Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson at the 2016 Lucca Comics & Games convention
Born	(1975-12-19) December 19, 1975 (age 48) Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.
Alma mater	Brigham Young University (B.A., M.A.)
Period	2005–present
Genre	Fantasy, science fiction
Notable works	Mistborn series The Stormlight Archive Final three books in Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series The Reckoners
Website
brandonsanderson.com

Brandon Sanderson (born December 19, 1975) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is best known for the Cosmere universe, in which most of his fantasy novels (most notably the Mistborn series and The Stormlight Archive) are set. He is also known for finishing Robert Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. Sanderson was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska before attending Brigham Young University, where he received degrees in English literature and creative writing.

He created Sanderson's Laws of Magic and popularized the terms hard magic and soft magic systems.^[1][2][3] In 2008 Sanderson started a podcast with author Dan Wells and cartoonist Howard Tayler called Writing Excuses, involving topics about creating genre writing and webcomics.

In 2016, the American media company DMG Entertainment licensed the movie rights to Sanderson's entire Cosmere universe.^[4]

Brandon Sanderson was born on December 19, 1975, in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[5][6] He became a passionate reader of high fantasy novels while a teenager, and he made several early attempts at writing his own stories.^[7] After graduating from high school in 1994, he matriculated at Brigham Young University (BYU) as a biochemistry major. He took a two-year leave of absence from 1995 to 1997 to serve as a volunteer full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was assigned to serve in South Korea.^[8]

After completing his missionary service, Sanderson returned to BYU and changed his major to English literature. While an undergraduate, Sanderson took a job as a night desk clerk at a local hotel in Provo, Utah, as it allowed him to write while working.^[7] One of Sanderson's roommates at BYU was Ken Jennings, who nearly 10 years later became famous during his 74-game win streak on the American game show Jeopardy!.^[9] He graduated with a B.A. in English in 2000, then continued on as a graduate student at BYU, receiving an M.A. in English with an emphasis in creative writing in 2004.^[10] While at BYU, Sanderson was on the staff of Leading Edge, a semi-professional speculative fiction magazine published by the university, and served as its editor-in-chief for one year.

Sanderson wrote consistently throughout his undergraduate and graduate studies, and by 2003 he had written twelve novels, all unpublished.^[11] While in the middle of a graduate program at BYU, Tor Books editor Moshe Feder contacted him to say that he wanted to acquire one of his books. Sanderson had submitted the manuscript of his sixth novel,^[12] Elantris, a year and a half earlier.^[8] Elantris was published by Tor Books on April 21, 2005, to generally positive reviews.^[13][14] This was followed in 2006 by Mistborn: The Final Empire, the first book in his Mistborn fantasy trilogy, in which "allomancers"—people with the ability to ‘burn’ metals and alloys after ingesting them—gain enhanced senses and control over powerful supernatural forces.

In 2006, Sanderson married Emily Bushman, a fellow English major and teacher,^[15] who later became his business manager.^[8] They have three children and reside in American Fork, Utah.^[16]

He published the second book of the Mistborn series The Well of Ascension in 2007. Later that year, Sanderson published the children's novel Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, about a boy named Alcatraz with a talent for breaking things. Alcatraz confronts a group of evil librarians who are bent on taking over the world. In 2008, the third and final book in the Mistborn trilogy was published, titled The Hero of Ages, as well as the second book in the Alcatraz series, titled Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones.

In 2009, Tor Books published Warbreaker, which originally serially appeared on Sanderson's website while he was writing the novel from 2006 to 2009. In the same year the third Alcatraz book was published, titled Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia.

After Robert Jordan's death in September 2007, Sanderson was selected by Jordan's widow and editor, Harriet McDougal, to complete the final books in Jordan's epic fantasy series The Wheel of Time. McDougal asked him to finish the series after being deeply impressed by his first Mistborn novel.^[17] Tor Books made the announcement on December 7, 2007.^[18] After reviewing what was necessary to complete the series, Sanderson and Tor announced on March 30, 2009, that a final three books would be published instead of just one. The first of these, The Gathering Storm, was published on October 27, 2009, and reached the number-one spot on the New York Times bestseller list for hardcover fiction.^[19][20]

In 2010, Sanderson published The Way of Kings, the first of a planned ten-book series called The Stormlight Archive. It achieved the number seven slot on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list.^[21] Towers of Midnight, the second-to-last Wheel of Time book, was published just over a year after The Gathering Storm on November 2, 2010, debuting at number one on the bestseller list.^[22] The fourth Alcatraz novel, Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens, was published a month later on December 1.

In October 2011, he finished a novella e-book, Infinity Blade: Awakening, based on the action role-playing, iOS video game Infinity Blade, developed by Chair Entertainment and Epic Games.^[23] In November 2011, he published a sequel to the Mistborn trilogy, Mistborn: The Alloy of Law. It was originally planned as a standalone novel set about 300 years after the original trilogy, but it was later expanded into a four-book series. It debuted at number seven on the New York Times bestseller list.

On August 31, 2012, Sanderson published a science fiction novella entitled Legion, followed by another short work titled The Emperor's Soul. A few months later, on January 8, 2013, A Memory of Light was published, the final book in The Wheel of Time series.^[24] In 2013, Sanderson published two new young adult series. These series included The Rithmatist and the first of The Reckoners. series titled Steelheart^[25][26] In March 2014, Words of Radiance, the second book in The Stormlight Archive, was published^[27] Later that year, Sanderson also published the second novella in the Legion series, Legion: Skin Deep. In January 2015, the second book of The Reckoners, titled Firefight, was published. Nine months later, Sanderson published Mistborn: Shadows of Self as a direct sequel to The Alloy of Law. On November 16, 2015, Sanderson's agency (JABberwocky Literary Agency) announced that Sanderson officially sold over 7 million copies worldwide.^[28]

On January 26, 2016, Mistborn: The Bands of Mourning was published as the sequel to Shadows of Self. On February 16, 2016, the third and final book of the Reckoners trilogy, titled Calamity, was published. In June 2016, Sanderson's first graphic novel White Sand—written with Rik Hoskin—was released. The series is planned as a trilogy.^[29] The graphic novels are based on an original manuscript by Sanderson.^[30] On September 6, 2016, the fifth and final Alcatraz book was published, called Alcatraz Versus the Dark Talent.

In October 2016, media company DMG Entertainment acquired the film and licensing rights to Sanderson's entire Cosmere universe.^[4] As part of the deal, DMG committed to spending at least $270 million, which they estimate will cover half of the money needed to produce the first three film adaptations of Sanderson's books, and is fast-tracking the development of a script for a film adaptation of Sanderson's book The Way of Kings.^[4] Sanderson will receive a minimum guarantee on each film, plus a "backend" giving him a percentage of each film's profits, which will allow him to earn several million dollars from the films.^[4]

On November 22, 2016, an anthology of Cosmere short stories and novellas was published, titled Arcanum Unbounded: A Cosmere Collection. The third book in The Stormlight Archive Oathbringer was published on November 14, 2017.^[31]

He published the first book of the Defiant series Skyward on November 6, 2018.^[32]

Sanderson is adjunct faculty at Brigham Young University, teaching a creative writing course once per year.^[33][34] Sanderson also participates in the weekly podcast Writing Excuses with authors Dan Wells, Mary Robinette Kowal, and web cartoonist Howard Tayler.

The Cosmere is the name of the series and universe in which Elantris, Mistborn, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, White Sand, and stories contained in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection are all set. This idea came from Sanderson's desire to create an epic-length series without requiring readers to buy a ridiculous number of books. Because of that, he hides connections to his other works within each book, creating this "hidden epic". He has estimated that the Cosmere sequence could conclude with at least 40 books.^[35]

The story of the Cosmere is about a mysterious being called Adonalsium, who existed on a world known as Yolen. Adonalsium was killed by a group of sixteen conspirators, causing its power to shatter into sixteen different Shards, each of which bears immense power.^[36] The sixteen people then took these Shards and traveled to new worlds, populating them with different systems of magic. In one case, the Shards Ruin and Preservation worked together to actually create a planet and its people (Scadrial, as featured in Mistborn).

Each Shard has an Intent, such as Ambition or Honor, and a Vessel's personality is changed over time to bring them more in-line with their Intent. Odium has killed—or Splintered—several shards. On Sel, he splintered Devotion and Dominion, accidentally creating the Dor, from which Seons and Skaze have emerged. On Roshar, Odium splintered Honor, and brought about the Everstorm and the True Desolation. He has also Splintered Ambition, in the Threnody system.

A man named Hoid is seen or mentioned in most Cosmere books. He travels the so-called Shardworlds, using the people of those worlds to further an unknown agenda.^[37]

In October 2016, the movie rights to the entire Cosmere universe were licensed by DMG Entertainment.^[4]

Sanderson has been nominated for and also won multiple awards for his various works. See Writing Excuses for additional awards and nominations.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brandon Sanderson.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Brandon Sanderson.

• Writing Excuses – Brandon's writing podcast
• Brandon Sanderson at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• The Coppermind – Fan-made wiki for all of Brandon's Sanderson's books
• 17th Shard - Official fansite of Brandon Sanderson
• Reddit user mistborn - Brandon answers questions and participates on reddit using the name "mistborn"
• Brandon Sanderson on Goodreads
• Sanderson's First Law - The original article by Brandon Sanderson on writing magic systems