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[1]
Sanderson Curiosities are books written by Brandon Sanderson that initially went unpublished for various reasons but were later released by Dragonsteel Entertainment as bonus material.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.[2] They help illustrate Brandon's evolution as a writer,[3] and can provide insight into how a book changed over time or how elements of one book were repurposed for another.[4][3] 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.[5]
Released[edit]
The first Curiosity released was The Way of Kings Prime, which was included with the 2020 Kickstarter campaign for the leatherbound edition of The Way of Kings.[6] 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.[7][8] The book was well-received, and inspired the team to do more Curiosities in the future.[9]
According to Isaac Stewart, physical editions of future Curiosities will maintain the same size and style as The Way of Kings Prime.[1]
Potential Releases[edit]
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.[10][9] He also has to watch out for story or character elements that could still be spoilers for upcoming books.[11]
Brandon has mentioned the following works as potential Curiosities:[9][12]
- Highest quality; could have been published with some polishing, and will likely be included in future Kickstarters
- Dragonsteel Prime (currently planned to be released as part of a forthcoming Words of Radiance leatherbound Kickstarter)[13][14]
- White Sand (prose)
- Aether of Night
White Sand may be reworked and published as a canon novel.[15][16] A similar treatment has been mentioned for Aether of Night in the past.[17][18] If those novels are reworked, the earlier versions would still be planned for future release as Curiosities.[19]
- Readable quality, but farther from Brandon's vision
- Mediocre to poor quality, but viable for release
- 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)[20][12]
- The Liar of Partinel (although similar in quality to Mistborn Prime, it has potential future cosmere spoilers)[17]
Notes[edit]
- ↑ a b YouTube Livestream 10
— Arcanum - 2020-06-18# - ↑ State of the Sanderson 2020
— Arcanum - 2020-12-18# - ↑ a b General Reddit 2016
— Arcanum - 2016-12-19# - ↑ YouTube Spoiler Stream 2
— Arcanum - 2021-06-03# - ↑ YouTube Livestream 12
— Arcanum - 2020-07-16# - ↑ The Way of Kings 10th Anniversary Leatherbound Edition
— Kickstarter.com # - ↑ The Way of Kings Prime
— Brandon's website - 2020-07-07# - ↑ W&W 4 Is Done! + Way of Kings Prime Audiobook and T-Shirt Poll
— Brandon's website - 2021-08-09# - ↑ a b c YouTube Livestream 16
— Arcanum - 2020-08-20# - ↑ General Reddit 2019
— Arcanum - 2019-10-06# - ↑ Skyward San Diego signing
— Arcanum - 2018-11-07# - ↑ a b Dragonsteel 2022
— Arcanum - 2022-11-14# - ↑ Shardcast Interview
— Arcanum - 2021-01-23# - ↑ YouTube Livestream 39
— Arcanum - 2022-02-01# - ↑ General Reddit 2022
— Arcanum - 2022-04-01# - ↑ State of the Sanderson 2022
— Arcanum - 2022-12-22# - ↑ a b Rhythm of War Preview Q&As
— Arcanum - 2020-10-08# - ↑ State of the Sanderson 2020
— Arcanum - 2020-12-18# - ↑ Secret Project #1 Reveal and Livestream
— Arcanum - 2022-03-08# - ↑ Dragonsteel 2022
— Arcanum - 2022-11-14#