How did you first hear about Brandon?

[variety.of.passions she/her]

I'm always very curious about how people hear about new authors. Does anybody have an interesting story describing how they first heard about Brandon?

 

One of my high school teachers told me about the Mistborn series over 4 years ago. I was taking an education class in college where I needed to do service learning hours in a classroom. So I spent over 50 hours helping this teacher. One day, she asked me for my opinions on some literature she wanted to include in a science fiction/fantasy class she was getting to teach the next year. She brought up Brandon's Mistborn series and described the concepts of Allomancy. I found the magic system so intriguing that I went and bought the trilogy. I've been a big fan of Brandon's stories ever since!

[Kurkistan he/him]

Mine's rather dull. I picked up either Elantris or Mistborn (I think it was Elantris first, but I can't remember for sure) in a bookstore 5 years ago, right around when Hero of Aged was published. I read all the extant Cosmere works (though I didn't know there was a Cosmere at that point), then went around throwing Mistborn at friends and family for awhile.

I failed to follow Brandon after that, though, and so was pleasantly surprised by WoK about a month after its release. Then I eventually had to go and start theorizing...

[Windborne Sword he/him]

I heard he was finishing the Wheel of Time, so after The Gathering Storm came out I started reading his stuff starting with the Mistborn Trilogy, than Elantris, than Warbreaker and finally Way of Kings. I've recently read Alloy of Law and The Emperor's soul, in the last month.

[Shardlet he/him]

My wife heard about mistborn from her sister while we were on vacation at the in-laws.  Wifey thought it might pique my interest because of my metallurgy background.  I read it before we left and I have been hooked on Brandon ever since. 

[+eojsmada he/him]

Interestingly, I first heard about Brandon through his podcast, "Writing Excuses".  At the time, (this would have been either late '09 or early 2010), I had been trying to convince myself to fan the flames of my interest in writing.  So I had scoured the interwebz for some good blogs to read and came across some mentions of "Writing Excuses".  I heard the first couple and really enjoyed what he, Dan, and Howard had to say.  My wife and I began to listen to them, starting from the beginning, and I really got an appreciation for how he thinks his way through his books.  I purchased "The Way of Kings" in 2010 and enjoyed it immensely (who am I kidding, I think it easily ranks as one of my top all-time favorite books.).  And so I went down the rabbit hole and purchased the Mistborn Trilogy, Elantris, Alloy of Law, The Emperor's Soul, and The Rithmatist.

 

Hands down, he is my favorite author.  

[variety.of.passions she/her]

eojsmada, you're missing Warbreaker! And Alcatraz! and Legion!

[+eojsmada he/him]

I actually forgot!!! I have read the first Alcatraz and Legion. I have the next two Alacatraz on Audible. But have never read Warbreaker. I know...bad fan

[little wilson she/her]

Back in 2007, I was in my first semester at BYU-Idaho. My dad called me up halfway into the semester to tell me about an LDS author who teaches Creative Writing at BYU. This author, Brandon Sanderson, was chosen as Robert Jordan's ghost writer. I had only got about 5 books into the WoT before giving up on them (still haven't gone back), but I thought that was pretty cool. (Random side-note. I still remember exactly where I was when my dad called me to tell me this.)

A couple days later, I was in the university bookstore, and I saw Elantris. I bought it. But for some reason, I didn't read it. I gave it to my dad to read. He said it was good. I bought Mistborn. That one I did read. And I loved it. Read WoA, and then waited for HoA. After that, I got into TWG, and it was sometime after that I finally read Elantris.

And since then, I've read almost everything as soon as it's been released. Except for Legion (I've got it on audible though), and Alcatraz. The only Alcatraz book I've read was the first back in '08. I also got into Writing Excuses, although I only got up to Season 2 or 3. I think. I need to start listening to it again now that I'm writing more....

[Silent Assassin]

Looked at a top 100 fantasy book series list, it was a good list and Mistborn was on the top 10, like 6th, so I was curious as to this book I have not heard off, googled him, he was finishing Wheel Of Time, and a friend suggested I read Mistborn too, so yeah, read all his books set in the main cosmere  

[happyman he/him]

I probably have the most convoluted path imaginable.

 

I was reading on Wikipedia about King Arthur, when I saw a link to a webcomic about King Arthur.  (Don't worry about which one; it's not important.)  This comic, in turn, mentioned Schlock Mercenary in the strip itself, which made me curious.  I dropped the King Arthur strip eventually, but kept following Schlock Mercenary and turned to Writing Excuses.  I then listened to Writing Excuses for a bit, and finally saw the announcement that Brandon Sanderson had been chosen to finish Wheel of Time.  That's what triggered my first read of Elantris.

Mind, I would have heard about Brandon Sanderson some other way, eventually.  I'm in all the right communities for that to happen.  I had heard his name and seen his books well before I finally decided to pick one up and read it.

[Refero he/him]

Well I heard that Obsidian Entertainment was making a Wheel of Time game, I had never read the series, but had heard about it. I went over to the series page at Wikipedia and learned that RJ had passed away and that Brandon was chosen to finish the series. I went to Brandon' page and there saw his books and I thought about giving him a try, so I started out with The Way of Kings.

[TwistedMisting she/her]

I think I first heard of Brandon Sanderson when he was chosen to finish Wheel of Time. Sadly, I'd completely lost interest in that series already. it wasn't until 2011 that I read any of his books. My brother loaned me his copies of Mistborn, Elantris and WoK. I love him now, but still haven't had the heart to finish WoT. I've heard he finished the series off brilliantly, but I can't be bothered trudging through the intervening dullness to get there! (I did love the first four books, but gave up during the fifth when I realised I kept flicking through looking for the next time Mat would feature to relieve the tedium.)

[Zizoz he/him]

I first heard of Brandon in 2010, in the context of the Wheel of Time. Though I had not read The Wheel of Time, I heard some good things about The Gathering Storm, which impressed me since I thought fans would be biased against a new author. Then I saw The Way of Kings in the bookstore and decided to buy it.

[theofficetroll he/him]

I started listening to Writing Excuses after hearing about it from Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary fame. Brandon mentioned a couple of his works and they sounded interesting so I picked up Mistborn. The rest is history.

[rpggal she/her]

I was a fan of wheel of time. So, I heard of brandon sanderson through it.

I read elantris, love it and become his fan.

[Natans he/him]

This site http://bestfantasybooks.com/top25-fantasy-books.php

 

I begin reading the way of kings and now I'm up to date with the cosmeres books, figures that I liked Brandon work very much =)

[The Question he/him]

I first heard of Brandon a few years back when it was announced that he was taking over Wheel Of Time after RJ's passing. When The Gathering Storm came out I couldn't remember any of the storylines, so I decided to wait until I had the time for a proper re-read before reading the final ones. After Towers of Midnight, I finally had that chance. In fact, I met Brandon at a signing in Sacramento that very day. I was impressed by how friendly and approachable he was (he wrote in my book "Ever you have been my friend and ally.") in the time between that and AMOL I read all of WOT twice.

His own work had been following me for sometime. One of my best friends read Elantris and told me time and again that I needed to check it out. His son devoured The Alcatraz books and as a family have read all his other books. I bought a copy and thought it brilliant. I suffer from a serious back injury, so the concept of people who never heal from wounds resonates with me in a way I can't describe.

That same friend, about two years ago had Allomancy be The magic system in our annual role playing game. That meant that I needed to read Mistborn. At that point, I was hooked.

[Shardlet he/him]

 I was impressed by how friendly and approachable he was (he wrote in my book "Ever you have been my friend and ally.")

 

Careful with that quote.  It sounds like Grima speaking of Saruman to Theoden's court. (Ever has Saruman been our friend and ally).

[Lightflame he/him]

I got into The Wheel of Time back in 2011, so it was because I knew that the last few books would be written by Brandon. I was skeptical, because I was enjoying Robert Jordan's work and didn't know if Brandon could measure up. However, I flipped through The Gathering Storm when I got it (I was still on Lord of Chaos), and from his author's note I realized that it was going to be amazing. I loved The Gathering Storm and Towers of Midnight (the only WoT I like more is A Memory of Light), but I didn't give much thought to checking out Brandon's own work.

 

Then in March 2012, I was going to buy some comic books, but my dad said they weren't "real" books and told me to get a novel. So I wandered around the bookstore I was in until noticing the Mistborn trilogy, and idly wondering if Brandon was any good on his own. From the back of the first book, I was completely hooked. I bought the entire trilogy and devoured it a week later after finishing the Warriors reread I was in the middle of.

 

It was amazing, of course.

 

So now I've padded out my explanation just to make you waste your life reading more of my post. Being pointless, Lightflame style!

[The Question he/him]

Lightflame,

Don't let anyone tell you that comic books aren't real books. I wrote my masters thesis on Superman and it was accounted quite good.

In fact, I recently read a study that linked comic book reading to reading comprehension and my wife (who is pursuing a doctorate in linguistics) is considering a study to see if deaf children can learn to read English better/quicker with comics.

 

 

Shardlet,

Lord of the Rings is my favourite book of all time. I have read it at least once a year for the last twenty years.

That particular reference has been signed in books for me by more than two dozen authors. I've got some weird looks (Neil Gaiman almost fell out of his chair laughing.) but Brandon was the only one who didn't even bat an eyelash.

Edited August 18, 2013 by firstRainbowRose
Please do not double post. Instead use the edit button. Thanks!

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

I fit into the cliche category of reading Wheel of time and just switching to Sanderson as he finished the series.
Was so impressed with the ending, I immediately went to Mistborn trilogy and have read all of Sanderson's novels since (except for the Alcatraz series)

[JohnDoe]

I had been buying Hard Covers of the WoT since book 4. Thought the series got pretty bad from book 8-10 or so but like KoD. After RJ's passing I heard that Brandon was picked to take over the series but did not buy any of his books yet. When TGS came out I bought it and loved it so decided to buy the Mistborn box set and the rest is History! Now I have a Signed HC 1st printing of everything he has written. Cant wait for WoR! Already read Steel Heart so March cannot get here fast enough!

[Mailliw73 he/him]

My boss at work. She saw a name on the computer and it reminded her of Mistborn. She knew I liked reading and asked if I'd ever read them. I hadn't. She brought me Elantris to borrow the next day. After that, I was hooked and read the rest of his books I rapid succession

[Ete'ni]

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Edited June 23, 2014 by Ete'ni

[firstRainbowRose she/her]

I think I'm going to move this discussion onto it's own topic, because it is interesting to discuss, but is also currently hijacking this thread.  Please check the "Should they have died?" topic in the general discussion board.  Thanks for your understanding!