Alcatraz Revision Done!

Just a quick update here.  I've finished the Alcatraz 3 revision, and have sent it off to my editor.  Next up is the Warbreaker copyedit.

I've begun to get pages back on the sections of A Memory of Light I sent to Harriet, and the responses are very encouraging.  There are things I need to change, of course, but that's the case in any book.  Mostly, she's asked me to be more descriptive in places.  We've also got Alan and Maria working full time catching inconsistencies and the like.  But I'm really enjoying the process.  Harriet is a world class editor--she really is great at what she does.

Anyway, back to Alcatraz News, I did want to point out that the Paperback of Alcatraz Versus The Evil Librarians should begin appearing in stores sometime soon.  The official release date is November 1st, so I'll do more posts on it later.  However, Scholastic has been known to ship books as much as a month early, so you might see this one on shelves pretty soon.

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (book two of the series) is coming out November 1st as well.  People have been asking me when I'll post sample chapters, and the answer is later in October.  I'm pretty focused on Mistborn Three right now, but Alcatraz will get his day in the sun too.  In fact, here's a fun picture for you:

Yes, indeed, that is the wonderful Kaytoo cosplaying an Evil Librarian at MountainCon. She even has kittens with her.  (Part of the great kitten conspiracy.)  Thanks, Lorna!  I think this is the first time I've run into a cosplayer from one of my books at a convention.

Mistborn Three Final Sample Chapter! (Plus Other Things.)

And here is the third sample chapter of Mistborn: The Hero of Ages!  A lot of people have asked me about the decisions I made regarding Elend's character at the end of book two.  Not giving any spoilers, but the chance to write scenes like this one are one of the big motivators.  (There are deeper character reasons, of course, but this was a big part.)

We're only about two weeks away from the release of the book!  It's hard to believe that it's finally here.  Back in 2003, I began to create a fantasy story broken into three parts--something dynamic and new, with epic scope, personal characters, and a killer magic system.  I tried my best to get those things onto the page, writing all three books straight through (with a short sixteen day break to write Alcatraz).  I finished Hero of Ages back in 2005.  That was several months before The Final Empire came out, with time to tweak the first book so that I could get the right FEEL for the entire series.

I've seeded parts of the grand story through the first two books, including clues about the final scenes in the very first chapters of the first book.  I had quite the opportunity in writing all three books together, and I don't know that I'll ever have that luxury again.  I guess I'll just have to learn to do what the masters, like Robert Jordan, do in giving the foreshadowing and groundwork for later novels boldly, before those later novels are written. 

Anyway, on October 14th, you can finally read the ending I planned five years ago when developing the very first book of the trilogy.  A lot of people have been emailing me and asking me how to best support the book's release.  (They know that Mistborn: The Well of Ascension had some distribution problems, particularly at Barnes and Noble.)

Such requests humble me.  Let me first say that don't feel at all bad if you're one of those waiting for the paperback release or to get the book from the library.  I don't care how you read my books--whether in a library, bought in hardcover, or borrowed from friends.  Just reading is the best compliment you can give me.

However, as I've mentioned before, hardcover releases of books in my particular genre/style are extremely important.  Tor considers the first week sales of a novel like mine to be a huge barometer for how much marketing and push future books should receive.  I would like to do something big and explosive as my next series, after AMoL, and a huge first week for MB3 would be a great boost.  So if you ARE considering picking up the hardcover, and do want to know how to help, then the best thing you can do is grab a copy of the novel that first week.  (And actually, the "week" ends on Saturday--so October 14th to Saturday the 18th.) 

That's one of the reasons why I've offered the book signed and personalized via Sam Weller's.  I'd like to give another nudge there, if you were considering getting a copy from them.  They are discounting preorders up to the 10th, and it would be very nice if people ordered soon, so they know how many copies they need to have in stock.  Every sale they make helps a lot.  (And I bet they'd be willing to sell paperbacks of the previous two books and have me sign them, then ship those along as well, so if you've been waiting to get all three at once this would be a great way.)

However, the absolute best thing you can do for me is support your own local booksellers by buying a copy there during the release week.  If you are planning to go to a Barnes and Noble to buy the book, please consider calling ahead during the next week and ordering a copy specifically for you.  (Not just having them set aside one already ordered, but ordering one yourself.)  They've under-ordered on the book again by a large margin, and the best way to keep them from doing that again is to order extra copies as readers.  (But, of course, don't do this unless you're gong to buy it!) 

If you're waiting to get the book when I'm on tour, that's fine too!  Though I'm always willing to sign books you've bought previously. 

You may want to call your local independent to make sure they're getting a copy or two before going in.  Borders stores should all have a large stock, and are the safest bet for finding my books.  (And if you're in Utah, remember that I'll be doing a whole slew of signings in the area that week.  Consider calling BYU bookstore and preording a copy just to make sure you get one--I know they've only got 300 on order, and we could easily go through all of those.)

As always, you all have my deepest thanks for reading.  (And I apologize in advance if I talk a lot about the release of the third book these next two weeks!)

Reader Mail

I've gotten a lot of questions like this one, from Kim in Florida:

I am enjoying reading your book "Mistborn - The Final Empire" on my Kindle and wondering if, and when, you will be making volumes 2 and 3 available for the Kindle.

The answer is...well, I'd like to.  Here's the thing about the ebook front.  Amazon has asked Tor for my books to turn them into Kindle editions, and so Tor sent them electronic versions.  However, Amazon hasn't gotten around to changing them to Kindle ebooks yet.  And since Tor promised them first shot at the books (they had to, considering how much the Kindle is coming to dominate the ebook market) Tor can't release them for other ebook formats until after Amazon has released them!

So we're having this big waiting game right now.  It's not Tor or me that are to blame for there being no more ebooks of mine for sale; it's Amazon we're waiting for. 

So, if any of you are waiting for ebooks of Mistborn Two or Mistborn Three, I guess you could feel free to send a kind (and respectful) email to Amazon at: (EMAIL REMOVED. Looks like this will happen soon, folks, so we don't have to send any more emails.)

Annotation + Random Notes

First off, I've posted a new Well of Ascension annotation:  Chapter Forty-Four

Secondly, there's another website that is sponsoring a givaway of my books, this one by the FantasyBookCritic blog.  They're giving away an entire Mistborn trilogy set.

Thirdly, we've sold about 75 of the 100 copies of Mistborn Two I have up for sale.  These probably won't last another week, so hurry up if you want one.

Fourthly, I received a nice email from some folks who have started up a Mistborn Fansite--the first one I know of.  It's call Mistborn Empire.  Thanks, guys!  You flatter me.

Fifthly, I've finished the revision of AMOL Part One, which tops out at around 250,000 words.  I then sent that chunk off to Harriet for review.  A lot of you have emailed to ask me what she thought of what I'd written so far.  Well, this is the first sizable chunk of writing she's seen on the book, so the honest truth is that I don't know yet!  I'm nervous, as can be expected.  It could be months before she gets back on those pages, though.  250k is a LOT of writing.  In a lot of genres, that alone would be nearly three books worth of material.  Here, it's just one portion of the novel.

Sixthly, that means it's time for me to zip on over and finish the two other edits I need to do this year.  I warned you about these back in June.  One is the Warbreaker Copyedit, the other is the Alcatraz Three final draft.  I dove into Alcatraz last night, and the revision is going very quick and easy.  I suspect that I'll be done with it by the end of the week, or early next week at the latest.  The Warbreaker edit will take a tad longer, but I plan to be done with it by the time I leave on tour.  That leaves me with two and a half months to finish the other 150k of AMOL and meet my goal of 400k by December.  It's doable, but will be close, with the book tour distracting me.  Keep an eye on the website to watch and see if I make it! 

Finally, I haven't posted one of these in a while, so here's an AMOL relative progress list update!  AMOL has passed up Warbreaker, Winter's Heart, and Hero of Ages--and it's within one more percentage point of The Dragon Reborn.  You can rest easy that, no matter what else happens, at least this won't be the shortest WoT book in the main series. :)

AMOL Relative Length Chart: 9/23/08

Alcatraz/Evil Librarians 60,400
New Spring 121,815
Elantris 202,765
The Final Empire 214,752
The Path of Daggers 226,687
Warbreaker 236,301
Winter's Heart 238,789
Hero of Ages 244,201
---A MEMORY OF LIGHT 248k So Far!---
The Dragon Reborn 251,392
The Well of Ascension 252,739
The Great Hunt 267,078
Crossroads of Twilight 271,632
A Crown of Swords 295,028
The Eye of the World 305,902
Knife of Dreams 315,163
The Fires of Heaven 354,109
Lord of Chaos 389,264
The Shadow Rising 393,823

One Year

Last week marked one year since Mr. Jordan's passing.  I wrote out something to post, but I just didn't like it, so decided to scrap the idea.  That was partially because I think I'd rather commemorate Mr. Jordan on a different day, such as his birthday next month or perhaps the publication date of EYE OF THE WORLD, rather than focusing too much on the day of his passing.

However, after thinking about it over the weekend while at MountainCon, I decided that I really did need to post something, if only a link back to the essay I wrote back in July about his passing.  It's probably the best I could do on this topic, and what follows below is just a tangential musing, more related to me than to him.  It's related to thoughts that have been tickling my mind recently.

A year ago, I assumed that Mr. Jordan had already exerted every bit of influence over my career that he was going to.  During my youth, his books significantly shaped the writer I would become.  Publishing with Tor became my personal holy grail, in a lot of ways, because of his presence there.  His power for sales in the fantasy market (which pushed the genre with mainstream readers and also helped establish the fantasy hardcover as a viable publishing option even for midlist authors) changed how people buy books in our genre.  Finally, his success at Tor allowed them to have the money to take chances on newer authors, such as myself. 

When you weigh all of those things, I think you'll find that my career--even before last year's events--was dominated rather heavily by the Wheel of Time and Mr. Jordan himself.  But with his passing, I assumed that no more such influence would come.

I guess you could say that I was wrong. 

From this point on, I doubt more than a passing mention will be made of me any my writing without Robert Jordan's name appearing as well.  Any article, essay, or encyclopedia entry about me will list my work on the Wheel of Time as one of the most important events of my career.  Twenty years from now, I will be doing conventions related to the Wheel of Time.  It's entirely possible that my career as a whole could end up as a footnote to that of Robert Jordan.

Does this bother me?  To be honest, it doesn't.  I knew all of this before I accepted the project, and if I'd worried about it, I'd just have done the book without official credit.  But that wouldn't have been fair, either to myself or the fans.  They deserve to know what they are getting, and deserve to understand that someone other than Mr. Jordan worked on this book.  They deserve to know exactly who was involved. 

Beyond that, a man could do much worse than be known as that guy who was involved in the last Wheel of Time book.  A series like this one doesn't come along but once a generation, and it's humbling to be part of it.

Yes, I hope to be able to make my own mark on the genre.  I hope that I can earn my own way onto the bestseller lists and into the hearts of readers.  But in the end, if I'm like so many other good-- but ephemeral--midlist authors, I'm not going to consider my career a failure.  I'll have told the stories that I want, and I'll have worked in a job I love for my entire life.  Who can really ask for more than that? 

But it's nice to know that, either way, I'll have been involved in something lasting, something people will still be reading a century from now.  The Wheel of Time has changed a lot of people's lives.  Mine most of all.  And I'm very thankful for the chance to work on this novel, and for the willingness of the readers to accept me in as one of them.  So, I guess my thoughts upon the one year mark turn toward you--I've found that Mr. Jordan's greatest legacy is in the quality of fan that he inspired.  You do him proud.

Annotations coming soon.  Thank you all for reading.

Brandon

p.s. Plaid Ajah: Yes.  (Inside joke.)

More Hero of Ages Launch Party Info

Just to keep everyone up to date on this, here's the info for the Hero of Ages launch party, updated and collected into one post.  (Also, I've already sold between 1/3 and 1/2 of the Mistborn 2 copies I have for sale, so if you want one, be quick.  As long as that link is good, I have copies--we'll pull it when the last one sells.)

HERO OF AGES RELEASE PARTY!
Date: October 14th
Time: 5:30
Place: Brigham Young University Bookstore.

Parking:  By 5:30, parking on campus is mostly open.  I think the entire parking lot to the east of the Wilkinson Center will be open, so parking should be easy and quick.  A line will form at the Northwest corner of the bookstore.

Numbered editions:  Brandon will sign and number every copy of Hero of Ages sold at this event.  If you're planning to come, please call BYU Bookstore and reserve a copy. (See below.)  All copies of Mistborn 3 (whether preordered or purchased at the signing) are 25% off of cover price!  It would be helpful if you called to preorder so that BYU knows how many copies to have on hand.  Even though they've ordered several hundred, I'm worried they'll run out.  Note that if you live out of state , you can order a signed, numbered, and personalized copy to be mailed to you from Sam Weller's.  (I will also be numbering copies at the Sam Weller's signing on Wednesday for any who can't make the Provo signing.  If you can't make either, I'll be doing two other signings in Salt Lake that week, but those copies will not be numbered.)

I will be numbering the copies IN ORDER.  The first person in line gets #1 and so forth.  The only exception is that my good friend, Dan Wells, gets #5.  (He managed to get #1 of Elantris and #2 of Mistborn, so we've kept the tradition getting him #3 of Well and #4 of Alcatraz.)

Prize Drawing:  There WILL be a prize drawing this year, just like previous years.  I will be supplying an Aon Pendant, as well as some other cool goodies.  The bookstore will be giving away books and audio discs.  They will also have bundled packages of my books for sale. 

Reading:  I probably won't have time for a reading, though I'll be doing one the next night in Salt Lake.

Q&A:  I will be doing a Q&A after the signing is finished. 

Contact Info for Preorders:
Phone number:  801-422-3584
Just say that you want to preorder Hero of Ages, and they'll take it from there!

100 Hardcovers of Well of Ascension For Sale!

I was able to track down 100 hardcover copies of Mistborn: The Well of Ascension from a Canadian book warehousing company, and they got her just a bit ago.  So I'm offering them up to you guys, signed and personalized, through the store. 

These do, unfortunately, have small remainder marks on the spine.  (Read the description for more.)  Those are very unobtrusive, though, and other than that, they're just like new.  They'll probably go very quickly, so if you want one, grab one fast.  I'll take down the link as soon as they sell through. 

A lot of people have been asking me how to get a personalized copy, and so I tried very hard to find these.  I'll keep searching for more, but Tor is out of stock at the moment, and it doesn't look like they'll be remaindering the book.  There's an okay chance that I'll be able to grab more of these in the future, but it's not for certain.

Note that three people have already managed to find these in the store and snatched up copies before I even linked it.  (And you guys managed to get free shipping on those three orders because of a bug in our coding, so congrats! ;)  We fixed it.  Don't feel guilty; I'll happily pay free shipping on three books for the opportunity to catch a potentially problematic bug before the link goes officially live.  You guys saved me a lot of grief.)

Also, if you missed it, check out my link about MountainCon and Rothfuss.

Rothfuss on Writing Excuses + MountainCon

I should be posting soon with more details on the Hero of Ages release party.  Until then, however, I wanted to give a quick link to Writing Excuses.  I haven't mentioned it in a while, but I thought you all might be interested in this podcast, since I think it is one of the best we've done.  It was recorded at Worldcon with guest star Patrick Rothfuss, of Name of the Wind fame.  We talk about how to write exposition in fantasy novels without bogging down the story.

I've blogged before about how much I enjoyed his book, and I was delighted to discover that he was an absolute blast to hang out with.  He's doing wonderful things for the genre, and is truly and honestly a charming, eloquent, and interesting person.  So give a listen and if you haven't read his book, make sure to pick up a copy. 

Also, I'll be at Mountain*Con this weekend, which is shaping up to be a world class convention.  I'm really looking forward to it.  I'll be doing a signing on Saturday sometime at the convention, and there should be plenty of books if you want to pick one up.  (I'll be carting along some hard-to-find Elantris and Mistborn hardcovers, and Badali Jewelry will be there selling Aon pendants.)  If you're in the area, consider picking up a one day badge and stopping by to listen in on some of my panels.  I'll be doing a couple of workshops which are, essentially, lessons pulled from the creative writing class I teach.

State of the Inbox (Plus Reader Mail.)

Sending an email through a website like mine can be kind of a nebulous process.  You click send, get a little "Thank you for your email!" response on the screen, then wonder where the little bits of data have flown off to.

Here's how it goes.  Whenever someone sends to me, I get an email sent directly to my inbox.  It gets filtered into a special folder.  I usually read the email the same day it was sent, but I don't often have time to respond immediately.  Instead, I try to answer the emails in the order I got them.

At various times, I have 'email overload' where I have trouble getting responses to everyone who has sent to me.  One of these times, as you might imagine, came in December following the Wheel of Time announcement.  I got hundreds and hundreds of emails that week, and felt them pile up. 

However, lately I've been doing fairly well.  My response time for emails is about six weeks--however, I had an overload February-April, and so very few emails got answered through there.  I still hope to get to those someday....

Anyway, if you've sent me reader mail, know that I'm answering emails from the first week in August right now.  So it may be a little while before you hear from me, but you SHOULD hear eventually.  (Unless book tour wipes me out again...)

As for forum going, I'm still on forum hiatus.  I'm too tempted by forums, and don't want to get drawn into long discussions when I should be writing AMOL.  I plan to return eventually.  Until then, know that the best way to get hold of me is via email or posting on my LJ.  I plan to do a Q&A on my own forum come October, kind of a 'virtual book signing' for anyone who hangs out there.  (Also, we're working on getting a new moderator for my forums to keep an eye on things there.)  I appreciate all of you who populate the forums and post such interesting thoughts and speculations; I do want to be able to respond to you in the future, but right now I'm just swamped. 

And, since this is an email-related blog post, let me actually do a reader mail.

Steve from Sacramento writes,

Hi Brandon,
Besides being an avid reader (and fan of your writing), I'm also a computer gamer... I think your Mistborn world would make an excellent setting for a game. I'd love to play a game with allomantic and feruchemical powers. Is this something you've considered pursuing?

Thanks for the question, Steve!  I'm a gamer myself--a big fan of RPGs and FPSs.  (And I've put off playing Halo Three, which I really want to play, until I get AMOL written.  It's been kind of hard.) 

I HAVE considered doing a Mistborn game.  In fact, I was in talks with a company at one point to licence the game to them.  I even wrote up a proposal for the game.  (I imagined it being a nice hybrid between an RPG and a platformer, perhaps something along the lines of the metroid/castlevania vein with a physics engine.  Or, for something more big budget, I'd love to see a Morrowind style Mistborn RPG.) 

That deal fell through, however, and I don't blame the company for going another direction.  Still, I'm openly pursing this option.  If any of you out there work for a video game company and might be interested in a Mistborn game, feel free to fire me off an email!  I'll respond faster than six weeks on something like that.  ;)

And while it's something kind of different, we've still got the Mistborn Pen and Paper RPG coming out, which has me VERY excited.  If I had to chose between a video game and a pen and paper like this, I'd go with the pen and paper first.  I think it offers a more complete and immersive experience, and the chance to work with Crafty has me psyched.

Out of State Numbered Editions of Hero of Ages

All right, I finally have some specific info for those of you who don't live in Utah and can't come to the release party, but who want numbered editions of MISTBORN: THE HERO OF AGES.  (Also, book tour info is here, if you missed it.)

Let me start out by saying that my first preference is that you support your local bookstores.  They need your patronage to continue to survive.  Even the chain stores have been having a rough time of things lately, and so if you don't really care about having a numbered edition, go and grab a copy on October 14th from your local bookseller.  (Also, most best-seller lists consider more than just total number of copies sold--they look to see if a book has sold all across the nation, as opposed to in one area.  So selling a ton of copies in Utah won't help quite as much for me as if you buy the book the first week somewhere local to you.)

That said, I an very proud to have Sam Weller's Bookseller handling my out-of-state orders.  They are a wonderful bookstore, a fixture in Salt Lake City for three generations.  They've weathered the explosion of the chain superstores, and have an excellent staff.  The owners are fascinating people who love books.  (And they descendants of Sam Weller himself.)  They have often had me in to sign and have treated me well from the start, even back when I was a nobody and barely sold a copy or two at their signings.  You can feel proud supporting them as a business.

On October 15th, I will be doing a signing at their store.  Before the signing, I will travel up and sign, personalize, and number all of the copies that people from out of state have ordered and prepaid through their bookstore.  This will be one of only TWO ways to get a numbered edition.  The first is at BYU the night before, in person.  The other is to order via phone or email with Sam Weller's.  I will number in order, starting with the first person in line at BYU and ending with the last preorder at Sam Weller's.  (Also note that Sam Weller's is also a New York Times reporting store, so a sale through them helps me maybe get on that particular list.)

Sam Weller's has graciously offered a 20% discount to anyone who PREORDERS and PREPAYS for the book by October 10th.  I'm not sure what the shipping will be specifically, but I know they have very reasonable rates.

If you want to preorder a copy, you can do it by contacting Sam Weller's via the following:
Phone: (801)328-2586 / 800-333-7269
Email: books@samwellers.com

Make sure to tell them if you want the book PERSONALIZED and to whom or if you want it with SIGNATURE AND NUMBER only. 

I used to limit my numbering to 50 copies, but I found that left too many people disappointed.  So now I number as many books as people buy at my release party and via the specific preorder location.  Sam Weller's, however, only has 150 copies to sell via preorder, so make sure to contact them soon if you want one.  I expect them to sell out.  If there is enough demand quickly, I might be able to get them another case or two. 

I decided to try this pre-order for out of state readers for the first time this year.  A lot of you were sad about your lack of a chance to get a numbered copy.  If this works, and Sam Wellers is able to sell the copies they ordered, I'll do this for future books as well.

Hero of Ages Book Tour!

I'm still working on details for the Utah signings, and will post them here soon.  But for now, I'll get the dates down so that you can plan.  This page will update as I get more information, and I'll link from my main website.  All changes will show up on newer blog posts too, of course.

Tor Books and Dragonsteel Entertainment are proud to announce Brandon Sanderson's Fall 2008 book tour schedule!

UTAH LEG
Brigham Young University Bookstore
Tuesday, October 14th 5:30PM 
Provo, UT
NOTE:  This is the release Party!  All books here will be numbered editions.  Pre-orders possible.  (Details soon.)
NOTE:  This signing will be busy!  Brandon won't have time for a reading, in all likelihood, but he will be doing one at Sam Weller's.

Sam Weller's Zion Bookstore
Wednesday, October 15th time TBA
Salt Lake City, UT
NOTE:  Before this signing, Brandon will be signing and numbering copies for people outside of Utah who have pre-ordered a copy through Sam Wellers.  They will be shipped off the next morning.  If you live in Utah and want a numbered edition, please attend the BYU signing on the 14th.
NOTE:  This signing will include a reading and Q&A. 

Barnes and Noble at the Gateway
Thursday, October 16th  Time TBA
Salt Lake City UT

Barnes and Noble at Jordan Landing
Friday, October 17th Time TBA
West Jordan, UT

WEST COAT LEG
Barnes & Noble, Las Vegas, NV
8915 W. Charleston
Las Vegas, NV 89117
702.242.1987
Tuesday, October 21, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Barnes & Noble, Huntington Beach, CA
7881 Edinger Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
714.897.8781
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Borders, Torrance, CA
3700 Torrance Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90503
310.540.7000
Thursday, October 23, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Dark Delicacies, Burbank, CA
4213 W. Burbank
Burbank, CA 91505
818.556.6660
Friday, October 24, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will probably also involve a reading and a Q&A.

Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
Suite #302
San Diego, CA 92111
858.268.4747
Saturday, October 25, 2008 – 2:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will probably also involve a reading and a Q&A.

Borderlands, San Francisco, CA
866 Valencia St.
San Francisco CA 94110
415.824.8203
Monday, October 27, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will probably also involve a reading and a Q&A.

Dark Carnival, Berkeley, CA
3086 Claremont Ave.
Berkeley CA, 94705
510.654.7323
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 – 5:30 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will probably also involve a reading and a Q&A.

Books Inc., Mountain View, CA
301 Castro St.
Mountain View, CA 94041
650.428.1234
Thursday, October 30, 2008 – 7:30 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Barnes & Noble, Fairfield, CA
1600 Gateway Boulevard
Fairfield, CA 94533
707.435.0484
Friday, October 31, 2008 – 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Borders, Roseville, CA
2030 Douglas Blvd.
Roseville, CA 95661
916.784.1088
Saturday, November 01, 2008, 2:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Powell's Books, Beaverton, OR
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd.
Beaverton, OR 97005
503.228.4651
Monday, November 03, 2008 - 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will include a reading and Q&A

University Books, Seattle, WA
4326 University Way N.E.
Seattle, WA 98105
206.634.3400
Wednesday, November 05, 2008 - 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!
NOTE: This signing will include a reading and Q&A

Borders, Redmond, WA
Redmond Town Center
16549 N.E. 74th St.
Redmond, WA, 98052
425.869.1907
Thursday, November 06, 2008 - 7:00 PM
NOTE:  This signing will be by both Brandon and David Farland!

Third Place Books, Seattle, WA
6504 20th Ave. NE
Seattle, WA 98115
206.525.2347
Friday, November 07, 2008 – 6:30 PM

EAST COAST LEG
Washington DC Area
Monday November 10th  (NOTE--my publicist is looking for a store for this.  If you work at a bookstore and want to have me in, drop me an email.  ONLY bookstore employees please.  I appreciate your willingness to go ask your local bookstore to have me, but at this point, my publicist is going to find something.  I'd just rather go to a store where some of the staff have read my books.)

Joseph Beth Booksellers
Pittsburgh
Tuesday, November 11th - Time TBA

Joseph Beth Booksellers
Cincinnati (time/date TBA)

Barnes and Noble Greenwich Village
396 Avenue of the Americas
Friday, November 14th 7:30 PM

IDAHO/UTAH PART TWO
I'll also be doing some more touring in Idaho and Utah in late November or early December.  Expect me to hit the Waldenbooks in the Provo Town Center, the Borders in Provo, the Borders in Logan, and the Barnes and Noble in Idaho Falls at the least.

Mistborn RPG! And Mistborn Three Sample Chapter!

I totally forgot to announce this yesterday because I spaced it, but that's all right--it deserves to be a focus of its own post.  Dragonsteel Entertainment  LLC (that's me) is pleased to announce a deal with Crafty Games (one of the premier independent RPG companies) for the production of a pen and paper role playing game set in the Mistborn world!  I can't say many more details than that, but read the press release for a few tidbits. 

To celebrate this, I've posted a new Mistborn: The Hero of Ages Sample Chapter!  This is the chapter I read at Dragon*Con.  I plan to post two more sample chapters before the release date of October 14th.

Annotations (Finally) Plus notes

First off, here are two new Mistborn: The Well of Ascension Annotations

Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three

These are two of the most dynamic chapters in the book, so I'm glad to finally have annotations for them. Sorry to take so long

In AMoL news, you might notice a little slowdown on the percentage bar these next few weeks.  I need to do a revision of what I've done already and send it off to Harriet.  I'll still be writing some new material, but not as much as during the break-neck speed of July and August.  I'm still thinking I'm on schedule to have 400k by December 31st.  Now, as to whether or not that will actually be the full novel...we'll see.  (Hint, I'm betting it's not.)

What else is there to talk about...oh, the Poster Contest.  My business manager (aka my lovely wife) should soon be sending out confirmation emails too those who have entered.  I'll continue on more slowly through my inbox to give you personal responses, in case you included other questions or comments.  And if you haven't entered the contest yet, you've still got plenty of time.  I have to say, these Mistborn Two posters look quite stunning.  A lot of people think that it has the best cover in the hardcover trilogy. 

Now, don't forget the release party for Mistborn Three on the 14th of October!  I will be posting more news on that soon, including an explanation on how those of you who live out of state can get a signed/numbered copy mailed to you.

AMoL Update + Alcatraz Sample Chapter

First off, if you missed my big update of stuff, you might find some items of interest there. 

I'm still recovering from Dragon*Con.  it was exhausting, but I was very glad that I went!  I got to see a lot of great people, meet some old friends, and run into several groups I'd never met in person (that's you, GeorgaDawn and the LibraryThing folks.)  I'll probably go again next year, if only because I feel I really NEED to bring my wife to this thing.  She's been to Worldcon, but she really has no clue how truly bizarre some of this all can get.... ;)

I realized that during my previous update, I didn't do anything Alcatraz-related, so I figured I'd better update that side of things as well.  I've gone ahead and transferred chapter one from its old place to the shiny new location in the Library.  I'll be posting some sample chapters of Alcatraz Two in the upcoming months.  For those of you who are fans of my epic fantasy, I really do suggest you look into Alcatraz when it comes out in paperback next month.  I think you'll be pleased with what you find--think of one of my stories, only more lighthearted with a humorous slant on the magic system. 

I've updated the percentage bar for AMoL to reflect the work I did during the day before my departure to Dragon*Con, my days back, and the time I spent in Atlanta when I managed to do some work on the book.   I figured I should also update our comparison chart, so here you go:

AMOL Relative Length Chart: 9/03/08

Alcatraz/Evil Librarians 60,400
New Spring 121,815
Elantris 202,765
The Final Empire 214,752
---A MEMORY OF LIGHT 224k So Far!---
The Path of Daggers 226,687
Warbreaker 236,301
Winter's Heart 238,789
Hero of Ages 244,201
The Dragon Reborn 251,392
The Well of Ascension 252,739
The Great Hunt 267,078
Crossroads of Twilight 271,632
A Crown of Swords 295,028
The Eye of the World 305,902
Knife of Dreams 315,163
The Fires of Heaven 354,109
Lord of Chaos 389,264
The Shadow Rising 393,823

Back from Dragon*Con with Many Updates

Dragon*Con was awesome.  I was so busy the entire time that I barely had time to think, but I have to say that the Wheel of Time fans are just about the coolest people ever.  I loved hanging out with all the folks from Tar Valon.net, Dragonmount, Theoryland, and the rest of you.  (I know that there were others.)  Also, those of you who killed me during the game of Who's a Darkfriend are going to pay some day.

I'd never been to Dragon*Con before, and it was...well, it was what I'd always thought a Con would be before I started attending other ones.  Costumes, craziness, lots of paneling and things to do, and a whole ton of fun.  High points for me were the WoT costume contest, dinner with Melissa and the group from Tar Valon, my reading (which was WAY better attended than my Worldcon one), and an extremely relaxing and engaging dinner spent chatting with Pat Rothfuss. 

I've got a lot of Updates for you below, so stay with me.  I think there's something here for everyone: A WoT update, a Mistborn link, and a really cool Elantris link.  So read on!

First up, for Mistborn readers, Pat's Fantasy Hotlist is giving away free copies of Mistborn 3.  I don't know if these are ARCs or Hardcovers, but I think that he will be sending the copies to the winners once the book is out in stores.

For you WoT fans who couldn't see me at Dragon*Con or Worldcon, my good friend Ookla (Peter Ahlstrom) did this excellent write up of the Wrapping Up the Wheel of Time panel from Worldcon.  There's a lot of good information here.

Finally, perhaps the most exciting to me, is something for you Elantris readers: Amazon's exclusive rights to "Hope of Elantris" (the short story I wrote in the Elantris world) ran out yesterday.  So I've posted it on my website for you all to read.  Those of you who bought it on Amazon have my thanks; you actually pushed me to being a #1 Amazon best seller for a week or so, which was kind of cool.  We wanted to offer this to Amazon because they had asked, and we figured it couldn't be bad to earn some good will.  However, I always intended to put it on my website eventually. 

To add something new, I've done an extended annotation of the short story.  You'll find the annotation at the end; if you've already read the story, you'll probably find this annotation quite interesting. 

Finally, I want to mention something that is cool beyond description.  When I was out in Charleston last time, Robert Jordan's cousin (who was as close to him as a brother) walked in.  Many of you may know Wilson from his blog posts over at Dragonmount, speaking about Mr. Jordan and the Wheel of Time.  Well, he was out at Harriet's this time, and I had the privilege of meeting him.  (And we use that phrase like a cliche, but I think case, I mean it sincerely.  Meeting Wilson WAS a privilege.  He is an engaging, interesting person with genuine sense of nobility about him.)  Anyway, near the end of my stay, he told me that he felt I should have something of Mr. Jordan's and told me to go out into the armory and pick out a piece--any piece--that I wanted, and he'd ship it too me.

I'm certain you can imagine just how I felt at getting this honor.  If you aren't aware, Mr. Jordan's armory was enormous.  He collected the weapons as research for how to write descriptions and usage in his books.  They were part of the process, part of what made the Wheel of Time turn out like it did.  I think his attention to detail on these kinds of things is part of what made the books so great. 

I'm going to wait to post about the sword I chose, since I'm having it cleaned and mounted, and would rather show final pictures of it.  However, Wilson has put up some other pieces of the armory on ebay for sale.  I wanted to alert you all of this fact, as I think some of you might be interested in the pieces.  Also, here's Wilson's blog post about the armory, if you haven't seen it.