IRC-Galleria

Brandon Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American fantasy and science fiction author. He is best known for his work in finishing Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, and his own Mistborn series. Sanderson worked as an editor for the semi-professional magazine, Leading Edge, while attending school at Brigham Young University, and he now teaches creative writing there.

Biography

A Nebraska native, Sanderson currently resides in American Fork, Utah. He earned his Master's degree in Creative Writing in 2005 from Brigham Young University, where he was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university. He was a college roommate of Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings. Sanderson was married on July 7, 2006. He has two children. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as a missionary in Seoul, Korea. He currently teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University, in addition to working on his own writing.
He is a participant in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses with authors Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and web cartoonist Howard Tayler.

Writing

Sanderson published his first novel, Elantris, through Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews. Elantris tells the story of the cursed inhabitants of a once-great city who once wielded powerful magic. This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy. The Mistborn are "allomancers", or people who have the ability to "burn" various metals and alloys after ingesting them in order to enhance senses and allow control over powerful supernatural forces. He followed up in 2007 with a sequel, Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, which continues the story and delves into the origins of the mysterious and all-pervasive mist which enshrouds everything at night and even sometimes during the day.
His next work was the young adult novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, about a boy named Alcatraz who has a unique gift: he's very good at breaking things. He also has a group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. In 2008, Sanderson released two science fiction short works, Firstborn and Defending Elysium, as well as the final book in the Mistborn trilogy (Mistborn: The Hero of Ages) and an Alcatraz sequel (Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones).
Tor Books published Sanderson's Warbreaker in 2009. He originally published it on his website a chapter at a time while writing the novel from 2006 to 2009, with the final version being what was published through Tor. The novel was released under a Creative Commons license and is available either printed from Tor or as a free download from Sanderson's site. The same year saw a third Alcatraz book, Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia, which follows Alcatraz as he and his companions continue their fight against the cult of evil librarians.
After Robert Jordan's September 2007 death, Sanderson was selected by Harriet McDougal (Robert Jordan's widow), to complete the final book in Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. McDougal asked him to complete the series after being deeply impressed by Mistborn: The Final Empire. Tor Books made the announcement December 7, 2007. After reviewing what needed to be done to wrap up the series, Sanderson and Tor announced on March 30, 2009 there would be a final three books instead of just one. The first of these, The Gathering Storm, was published October 27, 2009 and reached the number one spot on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.
Sanderson then released the first novel, The Way of Kings, in a planned ten-novel epic fantasy series titled The Stormlight Archive. It reached number seven on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list, and it remained on the list for an additional three weeks. Towers of Midnight, the second-to-last Wheel of Time book, was released just over a year after The Gathering Storm on November 2, 2010, also debuting at number one on the bestseller list. The fourth Alcatraz novel, Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens, was released a month later on December 1.
In October 2011, he released a novella ebook, Infinity Blade: Awakening, based on the action role-playing iOS video game Infinity Blade developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games, A stand alone sequel to the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Alloy of Law, was released in November 2011, where it debuted at #7 on the bestseller list.
On August 31, 2012, Sanderson released a science fiction novella entitled Legion. Another short work, The Emperor's Soul, was published in October, 2012. A standalone novel, The Rithmatist, is also scheduled for May 14, 2013.
A Memory of Light, the final book in the Wheel of Time series, was released January 8, 2013. In autumn 2013, Sanderson will publish Steelheart, the first book in a new young adult series, through Delacorte Press in the United States and through Gollancz in the United Kingdom.
Sanderson's Laws
Sanderson's First Law is the first law developed by Sanderson for use in designing settings for genre writers. While originally created as a rule for magic systems in fantasy novels, Sanderson has specified that this law need not apply just to fantasy, but is applicable to science fiction as well.

Sanderson's First Law: An author's ability to solve conflict satisfactorily with magic is directly proportional to how well the reader understands said magic. This Law was originally defined in Sanderson's essay, "Sanderson's First Law" located on his website. In the essay he qualifies the two extremes1 of design as being:
Magic/technology has well defined rules that the audience understands. As a result, one can use this to solve conflict more easily as the capabilities are cleanly defined. Sanderson classifies this as "Hard Magic". C.L. Wilson in her essay "Worldbuilding 101 - Making Magic" advocated this method of creation, stating, "...create your rules, then follow them."
Magic/technology has unclear or vague rules, or none at all. This allows for a greater sense of wonder to be attained for the reader, but the ability to solve problems without resorting to deus ex machina decreases. Sanderson classifies this as "Soft Magic". Lawrence Watt-Evans specifically advised "The trick is to be a benevolent and consistent deity, not one who pulls miracles out of a hat as needed"
Sanderson's Second Law: Limits > Powers. It was initially set down in Episode 14 of the podcast Writing Excuses.2 John Brown, likewise looked to Sanderson's work in his own essay involving magic systems, noting "What are the ramifications and conflicts of using it?" Patricia Wrede likewise noted several issues on this topic ranging from magic suppressing other technologies, to how a magic might affect farming.
In explaining the second law, Sanderson references the magic system of Superman, claiming that Superman's powers aren't what make him interesting, but his limits, specifically his vulnerability to kryptonite and the code of ethics he received from his parents.

Bibliography

Short works
Firstborn (2008)
Defending Elysium (2008)
Infinity Blade: Awakening (novella) (2011)
Heuristic Algorithm and Reasoning Response Engine coauthored with Ethan Skarstedt, released in ARMORED Anthology (April 2012)
Legion (novella) (2012)
The Emperor's Soul (novella) (2012)
[edit]Stand-alone novels
Elantris (2005, ISBN 978-0-7653-5037-4)
Warbreaker (2009, ISBN 978-0-7653-2030-8) - Warbreaker was published in hardcover format in June 2009 by Tor/St. Martin's Press/Macmillan USA. Sanderson released several rewrites of this title under a Creative Commons license, one chapter at a time. Older drafts of the various chapters are also available.
The Rithmatist (Forthcoming, May 2013)[32]
Alcatraz
Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians (2007, ISBN 978-0-439-92552-5)
Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones (2008, ISBN 978-0-439-92554-9)
Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia (2009, ISBN 978-0-439-92555-6)
Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (2010, ISBN 978-0-439-92557-0)
Mistborn
Mistborn: The Final Empire (2006, ISBN 978-0-7653-5038-1)
Mistborn: The Well of Ascension (2007, ISBN 978-0-7653-5613-0)
Mistborn: The Hero of Ages (2008, ISBN 978-0-7653-5614-7)
Mistborn: The Alloy of Law (2011, ISBN 978-0-7653-3042-0)
Mistborn: Shadows of Self (Forthcoming, 2014)
The Stormlight Archive
The Way of Kings (2010, ISBN 978-0-7653-2635-5)
Stormlight 2 (under the working title The Book of Endless Pages, forthcoming 2013)
The Wheel of Time
The books below are the final books of the Wheel of Time series originally written by Robert Jordan, who died before being able to finish his series. Sanderson was chosen by the widow and editor of the original author to finish the series according to the notes left behind by her husband. Sanderson has the same publisher, Tor, as the Wheel of Time series.
The Gathering Storm (2009, ISBN 978-0-7653-0230-4)
Towers of Midnight (2010, ISBN 978-0-7653-2594-5)
A Memory of Light (January 8, 2013)