Adam here. If you’ve been following Brandon’s Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you will know that it’s been quite the exciting week for us here at Dragonsteel Headquarters. For those who haven’t, here’s a quick rundown.

In a previous post we showed you you a bit about the cooperative board game from Nauvoo Games based on The Reckoners series, including a video that shows gameplay mechanics. The Kickstarter launched yesterday and within 12 hours had already been funded and is now at 123%!

On Monday, we were given this sneak peak of Escape the Shattered Plains VR Experience from Arcturus XR and we’ve been told to expect something even bigger tomorrow, so tune in to Brandon’s social media channels around 12:00 p.m. tomorrow.

Brandon has several events coming up in the next few weeks. You can see full details for these events as well as his other future events at his Upcoming Events page but here is a quick look at the next few weeks.

Saturday, February 17th – Provo, UT

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Crafting Good Subplots
Time: 1:00–1:45 p.m.
Location: Zion
David Farland, Kathryn Purdie, Renee Collins (M), Charlie N. Holmberg
A discussion about using subplots to add nuance to your story without derailing your main plot entirely.

What It’s Like: Writing In Somebody Else’s Milieu
Time: 2:00–2:45 p.m.
Location: Canyon
Karen Evans, Sarah E. Seeley, Todd McCaffrey, Brad R. Torgersen (M)
This is NOT a “how to write in somebody else’s milieu”; this is “what is it like?” Did you still like the milieu afterwards? We want stories from those invited to write.

Prologues and Epilogues
Time: 3:00–3:45 p.m.
Location: Canyon
Lisa Mangum, Myke Cole, Todd McCaffrey, Jason King (M)
Find out what sets prologues and epilogues apart from ordinary chapters, and learn when and how to use them to enhance your story.

Kaffeeklatsch
Time: 5:00–5:45 p.m.
Location: Boardroom
Kaffeeklatsch: From the German for “coffee” and “gossip”, an informal social gathering at which coffee and other beverages are served while chatting. Join your favorite presenter for all their insights. Seats are very limited so sign up outside the Boardroom ASAP.

Friday, February 23rd – Provo, UT

English Reading Series at the Harold B. Lee Library

The Brigham Young University English Department Reading Series began in 1999. The program continues to expand, solidify, and gain a stronger audience. Each Friday at noon a writer, visiting or local to BYU, reads his or her work in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium. Writers from Pulitzer Prize winners Marilynne Robinson, Maxine Kumin, Yusef Komunyakaa, and Charles Simic to editors such as Peter Davison and Helen Handley Houghton to faculty and students have shared their work in the last decade.

As a result of audience enthusiasm and the excellent writing, BYU created a course associated with the weekly event; students study the writer’s work during the week before he or she reads, then students respond to what they learned.

The readings are open to the public. Today many students, faculty, and residents come to enjoy listening to quality literature and participating in question and answer sessions.

This site archives the recorded English Department Reading Series.

Signing
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Location: BYU Bookstore

Thursday, March 4th – Seattle, WA

Emerald City Comic Con

Writing Magical Stories That Make Sense
Time: 4:00–5:00 p.m.
Location: WSCC 603
Magic can be one of the most memorable and fun components of a fantasy story, but it can also be destructive. In order for magic to “work,” what are the import…

Brandon’s booth will be in Artist Alley at table KK3. There will be swag and Dragonsteel published books (leatherbounds, con exclusive doubles, etc). All other titles will be sold at the UBookstore Booth.

We also have some exciting news coming out of Poland. Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians has been nominated by Lubimy Czytać (Polish Goodreads) for Best Children’s Book of 2017.

In this week’s new Writing Excuses episode, External Conflicts for Characters, Brandon, Mary, Amal, and Maurice discuss how external conflict is a story driver that originates outside the protagonist. In this episode a large part of what we’ll focus on is person-vs-environment as opposed to person-vs-person. PvE rather than PvP, if you will.

Last week, we took our third look at the fateful night of the treaty-turned-assassination, from the perspective of the young Listener scout who started it all. This week, we return to Urithiru, where Dalinar is facing a host of problems ranging from personal to global importance—not least of which is how to get anyone to believe him.

The Twitter Archive for February is up to date.

This week’s featured cosplay of Vin by Abigail (jedi_bria42) is from DragonCon 2016.