The Fireside

30 years ago today marks the publication of the first book in the massive 14-book Wheel of Time series, The Eye of the World . The series is very Tolkien-esque, but not being a ‘copy + paste’ The Lord of the Rings clone. The series does have its flaws (it should have only been 6-10 books, for starters) but it helped establish the fantasy genre (until A Song of Ice and Fire re-defined it) and was incredibly beneficial to the American publisher, TOR. I also like to think if it as the first great fantasy series, post The Lord of the Rings . Even though The Lord of the Rings is not a series, but you get my point. It also has a literary successor, by way of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight. Sanderson is relevant here, as he connected the dots Jordan left before he passed - Jordan was unable to finish the series himself.....but it has *an* ending. Think of him as Christopher Tolkien to J.R.R. Tolkien, in this regard. I suggest looking into that series once you finish The Whe...

What follows is TOR's post about the excerpt titled A Fire Within the Ways from the upcoming Unfettered III anthology coming in March: Tor.com is excited to offer an excerpt from “A Fire Within the Ways,” a deleted novella (!!) from The Wheel of Time ,  and a fascinating look into the process of A Memory of Light , the final volume in Jordan’s epic, came together. A Note From Brandon Sanderson During the editing of every novel, you realize that certain scenes just aren’t working. There are a variety of reasons this happens, and while removing those scenes is always one of the most difficult parts of the creation process, it functions like the proverbial pruning of a tree—providing room for other scenes to grow. In the end, the book is better off. That said, I’m always looking for places to show off scenes like these. They not only expose something I find very interesting about the process, but they often have gems in them that I am eager to share. (The scene with Gaul...

Brandon Sanderson has written a great pep talk to those participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) which is great for aspiring writers, such as myself. To read it, head on over here:  http://nanowrimo.org/pep-talks/brandon-sanderson-2014 Best of luck to everyone! 

[all text copyright of Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson. All rights reserved.] The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass.  What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow

Earlier today, Brandon Sanderson sent out a sample chapter from book 3 of Stormlight  ( Stones Unhallowed? Skybreaker?) via his newsletter. I have copied and pasted it from his newsletter into a post below.

Earlier, Brandon Sanderson was part of a Q&A on Goodreads. Read it here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/38550.Brandon_Sanderson/questions#

Today, a new Stormlight story was unveiled. Is it a short story / novella / etc? Is it from Book 3 (or another book yet to come)? Either way, if you have not yet read Words of Radiance, here be spoilers after the jump.

Rothfuss: Heya Brandon.  Sanderson: Hey there, Pat. Nice talking with you again.  Rothfuss: Thanks for being willing to do this. I know you're insanely busy these days. Okay. Let me just jump right in here with a question. How long was Way of Kings ? I heard a rumor that the ARC I read was 400,000 words long. It didn't really feel like it…  Sanderson: Let me see. I will open it right now and word count it, so you have an exact number. It’s 386,470 words, though the version you read was an advance manuscript, before I did my final 10% tightening draft, which was 423,557 words. I didn’t really want it to be that long. At that length we’re running into problems with foreign publishers having to split it and all sorts of issues with making the paperback have enough space. I didn’t set out to write a thousand-page, 400,000-word book. It’s just what the novel demanded.  Rothfuss: Wise Man's Fear ended up being 395,000 words. And that's despite the...

I am a great fan of books. I of course enjoy reading, but I'm referring to the actual books themselves. However, I do enjoy and appreciate ereaders. For me, as I've mentioned before, they come in handy when a print edition is out of print (or otherwise very hard to find), and I dislike the $10 mass market paperbacks. They are too cheaply made, the font is often smooshed, and often times too thick and wide. Had ereaders existed way back when I was buying the Wheel of Time series, I'd most likely had gotten them as ebooks, as they are many and they are large. This brings me to Brandon Sanderson. Brandon Sanderson is an author whom I greatly admire in both reading and writing standpoints. The others being George R.R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Stephen King, and a few others (Neil Gaiman, J.R.R. Tolkien, Bernard Cornwell, Ken Follett, J.K. Rowling, Daniel abraham, Chalres Dickens, Alexandre Dumas....) Brandon has a great interaction with his fans in reg...

Well, the weather is for the most part much nicer. That means more reading, potentially outdoors for those who like to take books or e-readers outside. The books I recommend throughout my blogging history won't change much. I may highlight certain genres or authors or series from time to time, but this season let's spring into some fantasy. You all know how much I like George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series by now...so I won't talk about it that now. All you need to know is that the name of the first book is called A Game of Thrones. I'm going to recommend a few other fantasy titles for you to check out. I promise you'll most likely like them: THE KINGKILLER CHRONICLE (Trilogy) by Patrick Rothfuss The Name of the Wind The Wise Man's Fear Book 3 (being written) THE DAGGER AND THE COIN by Daniel Abraham The Dragon's Path The King's Blood The Tyrant...