When you talk about mainstream fantasy, one of the first names you have to mention is Brandon Sanderson. Making his debut with the interesting Elantris in 2005, before going on to his first trilogy in 2006, Mistborn, Brandon’s name was quickly put forward to finish the Wheel of Time series following the loss of Robert Jordan. During the five years Sanderson worked on these projects people quickly recognised his skill as an author. But it was with the release of The Way of Kings in 2010, that Brandon really cemented his name in fantasy. The book, which is one of the longest first installments to a series ever, went on to win a David Gemmell award and became recognised throughout the blogging community as one of the finest fantasy books of the decade. If we take a walk over to Goodreads.com we can also see that it averages a 4.6/5 from readers, therefore outscoring the likes of A Game of Thrones, Wheel of Time and yes, even Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter!
The following video interview with Brandon is split into three parts and will cover: The Way of Kings, The Alloy of Law, Mistborn as a series, Brandon’s writing process, The Wheel of Time, the fantasy genre and Twitter!
I hope you enjoyed the interview!
I want to leave you now by sharing my thoughts on how Brandon sees his role. Brandon Sanderson loves you as a community and he feels that he has a responsibility to you as members of that community.
That sounds pretty deep, and it is. When I asked Brandon what hurts him, he told me disappointing fans, and I could really sense the pain there as he reflected on that. I get the sense that because he is so emotionally attached to his writing, we are in really safe hands in regards to his future work. People ask if he can keep putting books out at the speed he does and the answer is yes, because he does it for us.
So finally, a big thank you to Brandon, not only for the interview, but for the gifts you give to the fantasy genre and the promise that you will continue to give them willingly.
