Hey, all.
Brandon Sanderson here. I have been known to write some fantasy stories now and then. I have some self published and small press books coming out this year, and I thought people might not get a chance to hear about them.
The first is self published. I'm taking two of my novellas and printing them together in a print volume, which I'll be taking to some cons this summer to sell. I should have some up on my website for sale eventually. The stories are Defending Elysium and Firstborn, both of which are free to read on-line. (Defending Elysium is on my website. Firstborn on Tor.com--though I have a link to it in the other link just below.)
http://brandonsanderson.com/library/catalog/Recent-Short-Stories_Full-Short-StoriesAlso of interest, I have a book coming out from Subterranean Press in July or August:
http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=sanderson01&Category_Code=B&Product_Count=114Called Legion, it is the story of a man with a very interesting brain. He is a genius, and can master any topic of study in a very short time--however, the knowledge he gains manifests as a person only he can see, who acts as an adviser on that topic. Someone invents a camera that can take pictures of the past, and our hero--along with his band of genius delusions--must recover it after it is stolen.
Finally, as if that weren't enough, Tachyon is publishing another of my books sometime around November:
http://www.tachyonpublications.com/book/Emperors_Soul.html?Session_ID=newThis story, The Emperor's Soul, is a fantasy story about Shai, a master forger. The emperor barely survives assassination, and is left a vegetable. His servants can heal his brain, but he just stares in front of himself blankly, as if his soul is gone. Shai is hired (well, brought off of death row) and told she has three months to create a forgery of the emperor's soul and imprint it onto his body with her magic, so that everyone can continue to act like the emperor is alive.
Both the Subterranean book and the Tachyon book are novellas.
The obvious question is probably, "Why isn't your New York publisher doing these?" Well, to be honest, these books aren't right for Tor. They're just too short, in my opinion, for a traditional bookstore release. (Though I originally did do one of them with Tor.com.) I wanted to release nice collector's edition print versions and cheap ebooks at the same time. It's not something that is profitable for a large publisher, and so is better suited to doing myself. (EDIT--Note, with Legion and The Emperor's Soul, I'm working with very talented small presses for the print editions and am self publishing the ebooks. I don't want to take credit for what Subpress and Tachyon are doing, as they've been fantastic to work with. I love the Tachyon cover.)
I'm not sure if this means I officially get to join the indy writers, or if I'm already too far entrenched in my place to ever be considered indy. However, considering the company, it seems like a great place to be. I'm a firm believer that both indy publishing and big-six publishing will have a place in the future of books, and that both serve very useful roles. Seems like this is one of the best times in the history of publishing to be a writer, with more opportunity for more people and more voices.
Best,
Brandon
p.s. I don't know if anyone out there is paying any attention, and this thread might just vanish away. But in case it doesn't, I'll keep an eye on it for a while and answer any questions that come my way. Feel free to ask.
