Release Parties, Giveaways, Annotations, and John Brown

On Friday I talked about this coming Saturday's release party for ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE KNIGHTS OF CRYSTALLIA. Be sure to read the entry if you missed it. Now, some of you are more interested in the release of THE GATHERING STORM that's coming up at the end of this month (though if you haven't read any ALCATRAZ, you're missing out). I recently found out about an alternative to the event I'll be doing at the BYU bookstore. If all you want is to get the book right away, standing in line for hours isn't your idea of fun, and you don't care about meeting me or getting my signature in the book (I understand, who cares about that Brandon Sanderson guy? You just want to know what happens to [insert character name here] ASAP!), the Provo Waldenbooks is also going to be open at midnight with plenty of copies on hand. They've put details up on Facebook. I'm going to be on the other side of town, of course, but the Provo Waldenbooks has hosted a couple of my release parties in the past, and it's a great place to buy books. (I won't make it to that store on this tour but am sure to stop by there sometime after I get back.) I imagine it will be a more relaxed way to get your hands on the book than the official release party—at which I still hope to see as many of you as possible. (By the way, the Dragonmount folks have put up Facebook calendar items for every stop of my tour, including the official release party. You can go add yourself to the events you're attending, if you like to do that sort of thing.) I haven't heard about any other special events or midnight openings at non-tour sites coinciding with the book's release, but if I do find out about any others I'll let you know.

I mentioned this on Twitter and Facebook earlier, but Tor.com is sponsoring a giveaway of EYE OF THE WORLD and MISTBORN 1 over at SF Signal. If you already have both books (and I assume a large percentage of you do), they at least make great gifts. Check it out. The deadline is Monday the 12th at midnight.

In the most recent annotations for MISTBORN 3, I discuss guns in fantasy and other perceived anachronisms. I also talk about Breeze and Sazed's relationship in the period since the end of MISTBORN 2. On many occasions I have details worked out that just don't end up in the book. Some of them go into the deleted scenes section of the Library, but many others end up in the annotations. If you're the type of fan who is always wondering what happens between the lines of my books, the annotations are for you.

John Brown joins the Writing Excuses team once again for this week's podcast, which deals with how to get over writing depression and how to evoke emotions in your readers. John's first book, SERVANT OF A DARK GOD, comes out from Tor next week. I enjoyed the book and gave it a quote, which seems to have been chopped down to a single word. Anyway, you can read the first seven chapters on his website.