistant to me, helping me get tasks done, while also working on artwork for us. So you might see him at conventions with me in the future.

Kara, Isaac’s wife, is an organizational genius, and has agreed to come on and take over the brandonsanderson.com store and warehouse. (AKA my garage.) She had been running the Inkwing store, which sold T-shirts based on my work, and we figured it was best to just consolidate that all into one. If you order signed books from my store, you should be getting them more quickly and efficiently now, with Kara overseeing the process.

The Emperor’s Soul wins a Hugo Award!

And finally, I want to mention that my novella The Emperor’s Soul took home the Hugo—science fiction and fantasy’s top award—earlier this month. I did a long blog post on the topic that I’d draw your attention toward.

With the last book of the Wheel of Time out, Steelheart launching, the Hugo Award, and the birth of my third son (back in January), this has been a pretty incredible year. I’m not sure how we’ll ever top it, but I do want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported me in my writing.

Ten years ago, I sold Elantris to Tor. (We’re approaching the exact anniversary of that contract being signed.) If I had been told what the next decade would bring, I think it would have sent me into fits of anxiety. Having lived through it, I’m a little surprised I can even remember my own name, so much has been going on.

At the core of it all, though, I get to tell stories for a living. That is all I ever really wanted; everything else is icing.

Thank you so much for reading, and allowing me to live my dreams.

Brandon Sanderson

9/24/2013

The Steelheart Prologue is here.

There are worldwide links to buy Steelheart here.

Introducing the Steelhunt

Steelheart comes out tomorrow!

If you live local to Utah, please consider coming to the launch party at the Barnes & Noble in Orem from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. All copies will be numbered and pre-signed, so you won’t have to wait in line unless you want a personalization. I would really like to see this be a big event, so if you can possibly stop by, I’d appreciate it!

I first had the idea for Steelheart somewhere around five years ago. It was engaging, exciting, and demanding—one of those ideas that wouldn’t let go of me, one of those ideas that I needed to write. However, I had dedicated myself to finishing the Wheel of Time, and in doing so, I had told myself that I would avoid starting any new book series until I had finished A Memory of Light.

I returned from tour that year and wrote the prologue to Steelheart soon after. You can read it here. The prologue turned out better than I could have hoped. In fact, I did a reading of it at two conventions over the years (one in Nebraska, the other being Dragon*Con, I believe) and had such a profoundly strong reaction to it, that I actually stopped reading it to people—it seemed cruel to do such a powerful reading, then admit that the book wouldn’t be out for many years.

During the years working on the Wheel of Time, completing Steelheart someday became my prize. If I did what I was supposed to, and remained focused, I would allow myself to finish this book. Hence, the month that I turned in A Memory of Light, revised and done, I finally turned my attention back to Steelheart. This was my reward to myself.

Epic fantasy will always be my first love. Work progresses well on Words of Radiance, and I think you’ll love it. It’s enormous, involved, epic, and immersive. However, in embracing the magnitude of a book like that, I don’t want to lose the simple excitement that is part of what makes books like Mistborn work. Action/adventure/humor blended together in a style reminiscent of my favorite action movies. Steelheart is a love letter to that genre.

Because we’re finally releasing the book, I wanted to do some things to celebrate. First off, I’ll be doing a series of blog posts this week and next about things I’ve been intending to write for a while. Sanderson’s Third Law of Magic will be one of them, as will a post talking about what the Wheel of Time taught me as a writer. Hopefully, you’ll check back frequently and find something of interest here.

The second thing we’re going to do is another hunt! Working with Random House, who is publishing Steelheart, we have devised an extra-special giveaway. As many of you know, I often search out my books in airport bookstores or other stores I pass, then sign the books and hide little prizes in them. (Some call it Brandalizing the books.) We have a brand-new goodie for me to hide, related to this book.

On the back of this prize is a URL and a code, allowing you to access a special section of my website that includes some exclusive goodies, including a ten-thousand-word chunk of Words of Radiance, book two of the Stormlight Archive. As the first one to find the code, you not only get to keep the prize found above, you’ll be able to leave your name on the list of hunters. The fun thing is that after that, you can share your code with friends so they can visit the special section of the website and read the exclusives there themselves.

The more codes that get entered, the more exclusives will be unlocked. (I think we have nine or ten of them in all. Some will be pieces of art, others will be chunks of writing from other upcoming books.) We will have ways for you to get codes even if you don’t live anywhere near where I’ll be visiting on tour. (More on this in a moment, though if you haven’t looked at the tour list, please check here.)

Now, a few rules for the Steelhunt.

If you find a code, as I say above, you can share it with others—but please don’t post it online in an open way. You can direct message it to people, text it to people, or post it on private forums. But if you broadcast it on Twitter/Facebook, etc. we’ll have to disable it.
As always, the spirit of the hunt is for you to have the goodie above in your possession before you enter the code. Please don’t bother bookstore employees by calling them and asking them to read a code to you over the phone. I will be warning employees not to do this, if I talk to them. If it becomes a problem, I might have to take further measures, such as disabling codes until we receive a picture of you holding the code. This makes the entire thing less fun, as it adds a step between a code being discovered and one being activated. This is important to me because, in asking bookstores to indulge me as I do this hunt, I don’t want their employees flooded with phone calls interrupting their work and keeping them from the customers.
You can, however, send someone you personally know to get the code for you. Don’t call the store next door and beg some random employee to do it, but if you do know someone flying through the airport or visiting the city, feel free to have them grab the code for you.
You don’t have to buy the book the goodie is hidden inside of, though I’d really prefer it if you did! However, if you already own the book, feel no guilt in grabbing the code.

I will be giving away a few codes at each signing I’ll be doing. I’ve also been known to give away codes for costumes that impress me, or other cool things that show up at my signings.

Now, if you aren’t going to be anywhere near where I’m touring, we want you to be able to participate too. We will have ways you can win codes on the website, on Twitter, and on Facebook over the next few weeks. In addition, we have a few surprise appearances by codes planned for stores I’ll not be visiting.

If you own or work for a bookstore in a city I will not be visiting and are interested in participating in the Steelhunt, drop me an email through my website. (Note: there is no guarantee we’ll be able to get codes to every store that contacts us.)

Infinity Blade videos, IB:III out today, & Letter to Robert Jordan

First some updates. The Writing Excuses podcast had episodes on transitioning characters in prominence and on when fail happens in your career.

This week I added some videos to my YouTube channel. First is a letter to Robert Jordan that I recorded for Google Play. Then there are some videos dealing with the Infinity Blade universe. You can see them below. My Infinity Blade: Redemption novella came out a couple of weeks ago; to find out what happens next, play the Infinity Blade III game (US/World) (UK/Europe) that was released today!

Hugo Awards Comic & Video

The Hugo Awards UStream page has posted the full recording of this year’s ceremony, with no pesky gaps from technical difficulties. You can find it here and it’s embedded at the bottom of this post.

The entire ceremony is a celebration of science fiction and fantasy fandom featuring luminaries of the field, and I highly recommend attending Worldcon and the Hugo Awards ceremony. But for those who just want to cut to the chase, you can find the presentation of this year’s Hugo Award for Best Related Work at about the 02:05:53 mark, and the presentation of the Hugo Award for Best Novella at about the 02:20:57 mark. The full list of winners can be found here.

Elizabeth Story at Tachyon Publications, which put out the print version of the novella, sent me the comic below. It will make the most sense if you’ve already read The Emperor’s Soul. My special extra thanks to Tachyon for all the wonderful work they did. This is an awesome comic!

Comic by Elizabeth Story, Associate Editor & Cover Designer, Tachyon Publications

Video streaming by Ustream

STEELHEART book trailer & free 5-chapter sample ebook/audiobook

Random House has released their book trailer for Steelheart, and it’s pretty awesome! Check it out below.

They’ve also released a 5-chapter sampler ebook (and Audible has a sampler audiobook) that you can see download links for here. (Ignore the text that says “Buy the Book”—it’s a free download.) Right now the free ebook and audiobook aren’t available in the UK, Australia, or New Zealand, but it should be available most other places. You can also read the prologue, chapter 10, and chapter 11 right on my site.

The release date is only 12 days away, so think about preordering the book from your favorite vendor. Weller Book Works has a few signed & numbered copies left. You can also come to the release event at the Orem Barnes & Noble on September 24th, or check out the whole tour here. Mysterious Galaxy and Shawn Speakman’s The Signed Page will also have signed books available to preorder, but they won’t be shipped until I sign them in October. I have worldwide links to other places you can preorder the book here.

And now, the trailer!

A question for my German and other foreign-language readers

If you haven’t seen the Steelheart book trailer, the prologue, or the teaser chapters (Chapter Ten and Chapter Eleven), please go give them a look! The release date is fast approaching, so think about preordering the book from your favorite vendor. Weller Book Works has a few signed & numbered copies left. You can also come to the release event at the Orem Barnes & Noble on September 24th. (More details later.) Mysterious Galaxy and Shawn Speakman’s The Signed Page will also have signed books available to preorder, but they won’t be shipped until I sign them in October. I have worldwide links to other places you can preorder the book here.

Many of you know that my good friend Dan Wells’s Serial Killer books were published in Germany before they were printed in the US (see Writing Excuses Episode 8.29 for a description of how this happened). Since then, Dan’s books have done very well in Germany. In fact, he’s living there now partly because of this.

Dan’s success in Germany has made me curious about what my readers think of the German translations of my own novels. I’ve never visited Germany. It’s a big market that I don’t know very much about, and I’m curious about it.

In fact, I would love to know how my foreign translations in any language compare to the original English. If there are those of you out there who are familiar with both editions of some of my works, we would love to hear from you, particularly if you are bilingual or have read both the original and a foreign translation. Specifically we would like to hear from my German readers.

We would also like to know who your favorite translators are in your language. Are there ones that do a particularly good job? Please email your thoughts through the contact form on my website or post on Facebook.

Hugo Awards!

Everyone, I come to you today deeply humbled and appreciative. Over the weekend at Worldcon in San Antonio, I was honored with not one, but two Hugo awards. Though I’m thrilled to have Writing Excuses finally win after several years of losses, I’m beyond flattered to have been given a fiction award in the novella category for The Emperor’s Soul.

I shared a little of what I was thinking during the acceptance speech, but I prefer to keep things like that short. I’ll go into a little more depth here. Many of you know the story of how I discovered fantasy novels as a young man. My first experience with fandom isn’t one I’ve talked about as often.

I was seventeen or eighteen when it happened. A teacher (a different one from the one who handed me my first fantasy novel) waved me over after class. He’d noticed a flyer for a science fiction convention called Andromeda One, which had a writing contest. Now, this teacher was not a fan of sf in the least—he had us reading Faulkner—but he was a teacher, and an excellent one. He held up the sheet to me and said, “You should check this out, Brandon. I think you’ll like it. And try submitting one of your stories.”

I’d never heard of literary science fiction cons before. I figured it was something like a Star Trek con. I was wrong, as this was something so much more. A welcoming home, a place for thoughtful discussion, and a place of learning. I spent that weekend in panels, listening to REAL writers who wrote stories like I liked to read. Katherine Kurtz was guest of honor, and I remember my utter amazement at how—when I asked her a question about writing—she sat me down and didn’t just answer, but talked to me and encouraged me for a good half hour while she waited for her next panel.

I found my home among these people. I was immediately adopted into the fold by the other teens there, and was carted from one activity to another by people whom I’d never met before that day—but who wanted to make certain I had a good convention experience. It was amazing.

As I mentioned, the convention had a student writing competition. In fact, I remember the exact words of the flyer my teacher showed me. It had a line I have never forgotten, written in big letters, proclaiming, “Andromeda One student writing contest! Join us as we search for what may be future Hugo and Nebula Award winners!”

I managed to win that contest. Granted, I think there were only five or six submissions. But I actually won. The award was a certificate, a $50 savings bond, and a handshake. The presenter said to me, “Keep writing, kid! Maybe someday you’ll win yourself a Hugo.”

Ladies and gentlemen, almost twenty years later, here it is. My Hugo.

Photo by Eddie Schneider.

How can I explain my emotions? I’ve had writing successes, but for twenty years—ever since I saw that shiny award sticker on the copy of Ender’s Game I was buying, and looked up what it meant—this has been one of my profoundest, most personal goals in life. To write something worthy of that beautiful statue. I haven’t talked about it a lot because I believe strongly in the integrity of the award, and believe authors should avoid doing more than making people aware of deadlines and eligible works. But now I can talk about it.

The Emperor’s Soul is by far the best short piece I’ve ever written, and it rivals the best of my novels in quality. It is the perfect piece to win, one I’m exceptionally proud of. I’m amazed, gratified, honored, and deeply grateful that so many people found it worthy. This is the perfect news to use as the first post on my new website, which you may have noticed has finally come online.

Thank you to all who have believed in me and my writing. Thank you to my 3-year-old, who—upon seeing me on the video stream from home—apparently said, “Why is Daddy on the big TV?” Thank you to Emily for her love and support, to my parents for all they have done for me. To people like Moshe Feder who discovered me, to the Tachyon folks who did such a great job editing and packaging this book, and also to my wonderful agent and my dedicated assistants.

Most of all, thank you to all who voted. Thank you so very much.

Tachyon has printed a small print run of hardcovers of The Emperor’s Soul, and we were planning to put them up for sale this Christmas. Well, I don’t think that will do any longer! I’m therefore proud to offer, for sale as of now, hardcover editions of The Emperor’s Soul.

They are a little pricy at $25 (on sale for $20 until the end of September), because of the nature of doing small hardcover print runs—this is intended as a collector’s item. The trade paperback will continue to be sold at many wonderful locations, as will the ebook. All print copies entitle you to a free copy of the ebook as well, mailed to you directly by me in a DRM-free format. (Details here at the bottom of the page.)

So now what? Well, onward, I guess! Some of the masters of this genre collected a good dozen or so Hugos during their lifetimes. I’ve got a lot of work to do.

John Scalzi and Brandon Sanderson before the ceremony. Photo by Joel Phillips.

John Scalzi and Brandon Sanderson after the ceremony. Photo by Eddie Schneider.

The four fiction Hugo Award winners. Ken Liu, John Scalzi, Pat Cadigan, Brandon Sanderson. Photo by Eddie Schneider.

Three from the Writing Excuses crew. Howard Tayler, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Brandon Sanderson. Photo by Scott Marlatt.

Photo by Scott Marlatt.

Photo by Scott Marlatt.

The 2013 Hugo Award winners. Photo by Eddie Schneider.

Infinity Blade: Redemption + Updates

Hey, all! I had an exciting time at Worldcon, as you might have heard. I’m working on a long blog post about the experience, and it will go up tomorrow. (Actually, be sure to check my site tomorrow regardless…)

For today, though, I wanted to announce the release of my second and final Infinity Blade novella! It’s out now on the iBookstore, with a short exclusive period for them. I believe it is DRM-free, and it will move to other ebook platforms next week.

If you aren’t familiar with this project, these are based on a game series made by some friends of mine in Salt Lake City. The games are awesome, and have been bestsellers on iOS devices. I did one other novella bridging the first and second games, and now have written one taking place after the second game. It’s been a fun experience; they’ve really let me onto the team, and I’ve been able to have a lot to do with the story development of the entire series.

Pictures of Hugo Awards tomorrow!

In other news, my assistant Peter has uploaded another Twitter posts archive, covering August.

A bit of catch-up on the Writing Excuses podcast: We did episodes on making non-human characters relatable, survivorship bias, and a guest episode with Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content about digging yourself out of holes.

Brandon

Infinity Blade: Redemption + Updates

Hey, all! I had an exciting time at Worldcon, as you might have heard. I'm working on a long blog post about the experience, and it will go up tomorrow. (Actually, be sure to check my site tomorrow regardless . . . )

For today, though, I wanted to announce the release of my second and final Infinity Blade novella! It's out now on the iBookstore, with a short exclusive period for them. I believe it is DRM-free, and it will move to other ebook platforms next week.

If you aren't familiar with this project, these are based on a game series made by some friends of mine in Salt Lake City. The games are awesome, and have been bestsellers on iOS devices. I did one other novella bridging the first and second games, and now have written one taking place after the second game. It's been a fun experience; they've really let me onto the team, and I've been able to have a lot to do with the story development of the entire series.

Pictures of Hugo Awards tomorrow!

In other news, my assistant Peter has uploaded another Twitter posts archive, covering August.

A bit of catch-up on the Writing Excuses podcast: We did episodes on making non-human characters relatable, survivorship bias, and a guest episode with Jeph Jacques of Questionable Content about digging yourself out of holes.

Brandon

More Blog Posts at Brandonsanderson.com