A few weeks ago I talked about the Hugo Voter Packet and how for a $60 supporting membership to Worldcon you could get copies of most of the Hugo Award-nominated works. Well, the packet was finally released today, so if you're already a member go download it now! If you're not a Worldcon member already, check out the cover art of the nominated works (it looks like pretty much everything except for the Dramatic Presentations are included in the packet) and consider joining so you can vote for the Hugo Awards by the July 31st deadline. My Hugo Award-nominated novella THE EMPEROR'S SOUL is in the packet alongside the other Best Novella nominees, and it's an honor to be in such a group.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about short story writing with Mary Robinette Kowal. Mary has published more short stories than the rest of us combined, and she has a lot of good helpful things to say about the process.

I sent out a newsletter last week. Here it is. If you're interested in getting these three or four times per year, and getting an email reminder when I'm signing near your city, sign up here.

Tonight I'm signing in San Jose and tomorrow I'll be in Albuquerque. Details on my events page. I've also left quite a few signed books at my previous tour stops, so give the following stores a call!

Tor.com's reread of THE WAY OF KINGS reaches chapter 11 today, which is Kaladin's low point.

The Rithmatist is out! Buy it from the links to the right or visit your local bookstore. (In the UK/Australia, the release date is May 23rd.) My book tour starts tonight in New York and continues in Philadelphia, Denver, Omaha, New Orleans, Houston, San Jose, Albuquerque, Phoenix, Provo, and Spanish Fork. For details see my events page. (And note, as always I'm happy to sign any books you bring to a signing. Don't feel bad showing up to a signing for The Rithmatist carrying your copy of A Memory of Light. I'll sign it gladly. And if you want me to send you an email when I'll be signing near you, tell me your city here.)

Just a quick update today. I'm on my way to New York for the release of THE RITHMATIST on Tuesday. More about that in another post tomorrow, but The Book Smugglers have an interview with me where I talk about it and about writing YA, among other things.

This week's Writing Excuses podcast episode talks about the culture that surrounds the writing community and the conventions we attend.

Tor.com's reread of THE WAY OF KINGS has reached chapters 9 and 10, including Kaladin's first flashback chapter.

My YA fantasy novel THE RITHMATIST comes out next week. Read the first 5 chapters here and check out my signing tour schedule here. Tor.com also put up an article today talking about the book's magic system.

I'm also pleased to report that Michael Kramer is narrating the audiobook for THE RITHMATIST. You can listen to the prologue and the first part of chapter 1 below. It will be available from Macmillan Audio via Audible and preloaded digital audio, and I assume via iTunes as usual though the listing isn't up yet.

I got back from JordanCon a few days ago. Often times at cons and signings, my readers bring me small gifts. I'm deeply grateful for the time and thought put into these, and I try to post pictures of some of them from time to time. JordanCon was no exception. Here are some of the cool things you all gave me.

A highlight of the con for me was going to lunch with one of my idols, Michael Whelan. (For more on how much I love his work, see here.) He gave me one of the signed limited editions of The Art of Michael Whelan, which includes a beautiful original illustration (below). The book and the illustration are absolutely gorgeous. I can't wait to see what Michael comes up with for the cover of Words of Radiance.

On Saturday Tor.com posted an essay of mine entitled "Terry Pratchett's Discworld Might Be The Highest Form of Literature on the Planet." I've mentioned my love of Terry Pratchett a few times on the blog before, but in this essay I lay out my whole case.

My YA fantasy novel THE RITHMATIST comes out on May 14th in the US/Canada, and May 23rd in UK/Commonwealth countries. (Read the prologue and first five chapters here.)

This past weekend I had a great time at JordanCon. Next year's Author Guest of Honor will be Patrick Rothfuss, with Artist Guest of Honor Larry Elmore. It should be awesome.

While I was there I signed a number of books for two booksellers, The Missing Volume and Basement Books. They each also have a handful of copies of my Firstborn/Defending Elysium convention exclusive—but I forgot to sign those. Whoops. Still, if you're not at a con, this is the only way to get your hands on that hardcover until much later this year. Both booksellers will ship to you.

The Missing Volume
Raleigh, NC
Email: info@themissingvolume.com
Phone: 321-297-6635
Plenty of signed copies of The Emperor's Soul and one signed copy of a number of other hardcovers and paperbacks such as The Alloy of Law, Wheel of Time books, and The Way of Kings. Inquire for details.

Basement Books
Email: tsbooks@mindspring.com
Phone: 770-849-9659
20 signed copies of Legion (very hard to find elsewhere!), a few signed 1st editions of Warbreaker, copies of The Alloy of Law triple-signed by Brandon, Ben, & Isaac, signed copies of The Emperor's Soul.

The latest Writing Excuses podcast is another brainstorming episode, where Mary, Howard, and Dan help me come up with ideas for a story about psychic birds. Enjoy. And yes, I did end up writing this story (a novelette) after doing the podcast. More on that in the future.

Tor.com has put up another two chapters of their reread of THE WAY OF KINGS: chapters 3 and 4. This covers Shallan's introduction and Kaladin's arrival at the Shattered Plains.

If you missed my AMA at Reddit, you can find my answers here.

I've finished uploading the videos of me writing one of the interludes from WORDS OF RADIANCE, the sequel to THE WAY OF KINGS. I've also made a high-speed version of all of the writing, which you can see below, if the real-time version was too slow for you. There's a playlist of all of the real-time videos here, and the final video (if you were keeping up already) is here.

This has been a bit of an experiment, to show my writing process. Now that it's all done, what have you thought about the experiment?

This weekend I'll be at JordanCon in Atlanta. My schedule is below, and the full schedule is here.

Guests of Honor this year are Seanan McGuire (a.k.a. Mira Grant) and Michael Whelan. Team Jordan will also be participating.

Stormlight/Mistborn/Rithmatist artists Isaac Stewart and Ben McSweeney will also be there. They have a panel with Michael Whelan called Art of the Stormlight Archive that you might want to check out.