Welcome to Brandon Sanderson’s first newsletter since, as far as I can tell, July 2006. You’re receiving this because you signed up or sent Brandon fan mail. If you’d prefer not to get emails like this in the future, just reply and ask to be taken off the list.

Hi! I’m Peter Ahlstrom, and I’ll be providing the voice of today’s newsletter. I’ve been Brandon’s assistant for the last nine months, and what a nine months it has been! First we had the WARBREAKER release, followed by ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE KNIGHTS OF CRYSTALLIA, and then THE GATHERING STORM and its massive book tour. Many of you who wrote to Brandon mentioned what city you were from, so we were able to send you emails telling you when Brandon was signing within a couple hours of you. At the signings when Brandon asked who had come after getting one of these reminder emails, many people raised their hands. So if you haven’t let Brandon know what city you live in or near, now’s your chance.

UPCOMING BOOKS

THE WAY OF KINGS, the first book in Brandon’s new epic fantasy series The Stormlight Archive, is coming out in August. ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE SHATTERED LENS, the fourth book in the series that began with ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS, is scheduled for an October release. And TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, book 13 of the Wheel of Time, will come out around November if everything goes according to plan (Brandon is in the middle of major revisions, but he thinks hitting that date is still possible). Tor currently wants Brandon to do a two-week book tour for the release of each book, both THE WAY OF KINGS and TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. I plan to send out another newsletter with more details on each book as release day approaches, and there will be sample chapters going up (or at least linked to) on the website. The prologue for THE WAY OF KINGS should also be appearing in the back of the WARBREAKER paperback, due out on March 30th.

NEW ARRIVAL

A baby boy has come to the Sanderson family. Dallin Matthew was born on January 19th, weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. He joins his two-year-old brother Joel as heir to Brandon’s literary legacy. (Though Joel has only recently started speaking much English. He used to talk and talk and talk, but apparently in an alien language with inflections that sounded maddeningly familiar. Anyway, Joel’s favorite word in English is “cars.”)

Emily, Brandon’s wife and business manager for Dragonsteel Entertainment (her official company title is “Queen”), is adjusting to being the mother of two boys. Joel is helping her out by learning not to throw things; I haven’t seen him throw anything off the second-floor balcony in weeks!

Here’s a link to some pictures of Dallin. (Photos by Faith Jennings.) Isn’t he cute?

SUPERSTARS WRITING SEMINAR IN PASADENA

Brandon was invited to teach at the Superstars Writing Seminar March 19th through 21st along with fellow writers Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Rebecca Moesta, and Eric Flint (whose 1632-series books are some of my personal favorites). Many people write to Brandon asking for writing advice, and besides the podcast Writing Excuses that he does, a seminar like this is one of the only opportunities he gets to help people out.

Brandon and the other instructors at this seminar are all New York Times bestselling authors and all have tons of good advice. I can personally attest to David Farland’s teaching; I was in a class of his that taught me a great deal about the publishing industry (though I took that advice in a separate direction from Brandon, who was also in that class, since my talents lie more in the editorial field than in writing novels). Other writers I know like Eric James Stone and Alethea Kontis attest to Kevin and Rebecca’s instruction. And Eric Flint cultivated many a first-time published writer with his Grantville Gazette and with his editorship of Jim Baen’s Universe.

FREE TICKET DRAWING: This week only, the seminar organizers are holding a drawing for a free pass. If the seminar is a bit out of your price range but you really want to go, this is your chance. The contest ends on February 14th, 2010, so head on over there now! http://www.superstarswritingseminars.com (the drawing has now ended).

OTHER EVENTS

Brandon has a pretty full convention schedule this year, including LTUE in Provo (this week!), Minicon in Minneapolis, ConStellation in Lincoln, ConDUIT in Salt Lake, and JordanCon and Dragon*Con in Atlanta. For a full schedule, check out https://coppermind.brandonsanderson.com/events

FOLLOW BRANDON

Main blog: https://coppermind.brandonsanderson.com/blog
Livejournal: http://mistborn.livejournal.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/BrandSanderson
Twitter: http://twitter.com/BrandSanderson

That’s it for today’s newsletter. From now on I’ll try for a better frequency than once every four years, but I don’t expect you’ll ever be getting one more than four times in a year. Let me know what you think!

Best,

Peter Ahlstrom
Assistant to Mr. Sanderson