THE RITHMATIST Book Tour + Signed Copies

My YA fantasy novel THE RITHMATIST comes out on May 14th in the US/Canada, and May 23rd in UK/Commonwealth countries. (Read the prologue and first five chapters here.)

This book tour's stops are listed at the bottom of this post, and included are a bunch of cities I haven't visited on any recent tour. Also, I'm not doing a midnight release at BYU this year. Instead, the release will be Tuesday evening in New York at Books of Wonder (see below). I will number copies at the New York release.

But since I can't visit every city where my readers live, I like to set up a signing-by-mail so you can still get a signed book. (UPDATE: SOLD OUT!) For this release Weller Book Works is limiting the amount of copies to 200, which I will number (starting at 101).

Due to a bit of a delay in organizing things this time, the books might arrive at your door a couple of days after the release date. Details from Weller Book Works are as follows:

• Customers need to order the books via email sent to books@wellerbookworks.com (no telephone orders)
• Email should include name, billing address, shipping address if different, phone number, how the book should be signed.
• WBW will reply with a paypal invoice that can be paid with a paypal account or credit card #.
• We will respond to orders in the order they were received. Numbers will be assigned when payments are made and will likewise be the order in which they were received.
• Price is 20% off for prepaid orders. Book total is $14.39 plus tax (if applicable) and shipping/handling charges (if you don't pick it up in the store).
• Books will be shipped in a USPS Priority Mail padded envelope. Shipping costs:
• US: $6.50 (3–5 days)
• Canada & Mexico: $22.00 (6–10 days)
• All other international: $25.00 (6–10 days)
• Orders must be made and prepaid by May 3 to qualify for discount.
• Offer good while supplies last (SOLD OUT!) or until May 3.
• Limit 1 copy per customer
• Due to the short timeline for this promotion, we can't guarantee the book's arrival by its release date.

Once Weller Book Works runs out of copies (NOW SOLD OUT!), the next best way to get a signed copy of the book is to contact one of the tour stores and ask them if they can get a copy signed and ship it to you. Many of them will be able to do so.

THE RITHMATIST Tour

Books of Wonder, New York

Date: Tuesday, May 14th, 2013
Time: 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Place: Books of Wonder
Address: 18 West 18th St.
New York, NY 10011
Phone: (212) 989-3270
Notes: Please check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at this store is a safe bet.

Children's Book World, Philadelphia

Date: Wednesday, May 15th, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: Children's Book World
Address: 17 Haverford Station Rd.
Haverford, PA 19041
Phone: (610) 642-6274
Notes: Please check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at this store is a safe bet.

Tattered Cover, Denver

Date: Thursday, May 16th, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: Tattered Cover (Highlands Ranch)
Address: 9315 Dorchester St.
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
Phone: (303) 470-7050
Notes: Free numbered tickets for a place in the signing line will be handed out at 6:00 p.m. Seating for the presentation prior to the signing is limited, and available on a first-come, first-served basis to ticketed customers only.

Barnes & Noble, Omaha

Date: Friday, May 17th, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Oakview Mall
Address: 3333 Oakview Dr.
Omaha, NE 68144
Phone: (402) 691-4557
Notes: Please check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at this store is a safe bet.

Maple Street Book Shop, New Orleans

Date: Saturday, May 18th, 2013
Time: 1:00–3:00 p.m.
Place: Maple Street Book Shop
Address: 7529 Maple St.
New Orleans, LA 70118
Phone: (504) 866-4916
Type: Signing
Notes: Please check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at this store is a safe bet.

Blue Willow, Houston

Date: Monday, May 20th, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: Blue Willow Bookshop
Address: 14532 Memorial Drive
Houston, TX 77079
Phone: (281) 497-8675
Notes: In order to go through the signing line and meet Brandon Sanderson for book personalization, please purchase THE RITHMATIST from Blue Willow Bookshop. At the time of your purchase, you will receive a signing line ticket that indicates your place in line.

Hicklebees, San Jose

Date: Tuesday, May 21st, 2013
Time: To be determined
Place: Hicklebees
Address: 1378 Lincoln Ave.
San Jose, CA 95125
Phone: (408) 292-8880
Notes: This event may be moved off-site. Check back for updates closer to the event date.
Please check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at this store is a safe bet.

Alamosa Books @ UNM, Albuquerque

Date: Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: Alamosa Books hosted at the UNM Continuing Education Conference Center
Address: 1634 University Blvd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87102
Phone: (505) 797-7101
Type: Signing
Notes: We have two ticket options:

• $20 for a copy of The Rithmatist, two tickets, and entry to the signing line
• $8 for an individual ticket (no signing line entry)

Phoenix Comicon

Dates: May 23rd–26th, 2013
Place: Phoenix Comicon
Address: Phoenix Convention Center, Hyatt Regency, Renaissance
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Type: Convention
Notes: Brandon is a guest. There is a registration cost for entry into the convention.

The King's English @ Provo Library

Date: Monday, June 3rd, 2013
Time: 7:00–9:00 p.m.
Place: The King's English Bookshop
Address: Hosted at the Provo Library
550 N University Ave
Provo, UT 84601
Phone: (801) 484-9100
Notes: Check back later for information on whether this event is ticketed. Preordering your copy of THE RITHMATIST at The King's English is a safe bet.

Costco, Spanish Fork, UT

Date: Saturday, June 22nd, 2013
Time: 12:00 noon–2:00 p.m.
Place: Costco
Address: 273 E 1000 N
Spanish Fork, UT
Phone: (801) 504-9530
Notes: Costco members ONLY!

Stormlight Videos + Updates

This past weekend I had a great time at JordanCon. Next year's Author Guest of Honor will be Patrick Rothfuss, with Artist Guest of Honor Larry Elmore. It should be awesome.

While I was there I signed a number of books for two booksellers, The Missing Volume and Basement Books. They each also have a handful of copies of my Firstborn/Defending Elysium convention exclusive—but I forgot to sign those. Whoops. Still, if you're not at a con, this is the only way to get your hands on that hardcover until much later this year. Both booksellers will ship to you.

The Missing Volume
Raleigh, NC
Email: info@themissingvolume.com
Phone: 321-297-6635
Plenty of signed copies of The Emperor's Soul and one signed copy of a number of other hardcovers and paperbacks such as The Alloy of Law, Wheel of Time books, and The Way of Kings. Inquire for details.

Basement Books
Email: tsbooks@mindspring.com
Phone: 770-849-9659
20 signed copies of Legion (very hard to find elsewhere!), a few signed 1st editions of Warbreaker, copies of The Alloy of Law triple-signed by Brandon, Ben, & Isaac, signed copies of The Emperor's Soul.

The latest Writing Excuses podcast is another brainstorming episode, where Mary, Howard, and Dan help me come up with ideas for a story about psychic birds. Enjoy. And yes, I did end up writing this story (a novelette) after doing the podcast. More on that in the future.

Tor.com has put up another two chapters of their reread of THE WAY OF KINGS: chapters 3 and 4. This covers Shallan's introduction and Kaladin's arrival at the Shattered Plains.

If you missed my AMA at Reddit, you can find my answers here.

I've finished uploading the videos of me writing one of the interludes from WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS. I've also made a high-speed version of all of the writing, which you can see below, if the real-time version was too slow for you. There's a playlist of all of the real-time videos here, and the final video (if you were keeping up already) is here.

This has been a bit of an experiment, to show my writing process. Now that it's all done, what have you thought about the experiment?

My JordanCon Schedule

This weekend I'll be at JordanCon in Atlanta. My schedule is below, and the full schedule is here.

Guests of Honor this year are Seanan McGuire (a.k.a. Mira Grant) and Michael Whelan. Team Jordan will also be participating.

Stormlight/Mistborn/Rithmatist artists Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney will also be there. They have a panel with Michael Whelan called Art of the Stormlight Archive that you might want to check out.

JordanCon will mark the release of my hardcover edition of FIRSTBORN and DEFENDING ELYSIUM. I will also bring it to other conventions this summer, and then it will be available on my signed books page in the late fall.

FRIDAY April 19th

1:00–2:00 p.m., Great Oaks A
JordanCon Opening Ceremonies
Leigh Butler

4:00–5:00 p.m., Boardroom
Signing
Brandon Sanderson

5:30–6:30 p.m., Great Oaks A
Religion in Your World
Brandon Sanderson, Delilah S. Dawson, Stuart Jaffe, Seanan McGuire, Anthony Taylor, Alex Bledsoe
What roles can and should religion and spirituality play in your world, whether secondary or Earth?

SATURDAY April 20th

11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., Goulding A–B
Reading
Brandon Sanderson

1:00–2:00 p.m., Boardroom
Team Jordan Signing
Brandon Sanderson, Harriet McDougal, Maria Simons, Alan Romanczuk
The final Wheel of Time book.

4:00–5:00 p.m., Great Oaks A–B
A Memory of Light
Harriet McDougal, Maria Simons, Alan Romanczuk, Peter Ahlstrom, Brandon Sanderson, Leigh Butler

7:00–8:00 p.m., Great Oaks A–B
Costume Contest
Leigh Butler, Brandon Sanderson, Maria Simons, Harriet McDougal

9:00–10:00 p.m., Goulding A–B
Magic the Gathering Draft with Brandon
Brandon Sanderson
Details on this are still being worked out. Check back later.

SUNDAY April 21st

1:00–2:00 p.m., Great Oaks B
Steampunk Hour
Emilie P. Bush, Brandon Sanderson, Jana Oliver, Delilah S. Dawson
An Hour of STEAM by the folks who write it best!

2:30–3:30 p.m., Boardroom
Kaffeeklatsch
Brandon Sanderson
Sign up for this ahead of time. Ask at Registration.

Reddit AMA + Updates

I'm doing a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) right now at /r/fantasy. Ask away.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about narrative rhythm.

Here's the penultimate video of me writing the Rysn interlude from WORDS OF RADIANCE, the next Stormlight book. Next week I'll put up the conclusion and the sped-up version with everything in one video.

A MEMORY OF LIGHT ebook + Updates

A few random pieces of catch-up news for today. The ebook for A MEMORY OF LIGHT came out this week, if you didn't notice. You can find it at the usual vendors.

This week the Writing Excuses podcast has another brainstorming episode, where I come up with a concept for a short story and Mary, Howard, and Dan help me toss ideas around for it.

The annual Locus poll is live. Anyone can vote for what you consider to be 2012's best SF novel (among many other categories), but Locus subscribers' votes count double. The deadline is April 15th.

My agent Joshua Bilmes put up a blog post about how THE EMPEROR'S SOUL went from concept to Hugo nomination in 13 months.

Tor.com is continuing its reread of THE WAY OF KINGS. This week's article covers chapters 1 and 2, which include Kaladin's introduction.

And here's the newest video of me writing a chapter from WORDS OF RADIANCE. This is the climax, but there are two short videos after this. I'll upload the sped-up version of the chapter the same day I upload the final video.

Helping Ben Wolverton

Many of you know that a certain author, Dave Wolverton (who also writes as David Farland), was an important mentor to me early in my career. Well, Dave has run into some difficult times recently, as his son Ben had a longboarding accident and is now in a coma. Dave, like many artists and authors in our country, doesn't have health insurance. The burden of this debt could crush him.

Some friends and family of his have organized a few campaigns to help out. Since many people who read this blog know Dave or have been influenced by him, I thought you might like to know about these. The primary link of note is to where one can donate to Ben's medical fund.

Also, if you're interested in YA paranormal novels, you might want to check out Dave's book Nightingale. I've read it, and I quite enjoyed it. It's about a young man who discovers he's a changeling, and it takes place in southern Utah in some fun, familiar locations. Here's where you can buy it.

Either way, if you are the religious sort, Ben and his family could use your prayers.

Brandon

WITHOUT A SUMMER + Updates

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode is called "Fake It Till You Make It" and in it Mary, Dan, Howard, and I talk about the things we do or have done to feel professional.

Also, as I mentioned earlier this week, Writing Excuses has been nominated once again for the Hugo Award for Best Related Work! Our announcement on that is here. And if you missed my announcement of THE EMPEROR'S SOUL being nominated for Best Novella, it is here. Howard's Schlock Mercenary: Random Access Memorabilia is also nominated for Best Graphic Story. If you want to be able vote for the Hugo Awards, I talk about that in my previous post.

Mary's new book WITHOUT A SUMMER is also out this week. The first two books in the series were excellent, so you're sure to enjoy this one too!

Tor.com has put up chapter 2 and chapter 3 of my forthcoming YA fantasy THE RITHMATIST. (If you missed them, the prologue and chapter 1 are here.) The book comes out next month. Tor has also announced a mobile campaign involving (at the moment) the Wheel of Time and THE RITHMATIST. On your mobile phone text "EPIC" to 555111 to receive facts, trivia, and more (and no, that's not an April Fools joke, though it was announced on April 1st). Or you can sign up at this link.

Irene at Tor also sent me this beautiful poster (the scale may not be obvious in the photo, but the frame is about 22" by 30") with a long quote from chapter 4 of THE EYE OF THE WORLD. Robert Jordan truly was a master at making a story come alive before our eyes.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Tor.com has also started a reread of THE WAY OF KINGS in preparation for the release of the sequel, WORDS OF RADIANCE, hopefully later this year. Two reread posts have gone up so far, the first one covering the prelude and the second talking about the prologue. And the ebook of KINGS is still $2.99 for the next week or so.

This week we received copies of the new German edition of ELANTRIS. We also received copies of WRITING FANTASY HEROES: POWERFUL ADVICE FROM THE PROS. I wrote an essay in this book, about writing cinematic fight scenes. There are also contributions from other SF luminaries including Alex Bledsoe, Jennifer Brozek, Orson Scott Card, Glen Cook, Steven Erikson, Ian C. Esslemont, Cecelia Holland, Howard Andrew Jones, Paul Kearney, Ari Marmell, Janet and Chris Morris, Cat Rambo, and C.L. Werner.

And here's the newest video of me writing a chapter from WORDS OF RADIANCE.

THE EMPEROR'S SOUL Nominated for a Hugo Award!

The nominations for the 2013 Hugo Awards were recently released, and I'm elated to announce that The Emperor's Soul has been nominated for Best Novella.

This is, quite frankly, awesome. It's my first major award nomination in a fiction category. Alongside it, Writing Excuses has been nominated for Best Related Work for its third year running.

I don't know what to say other than thank you. Thank you to those who supported the story, who gave me feedback, and who encouraged me to find time to whip it into shape and release it last year. Also, a big thanks to Tachyon Publications, the book's publisher.

The winners will be announced at Worldcon on September 1st. The Hugos are a fan-voted award, but only members of Worldcon can participate. The cool thing is that generally all of the fiction nominees for a given year are offered as free ebooks to anyone who is eligible to vote, and this includes supporting members. (Those are people who don't attend the convention, but still want to participate in things like the Hugo voting.) The Hugo Voter Packet comes as a single download once everything is collected, and should be available on April 14th so you have plenty of time to read the nominees before votes have to be turned in by July 31st.

This means that for $60 you can get copies of basically everything on that Hugo list (except for the movies and TV episodes). That's not only an excellent deal, but it gives you the chance to participate in choosing the best works of the year. Every year I've done it, it has been a wonderful experience.

A word of warning, however. I strongly suggest that you avoid voting in any categories for which you haven't read the majority of the nominees. Early in my career, my editor impressed upon me the need to treat this award with solemnity. Don't vote for me, or anyone else, just because you like us as authors—I encourage you to read the stories and vote for what you feel is genuinely the strongest one in each category. This will preserve the integrity of the award. Don't treat the Hugos like a popularity contest.

That said, I sincerely hope that many of you try out the experience of reading and voting. The addition of the Hugo Voter Packet with its ebooks has, I understand, led to record participation by the community in the awards. If you've ever griped that the books you like never win big awards, this is your chance to become part of the process.

Enjoy, and thank you again to everyone who read and nominated The Emperor's Soul!

Brandon

Best Novella nominees

• After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon Publications)
• The Emperor's Soul, Brandon Sanderson (Tachyon Publications)
• On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
• San Diego 2014: The Last Stand of the California Browncoats, Mira Grant (Orbit)
• "The Stars Do Not Lie," Jay Lake (Asimov's, Oct–Nov 2012)

Best Related Work nominees

• The Cambridge Companion to Fantasy Literature, Edited by Edward James & Farah Mendlesohn (Cambridge University Press)
• Chicks Dig Comics: A Celebration of Comic Books by the Women Who Love Them, Edited by Lynne M. Thomas & Sigrid Ellis (Mad Norwegian Press)
• Chicks Unravel Time: Women Journey Through Every Season of Doctor Who, Edited by Deborah Stanish & L.M. Myles (Mad Norwegian Press)
• I Have an Idea for a Book ... The Bibliography of Martin H. Greenberg, Compiled by Martin H. Greenberg, edited by John Helfers (The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box)
• Writing Excuses Season Seven, Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, Howard Tayler and Jordan Sanderson