Author Topic: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!  (Read 3200 times)

zas678

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Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« on: May 07, 2009, 03:51:33 AM »
I just found out that Brandon Sanderson won the Whitney award for Best Speculative Fiction!
The Whitney award is an award given to LDS authors who write novels (at least 50,000 words long).

The other contestants were:

"Ender in Exile," Card; "The Great and Terrible: From the End of Heaven" (Vol. 5), Chris Stewart; "The Hero of Ages" (Mistborn, Book 3), Sanderson; "The Host," Stephenie Meyer; and "The Wyrmling Horde: The Seventh Book of the Runelords," David Farland.

Congratulations!
More information can be found here: http://www.whitneyawards.com/
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Wolfstar

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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2009, 04:48:29 AM »
Amazing!  Congrats to our own Brandon Sanderson!
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2009, 03:48:14 PM »
Congrats. I guess I will have to read some of the other books on the list.  Mainly the last couple books for the runelord series and Ender in Exile.

Patriotic Kaz

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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2009, 04:14:13 PM »
Card is mormon? well i guess you learn something new every day...
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2009, 08:13:42 PM »
It's pretty obvious from reading his books, if you know anything about Mormons. His Homecoming series is based on the first half of the Book of Mormon, and his Alvin Maker series is based on the life of Joseph Smith. (Both highly fictionalized, of course.)
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2009, 08:32:50 PM »
I've read only a few of his books...all in the ender series
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2009, 08:48:41 PM »
Heyyyy... beat out Meyer, Farland AND Orson Card? That's no small competition, those are some popular authors.

Have no heard of Chris Stewart, but I'm tempted to look for his book just by the company he keeps.

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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2009, 09:42:45 PM »
I looked into it, looks VERY LDS. The first book happens during the pre-Earth War in Heaven.
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2009, 12:02:12 AM »
I've read 4 of the 5 books in that Great and Terrible series. Actually, the series title is very apt, as it is both great and terrible.

As Ookla said, the series starts in the pre-earth life, taking what I consider to be reasonable artistic license in fleshing out the details of events that are only loosely described in scripture. It introduces the four brothers and one sister who will form the centerpiece of the rest of the series, as well as Lucifer and his chief lieutenant, who get several viewpoints as well throughout all the books.

Then, starting with book 2, the series portrays the conflicts and events leading up to the second coming of Christ. I assume that's where the series will end, but again, I haven't read book 5.

If you're LDS, the first three books are great reads. They cast the mortal conflict in a very real and tangible light, and the story and characters are entertaining. They mostly manage to avoid the cheesiness that plagues Mormon fiction. If you aren't Mormon, though, steer clear; you'll probably roll your eyes at every other page.

The fourth book was rather slow and felt like filler. The plot barely advanced at all, there was no real ending, and as an added bonus, a few of the scenes dialed the cheese factor to 11. Even still, I plan to read book 5 eventually, if only for closure (and out of hope that Stewart will repeat his prior successes rather than his failure in book 4).

Chris Stewart has written several non-LDS books. I've read The Fourth War, which is a military thriller. It was...decent. The writing lacked polish and it was poorly edited, but it still managed to entertain me. Stewart is a retired Air Force pilot, so he writes very believable soldiers and military conflicts, and his perspective on the wars we fight is interesting. That notwithstanding, The Fourth War isn't as well-written as The Great and Terrible, and reading it hasn't impelled me to seek out his other work.
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2009, 08:18:11 AM »
My wife read the 1st book of Great and Terrible but gave up half way thru the 2nd.  She said it started to get uber lame and predictable.
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2009, 08:40:51 AM »
Grats! :)
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2009, 03:51:22 AM »
By some quirk of fate, I've actually read the first book of the Great and Terrible books.

I liked the first one.  I've read worse writing, and it wasn't bad.  The way the author managed to present huge spaces and boundless times, and gave me the impression of both size and intimacy was quite intriguing.  It managed to make it both far and away and right here at the same time.  Not an easy balancing act, I know that.

I gave up on the second one very early on.  It was, in my opinion, far too focuses on current politics.  As a Mormon keeping socially conservative roots at the University of Maryland, reading straw men of any kind becomes a good deal harder.  I feel that although I don't accept the absurd stereotypes and ideas from the culture around me, I have to reject some of the ones I grew up with as well.  (Not generally doctrinal ones, I might add.  The conflation of doctrine and politics that it really doesn't apply to is one of those things that irks me.)
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #12 on: May 11, 2009, 03:54:43 AM »
Yay, Brandon beat Meyer! Reason to rejoice! (I hate Twilight.)

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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #13 on: May 11, 2009, 04:21:51 AM »
Congratulations Mr. Sanderson!
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Re: Mr. Sanderson won the Whitney award!
« Reply #14 on: May 11, 2009, 04:08:10 PM »
Raphael if you didn't Shaggy would snipe you from a warehouse roof...
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