questions about brandon

[Miyabi]

I have never read Goodkind in the past and after reading what he says about his books and the way he speaks of the fantasy genre I don't think I ever will.

[guessingo]

his books have been turned into a B grade TV series called Legend of the Seeker. Anyone else think this series is loaded with S&M references?

The confessor is called "mistress"
The Amazon Woman warriors (mord sith? or something like that) dress like dominatrix and do you see what their weapons really look like? (this appears to be a fairly conservative forum and there may be kids so i won't say it explicitly)

I have a question for Peter: Brandon either wrote or said in an interivew that I saw that he learned alot from how Robert Jordan laid out a long series. How is Brandon plotting his Way of Kings series? Does he know the ending? Does he have rough outlines of each of the books? I have seen some good series get lost from not doing this. Stephen Kings Dark Tower series was great for the first 3 books, then got lost. It was obvious he had no idea where he wanted to go and then couldn't find his direction.

Has anyone read the Jim Butcher fantasy books? It looks like he set his in a roman empire like world. He is well known for the Dresden files. I never read those. I am not into mysteries. I am wondering if these are any good.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Brandon knows the ending of the Stormlight Archive series and has a climax in mind for each book. He also knows what arc he wants each character to have. He'll write a detailed outline for each book when he starts writing that book.

[readerMom]

I've read the Alera Codex, Jim Butcher's fantasy series. Not the best, but not awful either. They definitely have an ending in sight. The last one just came out, but I haven't read it yet. I liked them better as the series went along.

[Plasman]

Brandon actually talked about those Jim Butcher books in his class last thursday. supposedly they came about because of an argument Butcher was having with someone about the importance of ideas. in order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it. the two ideas were a lost roman legion and Poke'mon.

[Patriotic Kaz]

I like it when i get both.... but I'll settle for a good writer.

[little wilson]

In order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it.

Wow. I guess that's one way to win an argument....

[Miyabi]

In order to prove that having amazing ideas isn't as important as being a good writer, Butcher challenged this person to give him the two worst ideas he could think of and he would write a story about it.

Wow. I guess that's one way to win an argument....

I might actually have to read hsi books now.

[little wilson]

I might actually have to read hsi books now.

I know. Me too. Sounds intriguing.

[Hero of Ages]

His Dresden series is pretty good and the 1st book of the Alera Codex was fantastic and set up a great world with tons of potential.  Unfortunately he got bogged down in the 2nd book and lost me.  I set it down over a year ago after having only read about 1/3 of it.  I don't know if I will ever restart it.

[guessingo]

So is Brandon friends with alot of these other fantasy writers? i am guessing he knows Jim Butcher? I would assume that alot of Science Fiction and Fantasy writers get to know each other from the cons. George RR Martin wrote multiple times that he was good friends with Robert Jordan.

Terry Pratchet writes more light-hearted and satirical fantasy rigtht? I think Brandon said he likes Pratchet. If I am going to read 1 pratchet book which should it be?

Does Brandon or any of the fan base here have a list of books they like? I went to the main page to look for some books, but I have to cycle through lots of reviews. You don't have them listed with stars. As I have said before, most Science Fiction and Fantasy is not that good.

So far people here like Stephen Erickson, Jim Butcher (semi-mixed reviews), and Terry Pratchet(which book should I read?)


I am still on the 2nd mistborn book. I don't have alot of couch time for reading. I am listening to Fires of Heaven on tape and going through all of them on tape before reading book 12. I read the books years ago and stopped at about book 9 I think. So I forgot alot. The performances of the audio books for Wheel of Time is VERY good. It is a different experience listening to all of them at once instead of waiting years between books. I also use the WoT Encyclopedia to find stuff I missed. I never realized that Tom Merrillons stories were references to us in the first age.

[Patriotic Kaz]

The Great Book of Amber (which is the collection of the Blood of Amber series) by Roger Zelazny is a great read, and anything by Heinlein if you like Sci-Fi.

Here are the books I listed as my favorites on facebook, I didn't put 2 of 1 series at all. (notice most fall into the sci fi/ fantasy genre)
    Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
    Time Enough For Love by Robert A. Heinlein
    The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
    To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
    Eye of the World by Robert Jordan                                      (WoT)
    Memories of Ice by Steven Erickson                                     (Malazan Books of the Fallen series)
    Foundation and Empire by Issac Asimov                           (Foundation series)
    Children of Dune by Frank Herbert                                     (Dune series)
    Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven                                 (Ringworld series)
    Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes                 
    Mistborn: Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson               (Mistborn series)
    A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin                          (Song of Ice and Fire series)
    The Courts of Chaos by Roger Zelazny                                 (Blood of Amber series)

[guessingo]

I know Brandon likes

Robert Jordan
Terry Pratchett
Stephen Erickson

Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors?
Peter: Who are some of your favorite authors?

Kaz: I have read many of those

To kill a mockingbird is not sci-fi and every high school kid is required to read it anyway.
I did not like Stranger in a Strange Land. The book I liked by Heinlein is Starship Troopers. Much better than the movie
Ringword: Read the first one. I thought it was ok.
WoT: I found brandon since he took this over
Dune: Not a huge fan of this series. Books 5 and 6 were terrible. I did like books 1 and 4.
Asimov: I don't like his writing style. Nothing happens until the last page of a chapter.
Mistborn: On Book 2 now
Song of Ice and Fire: Waiting and waiting and waiting on book 5...
Flowers for Algernon: Another one of the high school required reading
Amber: I have had teh big book of amber on my shelf for years. I never read it. I'll give it a shot.

[Patriotic Kaz]

I said most... and Flowers for Algernon that is required reading is the short story, it was made into a novel which won the nebula and possibly the hugo as well (the short story got the nebula in it's category). Asimov is awesome my favorite quote from any author is "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent" which is from Foundation. Arthur C. Clarke however good his ideas are bugs me though. As for Dune 5 and 6 were pretty good 1 2 & 3 were phenomenal, his son's sucked though. I can't remember who but there is someone else on this forum, has his picture as himself and he hasn't been on in a while, but he loves Amber as well.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I found that the novel version of Flowers for Algernon adds nothing to the excellent short story except for sex.