How did you become a fan?

[SarahG]

I've just been wondering how many of the current posters are new to Sanderson (like me) and how many are old friends.

[VegasDev]

BTW, for those interested, here's another thread from some of the older posters.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Yeah...the old thread has tons of replies in it already. It doesn't have a poll, but for the discussion people can just go there.

[SarahG]

Sorry to start a redundant thread - just shows how new I am, I guess!  There are a lot of great stories in that old thread - I highly recommend it.  Among other things, it mentions a few people who have shared a bed with EUOL.

[Comatose]

I said publicity, but I wouldn't really call it that.  I was just looking for a stand alone fantasy book, and I found Elantris.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

The book covers and jacket copy count as a marketing tool.

[Necroben]

I first heard about Brandon Sanderson through the WOT.  Nevertheless, what got me reading his work was the podcast Writing Excuses.  I was inspired by Brandon, Dan, and Howard to begin writing again.  However, to see if they practiced what they preached, I picked up Brandon's book Mistborn #1.  I loved it and bought the second soon after.  I'm waiting for Dan's book to come out, I've heard its going to be awhile, with anticipation.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Dan's book was the most disturbing book I have read in years, and more disturbing than I would usually care to read. (Of course, that would be why it's classified as psychological horror.) Now that he's made the main character 3 years older, though, it sounds like something I'd be more able to handle. It was definitely well written, and very cool.

[Necroben]

I know a little something of the basic premise, but in the way he describes it, the book sounds interesting.  Honestly though, don't read much horror/dark fantasy, Dan will be my first foray into that genre in years.

[Chaos]

Actually, the way I discovered Brandon's awesomeness was, I guess, by marketing tools if the description on the back of the book is considered marketing. I suppose it would be, because I was just looking in the Sci-fi/Fantasy section in the Borders bookstore at Seattle airport for a good read while I waited for my flight. I loved the initial concept immediately, and when I began reading Elantris, I was enthralled. I knew this was an awesome author.

Oh, and Orson Scott Card's quote on the Elantris paperback certainly helped in that impulse buy, too.

[SarahG]

It seems most of us currently posting do NOT know Brandon Sanderson personally.  I guess that speaks well for the expanding popularity of his work, but I wonder if all those old-time posters are nostalgic for the time before we strangers were around.  I've read a lot of the really old threads, and there was such a sense of cameraderie between old friends that if I'd been one of them I think I'd resent the takeover by new fans, and stop coming by so often.  So to those of you old-timers still reading, here's my official apology for being one of those invaders, and my sincere thanks for so graciously letting us use your space to rave and speculate and connect with other fans of EUOL's writing.

[VegasDev]

I imagine they are like the crew and we are Vin watching the joking from the dark corner in the hallway. Eventually we become part of the crew and can barely imagine looking in from the outside.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

It seems like, at least in Brandon's board, I'm the most active old-timer. A lot of the other old-timers live near Brandon and have contact with him in other ways, but I'm pretty isolated from the crew and the Time-Waster's Guide has been almost my only connection besides the occasional e-mail and the rare convention.

I do miss the old days, honestly, when Brandon was hashing things out on the boards and most respondents were alpha readers. I'm enjoying the current state of the board as well, but especially after Worldcon I'm really starting to feel the loss of that lifeline. Most people here now I don't know like I know the old guard.

[Miyabi]

I remember when I first started posting around two years ago. (I then ended up on a year and a half hiatus do to family issues and business.)  It seemed EVERYONE BUT me was an alpha reader.  I felt so left out. ha ha.