Brandon Sanderson's Blog, page 95

Tower Guard program + Signed & Numbered TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT

The book's release is getting closer, folks. Are you excited yet?

Dragonmount has announced the Tower Guard program for the upcoming book tour, similar to the Storm Leaders program from last year. Basically, this is an opportunity for a few hardcore fans in each city to spend some personal time with Harriet and me, in exchange for helping out at the signing. I had a great time with the Storm Leaders last year, and I look forward to it again this year. If you're interested in the opportunity, Dragonmount's application is right here.

I've also put up a page explaining how to get signed & numbered copies of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. For those who can't attend a signing during the tour, pay close attention to the section on the Sam Weller's signing by mail. There's an important addition to that this time: For no additional shipping cost, you can buy another book to be delivered in the same box, such as a second copy of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, or a copy of THE GATHERING STORM or THE WAY OF KINGS. (Only TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT will be numbered, but I'll sign and personalize the other books too.)

On the same page, details on the numbering system for the midnight release are there too. If you went to the THE WAY OF KINGS release it will work pretty much the same way, but there are a few changes from how it worked at last year's THE GATHERING STORM release. Plus they have some cool things planned for the release party. Check it out.

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Registering for Worldcon, TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT News, InkWing T-Shirt + Updates

The World Science Fiction Convention, Worldcon for short, is held in a different city throughout the world each year. Next year it will be in Reno, Nevada, from August 17th through 21st. Hundreds of professionals in the science fiction, fantasy, and horror field congregate along with a few thousand fans. I'll be going, and will likely be on a few panels talking about the craft of writing and related topics.

This is also the convention where the Hugo Awards are voted on by the members. When I was a teenager first getting into fantasy and science fiction, I soon learned that "Hugo Award Winner!" emblazoned on the cover of a paperback meant it was going to be a good book. If you've ever wanted to vote for a Hugo, all you have to do is preregister early enough to get a voting ballot (sometime next spring, though to nominate you need to be a member by January). The convention in 2011 votes for books that came out in 2010, as well as for awards such as best editor, best dramatic presentation, and best fan artist.

Anyway, the cost for registration goes up this Friday and will go up again in March. So if you're interested in going, now is the time to register. I hope to see a lot of fans there.

In other news, I've posted a couple more annotations for WARBREAKER. First I talk about the God King's arrival at the Court of Gods. Then I discuss the life-sense aspect of the magic system.

We've got two new things up for you on the Writing Excuses podcast site. First is the newest episode on creating suspense. Next Dan, Howard, and I recorded an acceptance speech for our Parsec Award. Once again we missed the awards ceremony, though Dan and I were both there at Dragon*Con . . . (And don't worry about the way I sound; my voice has since recovered.)

There's been some Wheel of Time news I haven't mentioned here. First, two early reviews of TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT have gone up, from Leigh Butler on Tor.com and Jason on Dragonmount. And today I received proof covers from Tor. The book comes out in a mere 34 days. Are you ready? My tour schedule is on my site, along with a few conventions I'll be attending later. Oh, and the paperback and ebook versions of THE GATHERING STORM came out today.

Finally, InkWing Arts, the store started by Mistborn and Stormlight Archive artist Isaac Stewart for merchandise based on those series, is having a drawing for a free T-shirt. If you saw me on the THE WAY OF KINGS tour you may have seen me in one of the T-shirts or received an Epic Bookmark. Anyway, it's all pretty cool stuff and Isaac's designs are great. Check it out.

More Blog Posts at Brandonsanderson.com

TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Prologue ebook Released + Updates + Orem Library

As of midnight last night, the prologue ebook for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT is now available to buy from the usual ebook stores: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, etc. There is also an audiobook version on Audible.

Some people have wondered who would want to buy just the prologue six weeks early when it doesn't include anything you won't get when the full book comes out on November 2nd. This is something that's really only for the hardcore fans who just can't wait any longer. Most people w...

Guest Blogging, Babel Clash, Interviews, Authorpalooza Tomorrow, and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT Tour

Peter here again. Brandon is back from his tour, but he's been very active online everywhere except his own website, it seems! First up, last weekend John Scalzi's Whatever blog featured a guest post essay by Brandon entitled Postmodernism in Fantasy. For people confused about what that might cover, let me say it involves a Jewel music video. (Okay, I know that doens't help. Just go read it.)

To follow that up, Brandon is joined by hit fantasy writer Brent Weeks over on the Babel Clash blog f...

The Great Hunt Completed!

Peter here again. Today at around 9:00 p.m. in Venice, Italy, intrepid Wheel of Time fan Federico located the final The Great Hunt code's hiding place . . . and confirmed that the code was no longer there. Maybe someone saw Brandon's friend Ryan place it on top of this photo booth, perhaps via the prominent security camera, but in any case the clue is gone.

If you have a theory about what happened to the code, post it with the hashtag #wotghfinalcode. However, all is not lost. Brandon...

The Great Hunt Update

Hi all, Brandon's assistant Peter here. He's off on his tour (Thursday's stop is in the Chicago area), so he doesn't have a lot of time to update the blog. He did write one blog post ahead of time, which I'll post tomorrow probably. And you can keep track of his progress on Twitter and Facebook.

Brandon wanted me to give everyone an update on the promotion for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT that Brandon & Tor are doing in conjunction with the THE WAY OF KINGS tour. (The book, by the way, was just...

THE WAY OF KINGS Is Out

It's out.

It's finally out.

I hadn't expected this day to come for years yet. I had a careful path set up to doing the Stormlight Archive. Writing standalone novels and trilogies for a few more years yet, until I had the reputation both with fans and the publisher to persuade them to take a chance on an ambitious series like the Stormlight Archive.

Then, two years ago, I saw a chance for doing it earlier—and doing it the right way. So I seized it. Getting both this book and Towers of...

Play Magic with Brandon at Dragon*Con Updates

Guys, THE WAY OF KINGS comes out tomorrow! Wow. So long spent waiting. Look on Tor.com tomorrow for a cool post about my history working on the book, with pictures of a very early Brandon Sanderson manuscript.

Before we do that, though, I want to do some updates to my Magic with Brandon post. Late last week, I got a package in the mail from Wizards of the Coast including a large bunch of mystery prizes to be given out at Dragon*Con to anyone who can defeat me at Magic. This makes me even...

THE WAY OF KINGS Midnight Release Numbering Policy Change

Hi everyone, Brandon's assistant Peter here, popping in to let you know of a procedural change at the BYU Bookstore for next week's release of THE WAY OF KINGS. We had some reports from last year's release party of people who had stood in line for hours only to get pushed back in the queue at the last minute by others who had spots in line saved for them. That's not what Brandon wants to see happen, so for this release the bookstore is trying something new. See below for info from Tami at...

Play Magic with Brandon at Dragon*Con

I'll be hitting Dragon*Con this year near the beginning of my tour, and I'm looking forward to finding some time to hang with readers and relax and play some Magic: The Gathering. As always, I play casual—meaning that I do it more for the fun and interaction than the victories. So if you're new to the game, or haven't played in years, don't worry. We try to keep it low-stress.

I've got three different types of Magic-related events I'm planning, listed below.

ELDRAZI DRAFT

At Jordancon, I...