Sanderson Curiosities

“[Curiosities] are those books I wrote before I got published, the ones that are still good, but we've never done anything with. ”

—Brandon Sanderson

Sanderson Curiosities are books written by Brandon Sanderson that initially went unpublished for various reasons but were later released by Dragonsteel Entertainment as bonus material. They may be earlier versions of novels that were reworked and published in a different form or books that were abandoned due to other priorities; they are therefore considered non-canonical. They help illustrate Brandon's evolution as a writer, and can provide insight into how a book changed over time or how elements of one book were repurposed for another. The books have a very minimal editing pass and are presented in something close to their "raw" form dating back to whenever Brandon ceased actively working on them.

Released

• The Way of Kings Prime (2020)

This early version of the novel was included with the 2020 Kickstarter campaign for the leatherbound edition of The Way of Kings. A physical version was offered as a bonus item for supporting higher tiers of the Kickstarter, while the e-book and later the audiobook versions were released for free on Brandon's websites. The book was well-received, and inspired the team to do more Curiosities in the future.

• Long Chills & Case Dough (2023)

A novelette that was a surprise inclusion as a hardcover in the final box of the 2023 "Year of Sanderson" Kickstarter campaign. The book was also made available for purchase on Dragonsteel's website, and the e-book can be downloaded for free.

• Dragonsteel Prime (2024)

This version of the novel released during the Words of Radiance Leatherbound campaign on Backerkit. The book can be downloaded here.

Isaac Stewart stated that physical editions of future Curiosities were intended to maintain a similar style to that of The Way of Kings Prime. However, Long Chills & Case Dough, being a short story, is much smaller in all dimensions than The Way of Kings Prime, and has a different cover material.

Potential Releases

Brandon has a list of early works that he would consider releasing as Curiosities, but he considers several factors before deciding to publish them. One is the overall quality of the book; he understands that people are reading the Curiosities with fan or academic interest, but he would still hesitate to release something that he thinks is badly written. He also has to watch out for story or character elements that could still be spoilers for upcoming books.

Brandon has mentioned the following works as potential Curiosities:

Highest quality; could have been published with some polishing, and will likely be included in future Kickstarters

• White Sand (prose)
• Aether of Night

White Sand may be reworked and published as a canon novel. A similar treatment has been mentioned for Aether of Night in the past. If those novels are reworked, the earlier versions would still be planned for future release as Curiosities.

Readable quality, but farther from Brandon's vision

• Mistborn Prime
• Final Empire Prime

Mediocre to poor quality, but viable for release

• Star's End
• Knight Life
• The Sixth Incarnation of Pandora

Bad quality, unlikely to be released but not ruled out

• White Sand Prime
• Lord Mastrell, also known as Lord Mastrell Prime

No plans for release

• Mythwalker (was abandoned midway through the writing process and heavily cannibalized for other books)
• The Liar of Partinel (although similar in quality to Mistborn Prime, it has potential future cosmere spoilers)

Notes

This meta article is complete, but has yet to be reviewed.