Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements and dedications in Brandon's books.
Often acknowledged are:
* Brandon's wife Emily, and his children and other family members
* Members of Team Sanderson; Peter Ahlstrom
* Agent Joshua Bilmes from JABberwocky
* Tor editor Moshe Feder
== Alcatraz ==
=== Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians ===	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians ===
Dedication 	
For my father, Winn Sanderson, who bought me books
Acknowledgements	Thanks to my agents, Joshua Bilmes (who single-handedly transformed this manuscript from being a whimsical idea into a full-blown super-project) and Steve Mancino, who exceeded my expectations wildly in finding the book a home.
And, speaking of that home, Anica Rissi – my editor at Scholastic – took fantastic care of this book, helping make it the best book possible. Her tireless work is well appreciated, and the same goes for all of the wonderful people over at Scholastic.
As for alpha readers, I’d like to thank Stacy Whitman, Heather Kirby, Kristina Kugler, Peter and Karen Ahlstrom, Kaylynn ZoBell, Isaac Thegn Skarstedt, Ethan Skarstedt, Leif Ethan Skarstedt, Benjamin R. Olsen, Matisse Hales, Lauren Sanderson, Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Nathan Hatfield, Krista Olsen, C. Lee Player, Eric J. Ehlers, and Emily Sanderson. Special thanks to my grandmother, Beth Sanderson, for suggesting this project.
Also, I’d like to give a special acknowledgment to Janci Patterson who worked tirelessly to slay the typo demons in this manuscript. (Not that I didn’t manage to sneak a few more in afterward.)
Finally, a thanks to all of the evil librarians out there. It’s partially their fault that I ended up being a writer instead of something useful, like a plumber or a foghorn repair technician. It’s poetic justice that I would now use my nefarious talent to expose you all for what you really are.
People 	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones ===	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones ===
Dedication 	
For Lauren, who somehow manages to be both the baby of the family and the most responsible one of us all
Acknowledgements	Thanks to my agents, Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, and my editors old and new, Jen Rees and Susan Chang.
Hayley Lazo has again provided great illustrations under the guidance of Dragonsteel's art director, Isaac Stewart, who also made the map. The cover by Scott Brundage is even better than the first volume's. The interior design is by Heather Saunders, and the compositing by Westchester Publishing Services. Tireless production work came from Megan Kiddoo, Nathan Weaver, and Karl Gold, and proofreading was by Rafal Gibek, Kyle Avery, and the inconspicuous Peter Ahlstrom.
As ever, many thanks to Emily Sanderson.
People 	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia ===	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia ===
Dedication 	
For Jane, who does her best to keep me looking fashionable, and does it in such an endearing way that I can’t even convince myself to wear mismatched socks anymore (except on Thursdays)
Acknowledgements	I want to thank my awesome agents, Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, for being, well, awesome. Thanks also to this book's first editor, Jennifer Rees, whose pleasant personality and editorial know-how made the process of publishing a book so much easier. At Starscape, thanks to Susan Chang for giving this book a new home, and thanks to Karl Gold and Megan Kiddoo for herding it through production.
The influential Peter and Karen Ahlstrom were kind enough to read the manuscript and give me excellent suggestions. Janci Patterson also gave me feedback that was very valuable, even though her comments were written in glaring pink ink!
This novel would be much diminished without the fabulous interior illustrations by Hayley Lazo and cover illustrations by Scott Brundage. Isaac Stewart's art direction, cover design, and map (did you see it on the inside of the jacket?) are likewise essential.
I’d like to thank my lovely wife, Emily Sanderson, who helped with this book in ways too numerous to list here. Finally, a special thank-you goes to Mrs. Bushman’s sixth-grade students (you know who you are!) who have been so enthusiastic about my books.
People 	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens ===	
=== Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens ===
Dedication 	
For Peter Ahlstrom
Who is not only a good friend and great man,
But one who has been reading my books since the days when they were terrible,
And who strives very hard to keep them from being that way again.
Insoluble, Incalculable, Indefinable.
Indispensible.
Acknowledgements	For help with these books, I proclaim the following people honorary Bazooka Bunnies:
The Indefinable Peter Ahlstrom, for whom the book is dedicated. He’s believed in me longer than anyone else on the list. Without his help, my books would be a lot worse.
Emily Sanderson, who (despite my various lunacies) still loves me, puts up with me, and even married me.
Karen Ahlstrom, who gives great advice, and who also puts up with Peter reading her my books for date night.
Janci Patterson, who tells me what I need to hear about my writing. Bastille may be based on her just a tad, but don’t tell her, because she might end up chasing me around with a sword.
Kristina Kugler, who taught her two-year-old daughter to put her fingers up to her mouth and wiggle them when someone asks, ‘What does Cthulu say?’ (Does she need a better reason than that for an acknowledgment? Well, okay, she read the book too and gave lots of great feedback.)
Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, who fight for these books. They're our own personal Knight of Crystallia.
Jen Rees, who provides a sharp red pencil to fight off the goblins of bad writing.
Susan Chang, who champions this series for Starscape. Ingrid Powell for proofreading, Karl Gold and Megan Kiddoo for spearheading production, and Heather Saunders and Nicola Ferguson for the interior design.
Hayley Lazo and Scott Brundage for the fantastic illustrations, and Isaac Stewart for the map, art direction, and cover design.
Thank you all!
People 	
=== The Dark Talent ===	
=== The Dark Talent ===
Dedication 	
For Barb Sanderson
 Who knows the real Alcatraz
Acknowledgements	This one was a long time coming! I offer many apologies for that, along with many, many thanks to the people who helped this come to pass.
  First off, thank you to those at Tor Books, Tor Teen, and Starscape Books who picked up this series and helped it rise from the ashes to come back to life. Susan Chang is the editor. She wanted this series badly from the start, and has long been a champion of Alcatraz and his insanity. Her team at Starscape/Tor included Megan Kiddoo, Karl Gold, Victoria Wallis, Deanna Hoak, and Rafal Gibek. Also, thanks to Kathleen Doherty for believing in me and even my most insane projects.
  You may have noticed the awesome artwork in this edition. I’m very pleased with how this turned out. Hayley Lazo did the interior art, and she is just magnificent. Also, a special thanks to Scott Brundage, who did the cover. For the first time I feel I have a cover illustrator who really gets the Alcatraz books. His covers are brilliant, and rank among my favorite covers on any of my books ever.
  My team at Dragonsteel includes Isaac S☂ewar☂ who did the gorgeous map for these editions—and who was also the art director for the project. He put in a lot of extra effort on these books.
  The inaugural Peter Ahlstrom did his normal brilliant editing job. It swamped him, getting all five books ready for publication, but he soldiered on like a Smedry. The rest of my team includes Kara Stewart, Karen Ahlstrom, Adam Horne, and Emily Sanderson.
  Thanks to my agents, Eddie Schneider and Joshua Bilmes, as always.
  Beta readers included Peter Ahlstrom, Aaron Rothman, Darci Cole, Randy MacKay, Frances Moritz, Cassandra Moritz, Gideon Roberts, Anda Jones, Caleb Jones, Hylke Damien, Kristina Kugler, Brenna Kugler, Jonas Kugler, Christine Wilkinson, Lindy Wilkinson, Emily Wilkinson, Haley Wilkinson, Audrey Horne, Ariana Horne, Jaclyn Weist, Jakob Weist, Ashley Weist, Andy Weist, Steve Weist, Briana Farr, Libby Glancy, Margaret Glancy, Jaxon Kremser, Josh Walker, Mi’chelle Walker, Mike Shaffer, Trevor Florence, Calvin Florence, Tomas Cundick, Annabel Cantor, Kacee Garner, Isaac Garner, Karen Ahlstrom, and Isaac S☂ewar☂.
  Gamma readers included many of the above, plus Anna Hornbostel, Gary Singer, Louis Hill, Megan Kanne, Rebecca Arneson, Alice Arneson, Trae Cooper, Ross Newberry, Mark Lindberg, Jana S. Brown, Sarah “Saphy” Hansen, Kellyn Neumann, and Bonny Skarstedt.
People 	
=== Bastille Versus the Evil Librarians ===	
=== Bastille Versus the Evil Librarians ===
Dedication 	
For Cortana and Kenton,
Who who share their talens with me every day.
 -JP
For my three boys, who inspire me each day.
 -BS
For my parents, Tom and Margie,
who taught me how to image,
and supported me every step of the way.
 -HML
Acknowledgements	As a longtime Alcatraz fan, I am so grateful to have been a part of the completion of this series. Working on this book was pure joy from start to finish, and I am forever thankful to Brandon for letting me be a part of it. Special thanks to Emily Sanderson for believing in me and my work, and for suggesting I might be a good fit for the project. It's been an honor to work in this world, and with both of you.
I'm also thankful to all my early readers, including Megan Walker and my writing group, the often-renamed Seizure Ninjas. Special thanks to Cortana Olds, who was the first person ever to read through The Dark Talent and immediately begin this volume. Cortana has read the series dozens of times, remembers it better than I do, and was always willing to explain to me where exactly I would find this event or that joke. Thanks always to my husband, Drew Olds, for laughing at my jokes, for believing in me and my work, and for always being available when I just need someone to read a scene and tell me it's good.
Thanks to the Dragonsteel team, who are amazing at their jobs. Isaac Stewart helped with the plot development, and especially with the ending. Thank you, Isaac, for the ideas, for the support, and as always, for your friendship. Isaac also directed the art, and he and Hayley Lazo did an amazing job bringing Bastille's story to life-and many thanks to Anna Early, who assisted Hayley on a few final illustrations in order to meet tight deadlines. Karen Ahlstrom's continuity documents were a lifesaver while writing this book, and she gave excellent feedback on the finished draft. Kristina Kugler squeezed in a line edit for me on short notice, and her editing made this book much, much better than it was. Thank you, Kristy, for always supporting me and my work, and for making my sentences infinitely more readable. Peter Ahlstrom is an incredible editor, and I'm so grateful for his dedication to making all of Brandon's books the best they can be.
Special thanks are due to the Dragonsteel beta team-you guys are incredible, and I'm so thankful for the privilege of working with you. Betas for this book included Darci Cole, Paige Vest, Jennifer Neal, Becca Reppert, Richard Fife, Deana Covel Whitney, Alice Arneson, Linnea Lindstrom, Kalyani Poluri, Zaya Clinger, and Alexander Whitney. Your feedback helped shape this book into a better version of itself, and your friendship made the process more wonderful as well. Gamma readers included several of the above, plus Brian T. Hill, Chris McGrath, Joy Allen, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Jessica Ashcraft, Brandon Cole, Ari Kufer, Ian McNatt, Ted Herman, Bob Kluttz, Aaron Biggs, Sam Baskin, Taylor Cole, Gary Singer, Glen Vogelaar, Alexis Horizon, Ross Newberry, Tim Challener, Heather Clinger, Dr. Kathleen Holland, Rebecca Arneson, Rahul Pantula, Evgeni "Argent" Kirilov, Eric Lake, Chana Oshira Block, and Aaron Ford.
Thanks to the team at Tor, including Susan Chang and Rachel Bass, for shepherding this book through its development. Susan's notes were instrumental in shaping the book from an early draft into the version you see now, and I'm grateful for her insight and her love of the series.
Thanks also to my agent, Eddie Schneider, and the whole team at JABberwocky, for looking out for me and for putting out so many fires. My job would be much, much harder without you.
And thanks most of all to you, our readers. Thank you for giving this book a chance, even after a very long wait. I hope you love it, and I hope my additions to the series have done justice to the stories you love.
Janci Patterson
People 	
== Arcanum Unbounded ==
=== Arcanum Unbounded / Edgedancer ===	
=== Arcanum Unbounded / Edgedancer ===
Dedication 	
 For Nathan Hatfield
Who helped the Cosmere come to be.
Acknowledgements	If I were to take the time to individually thank each and every person who helped with all the stories in here, this section might be as long as one of the stories themselves! Instead, I’m going to focus this note on the people who specifically helped put the collection together. (Along with the team that worked on Edgedancer, which is the story unique to this collection.)
But I do want to take a moment to give a hearty thanks to those who have worked with me on my short fiction over the years. Early in my career, I would never have dared consider myself a short-fiction writer—but ten years of practice has paid off, and the stories in this collection are the result. (Though do note, I use the word “short” loosely here. Most of these are very long for short fiction.)
A lot of wonderful people have helped me over the years; most of them are the names you’ll commonly find at the start of my novels. I’m a lucky man to have had so much encouragement, feedback, and support during my career. 
For Arcanum Unbounded specifically, Isaac Steѿart (my longtime artistic collaborator) is responsible for the beautiful endpapers, the star charts, and most of the symbols you find inside the book. Ben McSweeney did the illustrations for the various stories, Dave Palumbo did the cover art, and Greg Collins was the designer.
Moshe Feder, editor for all of my epic fantasy novels, was the editor on this project—and though he wasn’t officially the editor on many of the shorts when they were first published, he has a habit of stepping in and doing revisions for me, unpaid, on any short fiction I write. (Indeed, he gets mad if I don’t send them to him, and refuses to invoice me if I try to pay him for them.) So he’s done a ton of pro bono work over the years, helping me become a short-fiction writer. He deserves some extra praise for this.
And, as always, the Inciting Peter Ahlstrom was head of my in-house editorial efforts. (Literally in house. He works out of my home.) Peter is responsible for collecting all the comments from various people doing reads, adding his own detailed continuity and editorial notes, and then smoothing everything over once I’ve taken the hacksaw to stories.
And, as is traditional, I leave with a hearty thanks to my family: Joel, Dallin, Oliver, and Emily. You guys are awesome!
People 	
== Elantris ==
=== Elantris ===	
=== Elantris ===
Dedication 	Dedicated to my mother,
 Who wanted a doctor,
 Ended up with a writer,
 But loved him enough not to complain
 (Very much).
Acknowledgements	First and foremost, I would like to thank my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and my editor, Moshe Feder, for helping me squeeze the fullest potential out of this manuscript. Without their masterful editorial vision, you'd be holding a very different book right now.
Next, high praise and thanks must be offered to the members of my various writing groups. Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, and Ethan Skarstedt. Daniel Wells, Benjamin R. Olsen, Nathan Goodrich, and Peter Ahlstrom. Ryan Dreher, Micah Demoux, Annie Gorringe, and Tom Conrad. (You guys were a writing group, even if you didn’t know it!) Thank you all so much for your work and suggestions.
In addition, there are dozens of people who read this book and others during my years struggling to get published, and I am inexpressibly grateful for their enthusiasm, criticism, and praise. Kristina Kugler, Megan Kauffman, Izzy Whiting, Eric Ehlers, Greg Creer, Ethan Sproat, Robert ZoBell, Deborah Anderson, Laura Bellamy, Mr. M, Kraig Hausmann, Nate Hatfield, Steve Frandson, Robison E. Wells, and Krista Olsen. If I forgot anyone, I'll get you in the next book!
I'd also like to give special thanks to those teachers who have helped me in my university career. Professors Sally Taylor, Dennis Perry, and John Bennion (who worked on my master's thesis committee). Professor Jacqueline Thursby for her faith in me. Dave Wolverton, who sent me out into the world, and Professor Douglas Thayer, whom I'll someday convince to read a fantasy book. (He's getting a copy of this one, whether he wants it or not!)
Finally, I'd like to thank my family. My father for buying me books when I was a kid, my mother for turning me into a scholar, my sisters for their smiles, and Jordan for putting up with a domineering older brother. You can check out his programming skills—along with Jeff Creer's amazing artistic design—on my Web site, www.brandonsanderson.com.
Thank you so much, everyone, for believing in me.
People 	
== The Emperor's Soul ==
=== The Emperor's Soul ===	
=== The Emperor's Soul ===
Dedication 	For Lucie Tuan and Sherry Wang,
who provided inspiration.
Acknowledgements	A book like this goes out with one name on the cover, yet artwork is not created in a vacuum. What I create can only exist because of the numerous shoulders I rely upon.
I've mentioned elsewhere that this book came to be because of a trip I took to Taiwan. Many thanks go to Lucie Tuan and Sherry Wang, to whom the book is dedicated, for showing me around the city. Also, I'd like to thank Evanna Hsu and everyone else at Fantasy Foundation for making that trip such a powerful experience. Many thanks to Gray Tan (my Taiwan agent) who facilitated the trip, and to my U.S. agent Joshua Bilmes and everyone else at JABberwocky.
Jacob Weisman and Jill Roberts at Tachyon have been absolutely wonderful to work with, and I thank them for giving this work a home in print. Also, thank you to Marty Halpern for the copyedit and proofread. The great cover illustration comes from Alexander Nanitchkov, and I couldn't have asked for better. Isaac Stewart used that illustration for the ebook's cover design, and he also provided a great seal illustration. Thanks!
 Mary Robinette Kowal is responsible for the current structure of the novella; she helped me realize my original prologue wasn't the best for the integrity of the work. Moshe Feder went above and beyond his job description (at a different publisher) to offer me fantastic line edits, without which this book would have been much the poorer. I also got important feedback from Brian Hill, Isaac Stewart, and Karen Ahlstrom.
As always, I give loving thanks to my family, particularly my wife Emily. In addition, special thanks go out to the interpolated Peter Ahlstrom, who worked long hours on this project. (Even so far as to nudge me to get this acknowledgements page written after I'd forgotten to do so about a dozen times.)
You have my deepest gratitude, all of you.
:Brandon
People 	
== The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England ==
=== The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England ===	
=== The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England ===
Dedication 	For Matt Bushman
Who is our wonderful family skop, always ready with a song, though never a boast. So I will do it for him.
Acknowledgements	Not all the wizardry involved in this volume was mine. In fact, a whole ton of people helped make this book a reality. In particular, though, I want to single out three. The first is the amazing Steve Argyle—a great friend and brilliant artist. I basically handed this book to Steve and said, “This is yours to play with—do whatever you would like to make it awesome.” And man, even with my high expectations, his art blew me away. If you’re listening to the audiobook, I suggest you stop by my website to see the art Steve did, because it’s incredible.
The second special note is for Dr. Michael Livingston. Probably best known by my readers for his scholarly work about Robert Jordan and The Wheel of Time (check out his volume Origins of The Wheel of Time for an in-depth look at the story behind the story), he also has written some fantasy stories of his own, which I recommend you check out! He’s a medievalist and professor of history, and he gave me a great in-depth read to help correct some of the inaccuracies in the volume. If that weren’t enough, he rewrote all of my attempts at Anglo-Saxon poetry to be more accurate, and his poems are far, far superior. I’m indebted to him for the time he spent on this project.
Third is, of course, my wonderful wife—first reader for all of these “secret project” books and the person for whom I wrote them. It is because of her encouragement and excitement that you have these books!
A lot of the rest of the folks working on this project are members of my company, Dragonsteel. In the Art Department, we have ᛁᛋᚫᚫᚳ Stewart as the art director for the project, Rachael Lynn Buchanan and Jennifer Neal in his department helping, and Bill Wearne as our go-to printing expert to help put this all together. These books took a lot of extra art and printing work, so I appreciate all of them for their help.
Editorial is headed by the inland Peter Ahlstrom, and Kristy S. Gilbert was lead editor for this project. Also rendering invaluable editorial services were Karen Ahlstrom and Betsey Ahlstrom. Kristy Kugler did the copyedit.
The Operations Department is overseen by Matt Hatch. His team includes Emma Tan-Stoker, Jane Horne, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Makena Saluone, Hazel Cummings, and Becky Wilson.
Publicity and Marketing is headed by Adam Horne, and his team includes Jeremy Palmer, Taylor D. Hatch, and Octavia Escamilla. Their work on the Kickstarter was a big part of why it went so well. I believe this is Taylor and Octavia’s first appearance in an acknowledgments! Nice work, both of you.
Fulfillment and Events is headed by Kara Stewart. Her people are the ones who are in charge of shipping out hundreds of thousands of copies of books to you all, and they worked extra hard this year getting everything sent out. Many thanks to them for their hard work! This team includes Christi Jacobsen, Lex Willhite, Kellyn Neumann, Mem Grange, Michael Bateman, Joy Allen, Katy Ives, Richard Rubert, Brett Moore, Ally Reep, Sean VanBuskirk, Isabel Chrisman, Owen Knowlton, Alex Lyon, Jacob Chrisman, Matt Hampton, Camilla Cutler, and Quinton Martin.
Thanks to our friends at Kickstarter, Margot Atwell and Oriana Leckert; our friends at BackerKit, Anna Gallagher, Palmer Johnson, and Antonio Rosales; and our ever-vigilant friends at Inventor’s Guide, Matt Alexander and Mike Kannely.
Alpha readers for this book (who read an actual print copy!) included Brad Neumann, Kellyn Neumann, Lex Willhite, Jennifer Neal, Christi Jacobsen, Ally Reep, and Tyson Meyer.
Beta readers were Drew McCaffrey, Brian T. Hill, João Menezes Morais, Richard Fife, Joy Allen, Glen Vogelaar, Megan Kanne, Bob Kluttz, Paige Vest, Jayden King, Deana Covel Whitney, Chana Oshira Block, Christina Goodman, Heather Clinger, Zaya Clinger, and Chris Cottingham.
Gamma readers included Brian T. Hill, Joshua Harkey, Tim Challener, Ross Newberry, Rob West, Jessica Ashcraft, Chris McGrath, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Glen Vogelaar, Frankie Jerome, Shannon Nelson, Ted Herman, Drew McCaffrey, Kalyani Poluri, Bob Kluttz, Christina Goodman, Rosemary Williams, Jayden King, Ian McNatt, Anthony, Lyndsey Luther, and Kendra Alexander.
Brandon Sanderson
People 	
== Infinity Blade ==
=== Infinity Blade: Awakening ===	
=== Infinity Blade: Awakening ===
Acknowledgements	This project, obviously, would not even exist without the folks at ChAIR Entertainment. Infinity Blade is their story, and I've merely climbed on for the ride. Most notably, Donald and Geremy Mustard were the ones who envisioned the first game and gave me the seeds of the story that became this book. They have had a lot of input into how it has turned out, and are downright wonderful chaps.
No less useful is Laura Mustard, Donald's wife, for her excellent publicity and marketing help. My assistant, the infused Peter Ahlstrom, was at his best on this book-working long hours not just wearing the hat of a copyeditor, but doing continuity and content editing as well. The layout is all his doing. The cover art by Adam Ford and Donald Mustard is brilliant, and among the best covers to grace a project of mine. 
Finally, many thanks to the people at ChAIR. Simon Hurley, who is a pretty mean editor himself, Bert Lewis, Brandon Campos, Jim Brown, John Farnsworth, Josh Andersen, Michael Low, Nathan Trewartha, Orlando Barrowes, Scott Bowen, Scott Stoddard, and everyone at Epic Games.
As always, thanks for reading.
=== Infinity Blade: Redemption ===	
=== Infinity Blade: Redemption ===
Acknowledgements	ONCE AGAIN, this story exists because of the folks at ChAIR Entertainment who have allowed me to take the Infinity Blade world for one more ride. Working with Donald and Geremy Mustard on the books and the games has given the gamer in me a chance to geek out in a new way, and for that I thank them.
Laura Mustard is a publicity and marketing genius. My assistant, the infinite Peter Ahlstrom, stepped up to the plate and once again went beyond the call of duty. Adam Ford and Donald Mustard knocked out another brilliant cover, and Calum Watt's interior illustrations added another great multimedia aspect to this project. Finally, many thanks to my editor Simon Hurley, the super-talented team at ChAIR, and everyone at Epic Games.
Thanks for reading, and I hope you will continue to follow the future of the Infinity Blade world.
== Legion series ==
=== Legion === 	
=== Legion ===
Acknowledgements	As always, my wonderful wife Emily gets a big thumbs-up for dealing with the sometimes erratic life of a professional writer. The incumbent Peter Ahlstrom did quite a bit of special work on this project. Another person of note is Moshe Feder, who gave me one of my very early reads on this book—and who discussed thoughts, possibilities, and conjectures regarding it from its earliest days.
My agent, Joshua Bilmes, has been his usual awesome self. Other early readers include Brian T. Hill, Dominique Nolan, Kaylynn ZoBell, Ben Olsen, Danielle Olsen, Karen Ahlstrom, Dan Wells, Alan Layton, and Ethan Skarstedt.
A special thanks to Subterranean Press for giving this work a place in print. Bill Schafer and Yanni Kuznia have been fantastic. I'm also very pleased that the print edition has another beautiful cover by Jon Foster, whose work also graced the original Mistborn hardcovers. The ebook features a cover design by Isaac Stewart. Thanks!
People 	
=== Legion: Skin Deep ===	
=== Legion: Skin Deep ===
Dedication 	
Acknowledgements	
People 	
=== Legion: Lies of the Beholder ===	
=== Legion: Lies of the Beholder ===
Dedication 	
Acknowledgements	
People 	
=== Legion: The Many Lives of Steven Leeds ===	
=== Legion: The Many Lives of Steven Leeds ===
Dedication 	
For Daniel Wells and Greg Creer
Acknowledgements	
People 	
== Mistborn ==
=== The Final Empire ===	
=== The Final Empire ===
Dedication 	
 FOR BETH SANDERSON,
 Who’s been reading fantasy
 For longer than I've been alive,
 And fully deserves
 To have a grandson as loony as she is.
Acknowledgements	Once again, I find myself in need of thanking my wonderful agent, Joshua Bilmes, and equally amazing editor, Moshe Feder. They did a wonderful job with this book, and I'm proud to have the opportunity to work with them.
As always, my tireless writing groups have consistently provided feedback and encouragement: Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynne ZoBell, Nate Hatfield, Bryce Cundick, Kimball Larsen, and Emily Scorup. Alpha readers, who saw a version of this book in a much rougher form and helped me shape it into what you see now, included Krista Olson, Benjamin R. Olson, Micah Demoux, Eric Ehlers, Izzy Whiting, Stacy Whitman, Kristina Kugler, Megan Kauffman, Sarah Bylund, C. Lee Player, Ethan Skarstedt, Jillena O'Brien, Ryan Jurado, and the incalculable Peter Ahlstrom.
There are also a few people in particular whom I would like to thank. Isaac Stewart, who did the map work for this novel, was an invaluable resource both in the idea department and with visual cues. Heather Kirby had excellent advice to help me with the mysterious inner workings of a young woman’s mind.
In addition, I'd like to acknowledge some of the very important people who work behind the scenes on the books that you buy. Irene Gallo, the art director at Tor, does a brilliant job—it's because of her that both this book and Elantris have the wonderful covers that they do. Also, David Moench, in the Tor publicity department, went far beyond the call of duty in helping make Elantris a success. Both have my thanks.
Finally, as always, I am thankful to my family for their continued support and enthusiasm.
In particular, I'd like to thank my brother, Jordan, for his enthusiasm, support, and loyalty. Check out his handiwork at my Web site: www.brandonsanderson.com.
People 	
=== The Well of Ascension ===	
=== The Well of Ascension ===
Dedication 	
For Phyllis Call,
Who may never understand my fantasy books,
yet who taught me more about life
—and therefore writing—
than she can probably ever know
(Thanks, Grandma!)
Acknowledgements	First off, as always, my excellent agent, Joshua Bilmes, and editor, Moshe Feder, deserve high praise for their efforts. This book in particular required some thoughtful drafting, and they were up to the task. They have my thanks, as do their assistants, Steve Mancino (an excellent agent in his own right) and Denis Wong.
There are some other fine folks at Tor who deserve my thanks. Larry Yoder (the best sales rep in the nation) did a wonderful job selling the book. Seth Lerner, Tor’s mass-market art director, is a genius at matching books to artists. And, speaking of artists, I think the amazing Christian McGrath did a brilliant job with this cover. More can be seen at jonfoster.com. Isaac Stewart, a good friend of mine and a fellow writer, did all of the map work and the symbols for the chapter headings. Find him at nethermore.com. Shawn Boyles is the official Mistborn Llama artist, and a great guy to boot. Check my Web site for more information. Finally, I’d like to thank the Tor publicity department—specifically Dot Lin—which has been wonderful in promoting my books and taking care of me. Thank you so much, all of you!
Another round of thanks needs to go out to my alpha readers. These tireless folks provide feedback on my novels in the early stages, dealing with all of the problems, typos, and inconsistencies before I get them worked out. In no particular order, these people are:
Ben Olson, Krista Olsen, Nathan Goodrich, Ethan Skarstedt, Eric J. Ehlers, Jillena O’Brien, C. Lee Player, Kimball Larsen, Bryce Cundick, Janci Patterson, Heather Kirby, Sally Taylor, The Almighty Pronoun, Bradley Reneer, Holly Venable, Jimmy, Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Rick Stranger, Nate Hatfield, Daniel A. Wells, Stacy Whitman, Sarah Bylund, and Benjamin R. Olsen.
A special thanks goes to the people at the Provo Waldenbooks for their support. Sterling, Robin, Ashley, and the terrible duo of Steve "Bookstore Guy" Diamond and Ryan McBride (who were also alpha readers). Also, I must acknowledge my brother, Jordan, for his work on my Web site (along with Jeff Creer). Jordo also is the official “keep Brandon’s head on straight” guy, with his solemn duty being to make fun of me and my books.
My mother, father, and sisters are always a wonderful help as well. If I forgot any alpha readers, I’m sorry! I’ll put you in twice next time. Note, Peter Ahlstrom, I didn’t forget you—I just decided to stick you in late to make you sweat a bit.
Finally, my thanks go out to my wonderful wife, whom I married during the editing process of this book. Emily, I love you!
People 	
=== The Hero of Ages ===	
=== The Hero of Ages ===
Dedication 	
FOR JORDAN SANDERSON,
Who can explain to any who ask
What it’s like to have a brother
Who spends most of his time dreaming.
(Thanks for putting up with me.)
Acknowledgements	As always, I owe a whole lot of people a whole lot of thanks for helping make this book what it is today. First and foremost, my editor and my agent—Moshe Feder and Joshua Bilmes—are to be noted for their exceptional ability to help a project reach its fullest potential. Also, my wonderful wife, Emily, has been a great support and aid to the writing process.
As before, Isaac Stewart (Nethermore.com) did the fine map work, chapter symbols, and circle of Allomantic metals. I truly appreciate Jon Foster’s artwork as well; this time it’s resulted in my personal favorite of the three Mistborn covers. Thanks to Larry Yoder for being awesome, and Dot Lin for her publicity work for me at Tor. Denis Wong and Stacy Hague-Hill for their assistance to my editor, and the—as always—marvelous Irene Gallo for her art direction.
Alpha readers for this book include Paris Elliott, Emily Sanderson, Krista Olsen, Ethan Skarstedt, Eric J. Ehlers, Eric “More Snooty” James Stone, Jillena O’Brien, C. Lee Player, Bryce Cundick/Moore, Janci Patterson, Heather Kirby, Sally Taylor, Bradley Reneer, Steve “Not Bookstore Guy Anymore” Diamond, General Micah Demoux, Zachary “Spook” J. Kaveney, Alan Layton, Janette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Nate Hatfield, Matthew Chambers, Kristina Kugler, Daniel A. Wells, The Indivisible Peter Ahlstrom, Marianne Pease, Nicole Westenskow, Nathan Wood, John David Payne, Tom Gregory, Rebecca Dorff, Michelle Crowley, Emily Nelson, Natalia Judd, Chelise Fox, Nathan Crenshaw, Madison Van-DenBerghe, Rachel Dunn, and Ben OleSoon.
In addition I’m thankful to Jordan Sanderson—to whom this book is dedicated—for his tireless work on the Web site. Jeff Creer, also, did a great job with the art for BrandonSanderson.com. Stop by and check it out!
People 	
=== The Alloy of Law ===	
=== The Alloy of Law ===
Dedication 	
FOR JOSHUA BILMES
Who is never afraid to tell me what is wrong with
a book, then fight for that same book
no matter who else gives up on it.
Acknowledgements	I first pitched the idea of later-era Mistborn novels to my editor back in 2006, I believe. It had long been my plan for Scadrial, the planet these books take place upon. I wanted to move away from the idea of fantasy worlds as static places, where millennia would pass and technology would never change. The plan then was for a second epic trilogy set in an urban era, and a third trilogy set in a futuristic era—with Allomancy, Feruchemy, and Hemalurgy being the common threads that tied them together.
This book isn't part of that second trilogy. It's a side deviation, something exciting that grew quite unexpectedly out of my planning for where the world would go. The point of telling you all of this, however, is to explain that it would be impossible to list all of the people who have helped me along the years. Instead, the best I can do is list some of the wonderful people who helped me with this specific book.
Alpha readers included, as always, my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and my editor, Moshe Feder. This book is dedicated to Joshua, actually. Professionally, he's believed in my work longer than anyone outside my writing group. He has been a wonderful resource and a good friend.
Other alphas were my writing group: Ethan Skarstedt, Dan Wells, Alan & Jeanette Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Karen Ahlstrom, Ben & Danielle Olsen, Jordan Sanderson (kind of), and Kathleen Dorsey. Finally, of course, there's the Inseparable Peter Ahlstrom, my assistant and friend, who does all kinds of important things for my writing and doesn't get nearly enough thanks for it.
At Tor Books, thanks go to Irene Gallo, Justin Golenbock, Terry McGarry, and many others I couldn't possibly name—everyone from Tom Doherty to the sales force. Thank you all for your excellent work. Once again, I feel the need to give a special thanks to Paul Stevens, who goes above and beyond what I could reasonably expect to give aid and explanations.
Beta readers included Jeff Creer and Dominique Nolan. A special thanks to Dom for being a resource in regards to weaponry and guns. If you ever need anything shot properly, he’s the one to call.
Note the lovely cover by Chris McGrath, whom I asked for specifically because of his work on the Mistborn paperback covers. Both Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewart returned to provide interior art for this book, as their work on The Way of Kings was just plain awesome. They've continued in their awesomeness. Ben also provided equally awesome illustrations for the recently released Mistborn RPG from Crafty Games. Check it out at if you're interested in Kelsier’s origin story.
Last of all I’d like to once again thank Emily, my wonderful wife, for her support, commentary, and love.
People 	
=== Shadows of Self ===	
=== Shadows of Self ===
Dedication 	
FOR MOSHE FEDER
Who took a chance on me
Acknowledgements	This book has a somewhat storied past, as I wrote a third of it during the process of writing another book. (I was waiting for editorial notes to come back; I believe it was the final Wheel of Time book.) I had to drop work on this and dive into the other book.
By the time I came back, my vision for a new trilogy about Wax, Wayne, and Marasi had transformed-so the first third took some serious work to whip into shape and make match the last two thirds, as I wrote them. I relied a lot on the excellent editorial vision of my editor, Moshe Feder, my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and my editorial assistant, the Instant Peter Ahlstrom. Special thanks as well to my editor in the UK, Simon Spanton.
In addition, my writing group was-as always-invaluable. They include Emily Sanderson, Karen and Peter Ahlstrom, Darci and Eric James Stone, Alan Layton, Ben "please get my name right this time" Olsen, Danielle Olsen, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Kaylynn ZoBell, Ethan and Isaac Skarstedt, and Kara and Isaac Stewart.
We did a blitz of a beta read, and some vigilant people jumped in with excellent commentary. They were: Jory Phillips, Joel Phillips, Bob Kluttz, Alice Arneson, Trae Cooper, Gary Singer, Lyndsey Luther, Brian T. Hill, Jakob Remick, Eric James Stone, Bao Pham, Aubree Pham, Steve Godecke, Kristina Kugler, Ben Olsen, Samuel Lund, Megan Kanne, Nate Hatfield, Layne Garrett, Kim Garrett, Eric Lake, Karen Ahlstrom, Isaac Skarstedt, Darci Stone, Isaac Stewart, Kalyani Poluri, Josh Walker, Donald Mustard III, Corey Aitchison, and Christi Jacobsen.
Over the years, it's been incredibly satisfying to see the artwork for my novels develop. I've always had this wild vision for including way more art than usual-basically all I can get away with. Two wonderful artists made this possible on this volume. My good friend and now full-time art director Isaac Stewart did the maps and symbols, as well as the heavy design lifting on the broadsheet. Art on the broadsheet was done by the ever-excellent Ben McSweeney.
At JABberwocky, my agency, thanks go to Eddie Schneider, Sam Morgan, Krystyna Lopez, and Christa Atkinson. In the UK, John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency deserves your applause.
From Tor Books, many thanks to Tom Doherty, Linda Quinton, Marco Palmieri, Karl Gold, Diana Pho, Nathan Weaver, Edward Allen, and Rafal Gibek. Ingrid Powell was the proofreader. Copy-editing was done by Terry McGarry, and the audiobook is by my personal favourite reader, Michael Kramer. Other audiobook pros who deserve thanks are Robert Allen, Samantha Edelson, and Mitali Dave. Adam Horne, my new executive assistant, gets his name in a book for the first time in this one. Well done, Adam!
Finally, big thanks to my family, as always. A wonderful wife and three little boys who still get confused as to why the books Daddy writes have so few pictures.
People 	
=== The Bands of Mourning ===	
=== The Bands of Mourning ===
Dedication 	
FOR BEN OLSEN
Who keeps putting up with a bunch of crazy writers as friends,
And finds time to make our books better all the while.
Acknowledgements	This book comes out in the year that will mark the tenth anniversary of the Mistborn series. Considering all the other things I've been doing, it seems like six books in ten years is a grand accomplishment! I can still remember the early months, writing the trilogy furiously, trying to craft something that would really show off what I can do as a writer. Mistborn has become one of my hallmark series, and I hope that you find this volume a worthy entry in the canon.
As always, this book involved the efforts of a great number of people. There's the excellent art by Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewart-maps and icons by Isaac, with all the broadsheet art done by Ben. Both also helped a great deal on the text of the broadsheet, and Isaac himself wrote the Nicki Savage piece for it-since the idea was to have Jak hiring out his work now, we wanted to give that a different voice. I think it turned out great!
The cover art was done by Chris McGrath in the US, and by Sam Green for the UK edition. Both are longtime artists on this series, and their art keeps getting better. Editorial was done by Moshe Feder at Tor, with Simon Spanton shepherding the project over at Gollancz in the UK. Agents on the project included Eddie Schneider, Sam Morgan, Krystyna Lopez, Christa Atkinson, and Tae Keller at Jabberwocky in the US, all overseen by the amazing Joshua Bilmes. In the UK you can thank John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, an all-around awesome guy who worked hard for many years to finally break my books into the UK.
At Tor Books, I'd also like to thank Tom Doherty, Linda Quinton, Marco Palmieri, Karl Gold, Diana Pho, Nathan Weaver, and Rafal Gibek. Copyediting was done by Terry McGarry. The audiobook narrator is Michael Kramer, my personal favorite narrator-and one I know I'm probably making blush right now, as he has to read this line to you all who are listening. At Macmillan Audio, I'd like to thank Robert Allen, Samantha Edelson, and Mitali Dave.
Continuity, all-around editing feedback, and countless other jobs were done by the Immaculate Peter Ahlstrom. Also working here on my team are Kara Stewart, Karen Ahlstrom, and Adam Horne. And, of course, my lovely wife, Emily.
We leaned extra hard on my beta readers for this one, as the book didn't have the chance to go through writing group. That team is: Peter Ahlstrom, Alice Arneson, Gary Singer, Eric James Stone, Brian T. Hill, Kristina Kugler, Kim Garrett, Bob Kluttz, Jakob Remick, Karen Ahlstrom, Kalyani Poluri, Ben "wooo this book is dedicated to me, look how important I am" Olsen, Lyndsey Luther, Samuel Lund, Bao Pham, Aubree Pham, Megan Kanne, Jory Phillips, Trae Cooper, Christi Jacobsen, Eric Lake, and Isaac Stewart. (For those wondering, Ben was a founding member of my original writing group with Dan Wells and Peter Ahlstrom. A computer person by trade, and the only one of us in that original group who had no aspirations toward working in publishing, he's been a valued reader and friend for many years. He also introduced me to the Fallout series, so there's that as well.) Community proofreaders included most of the above plus: Kerry Wilcox, David Behrens, Ian McNatt, Sarah Fletcher, Matt Wiens, and Joe Dowswell.
Well, that was a mouthful! These folks are wonderful, and if you compare my early books to my later ones, I think you'll find that the assistance of these people has been invaluable in not only slaying typos but also helping me tighten narratives. Finally, though, I'd like to thank you readers for sticking with me these ten years, and being willing to accept the strange ideas I throw at you. Mistborn is not quite halfway through the evolution I have planned for it. I can't wait for you to see what is coming your way, and this book is where some of that finally starts to be revealed.
Enjoy!
People 	
=== The Lost Metal ===	
=== The Lost Metal ===
Dedication 	
FOR ETHAN SKARSTEDT
Who is a man of Honor.
Acknowledgements	Sixteen years ago, sitting in a dim booth at a local steakhouse, I first pitched to my wife an audacious idea I'd been developing: taking an epic fantasy world, and then expanding it through different eras into the future. I'd seen mashups of fantasy and science fiction before, and I'd seen epic fantasy inch toward industrial technology. But I'd never seen an author develop a world in quite this way-giving an expansive view of a planet moving into the future, using the lore of earlier book series as the foundation of religion and myth.
It was a gamble. Readers tend to like their genres well delineated. Here, I was pitching something that broke apart those genre lines in ways that historically did not sell well. Yet I was convinced that the larger-scale project (the vision of a planet and its magic throughout various eras) was worth the risk. That brings us here, to the final book of Era Two of Mistborn and my grand experiment with genre.
Whether I've been successful or not so far is up to you, the reader. But I can say this: I certainly wouldn't have gotten where I am without the help of a large number of people. I know these acknowledgments are a bit of a blur of names, but I'm so grateful to each and every one of them. These are the people who, when I come up with some new audacious plan, don't roll their eyes-they instead roll up their sleeves and make it happen.
For this book, Joshua Bilmes did his usual excellent job as my agent. On his team, Susan Velazquez and Christina Zobel were also a great deal of help, managing all the different overseas contracts and subagents.
Speaking of across the pond, I had some extra-special help from Gillian Redfearn on this book-she's my UK editor, and took the lead on this book performing the line edit work that often is shouldered by the US publisher. She did a fantastic job, and I'm lucky to have her help. In addition, I'd like to thank Emad Akhtar and Brendan Durkin at Gollancz in the UK, as well as my UK agents, John Berlyne and Stevie Finegan at the Zeno Agency.
Over in the US, Devi Pillai was the lead editor on this project, offering her excellent editorial eye for story and character as she always does. Also at Tor, I'd like to thank Molly McGhee, Tessa Villanueva, Lucille Rettino, Eileen Lawrence, Alexis Saarela, Heather Saunders, Rafal Gibek, Felipe Cruz, Amelie Littell, and Hayley Jozwiak. The copyeditor was our long-time collaborator in that field, Terry McGarry.
As for the audiobook, the irreplaceable Michael Kramer is once again giving voice to my characters and making me sound good. I appreciate you, Michael. Thank you for all you do. At Macmillian Audio, I'd like to thank Steve Wagner, Samantha Edelson, and Drew Kilman.
Increasingly these days, my books take a ton of extra work in the art department. So we'll give these gunslingers their own section even though some of them could overlap with other sections. For instance, Peter Lutjen is Tor's art director, and deserves a hearty thanks. Chris McGrath did our jacket illustration. My internal art director at Dragonsteel is IYK-the artist formerly known as Isaac Stewart. He did the maps, symbols, and a lot of the work (including the writing) on the broadsheets. Keep an eye out for books by IYK in the future. (Yes, I did just make up that whole symbol thing. I can do that. I have a literary license.) Our good friend and longtime collaborator Ben McSweeney did most of the art you find in the broadsheets. Rachael Lynn Buchanan was our art assistant, and Jennifer Neal provided some additional help in creating the broadsheets.
In my company, Dragonsteel, our in-house Editorial department is headed by the Insatiable Peter Ahlstrom, with Karen Ahlstrom running continuity and various additional editorial help being provided by Betsey Ahlstrom. And Kristy S. Gilbert has just come on as our Production Editor.
Dragonsteel's Fulfillment and Events team is headed by Kara Stewart, and that team includes Christi Jacobsen, Lex Willhite, Kellyn Neumann, Mem Grange, Michael Bateman, Joy Allen, Katy Ives, Richard Rubert, Sean VanBuskirk, Isabel Chrisman, Tori Mecham, Ally Reep, Jacob Chrisman, Alex Lyon, and Owen Knowlton.
Our in-house Publicity and Marketing team is headed by Adam Horne, with Jeremy Palmer as our marketing director. Our Operations team is headed by Mat "My name is actually Matt with two T's" Hatch, with Jane Horne, Emma Tan-Stoker, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Makena Saluone, and Hazel Cummings.
And, of course, my wonderful wife, Emily Sanderson, is our COO at Dragonsteel. And is the cutest person on this list.
Less cute, but still very helpful, are the members of the writing group. On this book they include: Kaylynn ZoBell, Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Alan Layton, Eric James Stone, Darci Stone, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Emily Sanderson, and Ben "Rick Stranger" Olsen. Also, of course, there is Ethan Skarstedt-to whom this book is dedicated. The real-life inspiration for Skar from Bridge Four, Ethan has been helping me get my soldiering and gunplay right for some twenty years now. Many thanks, Ethan, for helping me pretend I know what I'm talking about.
Michelle Walker created our beta reader feedback database, which was super useful. The beta readers included Trae Cooper, Tim Challener, Ted Herman, Suzanne Musin, Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić, Paige Phillips, Shannon Nelson, Sean VanBuskirk, Ross Newberry, Rosemary Williams, Richard Fife, Rahul Pantula, Poonam Desai, Philip Vorwaller, Paige Vest, Michelle Walker, Megan Kanne, Matt Wiens, Mark Axies Lindberg, Marnie Peterson, Lyndsey Luther, Linnea Lindstrom, Lauren McCaffrey, Kendra Wilson, Kendra Alexander, Kellyn Neumann, Kalyani Poluri, Joy Allen, Joshua Harkey, Jory "Chief Chicken Head Scratcher" Phillips, Jessie Lake, Jessica Ashcraft, Jennifer Neal, Ian McNatt, Chris "Gunner" McGrath, Gary Singer, Frankie Jerome, Evgeni "Argent" Kirilov, Erika Kuta Marler, Eric Lake, Drew McCaffrey, Deana Covel Whitney, David Fallon, David Behrens, Darci Cole, Craig Hanks, Christina Goodman, Christopher Cottingham, Chana Oshira Block, Brian T. Hill, Brandon Cole, Lingting "Botanica" Xu, Bob Kluttz, Ben Marrow, Becca Reppert, Bao Pham, Anthony Acker, Alyx Hoge, Alice Arneson, Alexis Horizon, Aaron Biggs, Joe Deardeuff, Rob West, and Jayden King.
Gamma readers included many of the above, plus Sam Baskin, Glen Vogelaar, Dale Wiens, Billy Todd, Ari Kufer, Matthew Sorensen, Ram Shoham, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, and Aaron Ford.
We got some detailed help from a particular group on this book, people who I have asked to keep an eye on my magic systems and offer feedback on where I might need more explanations or might be in danger of contradicting myself. We're calling them our Magic System Continuity team, but I'm officially dubbing them Arcanists going forward. They are Joshua Harkey, Eric Lake, Evgeni Kirilov, David Behrens, Ian McNatt, and Ben Marrow.
I would like to extend a special thanks to my good friends Kalyani and Rahul, longtime beta readers, who have been encouraging me for years to look into Indian mythology and lore for inspiration for fantasy storytelling. They provided excellent consultation in this book on a certain character who the three of us worked on together to try to expand the Cosmere a little bit in this direction.
Thank you to everyone on this list. And, of course, to the readers. Mistborn has been a strange journey these last sixteen years, and I feel it's about to get even stranger-as well as (with a little luck) even more incredible.
People 	
=== Mistborn Adventure Game ===	
=== Mistborn Adventure Game ===
== Perfect State ==
=== Perfect State ===	
=== Perfect State ===
Acknowledgements	With every project, there are many hands working behind the scenes. Everyone involved deserves thanks. I would like to thank my writing group, Here There Be Dragons: Emily Sanderson, Peter & Karen Ahlstrom, Ben & Danielle Olsen, Alan Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Eric Patten, and Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson. Isaac St€wart is responsible for the look of the finished product. The Ineffable Peter Ahlstrom did his usual marvelous editing job. J.P. Targete adapted his striking artwork to better fit this story.
People 	
== The Reckoners ==
=== Steelheart ===	
=== Steelheart ===
Dedication 	
For Dallin Sanderson, who fights evil each day with his smile
Acknowledgements	This one has been a long time brewing. I had the first idea for it while on book tour in . . . . oh, 2007? With a long ride like that involved in getting the book finished, a lot of people have given me feedback over the years. I hope I don't miss any of you!
Notably, thanks go out to my delightful editor, Krista Marino, for her extremely capable direction of this project. She's been a wonderful resource, and her editing was top-notch, taking this book from plucky upstart to polished product. Also, we should make note of that rascal James Dashner, who was kind enough to call her up and get me an introduction.
Others who deserve a cheer are: Michael Trudeau (who did a superb copyedit); and at Random House, Paul Samuelson, Rachel Weinick, Beverly Horowitz, Judith Haut, Dominique Cimina, and Barbara Marcus. Also, Christopher Paolini, for his feedback and help on the book.
As always, I wish to give big thanks to my agents, Joshua Bilmes, who didn't laugh too hard when I told him I had this book I wanted to write instead of working on the twenty other projects I needed to do at the time, and Eddie Schneider, whose jobs include dressing better than the rest of us and having a name I have to look up every time I want to put it in acknowledgments. On the Steelheart film front (we're trying hard), thanks go to Joel Gotler, Brian Lipson, Navid McIlhargey, and the superhuman Donald Mustard.
A big thumbs-up goes to the incandescent Peter Ahlstrom, my editorial assistant, who was part of this book's cheering section from the get-go. He was, editorially, the first one who got his hands on this project-and much of its success is due to him.
I also don't want to forget my UK/Ireland/Australia publishing team, including John Berlyne and John Parker of the Zeno Agency, and Simon Spanton and my publicist/mother-in-the-UK, Jonathan Weir of Gollancz.
Others with Epic-level powers in reading and giving feedback (or just great support) include: Dominique Nolan (Dragonsteel's official Gun-Nut super-reference man), Brian McGinley, David West, Peter (again) and Karen Ahlstrom, Benjamin Rodriguez and Danielle Olsen, Alan Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Dan "I Wrote Postapocalyptic Before You" Wells, Kathleen Sanderson Dorsey, Brian Hill, Brian "By Now You Owe Me Royalties, Brandon" Delambre, Jason Denzel, Kalyani Poluri, Kyle Mills, Adam Hussey, Austin Hussey, Paul Christopher, Mi'chelle Walker, and Josh Walker. You're all awesome.
Finally, as always, I wish to thank my lovely wife, Emily, and my three destructive little boys, who are constant inspiration for how an Epic might go about blowing up a city. (Or the living room.)
People 	
=== Firefight ===	
=== Firefight ===
Dedication 	For Nathan Goodrich,
 A dear friend who was patient enough
 To read my books when they were bad.
Acknowledgements	Another book has arrived! Once again, my name may be on the cover, but a ton of unseen hands helped with its creation. This book is unusual in that it was the first one I created with the specific help of the Dragonsteel Think Tank, a name I’m giving right now (and will probably never use again) for the brainstorming group who went out to lunch with me and helped me work through problems in the outline.
They include the Insurmountable Peter Ahlstrom—my editorial assistant, and a face you may see popping up on my blog and Facebook page, answering questions and making occasional posts. Seriously, folks, this guy is awesome. As a key member of my first writing group (with Dan Wells and Nathan Goodrich, whose name you may have read at the front of the book), Peter has been a huge help all along. If you see him at a convention, give him a pat on the back.
Also at that lunch were Karen Ahlstrom, keeper of the Dragonsteel internal wiki, and Isaac Stewart—mapmaker extraordinaire and now full-time employee at our company. They gave great help with this novel, as did the other members of my current writing group, not including those listed above: Emily Sanderson, Alan Layton, Darci & Eric James Stone, Benn & Danielle Olsen, Kara Stewart, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, and Kaylynn ZoBell.
The talented team at Random House include my editor, Krista Marino, who did a fantastic job with the book (and with giving periodic polite reminders of due dates), and Jodie Hockensmith, who consistently goes above and beyond the call of publicity duty in working with surly authors. Other Random House folks deserving of applause include Rachel Weinick, Beverly Horowitz, Judith Haut, Dominique Cimina, and Barbara Marcus. The copyedit was done by the talented Michael Trudeau.
My agents, Joshua Bilmes and Eddie Schneider, were—as always—a wonderful resource, as were the entire team at JABberwocky. I’m pretty much convinced they’re Epics in disguise by this point, considering all they manage to get done. My UK team on this book include Simon Spanton—my editor at Gollancz, who always makes sure my trips to London are welcoming and full of flavor—and John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency, my tireless advocate.
Beta readers on this book were Brian Hill and Mi’chelle & Josh Walker. Montie Guthrie, Dominique Nolan, and Larry Correia helped me out with firearms terminology and practices. Gamma readers and community proofreaders were Aaron Ford, Alice Arneson, Bao Pham, Blue Cole, Bob Kluttz, Dan Swint, Gary Singer, Jakob Remick, Lyndsey Luther, Maren Menke, Matt Hatch, Taylor Hatch, Megan Kanne, Samuel Lund, Steve Godecke, and Trae Cooper. If I ever become an Epic, I’ll kill you guys last.
Finally, I’d like to thank my wonderful wife, Emily, and my three rambunctious boys. They make life worth living.
People 	
=== Calamity ===	
=== Calamity ===
Dedication 	For Kaylynn ZoBell
 A writer, reader, critiquer, and friend,
 who has spent ten years in a writing group
 with a bunch of loudmouths
 and still raises her hand politely to make comments,
 instead of murdering us.
 (Thanks for all your help over the years, Kaylynn!)
Acknowledgements	Writing the acknowledgments tends to be the last thing I do for a book. As I sit here, late in the night in November, I'm left reflecting on the series as a whole. Steelheart has one of the most random origin stories among my canon of fiction, conceived almost in its entirety-during a long drive on the East Coast while on tour for one of the Mistborn novels.
That was 2008. It's now 2015, seven years later, and the journey of bringing this series to you has been exceptionally satisfying. The people listed below have had no small hand in that. But I also want to take a special moment to thank all of you for following me along this crazy journey. Readers-both old and new-who took a chance on this series, you have my most sincere thanks. You give me the means to keep on dreaming.
So let the thanks roll on, my own personal team of Reckoners who make my life awesome. Krista Marino was the editor at Delacorte Press on this project, as she was on the other two books. You owe the success of these novels to her, one of the very early proponents of the series. I'd also like to thank Beverly Horowitz for her wisdom and guidance; she has been an advocate for these books at the publisher. Other people at Random House deserving my thanks are Monica Jean, Mary McCue, Kim Lauber, Rachel Weinick, Judith Haut, Dominique Cimina, and Barbara Marcus. The book's copy editor was Colleen Fellingham.
My agent Joshua Bilmes was the first one who had to sit through an excited rendition of how cool this series was going to be when I finally got around to writing it. He has been very patient. My other agent, Eddie Schneider, handled the negotiations on these books and has represented them valiantly. Also at the agency deserving of thanks are Sam Morgan, Krystyna Lopez, and Tae Keller.
I'd also like to give a shout-out to my UK agent, John Berlyne of the Zeno Agency. My UK editor on the book was Simon Spanton, an excellent individual and the first person in UK publishing to give me a chance.
My own team includes the ininsouciant Peter Ahlstrom, company VP and editorial director, who handled a lot of the continuity and proofreading on this book, as well as doing a lot of in-house editorial. As always, Isaac $tewart was here to help with art, and my executive assistant was Adam Horne. Kara Stewart deserves thanks for handling our website store (which, by the way, has lots of cool swag for sale).
My writing group on the project included Emily Sanderson, Karen & Peter Ahlstrom, Darci & Eric James Stone, Alan Layton, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Kaylynn ZoBell, Ethan & Isaac Skarstedt, Kara & Isaac Stewart, and Ben Olsen, destroyer of worlds.
Special thanks go out to our on-location team in Atlanta, Jennifer & Jimmy Liang, who scoped out spots for us like superspies, and offered commentary on anything having to do with the city. Beta readers on the project were Nikki Ramsay, Mark Lindberg, Alyx Hoge, Corby Campbell, Sam Sullivan, Ted Herman, Steve Stay, Marnie Peterson, Michael Headley, Dan Swint, Aaron Ford, Aaron Biggs, Kyle Mills, Cade Shiozaki, Kyle Baugh, Justin Lemon, Amber Christenson, Karen Ahlstrom, Zoe Hatch, and Spencer White.
Our community proofreaders included many of the above, plus Bob Kluttz, Jory Phillips, Alice Arneson, Brian T. Hill, Gary Singer, Ian McNatt, Matt Hatch, and Bao Pham. And, of course, moral support was provided by Emily, Dallin, Joel, and Oliver Sanderson. The three little boys especially provided me with plenty of commentary on superheroes and how to treat them.
It has been a wild, incredible journey. Thank you again for joining me for it.
People 	
== The Rithmatist ==
=== The Rithmatist ===	
=== The Rithmatist ===
Dedication 	
For Joel Sanderson, whose enthusiasm never stops
Acknowledgements	This book has been a long time in the making.
I first started writing it in the spring of 2007, half a year before I was asked to complete the Wheel of Time. My epic fantasy project at the time, titled The Liar of Partinel, just wasn’t working for me. It had too many problems, and rather than continue to try to force it, I found my way into a fun, alternate-world “gearpunk” novel that I titled Scribbler. It was one of those projects I’m prone to do when I’m supposed to be doing something else—an unexpected book that makes my agent shake his head in bemusement.
The book turned out really well, but like most of my off-the-cuff stories, it had some major flaws that I needed to fix in revision. Unfortunately, with the Wheel of Time on my plate, I couldn’t afford the time it would take to revise this story. Beyond that, I didn’t think I could release it, as there’s an implicit promise of something further in the world, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make good on that promise for many years.
Well, the Wheel of Time is finally done, and I’ve been able to return to Scribbler, which we’ve renamed The Rithmatist. I’m reminded of just how fun this book was. I’m also reminded of the many, many people who gave reads on it over the years. It has now been almost six years since I did the first draft. (Where does all this time go, anyway?) With so much time involved in getting this book ready, I’m worried that I’m going to miss some people. If I do, I’m terribly sorry! Make sure you let me know so I can fix it.
My original writing group on this book included Isaac Stewart, Dan Wells, Sandra Tayler, Janci Patterson, Eric James Stone, and Karla Bennion. They read this in a very early form, and were a huge help in getting it ready. I also want to make note of the early American work The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, which makes an (admittedly altered) appearance in this volume.
Other alpha and beta readers include Chris “Miyabi” King, Josh & Mi’chelle Walker, Ben & Ben Olsen, Kalyani Poluri, Austin Hussey, Jillena O’Brien, Kristina Kugler, C. Lee Player, Brian Hill, Adam Hussey, and Ben McSweeney—who was a valuable alpha reader as well as the artist. We toyed with doing a graphic novel along the way; if you can ever corner him, ask to see some of the test pages for that. They’re awesome.
Stacy Whitman was also very helpful in getting this book ready. (At one time, as an editor, she wanted to buy it. Thanks, Stacy, for your help!) The copyeditor was Deanna Hoak, and deserves your thanks (and mine) for helping make the manuscript less typo-y. (Though I believe it’s beyond the power of any mortal to completely relieve my prose of typos.)
Susan Chang, the book’s editor, and Kathleen Doherty at Tor have been wonderful to work with, and have both been big believers in this book for many years. I’m glad we were finally able to release it. As always, I’d like to thank Moshe Feder for his support, Joshua Bilmes for his agent-fu, and Eddie Schneider for his sub-agent-fu.
A special thanks also goes out to Karen Ahlstrom and the intermittent Peter Ahlstrom. For many years, they believed in this book and pushed me to give it the time and love it deserved.
Finally, as always, I want to thank my family and my loving wife, Emily. They don’t just put up with me; they encourage me to thrive. Thank you.
People 	
== Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell ==
=== Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell ===	
=== Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell ===
Dedication 	
Acknowledgements	With every project, there are many hands working behind the scenes. I want to thank everyone involved.
Thanks go out to Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin, on whose prompting I wrote the novella. My agent Joshua Bilmes gave early feedback. Isaac St€wart is responsible for the look of the finished product. The Ineffable Peter Ahlstrom did his usual marvelous editing job. Miranda Meeks provided the awesome cover art. Emily Sanderson supported me as always.
Community proofreaders for this volume include Alice Arneson, Aaron Biggs, Jakob Remick, Corby Campbell, Kelly Neumann, Megan Kanne, Maren Menke, Bob Kluttz, Lyndsey Luther, Kalyani Poluri, Rahul Pantula, Aaron Ford, Ruchita Dhawan, Gary Singer, and Bart Butler. Thank you for all of your input!
People 	
== Skyward ==
=== Skyward ===	
=== Skyward ===
Dedication 	
For Karen Ahlstrom, who counts all the days that I forget
Acknowledgements	To make this book, I channeled my own emotions as a young man. My passion wasn't becoming a fighter pilot, but it was instead to become a writer. But at times, that road seemed as hopeless as Spensa's. I still feel like I've been given the world, since I get to do what I do for a living.
And like Spensa, I'm the beneficiary of some supremely good friends and colleagues. Krista Marino was the editor on this book, its primary champion and a wonderful flightleader. Eddie Schneider was the agent on the contract, along with help from Joshua Bilmes. Those three, along with the publisher Beverly Horowitz, were exceptionally patient with me as I pulled another book out from under them and made them publish this one instead.
I'm constantly amazed by the skills of visual artists. Charlie Bowater's brilliant cover really brought Spensa to life for me, while Ben McSweeney did his usual technical magic, taking my vague scratches on a piece of paper and making the cool ship designs that you saw in this book. Finally, my good friend Isaa<< Stewart did the maps, and was art director for the interior art.
All the typos that aren't there are the result of the Inconsecutive Peter Ahlstrom hunting them down for their meat to sell on the open market. As always, many thanks to him for his tireless efforts and for cheering me on.
Likewise, the rest of the team here at Dragonsteel have been an excellent "ground crew" for my piloting shenanigans. Kara Stewart handles shipping out all those T-shirts and books you guys order from my website store. Adam Horne is my executive assistant and publicist. And, of course, my wife, Emily, is the one who keeps us all pointed in the right direction. In addition, Emily Grange and Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson need a hearty thanks for their general help on all kinds of sundry things. (Which includes listening to my five-year-old explain in detail how he likes his sandwiches. Mayo on the outside, if you're wondering.)
Karen Ahlstrom (who got the special dedication for this book) is my continuity editor. You all have no idea the mess some of these books are before she gets ahold of them and forces me to acknowledge people can't be in two places at once. Other help was provided at Penguin Random House/Delacorte Press by Monica Jean, Mary McCue, Lisa Nadel, Adrienne Waintraub, and Rebecca Gudelis. The copyeditor was Barbara Perris, and the proofreader was Shona McCarthy.
My writing group and flightmates for the book were the usual suspects: Karen Ahlstrom, Peter Ahlstrom, Alan Layton, Kaylynn ZoBell, Emily Sanderson, Darci Stone, Eric James Stone, Ben Olsen, Ethan Skarstedt, and Earl Cahill.
Beta readers included Nikki Ramsay (callsign: Phosphophyllite), Marnie Peterson, Eric Lake (callsign: Chaos) Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Ravi Persaud (callsign: Jabber), Deana Covel Whitney (callsign: Braid), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Bradyn Ray, Sumejja Muratagic-Tadic (callsign: Sigma), Janel Forcier (callsign: Turnip), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Joe Deardeuff (callsign: Traveler), and Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo). 
And, calling out two of those in specific, Jayden King and Bradyn Ray lent me their fighter pilot expertise, explaining (some times at length) the stupid things I was getting wrong about flight. Eric Lake was also a big help with calculating speeds, distances, and the coordinate system. (Make friends with physicists and mathematicians, writers. It pays off.)
We did a special teen beta read for this book, and those members were: Liliana Klein (callsign: Sentinel), Nathan Scorup, Hannah Herman, Joshua Singer, Eve Scorup (callsign: Silverstone), Valencia Kumley (callsign: AlphaPhoenix), Daniel Summerstay, Chrestian Scorup, Rebecca Arneson (callsign: Scarlet), Cole Newberry, Brett Herman (callsign: Hermanator), Aidan Denzel (callsign: Cross), Evan Garcia, Kathryn Stephens, and William Stay.
Our gamma proofreaders included many of the betas plus Trae Cooper, Mark Lindberg (callsign: Megalodon), Brandon Cole (call sign: Colevander), Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Kellyn Neumann (callsign: Jumper), Gary Singer, Becca Reppert, Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Paige Vest, Jory Phillips (callsign: Bouncer), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Bob Kluttz (callsign: Tasil), Bao Pham (callsign: Wyld), Lyndsey Luther (callsign: Soar), David Behrens, Lingting "Botanica" Xu (callsign: Hasan), Tim Challener (callsign: Antaeus), William "Aberdasher" Juan, Rahul Pantula (callsign: Giraffe), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), and Ross Newberry.
Many thanks to all of them. Though there are, as always, some new names on that list, many of these people have been supporting my writing for years or even decades at this point. So if you need a good wingmate, I can point you toward a few.
People 	
=== Starsight ===	
=== Starsight ===
Dedication 	
For Eric James Stone,
 who has tried to show me how to be brief
(a lessson I've mostly failed to learn)
 but has been an amazing friend and role model nonetheless.
Acknowledgements	Every time I gather together a list of all the people who worked on one of my books, I'm shocked anew by how lucky I am. Though it's my name on the cover, these books really are a group effort-requiring the talents and patience of a whole lot of amazing people.
As with the previous book, this novel was edited in the US by the wonderful Krista Marino. She does a great job of not only pushing me when I need to be pushed, but cheering when the book deserves some cheering. The agent was Eddie Schneider, with help from the one and only Joshua Bilmes. Beverly Horowitz was our US publisher, and our proverbial admiral of the fleet for the book.
The beautiful Gollancz edition cover art was done by Sam Green. The map is by Bryan Mark Taylor, who was very patient in dealing with my waffling back and forth on how I wanted it to look. Great job, Bryan, and thank you!
The copyeditor was Bara MacNeill, and the proofreader was Annette Szlachta-McGinn. Other helpful people at Delacorte include Monica Jean, Colleen Fellingham, Mary McCue, and Alison Kolani. Our UK editor was Gillian Redfearn at Gollancz.
My company, Dragonsteel Entertainment, makes use of the on talents of Isaac StewarT as our art director, Kara Stewart as shipping manager and CFO, the Institutional Peter Ahlstrom drums, Karen Ahlstrom for continuity, Adam Horne for publicity, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson as general-purpose crazy cat lady, and Emily Grange overseeing the warehouse. Presiding over them all is Emily Sanderson, as queen and COO-though I don't know which title is more important to her.
My writing group puts up with a lot, as I bounce them between projects. They are wonderful, and include Kaylynn ZoBell, Darci Stone, Eric James Stone, Emily Sanderson, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Ben Olsen, Alan Layton, Karen Ahlstrom, and Peter Ahlstrom.
Now, the big list of beta readers! Also known as our Skyward flight for this particular endeavor. Becca Reppert (callsign: Gran-Gran), Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Brandon Cole (callsign: Colevander), Deana Covel Whitney (callsign: Braid), Ross Newberry (callsign: PUNisher), Ravi Persaud (callsign: Jabber), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Aubree Pham (callsign: Amyrlin), Bao Pham (callsign: Wyld), Aerin Pham (callsign: Air), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Richard Fife (callsign: Rickrolla), Grace Douglas (callsign: GatorGirl), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Gary Singer (callsign: DVE), Marnie Peterson (callsign: Lessa), Paige Vest (callsign: Blade), Lyndsey Luther (callsign: Soar), Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić (callsign: Sigma), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: Shockwave), Valencia Kumley (callsign: AlphaPhoenix), Rebecca Arneson (callsign: Scarlet), Bradyn Ray (callsign: Ballz), Eric Lake (callsign: Chaos), Alyx Hoge (callsign: Feather), Joe Deardeuff (callsign: Traveler), and Jayden King (callsign: Tripod-who was also a great help with the coordinate systems).
Gamma readers, who hunt for typos and blow them out of the sky, include most of the beta readers plus: Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Rahul Pantula (callsign: Giraffe), Tim Challener (callsign: Antaeus), Kellyn Neumann (callsign: Treble), Eve Scorup (callsign: Silverstone), Drew McCaffrey (callsign: Hercules), Jory Phillips (callsign: Bouncer), Jessica Spencer Peterson (callsign: Speederson), Mark Lindberg (callsign: Megalodon), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), William Juan (callsign: Aberdasher), David Behrens, Glen Vogelaar (callsign: Ways), Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Nikki Ramsay (callsign: Phosphophyllite), Aaron Biggs, and Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow).
Thank you all so much for your help! This book would certainly have remained grounded without you.
People 	
=== Sunreach ===	
=== Sunreach ===
Dedication 	
For Cortana Olds, my first reader.
 -JP
Acknowledgements	As always, I’d like to thank my team at Dragonsteel Entertainment for their work and talent.
Peter Ahlstrom, Kara Stewart, Adam Horne, and our COO and queen, Emily Sanderson. I appreciate all you do.
Special thank-yous to Isaac Stewart, our art director, and Charlie Bowater, the Sunreach cover artist, for their beautiful work. Special thanks are also due to Karen Ahlstrom for her continuity edit and Kristina Kugler for her work on the line and copy edits.
Additionally, special thanks to Max and the team at Mainframe, as always, for the great job they did in putting the audiobook together.
For this Gollancz edition, my thanks go to Gillian Redfearn, Brendan Durkin, Paul Hussey and the digital sales folks. My agents at JABberwocky, Eddie Schneider and Joshua Bilmes, as well as John Berlyne at the Zeno Agency, deserve great applause for making this happen.
Finally, thank you to all of you, the fans of this series. I hope you’ve enjoyed Sunreach.
-Brandon
I am so grateful to the fantastic teams at Dragonsteel and Mainframe for helping make this book a reality, and to the team at JABberwocky for being such consistent supporters of me and my work.
Thanks also to Cortana Olds (callsign: Halo) for stealing my copies of Skyward and Starsight because she heard her mom was eager to talk to her about a book. Cori was my outline sounding board and my first reader on my first draft, so she saw the book in a worse state than anyone else and loved it anyway. (And she wasn’t afraid to point out my terrible metaphors.)
Thanks to Megan Walker, who listened to a lot of whining about the state of various drafts and still brought me motivation cookies, and also read an early draft. Thanks to James Goldberg for his early notes, and to the Dragonsteel beta team: Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), and Linnea Lindstrom (callsign: Pixie). Special thanks to Jayden for his flying expertise and to Darci for helping me refine FM’s romantic arc.
Thank you to my husband, Drew, for his infinite patience with me and my work, and for always believing I can do it, even when I lose faith.
Thanks most of all to Brandon, who has believed in my work longer than almost anybody. Thank you for trusting me with your characters (and giving me a hand up out of my own deep plot holes). It’s an honor and a privilege to tell these stories with you.
-Janci
Thank you to Brandon and Janci for such a fantastic story. It was a true pleasure to work with both of you on this. And, of course, a special thank you to our amazing narrator Suzy Jackson. Thanks also to Joshua Bilmes and everyone at JABberwocky Literary Agency as well as Samara and the team at Brickshop audio. And, of course, thank you to everyone at Mainframe involved in this project; especially Juliana Fernandes, Julian Mann, Will Newell, and Craig Shields.
-Max
A huge shout-out to this book’s gamma reader team: Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Sean VanBuskirk (callsign: Vanguard), Kellyn Neumann (callsign: Treble), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), Philip Vorwaller (callsign: Vanadium), Sam Baskin (callsign: Turtle), Evgeni Kirilov (callsign: Argent), Kendra Wilson, Joshua Harkey (callsign: Jofwu), Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Mark Lindberg (callsign: Megalodon), Jessica Ashcraft (callsign: Gesh), Glen Vogelaar (callsign: Ways), Gary Singer (callsign: DVE), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Rob West (callsign: Larkspur), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), Jessie Lake (callsign: Lady), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: shockwave), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Eric Lake, Brady Ray (callsign: Flanders), Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, and Aaron Ford (callsign: Widget).
-Peter
People 	
=== ReDawn ===	
=== ReDawn ===
Dedication 	
For Kenton Olds
Who makes me laugh every day
 -JP
Acknowledgements	Thank you as always to my team at Dragonsteel Entertainment—Peter Ahlstrom, Kara Stewart, Adam Horne, and COO Emily Sanderson—for all their hard work on ReDawn, our second Skyward Flight novella.
Again a special thank you to Isaac Stewart, our art director, and Charlie Bowater, our cover artist, for this amazing ReDawn artwork. And of course Karen Ahlstrom for the continuity edit and Kristina Kugler for her work on the line and copy edits.
Thanks again to Max and the Mainframe team for all they’ve done in creating the audiobooks. For this Gollancz edition, my thanks go to Gillian Redfearn, Brendan Durkin, Paul Hussey and the digital sales folks. And my agents at JABberwocky, Eddie Schneider and Joshua Bilmes, as well as John Berlyne at the Zeno Agency, facilitated it.
Finally, as always, thank you, the fans of the Skyward series. I hope you’ve enjoyed ReDawn.
-Brandon
I am so grateful to the fantastic teams at Dragonsteel and Mainframe for helping make this book a reality, and to the team at JABberwocky for being such consistent supporters of me and my work. Thanks especially to Max for putting up with my neuroses, and even occasionally finding them amusing.
Thanks also to Cortana Olds (callsign: Halo) for reading my terrible first draft as I wrote it and telling me it wasn’t so terrible after all.
Thanks to Megan Walker, who listened to a lot of whining about the state of various drafts and still brought me motivation cookies, and also read an early draft. Thanks to my writing group Accidental Erotica of Whatever We’re Called Now for jumping into the early chapters of this with absolutely no context and still managing to make some helpful comments. And of course, huge thanks to the Dragonsteel beta team: Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Spencer White (callsign: Elder), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), and Linnea Lindstrom (callsign: Pixie). Special thanks to Jayden for his flying expertise and for being generally awesome and to Linnea for her fan art and enthusiasm.
A huge thanks is due to Darci Cole, who listened to more whining than anybody, and did a serious amount of cheerleading as I worked through the drafts of this book. Darci, you are amazing. Thank you for your optimism and your friendship. I would have lost my mind without you.
Thank you to my husband Drew for his infinite patience with me and my work, and for always believing I can do it, even when I lose faith.
Thanks most of all to Brandon, who has believed in my work longer than almost anybody. Thank you for trusting me with your characters (and giving me a hand up out of my own deep plot holes). It’s an honor and a privilege to tell these stories with you.
-Janci
Thank you to Brandon and Janci for bringing this second Skyward Flight novella to life. It’s always a great experience working with you both, as it is with our incredible narrator Suzy Jackson. Thank you.
Thanks again to Joshua Bilmes, Eddie Schneider, everyone at Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Samara and the team at Brickshop Audio as well as everyone at Listening Library and Gollancz. And, of course, thank you to everyone at Mainframe involved in this project; especially Juliana Fernandes, Julian Mann, Will Newell, and Craig Shields.
-Max
Many thanks again to this book’s gamma reader team: Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Sean VanBuskirk (callsign: Vanguard), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), Philip Vorwaller (callsign: Vanadium), Sam Baskin (callsign: Turtle), Evgeni Kirilov (callsign: Argent), Joshua Harkey (callsign: Jofwu), Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Jessica Ashcraft (callsign: Gesh), Gary Singer (callsign: DVE), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Rob West (callsign: Larkspur), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), Jessie Lake (callsign: Lady), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: Shockwave), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), and Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin.
-Peter
People 	
=== Cytonic ===	
=== Cytonic ===
Dedication 	
For Darci Rhoades Stone,
 Who deals with my made-up physics
 better than any physicist probably should.
 Thanks for all the help on this series!
Acknowledgements	This book went through more revisions (as a percentage of its word count) than any of mine in recent memory! There was a lot to do, and I'd like to give a special thanks to Krista Marino (my editor) and Beverly Horowitz (my publisher) at Delacorte Press for being willing to see my vision for the book, even when it wasn't quite reaching it yet. In addition I'd like to thank Lydia Gregovic, Krista’s assistant, for helping move things along, as well as Colleen Fellingham and Tracy Heydweiller.
My agents on this book at JABberwocky are Eddie Schneider and Joshua Bilmes. In particular, Eddie gave specific insight and suggestions on the novel that I found especially useful during revisions—so I'd like to hand him a metaphoric gold star and my utmost thanks.
The artist of the beautiful cover is Charlie Bowater, while Ben McSweeney gave us great interior illustrations. I think Ben wishes I'd write more SF, judging by the numerous ship and alien designs he excitedly kept throwing my way. Soon, Ben. Soon. All of this was coordinated by Dragonsteel Art Director Isaac ₷tewart.
Speaking of my company, Dragonsteel Entertainment, other officers include Emily Sanderson as COO, the In-Demand Peter Ahlstrom as VP and Editorial Director, Kara Stewart as our CFO and Merchandise Director, Karen Ahlstrom as Continuity Director, Adam Horne as Publicity and Marketing Director, and Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson as designated brownie maker. Our other employees include editorial minion Betsey Ahlstrom and the members of Kara’s Team Silverlight: Emily Grange, Lex Willhite, Michael Bateman, Christi Jacobsen, Isabel Chrisman, Tori Mecham, Hazel Cummings, Kellyn Neumann, and Alex Lyon.
My ever-patient writing group is Kaylynn ZoBell on lead guitar, Darci Stone on drums, Eric James Stone on sousaphone, Emily Sanderson on flute, Ben Olsen (on loan from the Olsen Family Singers), Alan Layton on rap vocals, Ethan Skarstedt on rhythm shotgun, Karen Ahlstrom on strategically timed phone alarm music, Peter Ahlstrom on operatic vocals, and Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson on brownies.
The copyeditor was Amy J. Schneider and the proofreader was Katharine Wiencke. Beta readers on this project include Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Richard Fife (callsign: Rickrolla), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Aubree Pham (callsign: Amyrlin), Paige Vest (callsign: Blade), Aerin Pham (callsign: Air), Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić (callsign: Sigma), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Rebecca Arneson (callsign: Scarlet), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Lyndsey Luther (callsign: Soar), Glen Vogelaar (callsign: Ways), Eric Lake (callsign: Chaos), Linnea Lindstrom (callsign: Pixie), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Deana Covel Whitney (callsign: Braid), Rahul Pantula (callsign: Giraffe), Bao Pham (callsign: Wyld), Gary Singer (callsign: DVE), Ravi Persaud, Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Becca Reppert (callsign: Gran-Gran), Jessie Bell (callsign: Lady), Shannon Nelson (callsign: Grey), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: Shockwave), Marnie Peterson (callsign: Lessa), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), Bradyn Ray (callsign: Flanders), Devri Ray (callsign: Ember), Joe Deardeuff (callsign: Traveler), Alyx Hoge (callsign: Feather), Valencia Kumley (callsign: AlphaPhoenix), Ross Newberry (callsign: PUNisher), Mi’chelle Walker (callsign: RainbowRose), Zaya Clinger (callsign: Z), Suzanne Musin (callsign: Oracle), James Anderson (callsign: Ambassador), Heather Clinger (callsign: Nightingale), Joshua Harkey (callsign: Jofwu), Robert West (callsign: Larkspur), Kellyn Neumann (callsign: Treble), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), João Menezes Morais (callsign: Torpor), Tim Challener (callsign: Antaeus), Orrin Allen (callsign: Spaceduck), William Juan (callsign: Aber), Sean VanBuskirk (callsign: Vanguard), and David Behrens. Thank you all for your help, and I apologize to the audiobook readers (Great jobs, Suzy Jackson and Sophie Aldred!) for making them read through that entire list.
Speaking of that, here's another list. Gamma readers include many of the beta readers plus Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Aaron Ford (callsign: Widget), Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Evgeni Kirilov (callsign: Argent), Philip Vorwaller (callsign: Vanadium), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), Kendra Wilson (callsign: K-Monster), Frankie Jerome (callsign: Wulfe), Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Sam Baskin, Chana Oshira Block (callsign: Bard), Zenef Mark Lindberg (callsign: Megalodon), Drew McCaffrey (callsign: Hercules), and Tyler Patrick.
Each and every book is a new challenge, and I keep learning new things about writing with each one. That said, getting this one ready on time was a little extra difficult, so I’m extremely proud to present it to you—and extra grateful to those who put the time in to help me.
People 	
=== Evershore ===	
=== Evershore ===
Dedication 	
For Darci Cole,
Who let me borrow her faith for a while
 -JP
Acknowledgements	To everyone on my team at Dragonsteel Entertainment, thank you as always. Emily Sanderson, Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Isaac Stewart, Kara Stewart, Adam Horne and everyone else, thank you for everything you've done on Evershore and all of the Skyward Flight novellas. 
Once more, thank you to Isaac Stewart, our art director, and Charlie Bowater, our cover artist, for their work on the beautiful Evershore cover art. And again, thank you to Karen Ahlstrom, our continuity editor, and to Kristina Kugler for her editorial services on the line and copy. You guys were great.
A special thank you, as always, to Max and the Mainframe team for their great work on each of these audiobooks.
Finally, once more, thank you to the fans of this series, I hope you have enjoyed Evershore.
-Brandon
I am so grateful to the fantastic teams at Dragonsteel and Mainframe for helping make this book a reality, and to the team at JABberwocky for being such consistent supporters of me and my work. Special thanks to Peter Ahlstrom for helping us iron out some plot issues on a tight schedule, and thanks especially to Max Epstein for putting up with my neuroses, and even occasionally finding them amusing.
Thanks also to Cortana Olds (callsign: Halo) for being my sounding board, and for reading along as I wrote.
Thanks to Megan Walker, who listened to a lot of whining about the state of various drafts and still brought me motivation cookies, and also read an early draft. And of course, huge thanks to the Dragonsteel beta team: Darci Cole (callsign: Blue), Liliana Klein (callsign: Slip), Alice Arneson (callsign: Wetlander), Paige Phillips (callsign: Artisan), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Spencer White (callsign: Elder), Mark Lindberg (callsign:Megalodon), Deana Cover Whitney (callsign: Braid), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), and Linnea Lindstrom (callsign: Pixie). Special thanks to Jayden for his flying expertise and for being generally awesome and to Linnea for her fan art and enthusiasm.
Thanks to Kristina Kugler - who I somehow forgot to mention in Sunreach and ReDawn because my brain has been mush - for her truly fantastic edits on this book, and also on the first two. Kristy did amazing work on these books on a very tight and demanding schedule, and I'm forever grateful to her for it. Also Kristy, I love you fifty million billion.
A huge thanks is due to Darci Cole, who listened to more whining than anybody, and did a serious amount of cheerleading as I worked through the drafts of this book. Darci, you are amazing. Thank you for your optimism and your friendship. I would have lost my mind without you.
Thank you to my husband Drew for his infinite patience with me and my work, and for always believing I can do it, even when I lose faith.
Thanks most of all to Brandon, who has believed in my work longer than almost anybody. Thank you for trusting me with your characters (and giving me a hand up out of my own deep plot holes). It's an honor and a privilege to tell these stories with you.
-Janci
Many thanks again to this book's gamma reader team: Brian T. Hill (callsign: El Guapo), Chris McGrath (callsign: Gunner), Kalyani Poluri (callsign: Henna), Sean VanBuskirk (callsign: Vanguard), Joy Allen (callsign: Joyspren), Philip Vorwaller (callsign: Vanadium), Sam Baskin (callsign: Turtle), Evgeni Kirilov (callsign: Argent), Joshua Harkey (callsign: Jofwu), Ian McNatt (callsign: Weiry), Jayden King (callsign: Tripod), Jessica Ashcraft (callsign: Gesh), Ted Herman (callsign: Cavalry), Rob West (callsign: Larkspur), Megan Kanne (callsign: Sparrow), Jessie Lake (callsign: Lady), Dr. Kathleen Holland (callsign: Shockwave), Jennifer Neal (callsign: Vibes), Eric Lake, and Aaron Ford (callsign: Widget). You are the eyes that see all, but not like the delvers!
-Peter
Thank you to Brandon and Janci for such an amazing third Skyward Flight novella. It was a wonderful experience working with you both on Evershore and each of the other Skyward Flight stories. A special thank you is also due to our incredible narrator Suzy Jackson for giving her voice to these amazing characters that Brandon and Janci have created.
Thanks again to Joshua Bilmes, Eddie Schneider, everyone at Jabberwocky Literary Agency, Samara and the team at Brickshop Audio as well as everyone at Listening Library, Penguin Random House Audio, and Delacorte Press. 
And, as always, thank you to everyone at Mainframe involved in this project; especially Juliana Fernandes, Julian Mann, Will Newell, and Craig Shields.
-Max
People 	
== Snapshot ==
=== Snapshot ===	
=== Snapshot ===
Acknowledgements	Getting a story to readers involves more than just my writing it. There's a large group working behind the scenes to make sure the entire book is beautiful and polished.
Thanks go to Peter Orullian and Steve Diamond, who took great care to make Snapshot awesome in every way. As always, Moshe Feder, Joshua Bilmes, and the indisputable Peter Ahlstrom gave excellent editorial notes, and the story is better because of it. Deanna Hoak did a great job with the copyedit, and the talented Howard Lyon is responsible for the beautiful cover illustration.
Huge appreciation goes out to the community of early readers, whose feedback was invaluable. Trae Cooper, Mark Lindberg, Nikki Ramsay, Ted Herman, Gary Singer, Ross Newberry, Alice Arneson, Louis Hill, Bob Kluttz, Lyndsey Luther, Megan Kanne, Brian T. Hill, Richard Fife, Ben Black, Aubree Pham, Bao Pham, Josh Walker, Jory Phillips, and Eric Lake. I'd particularly like to thank Lora Jean Buss and Glen Buss for their law enforcement feedback, and Kristina Kugler for her proofreading help.
Once again my team at Dragonsteel read the story, provided early feedback, and continue to support me and my books in every way possible. Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Kara Stewart, Jsaac Stewart, Adam Horne, and Emily Sanderson.
People 	
== The Stormlight Archive ==
=== The Way of Kings ===	
=== The Way of Kings ===
Dedication 	
 For Emily,
 Who is too patient
 Too kindly
 And too wonderful
 For words.
 But I try anyway.
Acknowledgements	I finished the first draft of The Way of Kings in 2003, but I started working on pieces of the book back in the late '90s. Threads of this novel go back even further in my brain. No book of mine has spent longer simmering; I've spent more than a decade building this novel. And so it should be no surprise that a lot of people have helped me with it. It's going to be impossible to mention them all; my memory simply isn't that good. However, there are some major players that I would like to thank most deeply.
First comes my wife, Emily, to whom this book is dedicated. She gave greatly of herself to see the novel come to pass. That included not only reading and giving advice on the manuscript, but giving up her husband during long stretches of writing time. If you readers get a chance to meet her, some thanks might be in order. (She likes chocolate.)
As always, my excellent editor and agent—Moshe Feder and Joshua Bilmes—worked quite hard on this novel. Moshe, by special note, doesn't get paid more when his authors turn in 400k-word monstrosities. But he edited the novel without a word of complaint; his help was invaluable in turning it into the novel you now hold. He also got F. Paul Wilson to check over the medical scenes, to their great benefit.
Special thanks also go to Harriet McDougal, one of the greatest editors of our time, who gave us a read and line edit on this novel out of the goodness of her heart. Wheel of Time fans will know her as the person who discovered, edited, and then married Robert Jordan. She doesn't do much editing these days outside of the Wheel of Time, and so I feel very honored and humbled to have her input and help here. Alan Romanczuk, working with her, should also be thanked for facilitating this edit.
At Tor Books, Paul Stevens has been a huge help. He's been our in-house liaison for my books, and he's done an amazing job. Moshe and I are lucky to have his aid. Likewise, Irene Gallo—the art director—has been wonderfully helpful and patient in dealing with an intrusive author who wanted to do some crazy things with the artwork in his book. Many thanks to Irene, Justin Golenbock, Greg Collins, Karl Gold, Nathan Weaver, Heather Saunders, Meryl Gross, and the entire team at Tor Books. Dot Lin, who was my publicist up until this book's release (and who is now working to put a few extra letters after her name), was a wonderful help not just in publicity, but in giving me advice and a cheering section over in New York. Thank you all.
And speaking of artwork, you may notice that the interior art for this book is far more extensive than what you normally find in an epic fantasy. This is due to the extraordinary efforts of Greg Call, Isaac Stewart, and Ben McSweeney. They worked hard, drafting artwork numerous times to get things right. Ben's work on Shallan's sketchbook pages is simply beautiful, a melding of my best imaginings and his artistic interpretations. Isaac, who also did the interior artwork for the Mistborn novels, went far above and beyond what should reasonably have been expected of him. Late nights and demanding deadlines were the norm for this novel. He is to be commended. (The chapter icons, maps, colored endpages, and Navani notebook pages came from him, if you are wondering.)
As always, my writing group has been an amazing help. The members of it are joined by a few alpha and beta readers. In no particular order, these are: Karen Ahlstrom, Geoff and Rachel Biesinger, Ethan Skarstedt, Nathan Hatfield, Dan Wells, Kaylynn ZoBell, Alan and Jeanette Layton, Janci Olds, Kristina Kugler, Steve Diamond, Brian Delambre, Jason Denzel, Mi'chelle Trammel, Josh Walker, Chris King, Austin and Adam Hussey, Brian T. Hill, and that Ben guy whose name I can't spell right. I'm sure I'm forgetting some of you. You are all wonderful people, and I'd give you Shardblades if I could.
Whew. This is turning into an epic acknowledgments. But there are still a few more people that need notice. The writing of these words is happening right around the one year anniversary of me hiring the Inevitable Peter Ahlstrom as my personal assistant, editorial aid, and extra brain. If you go through previous acknowledgments pages, you'll always find him there. He's been a dear friend of mine, and an advocate of my work, for years. I'm lucky to now have him working for me full time. He got up at three a.m. today to get the last proofread of the book done. When you next see him at a convention, buy him a block of cheese.
I would also be remiss if I didn't thank Tom Doherty for letting me get away with writing this book. It's because of Tom's belief in this project that we were able to get away with the novel being so long, and a personal call from Tom was what managed to get Michael Whelan to do the cover. Tom has given me more here than I probably deserve; this novel (at the length it boasts, with the number of illustrations and artwork it contains) is the type that would make many publishers run away at full speed. This man is the reason Tor consistently releases such awesome books.
Finally, a moment on Michael Whelan's wonderful cover. For those who haven't heard the story, I started reading fantasy novels (indeed, I became a reader in the first place) back as a teenager because of a beautiful Michael Whelan cover painting. He has a unique ability to capture the true soul of a book in a painting—I always knew I could trust a novel with one of his covers. I've dreamed of someday having a painting of his on one of my books. It seemed something I was unlikely ever to receive.
To finally have it happen—and on the novel of my heart that I've been working on for so long—is an amazing honor.
People 	
=== Words of Radiance ===	
=== Words of Radiance ===
Dedication 	
For Oliver Sanderson,
 Who was born during the middle of the writing of this book,
and was walking by the time it was done.
Acknowledgements	As you might imagine, producing a book in the Stormlight Archive is a major undertaking. It involved almost eighteen months of writing, from outline to final revision, and includes the artwork of four different individuals and the editorial eyes of a whole host of people, not to mention the teams at Tor who do production, publicity, marketing, and everything else a major book needs in order to be successful.
For some two decades now, the Stormlight Archive has been my dream—the story I always wished I could tell. The people you’ll read about below quite literally make my dreams a reality, and there aren't words to express my gratitude for their efforts. First in line on this novel needs to be my assistant and primary continuity editor, the incumbent Peter Ahlstrom. He worked very long hours on this book, putting up with my repeated insistence that things which did not fit continuity actually did—eventually persuading me I was wrong far more often than not.
As always, Moshe Feder—the man who discovered me as a writer—did excellent editorial work on the book. Joshua Bilmes, my agent, worked hard on the book in both an agenting and editorial capacity. He's joined by Eddie Schneider, Brady "Words of Bradiance" McReynolds, Krystyna Lopez, Sam Morgan, and Christa Atkinson at the agency. At Tor, Tom Doherty put up with me delivering a book even longer than the last one when I promised to make it shorter. Terry McGarry did the copyediting, Irene Gallo is responsible for the art direction for the cover, Greg Collins for interior design, Brian Lipofsky's team at Westchester Publishing Services for compositing, Meryl Gross and Karl Gold for production, Patty Garcia and her team for publicity. Paul Stevens acted as superman whenever we needed him. A big thanks to all of you.
You may have noticed that this volume, like the one before it, includes amazing art. My vision for the Stormlight Archive has always been of a series that transcended common artistic expectations for a book of its nature. As such, it is an honor to once again have my favorite artist, Michael Whelan, involved in the project. I feel that his cover has captured Kaladin perfectly, and I am extremely grateful for the extra time he spent on the cover—at his own insistence—going through three drafts before he was satisfied. To have endpapers of Shallan as well is more than I had hoped to see for the book, and I'm humbled by how well this whole package came together.
When I pitched the Stormlight Archive, I spoke of having “guest star” artists do pieces for the books here and there. We have our first of those in this novel, for which Dan dos Santos (another of my personal favorite artists, and the man who did the cover for Warbreaker) agreed to do some interior illustrations.
Ben McSweeney graciously returned to do more brilliant sketchbook pages for us, and he is a pure delight to work with. Quick to recognize what I want, sometimes even when I'm not quite sure what I want, I've rarely met a person who mixes talent and professionalism in the way Ben does. You can find more of his art at InkThinker.net.
A long time ago, almost ten years now, I met a man named Isaác Stewart who—in addition to being an aspiring writer—was an excellent artist, particularly when it came to things like maps and symbols. I started collaborating with him on books (starting with Mistborn) and he eventually set me up on a blind date with a woman named Emily Bushman—whom I subsequently married. So needless to say, I owe Isaac a few big favors. With each progressive book he works on, that debt on my part grows greater as I see the amazing work he has done. This year, we decided to make his involvement a little more official as I hired him full-time to be an in-house artist and to help me with administrative tasks. So if you see him, welcome him to the team. (And tell him to keep working on his own books, which are quite good.)
Also joining us at Dragonsteel Entertainment is Kara Stewart, Isaac's wife, as our shipping manager. (I actually tried to hire Kara first—and Isaac piped up noting that some of the things I wanted to hire her for, he could do. And it ended up that I got both of them, in a very convenient deal.) She's the one you'll interact with if you order T-shirts, posters, or the like through my website. And she's awesome.
We used a few expert consultants on this book, including Matt Bushman for his songwriting and poetry expertise. Ellen Asher gave some great direction on the scenes with horses, and Karen Ahlstrom was an additional poetry and song consultant. Mi'chelle Walker acted as Alethi handwriting consultant. Finally, Elise Warren gave us some very nice notes relating to the psychology of a key character. Thank you all for lending me your brains.
This book had an extensive beta read done under some strict time constraints, and so a hearty bridgeman salute goes to those who participated. They are: Jason Denzel, Mi'chelle Walker, Josh Walker, Eric Lake, David Behrens, Joel Phillips, Jory Phillips, Kristina Kugler, Lyndsey Luther, Kim Garrett, Layne Garrett, Brian Delambre, Brian T. Hill, Alice Arneson, Bob Kluttz, and Nathan Goodrich.
Proofreaders at Tor include Ed Chapman, Brian Connolly, and Norma Hoffman. Community proofreaders include Adam Wilson, Aubree and Bao Pham, Blue Cole, Chris King, Chris Kluwe, Emily Grange, Gary Singer, Jakob Remick, Jared Gerlach, Kelly Neumann, Kendra Wilson, Kerry Morgan, Maren Menke, Matt Hatch, Patrick Mohr, Richard Fife, Rob Harper, Steve Godecke, Steve Karam, and Will Raboin.
My writing group managed to get through about half of the book, which is a lot, considering how long the novel is. They are an invaluable resource to me. Members are: Kaylynn ZoBell, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Danielle Olsen, Ben-son-son-Ron, E. J. Patten, Alan Layton, and Karen Ahlstrom.
And finally, thanks to my loving (and rambunctious) family. Joel, Dallin, and little Oliver help keep me humble each day by always making me be the "bad guy" who gets beat up. My forgiving wife, Emily, put up with a lot this past year, as tours grew long, and I'm still not sure what I did to deserve her. Thank you all for making my world one of magic.
People 	
=== Oathbringer ===	
=== Oathbringer ===
Dedication 	For Alan Layton
 Who was cheering for Dalinar
 (And me)
 Before Stormlight even existed.
Acknowledgements	Welcome to Oathbringer! It’s been a long road, creating this book. I thank you for your patience. Stormlight books are a huge undertaking—which you might be able to infer from the large list of people below. If you haven’t had the chance to read Edgedancer—a separate Stormlight novella taking place between books two and three—I’d recommend it to you now. Find it sold on its own, or in the story collection Arcanum Unbounded, which has novellas and novelettes from all across the Cosmere. (The universe in which this series, Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker, and others take place.) That said, as always, every series is written so it can be read and enjoyed on its own, without knowledge of these other series or books. If you’re intrigued, you can find a longer explanation I’ve written at brandonsanderson.com/cosmere. Now, on to the parade of names! As I often say, though my name goes on the cover, there are tons of people involved in bringing you these books. They deserve my most hearty of thanks, and yours as well, for their tireless work across the three years it took to write this novel. My main agent for these books (and everything else) is the wonderful Joshua Bilmes, of JABberwocky. Others at the agency who worked on them include Brady McReynolds, Krystyna Lopez, and Rebecca Eskildsen. Special thanks also go to John Berlyne, my UK agent, of Zeno—along with all of the sub-agents who work with us around the world. My editor at Tor on this project was the ever-brilliant Moshe Feder. Special thanks to Tom Doherty, who has believed in the Stormlight project for years, and Devi Pillai, who provided essential publishing and editorial aid during the course of the novel’s creation. Others at Tor who provided help include Robert Davis, Melissa Singer, Rachel Bass, and Patty Garcia. Karl Gold was our Production Manager and Nathan Weaver the Managing Editor, with Meryl Gross and Rafal Gibek in trade production. Irene Gallo was our Art Director, Peter Lutjen the cover designer, Greg Collins the interior designer, and Carly Sommerstein our proofreader. At Gollancz/Orion (my UK publisher) thanks goes to Gillian Redfearn, Stevie Finegan, and Charlotte Clay. Our copyeditor on this book was Terry McGarry, who has done excellent work on many of my novels. The ebook was prepared by Westchester Publishing Services, along with Victoria Wallis and Christopher Gonzalez at Macmillan. Many people at my own company worked long hours to produce this book. 
A Stormlight novel is “crunch time” for us here at Dragonsteel, and so make sure to give the team a thumbs-up (or, in Peter’s case, a block of cheese) next time you meet them. Our manager and Chief Operations Officer is my lovely wife, Emily Sanderson. Vice President and Editorial Director is the Insistent Peter Ahlstrom. Art Director is Isaac Stʒwart. Our shipping manager (and the one who ships you all our signed books and T-shirts via the brandonsanderson.com store) is Kara Stewart. Continuity editor—and holy keeper of our internal continuity wiki—is Karen Ahlstrom. Adam Horne is my executive assistant and publicity/marketing director. Emily’s assistant is Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson and our executive minion is Emily “Mem” Grange. The audiobook was read by my personal favorite audiobook narrators, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. Thanks again, guys, for making time in your schedule for this! Oathbringer continues the tradition of filling The Stormlight Archive with beautiful art. We again have a fantastic cover illustration by Michael Whelan, whose attention to detail has given us an incredibly accurate rendition of Jasnah Kholin. I love that she gets a place to shine on the cover of this book, and I continue to feel honored and grateful that Michael takes time away from his gallery work to paint the world of Roshar. It takes a variety of artists to recreate the styles found in the ephemera of another world, so this time around we’ve worked with even more artists than before. Dan dos Santos and Howard Lyon are responsible for the paintings of the Heralds on the front and back endpapers. I wanted these to have a style evoking classical paintings of the Renaissance and the later Romantic era, and both Dan and Howard exceeded expectations. These pieces are not only great art for a book, they are great art period, deserving of a place in any gallery. I should note that Dan and Howard also contributed their talents to the interior art, for which I’m also grateful. Dan’s fashion pieces are good enough to be cover art, and Howard’s linework for some of the new chapter icons is something I hope to see more of in future volumes. Ben McSweeney joins us again, providing nine pieces of art from Shallan’s sketchbook. Between a cross-continent move, a demanding day job, and the needs of a growing family, Ben has been ever consistent in delivering top-notch illustrations. He is a great artist and a quality human being. Also lending their talents to this volume with full-page illustrations are Miranda Meeks and Kelley Harris. Both have done fantastic work for us in the past, and I think you’ll love their contributions this time around. In addition, a variety of wonderful people helped behind the scenes as consultants or facilitated other aspects of the art in this book: The David Rumsey Map Collection, Brent at Woodsounds Flutes, Angie and Michelle at Two Tone Press, Emily Dunlay, David and Doris Stewart, Shari Lyon, Payden McRoberts, and Greg Davidson. My writing group for Oathbringer (and they often read submissions each week at 5–8x the normal size) included Karen Ahlstrom, Peter Ahlstrom, Emily Sanderson, Eric James Stone, Darci Stone, Ben Olsen, Kaylynn ZoBell, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Alan “Leyten from Bridge Four” Layton, Ethan “Skar from Bridge Four” Skarstedt, and Ben “Don’t put me in Bridge Four” Olsen. Special thanks go to Chris “Jon” King for feedback on some particularly tricky scenes involving Teft, Will Hoyum for some advice on paraplegics, and Mi’chelle Walker for some special advisement on passages involving specific mental health issues. Beta readers included (take a deep breath) Aaron Biggs, Aaron Ford, Adam Hussey, Austin Hussey, Alice Arneson, Alyx Hoge, Aubree Pham, Bao Pham, Becca Horn Reppert, Bob Kluttz, Brandon Cole, Darci Cole, Brian T. Hill, Chris “Jon” King, Chris Kluwe, Cory Aitchison, David Behrens, Deana Covel Whitney, Eric Lake, Gary Singer, Ian McNatt, Jessica Ashcraft, Joel Phillips, Jory Phillips, Josh Walker, Mi’chelle Walker, Kalyani Poluri, Rahul Pantula, Kellyn Neumann, Kristina Kugler, Lyndsey “Lyn” Luther, Mark Lindberg, Marnie Peterson, Matt Wiens, Megan Kanne, Nathan “Natam” Goodrich, Nikki Ramsay, Paige Vest, Paul Christopher, Randy MacKay, Ravi Persaud, Richard Fife, Ross Newberry, Ryan “Drehy” Dreher Scott, Sarah “Saphy” Hansen, Sarah Fletcher, Shivam Bhatt, Steve Godecke, Ted Herman, Trae Cooper, and William Juan. Our beta reader comment coordinators were Kristina Kugler and Kellyn Neumann. Our gamma readers included many of the beta readers again, plus: Benjamin R. Black, Chris “Gunner” McGrath, Christi Jacobsen, Corbett Rubert, Richard Rubert, Dr. Daniel Stange, David HanTing Chow, Donald Mustard III, Eric Warrington, Jared Gerlach, Jareth Greeff, Jesse Y. Horne, Joshua Combs, Justin Koford, Kendra Wilson, Kerry Morgan, Lindsey Andrus, Lingting Xu, Loggins Merrill, Marci Stringham, Matt Hatch, Scott Escujuri, Stephen Stinnett, and Tyson Thorpe. As you can see, a book like this is a huge undertaking. Without the efforts of these many people, you’d be holding a far, far inferior book. As always, some final thanks go to my family: Emily Sanderson, Joel Sanderson, Dallin Sanderson, and Oliver Sanderson. They put up with a husband/father who is often off in another world, thinking about highstorms and Knights Radiant. Finally, thanks to you all, for your support of these books! They don’t always come out as quickly as I’d like, but that is in part because I want them to be as perfect as they can get. You hold in your hands a volume I’ve been preparing and outlining for almost two decades. May you enjoy your time in Roshar. Journey before destination.
People 	
=== Dawnshard ===	
=== Dawnshard ===
Dedication 	
For Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson
 Who is the person I know that best
 deserves her own larkin.
 (For now, her cats will have to do.)
Acknowledgements	I feel especially appreciative with this book, which was supported by the community directly. For those who don’t know, this book was produced as a result of a successful Kickstarter campaign for the Way of Kings leatherbound. So the first acknowledgment is to all of you! Thank you for your active enthusiasm for this series, which I always thought would be too strange and too enormous to be popular.
Putting Dawnshard together at the speed we did required a lot of work and time from many people. At their forefront is the indefatigable Peter Ahlstrom, Editorial Director at my company and primary editor of this volume. In addition, Karen Ahlstrom—continuity editor—did a lot of great work helping with the intricacies of this book’s timeline. Kristina Kugler was our line editor on this book, and she was fantastic as always.
The cover illustration and design were done by Ben McSweeney and Isaa¢ Stewart, with Isaa¢ Stewart acting as art director and Ben providing the illustrations—including the icons at the heads of chapters.
The writing group for this book was Kaylynn ZoBell, Ben Oldsen, Alan Layton, Ethan Skarstedt, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Eric James Stone, Darci Stone, Peter Ahlstrom, and Karen Ahlstrom.
Of special note for this book, we had a group of accessibility and paraplegia experts who gave me a ton of great feedback—leading to not just a better book in their specific area of expertise, but a more engaging and interesting book overall. They include Eliza Stauffer, Chana Oshira Block, Whitney Sivill, Sam Lytal, and Toby Cole.
Our beta reader team included Alice Arneson, Richard Fife, Darci Cole, Christina Goodman, Deana Whitney, Ravi Persaud, Paige Vest, Trae Cooper, Drew McCaffrey, Bao Pham, Lyndsey “Lyn” Luther, Eric Lake, Brian T. Hill, Nikki Ramsay, Paige Phillips, Leah Zine, Sam Lytal, Jessica Ashcraft, Ian McNatt, Mark Lindberg, Jessie Bell, David Behrens, Whitney Sivill, Chana Oshira Block, Nathan Goodrich, Marnie Peterson, Eliza Stauffer, and Toby Cole.
Gamma readers included many of the beta readers plus: Bao Pham, Aaron Ford, Frankie Jerome, Shannon Nelson, Linnea Lindstrom, Sam Baskin, Ross Newberry, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Jennifer Neal, Tim Challener, Ted Herman, Chris McGrath, Glen Vogelaar, Poonam Desai, Todd H. Singer, Suzanne Musin, Gary Singer, Christopher Cottingham, Joshua Harkey, Donita Orders, and Lingting “Botanica” Xu.
It should be noted that many of them, after just having finished the beta/gamma for Rhythm of War, went right into this book in order to get it done on time. I sincerely appreciate their wisdom, thoughtful feedback, and effort.
People 	
=== Rhythm of War ===	
=== Rhythm of War ===
Dedication 	
For Isaac Stewart
 Who paints my imagination.
Acknowledgements	I am proud to present to you Rhythm of War, Book Four of the Stormlight Archive. It’s been ten years now since I began this series, and it has been an increasingly satisfying experience to see the story grow and fulfill the vision I’ve had for it all these years. In particular, one scene at the end of this book is among the very first I ever imagined for the series, over twenty years ago!
We are approaching the last book of this sequence of the Stormlight Archive. (I imagine the series as two sets of five books, with two major arcs.) Thank you for sticking with me all these years! My goal is to keep delivering these in a timely manner. And as always, deadlines for this one were tight, and a lot of people put in a lot of hours to bring it to pass. This list will be a little long, but each and every one of them deserves to be commended for their efforts.
At Tor Books, my primary editor on this novel was Devi Pillai, and she was tireless, punctual, and a wonderful advocate for the Stormlight Archive. This is my first Cosmere book that wasn’t done with my longtime editor Moshe Feder, who still deserves a great deal of thanks for shepherding this series during its early years. But I want to give a special thanks to Devi for helping make this transition smooth and easy.
As always, thanks go to Tom Doherty, who gave me my first chance in publishing. Devi and Tom’s team at Tor who worked on this book with us include Rachel Bass, Peter Lutjen, Rafal Gibek, and Heather Saunders.
At Gollancz, my UK publisher, I want to give special thanks to Gillian Redfearn who provides editorial support through the entire process, and who also works very hard to make the books look great.
Our copyeditor was the always-great Terry McGarry, and joining us for the first time as a line editor was Kristina Kugler. I’ve wanted to work with Kristina for a long time on a Cosmere book, and she did an excellent job with this one.
For the audio book, Steve Wagner was our producer. And returning to the series are the excellent Michael Kramer and Kate Reading, the best audio narrators in the world. They have my hearty thanks for continuing to humor us by taking on these fifty-plus-hour beasts of an epic fantasy series.
My primary agent for this book was JABberwocky Literary Agency, with Joshua Bilmes at the helm. Assisting him were Susan Velazquez, Karen Bourne, and Valentina Sainato. Our UK agent is John Berlyne at the Zeno Literary Agency. I continue to be grateful for their work and advocacy on my behalf.
At my own company, Dragonsteel Entertainment, we have my wonderful wife Emily Sanderson as our manager. The Ineffable Peter Ahlstrom is our vice president and editorial director, and Isaac Stewart is our Art Director. Normally I do something silly with his name, but considering that this book is dedicated to him, I figured I’d let him off this time. Isaac not only is the one who creates our beautiful maps, but is the person who introduced me to my wife. (On a blind date, no less.) So if you ever get a chance to meet him, have him sign your copy of this book, and be sure to swap stories with him about your favorite LEGO sets.
Also at Dragonsteel Entertainment are Karen Ahlstrom, our continuity editor, and Kara Stewart, our warehouse manager and CFO. Adam Horne is my in-house publicist, personal assistant, and all around “I can do that” guy who gets things done. Our other store employees include Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Emily “Mem” Grange, Lex Willhite, and Michael Bateman. They’re the ones who get you your T-shirts, posters, and signed books. Their assistants, the “mini minions” of our team, include: Jacob, Hazel, Isabel, Matthew, Audrey, Tori, and Joe. Additionally, thanks to all those who volunteer, especially to the always awesome Christi Jacobson.
The artists who contributed to Rhythm of War braved not only pandemic and tragedy during the completion of the art, some even braved literal storms to deliver it. I’m in awe of their talent and commitment, and to all of them I not only give my heartfelt thanks, but I also wish them peace through the turbulent times they’ve faced.
One of the highlights of my career is getting to work with Michael Whelan. I’m humbled that he is so supportive of the books that he sets aside personal projects for a time to create the beautiful paintings he’s done for the series. I would have been grateful for just one of his cover illustrations, so I feel incredibly lucky that he continues to work his magic for Rhythm of War, producing what I think is the best Stormlight cover so far. It’s without a doubt a masterpiece, and I am in awe of it.
In Oathbringer, we printed portraits of the Heralds on the front and back endpapers, and we continue that tradition here. Early in the writing process for this book, we commissioned the remaining six Heralds, knowing that two of them would have to be saved for a future book. Each artist stepped up to the task and provided masterpieces. Donato’s Herald Talenelat is careworn yet triumphant, and I’m thrilled to have his beautiful vision of this character. Miranda Meeks is no stranger to the Stormlight Archive—we love getting to work with her any chance we have—and her Herald Battah is regal and mysterious. Karla Ortiz, whose work I’ve been a fan of for some time, has given us glorious and nigh-on-perfect visions of Heralds Chanaranach and Nalan. Lastly, Magali Villeneuve’s Heralds Pailiah and Kelek are stunning and wonderful. Howard Lyon collaborated with her to paint amazing oil versions of these last two, which will eventually be displayed with the others.
Dan dos Santos is a living legend and a good friend. He brings his signature style to the fashion plates in this volume, tackling the difficult challenge of portraying the singers as alien but also in a way that readers can identify with them emotionally. I think he’s done a fantastic job walking that line.
Ben McSweeney joined the Dragonsteel team full time this year, and the book showcases some of his best art. Shallan’s spren pages especially continue to help fill out the visual aesthetic of Roshar. I love how Ben’s piece detailing Urithiru’s atrium helps convey the immensity of the city; special thanks here to Alex Schneider, who consulted on some of the architectural layout.
A great big thanks to Kelley Harris, a core member of our Stormlight team who always brings Navani’s notebook pages to life with an impeccable design sense that reminds me of Alphonse Mucha’s product designs from the early twentieth century.
Additionally, many artists and others helped behind the scenes on this book and deserve a huge thank-you: Miranda Meeks, Howard Lyon, Shawn Boyles, Cori Boyles, Jacob, Isabel, Rachel, Sophie, and Hayley Lazo.
We had a few very important subject experts help us with this book. Shad “Shadiversity” Brooks was our primary historical martial arts consultant. Carl Fisk also lent us some of his expertise in this area—though if I got something wrong, it’s not their fault. It’s almost assuredly something I either didn’t show them on time, or forgot to change.
Our expert on Dissociative Identity Disorder was Britt Martin. I truly appreciate her willing to give me raw feedback on how to get better at how I represent mental illness in these books. She was our secret Knight Radiant for this novel, always there urging me forward.
Special thanks go to four of the beta readers in particular, for their detailed feedback on a certain aspect of sexuality: Paige Phillips, Alyx Hoge, Blue, and First Last. The book is better off with your contribution.
Our writing group on this book was Kaylynn ZoBell, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Eric James Stone, Darci Stone, Alan Layton, Ben “can you please just spell my name right for once, Brandon” Olzedixploxipllentivar, Ethan Skarstedt, Karen Ahlstrom, Peter Ahlstrom, Emily Sanderson, and Howard Tayler. And a better group of merry men/women you will not find. They read huge chunks of this book each week, and dealt with me making constant and enormous changes, in order to help me get the novel into shape.
Our expert team of beta readers this time included Brian T. Hill, Jessica Ashcraft, Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić, Joshua “Jofwu” Harkey, Kellyn Neumann, Jory “Jor the Bouncer” Phillips (Congrats, Jory!), Drew McCaffrey, Lauren McCaffrey, Liliana Klein, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Darci Cole, Brandon Cole, Joe Deardeuff, Austin Hussey, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Megan Kanne, Alyx Hoge, Trae Cooper, Deana Covel Whitney, Richard Fife, Christina Goodman, Bob Kluttz, Oren Meiron, Paige Vest, Becca Reppert, Ben Reppert, Ted Herman, Ian McNatt, Kalyani Poluri, Rahul Pantula, Gary Singer, Lingting “Botanica” Xu, Ross Newberry, David Behrens, Tim Challener, Matthew Wiens, Giulia Costantini, Alice Arneson, Paige Phillips, Ravi Persaud, Bao Pham, Aubree Pham, Adam Hussey, Nikki Ramsay, Joel D. Phillips, Zenef Mark Lindberg, Tyler Patrick, Marnie Peterson, Lyndsey Luther, Mi’chelle Walker, Josh Walker, Jayden King, Eric Lake, and Chris Kluwe. Our special beta reader comment coordinator was Peter Orullian, an excellent author in his own right. 
Our gamma readers included many of the beta readers, plus Chris McGrath, João Menezes Morais, Brian Magnant, David Fallon, Rob West, Shivam Bhatt, Todd Singer, Jessie Bell, Jeff Tucker, Jesse Salomon, Shannon Nelson, James Anderson, Frankie Jerome, Zoe Larsen, Linnea Lindstrom, Aaron Ford, Poonam Desai, Ram Shoham, Jennifer Neal, Glen Vogelaar, Taylor Cole, Heather Clinger, Donita Orders, Rachel Little, Suzanne Musin, William “aberdasher,” Christopher Cottingham, Kurt Manwaring, Chris Macy, Jacob Hunsaker, Aaron Biggs, Amit Shteinheart, Kendra Wilson, Sam Baskin, and Alex Rasmussen.
I know a lot of you reading this would like to join the beta or gamma reader team—but know that it’s not quite as sweet a gig as you might imagine. These folks have to read the book often under a great time crunch, and they have to experience it in an unfinished form. In a lot of ways, they’re giving up the chance to experience the book in its best form, getting an inferior experience, so they can make the book better for the rest of you. I appreciate their tireless work, and their feedback. This book is much better for their efforts.
That was a huge list, I know. It gets bigger in each book! But I sincerely appreciate every one of them. As I often say, my name goes on the cover, but these novels really are a group effort, using the talents and knowledge of a great array of dedicated people.
Because of them, you can now experience Rhythm of War, Book Four of the Stormlight Archive. May you enjoy the journey.
People 	
=== Wind and Truth ===	
=== Wind and Truth ===
Dedication 	
For Adam Horne,
 Who is a champion of books, and deserves his own Shardblade.
Acknowledgements	Welcome to Wind and Truth, Book Five of the Stormlight Archive. This is the midpoint in the series, and the ending of the first major arc. As such, I have wrestled with this book more than most, giving it a great portion of my thoughts, passion, and effort over the last four years. This is, to date, the longest book I've ever written-and this is among the longest amounts of time I've ever spent on a book. (Probably the longest, if you don't count projects I set down and came back to years later.) I hope you'll find the result worth the effort!
Below is a list of all the people who worked on the novel behind the scenes in various capacities. It's getting more and more like movie credits, with how many people help. I still write every word, and am the sole author of the books, but wow. Dragonsteel as a company has become some- thing spectacular. While for most books we keep a pretty normal work schedule, Stormlight novels are generally an "all hands on deck" situation- with some pulling extra hours to meet deadlines, and others spending a great deal of their working days focused only on helping get the book edited, publicized, and distributed. So if you ever get a chance to meet them, give them a handshake and a thank-you.
Then please, sit back and enjoy the show. A highstorm is brewing.
Artists who worked on this book: Michael Whelan, Donato Giancola, Miranda Meeks, Dan dos Santos, Audrey Hotte, Kelley King, Petar Penev, Howard Lyon, Greg Call, Isaac Stewart, Ben McSweeney, Anna Earley, Hayley Lazo.
At Tor Books: Devi Pillai, Stephanie Stein, Tessa Villanueva, Sanaa Ali-Virani, Rafal Gibek, Peter Lutjen, Alexis Saarela, Lucille Rettino, Emily Mlynek.
At Gollancz: Gillian Redfearn, Brendan Durkin, Emad Akhtar, Cait Davies, Javerya Iqbal.
Copyediting and proofreading: Terry McGarry, Christina MacDonald, Hayley Jozwiak.
Audiobook narrators: Michael Kramer and Kate Reading. At Macmil- lan Audio: Steve Wagner.
At JABberwocky Literary Agency: Joshua Bilmes, Susan Velasquez, Christina Zobel, Valentina Sainato, Brady McReynolds. At Zeno Literary Agency: John Berlyne.
At Dragonsteel: COO Emily Sanderson. Operations & HR: VP Matt "Why do you write my name like this, Brandon?" Hatch, Operations Director Jane Horne, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Jerrod Walker, Bray- donn Moore, Makena Saluone, Christian Fairbanks, Becky Wilson, Ethan Skarstedt, Finance Director Emma Tan-Stoker, Matt Hampton.
Creative Development: VP Isaac Stellart, Art Director Shawn Boyles, Art Director Ben McSweeney, Jennifer Neal, Rachael Lynn Buchanan, Anna Earley, Hayley Lazo, Priscilla Spencer.
Editorial: VP the Inviting Peter Ahlstrom, Editorial Director Kristy S. Gilbert, Continuity Director Karen Ahlstrom, Jennie Stevens, Betsey Ahlstrom, Emily Shaw-Higham.
Merchandise, Events, and Snazzy Sweaters: VP Kara Stewart, Mer- chandise Director Christi Jacobsen, Events & Support Director Kellyn Neumann, Lex Willhite, Richard Rubert, Dallin Holden, Ally Reep, Mem Grange, Brett Moore, Katy Ives, Joy Allen, Daniel Phipps, Michael Bateman, Alex Lyon, Jacob Chrisman, Camilla Waite, Quinton Martin, Hollie Rubert, Gwen Hickman, Isabel Chrisman, Amanda Butterfield, Logan Reep, Pablo Mooney.
Publicity & Marketing: VP Adam Horne, aka He for Whom the Book Is Dedicated (huzzah!), Marketing Director Jeremy Palmer, Octavia Escamilla-Spiker, Taylor Hatch, Tayan Hatch, Donald George Mustard III.
Narrative: VP Dan Wells-our lone member of the Narrative Department, except for his imaginary friend Bob the Banjo Player.
My writing group, Here There Be Dragons: Kaylynn ZoBell, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Eric James Stone, Darci Stone, Alan Layton, How's That Ben? (Olsen), Ethan Skarstedt, Karen Ahlstrom, Peter Ahlstrom, Emily Sanderson.
Dissociative identity disorder expert: Britt Martin. Military experts: Carl Fisk, John Fahey. Amputee and prosthetics expert: Matthew Fox.
Arcanists: Eric Lake, Evgeni "Argent" Kirilov, Joshua "Jofwu" Harkey, David Behrens, Ian McNatt, Ben Marrow.
Beta readers: Aaron Ford, Alexis Horizon, Alice Arneson, Alyx Hoge, Amit Shteinheart, Aubree Pham, Austin Hussey, Bao Pham, Beсса Reppert, Ben Marrow, Billy Todd, Bob Kluttz, Brandon Cole, Brian T. Hill, Britton Roney, Chana Oshira Block, Chris Kluwe, Chris McGrath, Christina Goodman, Christopher "chaplainchris" Cottingham, Craig Hanks, Darci Cole, David Behrens, Deana Covel Whitney, Donita Orders, Drew McCaffrey, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Eric Lake, Erika Kuta Marler, Evgeni "Argent" Kirilov, Gary Singer, Giulia Costantini, Glen Vogelaar, Ian McNatt, Jayden King, Jennifer Pugh, Jessica Ashcraft, Jessie Lake, João Menezes Morais, Joe Skeedlebop Deardeuff, Joelle Ruth Phillips, Jory "Jor the Bouncer" Phillips, Joshua Harkey, Kadie "Ene" Nytch, Kalyani Poluri, Kathleen Barlow, Dr. Kathleen Holland, Kendra Wilson, Krystl Allred, Kyle "Dorksider" Wilson, Laura Heinis, Lauren McCaffrey, Lauren "Biz's Mom" Strach, Liliana Klein, Linnea Lindstrom, Lyndsey Luther, Marnie Peterson, Matt Wiens, Max Salzman, Megan Kanne, Mi'chelle Walker, Paige Phillips, Paige Vest, Poonam Desai, Rachel Rada, Rahkeem Ball, Rahul Pantula, Richard Fife, Rob West, Rosemary Williams, Ross Newberry, Ryan Scott, Sam Baskin, Sarah Herr, Sarah Kane, Scott "Spydr" Webb, Sean VanBlack, Shannon Nelson, Shivam Bhatt, Siena "Lotus" Buchanan, Suzanne Musin, Taylor Cole, Ted Herman, Tim Challener, TJ McGrath, Trae Cooper, Zenef Mark Lindberg.
Gamma readers: Many of the beta readers plus Ari Kufer, Brian Magnant, Collin Abeln, Dale Wiens, Ellie Frato-Sweeney, Lingting "Botanica" Xu, Nisarg "Strifelover" Shah, Philip Vorwaller, Ram Shoham, Spencer White, Valencia Kumley, William Juan.
People 	
== Tress of the Emerald Sea ==
=== Tress of the Emerald Sea ===	
=== Tress of the Emerald Sea ===
Dedication 	FOR EMILY,
Who has all my love
Acknowledgements	What a ride.
When I sat down to write this book on a whim, I had no idea where the whole project would end up going. (Be sure to check out the postscript at the end of the book, where I talk about my inspirations for it in ways that might be a little too spoilery to put up front.)
I envisioned something special for the four books from the 2022 Secret Projects Kickstarter campaign, but my team has gone above and beyond. This turned out to be an absolutely gorgeous volume. I know that many of you will be listening to the audiobook, which certainly has its own special artistry—but if you get a chance, make sure you leaf through the print version. Because wow.
It’s fitting, therefore, to start off our thank-you with Howard Lyon. I envisioned these books being kind of an “artist’s showcase,” where we picked an artist and let them go a little wild with what they wanted to do in creating the book. Howard did so much on this book. The cover, the endpapers, the interior illustrations—but really, the entire design owes a lot to him. Thank you, Howard, for being willing to take on this huge project. You did an amazing job.
ʫaac Stewart is our art director at Dragonsteel, and was essential in making this all come together. Rachael Lynn Buchanan was our art assistant. Bill Wearne at American Print and Bindery really came through for us to get this thing printed, considering shortages. Many thanks, Bill. And I’d also like to thank all the people in the supply chain, from the paper mills to the cover and foil material suppliers, the press, the bindery, and the delivery drivers.
At Dragonsteel, our COO is Emily Sanderson. Our Editorial department is Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Kristy S. Gilbert, and Betsey Ahlstrom. Kristy Kugler was our copyeditor. Our Operations department is Matt “Are you going to do this in every book, Brandon?” Hatch, Emma Tan-Stoker, Jane Horne, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Makena Saluone, and Hazel Cummings. Our Publicity and Marketing department is Adam Horne, Jeremy Palmer, and
Taylor Hatch.
These folks don’t get enough credit for all the wonderful things they do to make my projects happen. In particular, with this Kickstarter campaign, I needed their enthusiasm and their wonderful ideas. (For example, the original idea for a subscription box was Adam’s several
years ago.) It was a lot of work to get all of this put together and executed, so if you have a chance, thank my team in person.
And, of course, we need to give an extra special thanks to my Fulfillment department. Kara Stewart’s team worked long hours to get these books to you all. They deserve a round of applause, and include Christi Jacobsen, Lex Willhite, Kellyn Neumann, Mem Grange, Michael Bateman, Joy Allen, Katy Ives, Richard Rubert, Sean VanBuskirk, Isabel Chrisman, Tori Mecham, Ally Reep, Jacob Chrisman, Alex Lyon, and Owen Knowlton.
I’d like to thank Margot Atwell, Oriana Leckert, and the rest of the team at Kickstarter. In addition I’d like to thank Anna Gallagher, Palmer Johnson, Antonio Rosales, and the rest of the BackerKit team.
We had a special sensitivity reader help us with this book—Jenna Beacom—and she was incredible. If you ever need someone to give you help on a book in regards to Deaf representation and how to write a deaf character, go straight to Jenna. She’ll help you get it right.
Our alpha readers for this project were Adam Horne, Rachael Lynn Buchanan, Kellyn Neumann, Lex Wilhite, Christi Jacobsen, Jennifer Neal, and Joy Allen.
Our beta readers were Mi’chelle Walker, Matthew Wiens, Ted Herman, Rob West, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Jessie Lake, Kalyani Poluri, Bao Pham, Linnea Lindstrom, Jory Phillips, Darci Cole, Craig Hanks, Sean VanBuskirk, Frankie Jerome, Giulia Costantini, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Trae Cooper, and Lauren McCaffrey.
Gamma proofreaders also included Joy Allen, Jayden King, Chris McGrath, Jennifer Neal, Joshua Harkey, Eric Lake, Ross Newberry, Bob Kluttz, Brian T. Hill, Shannon Nelson, Suzanne Musin, Glen Vogelaar, Ian McNatt, Gary Singer, Erika Kuta Marler, Drew McCaffrey, David Behrens, Rosemary Williams, Tim Challener, Jessica Ashcraft, Anthony Acker, Alexis Horizon, Liliana Klein, Christopher Cottingham, Aaron Biggs, and William Juan.
Last but not least, I need to give a special thanks to all of you who backed the Kickstarter project. I wasn’t gunning for the number one spot—let alone double that. I just wanted to do something different, something interesting, and something cool. Your support continues to mean so very much to me. Thank you.
Brandon Sanderson
People 	
== Warbreaker ==
=== Warbreaker ===	
=== Warbreaker ===
Dedication 	For Emily,who said yes
Acknowledgements	Working on Warbreaker was an unusual process in some ways; you can read more about it on my website. Suffice it to say that I had a more varied pool of alpha readers than normally, many of whom I know primarily through their handles on my forums. I've tried to get everyone’s names in here, but I'm sure I'm going to miss some. If you are one of those individuals, feel free to email me, and we’ll try to get you in future printings.
The first acknowledgment goes to my lovely wife, Emily Sanderson, whom I married while writing this book. This is the first novel of mine that she had a large hand in by giving me feedback and suggestions, and her help is greatly appreciated. Also, as always, my agent, Joshua Bilmes, and my editor, Moshe Feder, did an extremely large amount of work on this manuscript, taking it from the Second or Third Heightening to at least the Eighth.
At Tor, several people have gone well beyond their call of duty. The first is Dot Lin, my publicist, who has been particularly awesome to work with. Thanks, Dot! And, as always, the tireless efforts of Larry Yoder deserve a note, as well as the excellent work of Tor's art director genius, Irene Gallo. Dan Dos Santos did the cover art of this book, and I strongly suggest you check out his website and his other work, because I think he’s one of the best in the business right now. Also, Paul Stevens deserves a word of thanks for being the in-house liaison for my books.
In the special thanks department, we have Joevans3, and Dreamking47, Louise Simard, Jeff Creer, Megan Kauffman, thelsdj, Megan Hutchins, Izzy Whiting, Janci Olds, Drew Olds, Karla Bennion, Eric James Stone, Dan Wells, Isaac Stewart, Ben Olsen, Greyhound, Demented Yam, D.Demille, Loryn, Kuntry Bumpken, Vadia, U-boat, Tjaeden, Dragon Fly, pterath, BarbaraJ, Shir Hasirim, Digitalbias, Spink Longfellow, amyface, Richard "Captain Goradel" Gordon, Swiggly, Dawn Cawley, Drerio, David B, Mi'chelle Trammel, Matthew R Carlin, Ollie Tabooger, John Palmer, Henrik Nyh, and the insoluble Peter Ahlstrom.
People 	
* Map by Shawn Boyles
== Yumi and the Nightmare Painter ==
=== Yumi and the Nightmare Painter ===	
=== Yumi and the Nightmare Painter ===
Dedication 	Also for Emily,Who, for some amazing reason, gives me her love.
Acknowledgements	First off, let’s acknowledge Emily—the person this book is dedicated to—for being both my inspiration and my co-president at Dragonsteel. I think you would all be amazed by how much she does behind the scenes. She deserves praise, accolades, and no small thanks for sharing her book (which this is) with all of you.
Creative Development is our department focused on things like artwork for the books, concept art, and various cool things like that. In this department, I’d like to thank Isaac StewarŤ—VP, and my longtime partner in crime—for taking on the huge task of getting the artwork ready for all these Secret Projects.
And speaking of that, Aliya Chen was the artist for this book, and she did an amazing job. My goal for each of these books was to let the artists have extra freedom to create art for the story the way they want, and Aliya was really fantastic to work with. I hope those of you who listen to the audiobook will find time to go check out the beautiful pieces she did for this project.
Other members of this department include Rachael Lynn Buchanan (who brought Aliya’s art to our attention), Jennifer Neal, Ben McSweeney, Hayley Lazo, Priscilla Spencer, and Anna Earley.
We also want to thank some of the people external to our organization here at Dragonsteel who helped on this project. This includes Oriana Leckert at Kickstarter, and Anna Gallagher and Palmer Johnson at BackerKit. Also, a special thanks to Bill Wearne, our print rep, who worked miracles to get these books printed on our schedule.
Our Editorial department is headed by VP the Installed Peter Ahlstrom. His team also stepped up in a big way to get four extra books done on time, and they deserve huge props! They include Karen Ahlstrom, Kristy S. Gilbert (who did the layout), Betsey Ahlstrom, Jennie Stevens, and Emily Shaw-Higham. Deanna Hoak did our copyediting on this book.
Our Operations department VP is Matt “You’re publishing how many books this year?” Hatch, who came on to our company just in time for us to do this huge project. Also on the operations team are Emma Tan-Stoker, Jane Horne, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Makena Saluone, Hazel Cummings, and Becky Wilson. Thanks so much, folks, for keeping us all in line and focused!
The Publicity and Marketing department is headed by VP Adam Horne. These are the folks who helped me put together all the videos promoting the Secret Projects, and have been an invaluable resource in helping me get the news out about all of this! His team includes Jeremy Palmer, Taylor D. Hatch, and Octavia Escamilla. Nice work!
Last but not least is our Merchandising and Events department, headed by Kara Stewart as the VP. This team took on an extra-large burden for these four Secret Projects, as it was a huge endeavor to get it all put together, packaged, and shipped out to you all. They also spearheaded getting the digital products to everyone, and they handle customer service, so no matter which version of the book you ended up getting, these are the fine folks who got them to you! A huge thanks to them for all their work.
The team includes: Christi Jacobsen, Lex Willhite, and Kellyn Neumann.
Mem Grange, Michael Bateman, Joy Allen, Katy Ives, Richard Rubert, Brett Moore, Ally Reep, Daniel Phipps, and Dallin Holden.
Alex Lyon, Jacob Chrisman, Matt Hampton, Camilla Cutler, Quinton Martin, Kitty Allen, Esther Grange, Amanda Butterfield, Laura Loveridge, Gwen Hickman, Donald Mustard III, Zoe Hatch, Logan Reep, Rachel Jacobsen, and Sydney Wilson.
My writing group for this book included Emily Sanderson, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Darci Stone, Eric James Stone, Alan Layton, Ethan Skarstedt, and Ben Olseeeen.
Alpha readers for this book included Jessie Farr, Oliver Sanderson, Rachael Lynn Buchanan, Jennifer Neal, Christi Jacobson, Kellyn Neumann, Lex Willhite, Joy Allen, and Emma Tan-Stoker.
Beta readers include Joshua Harkey, Tim Challener, Lingting “Botanica” Xu, Ross Newberry, Becca Reppert, Jessica Ashcraft, Alyx Hoge, Liliana Klein, Rahul Pantula, Gary Singer, Alexis Horizon, Lyndsey Luther, Nikki Ramsay, Suzanne Musin, Marnie Peterson, and Kendra Wilson.
Gamma readers include many of the beta readers plus: Brian T. Hill, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Rosemary Williams, Shannon Nelson, Brandon Cole, Glen Vogelaar, Rob West, Ted Herman, Drew McCaffrey, Jessie Lake, Chris McGrath, Bob Kluttz, Sam Baskin, Kendra Alexander, Lauren McCaffrey, Billy Todd, Chana Oshira Block, and Jayden King.
And, obviously, I’d like to give a huge thanks to all of our Kickstarter backers, who made this project possible! Your enthusiasm has really propelled this project into the stratosphere. Thank you so very much.
Brandon Sanderson
People 	
== The Sunlit Man ==
=== The Sunlit Man ===	
=== The Sunlit Man ===
Dedication 	For all of you, the fans of the Cosmere, Who make my dreams come to life.
Acknowledgements	Whew! What a year! This was quite the wild ride, involving a ton of work from everyone involved. I’ll make sure to get to them all in this section, but I just wanted to say a big thank-you to everyone. It was a herculean effort to get these books edited, illustrated, and delivered.
Our editor on this book was Moshe Feder, my longtime partner in crime and the man who discovered me. We were thrilled to work with him again, and I’m glad he was here to help me with this next step of Nomad’s journey. A special thank-you goes to Dr. Joseph Jensen for his help with the astrophysics, as this one is a bit of a doozy as far as that is concerned. Also, the Cosmere Arcanist team—you guys are great.
I’m represented by the remarkable team at the JABberwocky Literary Agency, with Joshua Bilmes at the helm. Thanks also to Susan Velazquez and Christina Zobel.
This book is odd compared to the other secret projects, as we have three illustrators, not one. We wanted to try out some new people and found some individuals who worked well for this specific novel. Thank you to all of them for their amazing work. These projects became extra special because of their involvement. Ernanda Souza did the endpapers, full-color illustrations, and concept art. She really did a great job and was awesome to work with. Nabetse Zitro did our interior drawings, joining us again after the incredible work he did on the new comic pages in the White Sand graphic novel omnibus. And kudriaken did our spectacular cover illustration.
Bill Wearne, our print rep at American Print and Bindery, made magic happen with each of the secret projects. We appreciate him, the printer, the bindery, and all those who helped with the manu­facturing of this book. Debi Bergerson was instrumental on the print side, and Chad Dillon went above and beyond to ensure high-quality binding materials.
From here, let’s go to the departments at Dragonsteel. I have the best team in the business, and they all put a lot of work into these secret projects.
Isaac StÙart is our vice president of Creative Development. His team includes Ben McSweeney (who did great concept work to keep the vision of the project cohesive), Rachael Lynn Buchanan (who did a lot of heavy lifting helping Isaac work with the artists, choosing scenes to illustrate, and keeping track of details), Jennifer Neal, Hayley Lazo, Priscilla Spencer, and Anna Earley.
The Instructional Peter Ahlstrom is our vice president of Editorial. His team includes Karen Ahlstrom, Kristy S. Gilbert, Jennie Stevens (our in-house editor of this book), Betsey Ahlstrom, and Emily Shaw-Higham. Kristy Kugler did the copyedit.
The Narrative department is just Dan Wells, who is also its VP. But we let him boss Ben around to make up for it.
Our COO is Emily Sanderson, and the Operations team includes Matt “Matt” Hatch, Emma Tan-Stoker, Jane Horne, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Makena Saluone, Hazel Cummings, and Becky Wilson.
Adam Horne, a.k.a. the Grand Master of Corgis, is our vice president of Publicity and Marketing. His team includes Jeremy Palmer, Taylor D. Hatch, and Octavia Escamilla.
Kara Stewart is our vice president of Merchandising, Events, and making sure you all get your boxes of stuff. Her team includes Emma Tan-Stoker, Christi Jacobsen, Kellyn Neumann, Lex Willhite, Mem Grange, Michael Bateman, Joy Allen, Ally Reep, Richard Rubert, Katy Ives, Brett Moore, Dallin Holden, Daniel Phipps, Jacob Chrisman, Alex Lyon, Matt Hampton, Camilla Cutler, Quinton Martin, Esther Grange, Logan Reep, Laura Loveridge, Amanda Butterfield, Gwen Hickman, Donald Mustard III, Zoe Hatch, Pablo Mooney, Braydonn Moore, Avery Morgan, Nathan Mortensen, Christian Fairbanks, Dal Hill, George Kaler, Kathleen Barlow, Kaleigh Arnold, Kitty Allen, Rachel Jacobsen, Sydney Wilson, Katelyn Hatch, and Judy Torsak.
I’d like to thank Oriana Leckert from Kickstarter, and Anna Gallagher, Palmer Johnson, and McKynzee Wiggins (chief button maker) from BackerKit.
My writing group consists of Emily Sanderson, Kathleen Dorsey Sanderson, Peter Ahlstrom, Karen Ahlstrom, Darci Stone, Eric James Stone, Alan Layton, Ethan Skarstedt, Ben Olsen, and Dan Wells.
Alpha readers for this book include Karen Ahlstrom, Joy Allen, Christi Jacobsen, Brett Moore, Brad Neumann, Kellyn Neumann, Ally Reep, Emma Tan-Stoker, Sean VanBlack, and Dan Wells.
Our beta readers are Ravi Persaud, Ian McNatt, Brandon Cole, Shannon Nelson, Ben Marrow, Jennifer Neal, Poonam Desai, Chris McGrath, Sumejja Muratagić-Tadić, Kendra Alexander, Zenef Mark Lindberg, Paige Phillips, Rosemary Williams, Eric Lake, David Behrens, William Juan, and Erika Kuta Marler. Special thanks to Mikah Kilgore for xyr beta feedback on the image descriptions found in the ebook and audiobook.
Our gamma readers include many beta readers, along with Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Joshua Harkey, Ross Newberry, Tim Challener, Jessica Ashcraft, Ted Herman, Brian T. Hill, Rob West, Paige Vest, Gary Singer, Darci Cole, Kalyani Poluri, Jayden King, Lingting “Botanica” Xu, Glen Vogelaar, Bob Kluttz, Billy Todd, Megan Kanne, Eliyahu Berelowitz Levin, Aaron Ford, Jessie Lake, and Sam Baskin.
The Arcanist team includes Eric Lake, Evgeni “Argent” Kirilov, Ben Marrow, David Behrens, Ian McNatt, and Joshua Harkey.
As this is the last book of the Secret Projects Kickstarter, I wanted to take one final opportunity to thank you all. I might have written the books, but you created the event that they became. You made this year so very special. After you’ve read the book, see the postscript for more.
Brandon Sanderson
People 	
== The Wheel of Time ==
=== The Gathering Storm ===	
=== The Gathering Storm ===
Dedication	For Maria Simons and Alan Romanczuk,without whom this book wouldn't have been possible
People 	
=== Towers of Midnight ===	
=== Towers of Midnight ===
Dedication	For Jason Denzel, Melissa Craib, Bob Kluttz, Jennifer Liang,Linda Taglieri, Matt Hatch, Leigh Butler, Mike Mackert,and all those readers who over the years have made The Wheel of Time part of their lives, and in doing so have made the lives of others better
People 	
=== A Memory of Light ===	
=== A Memory of Light ===
Dedication	For Harriet,the light of Mr. Jordan's life,and for Emily, the light of mine.
People 	
== Notes ==
*
Category: Out of Universe
category: indices
category: list articles