- Project Paradise Word Count: 113
- Project Skye Word Count: 1084
- Project Independence Word Count: 1723
- Project Ship of Shadows Graphic Novel Page Count: 12 (+1)
Summer Reading
So, I bought Brandon Sanderson’s novel Oathbringer (Stormlight Archives Book 3) for my birthday to read as a reward for finishing the Spring Semester. This semester was so challenging that I was actually tempted (and actually tried) to read Oathbringer before the semester was over. However, there is a prequel novella called Edgedancer that BS suggested reading before diving in Book 3 proper. Luckily, MTSU’s Library had a copy and I’ve started reading it in preparation for book 3 in the series. Today, I wanted to have a quick look at another book on my bookshelf, The Way of Kings (Stormlight Archives Book 1), which I was fortunate enough to have signed by Brandon Sanderson when he came to LibertyCon here is Chattanooga several years back.
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson’s work is one of the few of the “New Generation” of fantasy writers that I like. Even though George R. R. Martin has been around since the 80’s, his Game of Thrones series kicked off a resurgence of the GrimDark genre. To be clear, GrimDark has always been around–Stephen R. Donaldson, a few of Piers Anthony’s early Sci-Fi works–not his YA or Fantasy, per se, and Dave Duncan–are just a few writers that immediately spring to mind whose works that I’ve read (and disliked) because of the GrimDark elements Most writers of Sanderson’s generation are (of course) seeing the popularity (and dollar signs) of GoT and are trying to emulate his success with their own versions. Sanderson, however, tells a very different tale–one that, while having its own grim elements, eschews GrimDark for a more hopeful and elegant premise. The hero is flawed, but not in a “antihero” sort of way, but more in that he keeps trying to protect, but it all seems to come to naught and he is so very tired of not succeeding. In an era of “Me Too” GoT clones, this was very refreshing. The world was very well built and I like the way Sanderson plots (he thinks up big, “set-piece” moments and then writes to those moments). The ending has a bit of twist and ultimately it was the hero and the ending that sold me on the story.
Life Before Death
So, the above heading is the “creed” of one of the forgotten orders of (this world’s) “knights” in the book and is what Brandon Sanderson inscribed on my copy of the book when he came for LibertyCon.. He was very nice and must say that I enjoyed meeting him. I was, surprisingly, tongue-tied but mentioned that that I was a librarian when I asked him to sign my A.R.C. (Advanced Reader’s Copy) version of the book that I had been given by another librarian a year (or two) earlier. He was very respectful and said that he enjoyed meeting librarians and the the A.R.C. was fairly rare in that there weren’t many printed and signed my copy. It is still a treasured addition to my collection even all these years later. I can only hope that, if ever I reach my goal of being a published speculative fiction novelist, that I am as gracious and nice as Brandon Sanderson was during that event.
Anyway, that’s all for today. If you’re in to Fantasy in any way, I would highly recommend checking out this series, starting with The Way of Kings. It is an awesome start to an awesome series by an awesome author!
Here’s hoping you have a good week! 🙂
Sidney
- Read Skin Deep for Free at Aurora Wolf
- Read Childe Roland for Free at Electric Spec
- Read Faerie Knight in the anthology Fae, Rhonda Parrish, Ed. or the Kindle Edition
- Read Ship of Shadows in the anthology Visions IV: Space Between Stars, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
- Read WarLight in the anthology Visions VI: Galaxies, Carrol Fix, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
- Read Dragonhawk in the magazine Tales of the Talisman, Vol. 8, Iss. 3, David Lee Summers, Ed. or the Kindle Edition.
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OtherWorlds: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Web Journal 