Podcast appearances and mentions of Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells are back with the burning questions from the internet. Questions that have boggled the greatest minds. Questions that leave one scratching there chin, wondering how they came to this point to consider such things. But now, such great questions can be answered by these two intrepid hosts. Feel your mind begin to understand a little more about this universe on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

An unboxing of... *drumroll* A SPECIAL EDITION OF AMONG THE THORNS! I'm also telling you all about my weekend at FanX Salt Lake City and the fab authors I was privileged to hang out with. Among The ThornsIndie Booksellers! You can buy my indie books direct from me at discount!! Submit a Request for an order hereNew Releases ~Blades, Books, and the BanditLove, Lies, and Ley LinesMAGIC REBORNNever The RosesThe posture correcting sports bra I love almost more than life itself can be found hereThank you for listening! You all take care. Support the show

Wherein we encounter a nightmare.  Slip into our inbox: gwritersanon@gmail.com  Paint across our Facebook page (Ghost Writers, Anonymous).  

In Episode 194 of the Polyhedron Collider Cast, the boys from PHC dive into another eclectic collection of tabletop games and roleplaying adventures. This time we're dealing with mysterious supernatural forces, suspicious animals, a card laying engine builder, and the sprawling fantasy universe of Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere. We begin with The Presence, which is coming to Kickstarter for a reprint very soon. Take the role of Victorian ghost hunters and put the spirits to rest. We then look at a Carnivore Did It, a simple but effective game of deduction, provided Rory has the clues right. We then step into the imaginative world of Citizens of the Spark, where various guilds vie for control of the elusive sparks. Finally, we journey into one of modern fantasy's biggest fictional universes with the Cosmere RPG. Based on the interconnected worlds created by Brandon Sanderson, this ambitious roleplaying game promises epic fantasy adventures, powerful characters and plenty of opportunities to explore the wider Cosmere. We discuss the system, setting and what it offers both existing Sanderson fans and tabletop RPG players. As always, expect board game reviews, RPG chat, strong opinions, questionable theories and the usual Polyhedron Collider banter. Join the conversation on our [Discord server] and let us know what's been hitting your table this week!   Podcast Contents 00:00:00  Sid's Big TV 00:07:02 Rory's Trip to Hachette: Back to Back, Magister, & Birds 00:09:39 Airecon West 00:15:04 The Presence 00:32:48 A Carnivore Did It 00:39.24 Citizens of the Spark 00:48.49 Cosmere RPG   ⭐Show Sponsor: E Toys World When you sign up to an account with E Toys World use this link https://www.etoysworld.co.uk/discount/PHC10 to bag yourself a wee discount and help support the show.  Let's face it, you were going to buy a board game anyway

This week on PodQuest, Walnut has gotten all of the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order achievments (But that isn't the same as 100%?!), then both Walnut and Chris played the tabletop game Above and Below Haunted, and Chris read the newest Brandon Sanderson release (for Kickstarter backers) The Fires of December and dives into full spoilers. We also talk a bit about another crowdfunded game, Ink Ribbon, a survival horror inspired TTRPG. Our current book club theme is car or race movies, with our last pick is Bumblebee from 2018. Timestamps 00:00:00 - Intro 00:10:49 - Agenda 00:12:03 - Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order 00:24:51 - Above and Below Haunted (Board Game) 00:39:51 - The Fires of December by Brandon Sanderson (Novel) 00:55:14 - Ink Ribbon: Survival Horror TTRPG 01:00:10 - Outro Support One-Quest https://www.Patreon.com/OneQuest Follow Us Email - Social@one-quest.com Twitter - @One_Quest Instagram - @One_Quest Facebook - OneQuestOnline Follow Chris on Twitter - @Just_Cobb Follow Richie on Twitter - @B_Walnuts Follow Drootin on Twitter - @IamDroot Check out Richie's streaming and videos! Twitch b_walnuts YouTube BWalnuts TikTok b_walnuts Intro and Outro music Mega Man 2 'Project X2 - Title Screen' OC ReMix courtesy of Project X over at OCRemix

This week on PodQuest, Walnut has gotten all of the Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order achievments (But that isn't the same as 100%?!), then both Walnut and Chris played the tabletop game Above and Below Haunted, and Chris read the newest Brandon Sanderson release (for Kickstarter backers) The Fires of December and dives into full spoilers. We also talk a bit about another crowdfunded game, Ink Ribbon, a survival horror inspired TTRPG.

Brandon Sanderson is joined by Isaac Stewart for this episode of Intentionally Blank where they make the most important choices, what is the best color? This tierlist pits them against the best colors around, will they be able to choose who makes the top?Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

In this Episode of the Stormpod, Shawn Q and Jack Cover Chapters 48 & 49 of Rhythm of War  by Brandon Sanderson. In this episode, Eshonai deal with the Alethi and Kaladin communicates with Navani.Recording and Editing by Shawn QInfo Dump Production by Buzzkill JoeProduced By; The Heroes of Hacathra: Jack, Jay, Phil, Shawn, and Mike and the wonderful Patreon Team.Theme Song by: Jack Forrest ProductionsAdditional Music by: Jason Morin Logo by Trina Macintoshif you'd like to support the show consider visiting our Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/Heroesofor visit us on twitter https://twitter.com/Heroesof1 or on Instagram https://instagram.com/thestormpod  or email us at http://heroesofhacathra@gmail.comSupport the show

In this episode, Madeline chats with her friend Maryam Volpe, a physical therapist in an outpatient setting. During their conversation, they discuss what the day in the life of a physical therapist office is like, the kinds of things physical therapy can help with, the Eucharist and how it changed her faith life, intercessory prayer, Marian devotion, the surrender novena, and so much more!During the course of their conversation, they make many references which you can explore. Some of these references include Anne Marie's episode, the Mistborn saga by Brandon Sanderson, Markmaker by Mary Jessica Woods, A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr., the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio, Jonathan Roumie's Eucharistic Congress talk, 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael Gaitley, and True Devotion to Mary by St. Louis de Montfort. Feel free to like, subscribe, and share the episode! Follow us on Instagram! @sbltfpodcast

L'émission Front Page est une revue d'actualité qui s'intéresse à tout ce qui touche le monde de la bande dessinée américaine (comics) du côté des Etats-Unis comme de la France, ainsi qu'à ses adaptations tous médias confondus. Le podcast est une série régulière chez First Print et revient au rythme de trois épisodes par mois, hors contenus spéciaux. Ce Front Page est le deuxième podcast consacré à l'actualité comics du mois de septembre 2026.REJOIGNEZ NOUS SUR DISCORD !!Le podcast est sponsorisé par Pulps et on vous propose un "Focus Pulps" chaque mois ! Découvrez une sélection de comics VO à prix de lancement !Le Focus Pulp's de septembre 2026 : Rampant Swine / No One Escapes the Dialectic / Swamp Thing is Killing the ChildrenLe ProgrammeCOMICS - 03:36Plein, plein de monde à Quai des Bulles et alentours !Tournée de dédicaces pour Neyef et Simon “Hutt” T Naked City d'Eric Drooker arrive en VFLe Ténébreux de Brandon Sanderson, bientôt au Livre de PocheHomerun & Tentacules ainsi que Kodi 2 annoncé chez Komics InitiativeLe Phare : l'anthologie d'Astrolabe dévoile/rappelle ses équipes créativesTHB et Deicidium au programme automnal des éditions MorgenLes comics reviennent chez Huginn & Munnin avec Human Nature et X-Men ElsewhenL'intégrale Tortues Ninja de retour avec 4 tomes en VF chez HiComicsLa saga Avengers de Jonathan Hickman rééditée pour une collection en 18 tomesDoom Wars : la seconde collection “petit prix” de 2026 pour accompagner DoomsdayWonder Woman : le run de Tom King s'arrêtera au 40e numéro Un certain personnage fait son retour chez Marvel pour Avengers : ArmageddonTV - 1:31:24Le créateur de Warrior Nun récupère les droits de sa sérieUn premier trailer pour Batman Knightfall part 2 : KnightquestQuatre série TV Spider-Man en développement chez Sony Pictures ? Daredevil : Born Again prendra fin à la 3e saison CINEMA - 1:43:33X-Men : Asa Germann sera Angel pour le reboot de Marvel StudiosLe rachat Warner/Paramount finalement validéSoutenez First Print - Podcast Comics de Référence sur TipeeeHébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

This week, we are joined by the greatest modern fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to talk about his works and his relationship with Magic!  Casual Magic is brought to you by Quiver deckboxes and sleeves and by my patrons at Patreon.com/shivamb. Thank you for your support.

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells are here to answer the most important questions ever asked: yours! From Muppet fan-casts to musings on the Star Wars prequels, their takes are hot and their cereal milk is cold on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Brooke and Tyler bake up some warm bread to better understand the mind of the most confusing character in the Stormlight Archive. Nohadon began as a simple king who just wanted to take a walk but his journey has become the focal point of endless speculation throughout the fandom. #AllSpoilers Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Get a discount on all your fantasy-inspired candles! Cantrip Candles [Affiliate Link]( hthttps://cantripcandles.com/?bg_ref=u7DgZasLmm) Discount Code: CANTRIPTYLER10 Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

Le thème du jour est un joyeux mélange de sujets cosy, et délicieusement chaotiques. C'est la rentrée, et nous avons énormément d'histoires à vous partager! Dans cet épisode d'Au Coin du Checkpoint, nous vous expliquons comment le podcast évolue autour de notre nouvelle équipe de trois . Matt, tu nous manques déjà :')Donc remplace les actu et les reco, qu'on transforme en nouveau format qui tournera autours d'un format plus général et intemporel : Les "Points d'Interet".On parle de nos dernières passions, nos projets, nos lectures, nos jeux vidéo du moment et tout ce qui nous occupe en cette rentrée.Nos Points d'Interet :Alex : terminer la lecture de La Roue du Temps, la célèbre saga de fantasy de Robert Jordan.Jacno : écrire et corriger Libera Me, Domina, un jeu de rôle sur des nonnes au Moyen Âge, en Provence.Sky : découvrir Sovereign Tower, un jeu vidéo développé par WILD WITS GAMES, suivre l'actualité de Star Wars: Zero Company et réflexion super deep sur l'adoption de chats-labradors._____Soutenez-nous sur Patreon en devenant un Compagnon du Checkpoint !Accédez à des avantages exclusifs et ludiques… et offrez-nous un bon café ou une tournée de bières!

Brea and Mallory name their most anticipated books of September! Plus, they interview Mike Chen about his debut YA novel! Email us at readingglassespodcast at gmail dot com!Reading Glasses MerchRecommendations StoreThe Reading Glasses Book!Sponsor - ZocDocwww.zocdoc.com/GLASSESLinks -Reading Glasses Facebook GroupReading Glasses Goodreads GroupWish ListNewsletterLibro.fmTo join our Discord channel, email us proof of your Reading-Glasses-supporting Maximum Fun membership! Join us here!Mike ChenOf Sorcery and ScienceBooks Mentioned -The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. HackwithMurder Bimbo by Rebecca NovakHow the Story Always Ends by Wendy HeardSomeone Else's Daughter by Andrea Stewart SEPTEMBERThe Knave and the Moon by Rachel GilligRomantasy, sequel to The Knight and the MothExit Party by Emily St. John MandelLiterary sci fi, dystopian, time travelTrust Fall by Lynn PainterYA romance, contemporary, autumn, rom com, enemies to loversThe Witches of Cambridge by Alice HoffmanHistorical fantasy, witches, dark academia, 1950s BostonThe Wretched Divine by Adalyn GraceRomantasy, lady knight, demons, high fantasyTempest by Victoria AveyardHistorical romantasy, pirates, adventures, pirate queenMurder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy FoleyMystery in the Agatha Christie universe, cozy, Swiss AlpsGrim Tidings by B.K. BorisonParanormal romance, angel and reaper, enemies to lovers, grumpy/grumpyDead Beat by Leigh BardugoThird in Ninth House trilogyThreshing Day by Rebecca YarrosShort stories in the Empyrean universeTaipei Story by R.F. KuangLiterary fantasy, coming of age, summer, romance, TaipeiMorfran, Dark Lord Reformed by S.B. WestHigh fantasy, funny, romantasy, rebellion, found familyThe Pirate Queen by Ariel LawhonHistorical fiction, pirates, fantasy, Ireland, 16th centuryWe Chase Shadows by Richard OsmanMystery, sequel to We Solve MurdersBodies of Magic by Freya MarskeFantasy, dark academia, Grey's Anatomy meets A Deadly Education, queerSometimes I Scare Myself by Jeneva RoseHorror short storiesThe True Confessions of First Lady Freeman by Deesha PhilyawLiterary, wife of a megachurch pastor's secret comes to lightFree Falling by Lyla SageParanormal romance, haunted small town, fake relationshipHawk and Sparrow by Ayana GrayYA romantasy, mystery, magic, Gilded Age, historicalScion by James IslingtonSci fi thriller, cyberpunk, John Wick meets Blade RunnerIt's Not What You Think by Clare MackintoshThriller, woman attempting to catch cheating husband finds him deadKiss Slay Replay by Rachel HarrisonHorror, time loop, serial killer, romanceUnder Story by Chloe BenjaminSci fi, romance, time travel, Antarctica, near futureA Time of Witches by Madeline MartinHistorical fantasy, witches, parallel timelinesAmerican Hagwon by Min Jin LeeHistorical fiction, family epic, Seoul, Sydney, CaliforniaReign by Bethan CroomeRomantasy, found family, forbidden love, magic, adventureMazywood by Tananarive DueHistorical horror, female rage, Black Hollywood, filmmaking, California mountainsThe Black Orchid by Loreth Anne WhiteThriller, murder on a cruise through Aegean SeaSophie, Standing There by Meg MasonLiterary fiction, mental health, books about books, lonelinessCursed City by Kate GoldenHarker Academy #2, romantasy, dark academiaBig Bad Wolf by Laurie GilmoreParanormal romance, small town, Little Red Riding Hood retellingBuried in the Woods Below by Daniel G. MillerThriller, psychological suspense, isolated setting, secrets, MinnesotaNightjars by Michael WehuntHorror, Memento meets Dracula, man caught for crimes he doesn't rememberThe Commons by Rebecca IhimNew Adult romantasy, dystopian dark academiaSwitzy by Emma ClineLiterary fiction, aging man's last pilgrimagePaper Ghosts by Sarah Addison AllenMagical realism, romance, ghosts, parallel timelines, 1970s, North CarolinaThe Sweetest Fiend by Raven KennedyDark romance, fae, enemies to lovers, Pied Piper retellingMidnight Curfew by Penelope DouglasQueer dark romance, MLM, enemies to lovers, rivals from opposing familiesProtocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body by Andrew D. HubermanNonfiction, science, self helpThe Pumpkin Bride by Fiona ButtercupCozy romantasy, autumnal, second chance romance, Shrek meets Princess Bride with pumpkinsPly by Hernan DiazSci fi, dystopia, far future, humans reinventing societyBlightfall by Brandon Sanderson and Janci PattersonYA sci fi, space, dystopia, intergalactic mission to an alien worldTrad Wife by Sarah LanganHorror, trad wife influencers, social media, journalist's descent into evil world of influencingI Hope This Email Finds You in Hell by Mackenzie ReedHorromance, office worker accidentally witnesses her hot boss performing an exorcismThe Three Graces of Pearl Street by Elizabeth Wellington RollinsHistorical fiction, Italy, family saga, three Italian American generations of womenHarbinger by Geneva LeeNew Adult romantasy, magic, mythology, magicBones by K.L. SpeerDark romantasy, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, magicThe Disappearers by Marlon JamesHistorical fiction, 1980s Jamaica, murder of a gay manThe Siren by Tomi AdeyemiYA fantasy, dark academia, rage, yearning, woman's darknessUngrateful Immigrant Daughter: A Memoir from the Child of a Mail-Order Bride by Katya SuvorovaNonfictionCrown of Crimson and Crows by Tessa HaleRomantasy, why choose, witches, vampires, enemies to loversLove Felt Like This by Julie OliviaRomance, small town, grumpy rock star + sunshine children's show creature working togetherEspiritu by Aiden ThomasSequel to Cemetery Boys!!!Kneel Before Me by Lindsay StraubeKiss of the Basilisk book #3The Oxford Guide to Scandal and Lies by Kate WestburyHistorical romance, mystery, post WWII Oxford University, undercover operativesEmpire by Sabaa TahirHeir Duology #2Doomsdate by Laura Piper LeeHorromance, rom com, zombie apocalypseI Am the Monster Under the Bed by Emily ZinnikasHorror, invisible entity under a bed, return to small townFallow by Sarah AndersonSci fi, funny, young woman signs up to be the world's first in-house corporate surrogateOur Cut of Salt by Deena HelmHorror, haunted house, three generations of Palestinian women deal with haunting in ancestral homeWe Already Dug the Grave by Emma C. WellsThriller, Southern Gothic, Sharp Objects with a dash of Practical MagicKiss of the Black Flame by Helene ScheuererRomantasy, books about books, magic, found family, forced proximityBlacktail by Scott HawkinsDark fantasy, a wolf sets out on a journey of revengeThe Paradox Club by Charlie LovettSci fi mystery, secret society, woman uncovers truth about her father's death that could alter course of historyThe Velvet Knife by Maureen JohnsonTruly Devious #6The Lost Spectacular by Zoe DuhaimeFantasy, romance, Night Circus meets Midnight LibraryLive Laugh Love: The Secret History of White Christian Women and the World They Made by Kristin Kobes Du MezNonfictionThe Dark Lord's Guide to Honeymooning (and Other Acts of Tyranny) by Tiffany HuntGuides to Villainy and Love #2, romantasyWildwood by Ashley WooMystery, horror, gothic, family estate with secrets, creepy forestThe Birthing Tree by Amanda PetersHistorical fiction, family, legacy, small Nova Scotia town, Indigenous traditionsBeyond the Graves Waits Mist and Sea by Kathleen KaufmanHorror, fantasy, gothic, mystery, microbial biology, witchcraftSo It Grows by Andie BurkeRomance, cozy, small town, business rivals to lovers, plant shopYou're the One That I Haunt by Katie JungParanormal romance, woman teams up with hot ghost to save her childhood crush from a curseThe Strangers by Naomi AldermanSci fi, grief, weird new animal spreading across AmericaA Snake Among Swans by Hannah KanerQueer romantasy, sapphic, epic fantasy, magic, warring kingdoms, female rageIf Not You by Ellen O'CloverRomance, rival copywriters, forced proximityThe Thief and the Traitor Bride by V.L. BovalinoRomantasy set in the world of The Second Death of LockeThe Mystic and the Missing Girl by Vikki VanSickleMystery, reluctant psychic, tarot, cold caseBaldur's Gate 3: Astarion by T. KingfisherHorror fantasy, vampiresIn the Dark by Shain RoseDark romance, secret society, enemies to lovers, ultra-private billionaire enclave The Sisters of Crimson House by Melissa Anderson SweazyHorror, gothic, mystery, ghosts, psychic, haunted house, evil entityIn the Woods They Wait by Carrie Lee SouthHorror, thriller, park ranger obsesses with case of missing child that mirrors disappearance of her brother Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latine Horror edited by Cynthia PelayoHorror short storiesWitch Daughter by Tanaz BhathenaHistorical fantasy, retelling of Tahmineh, Persian mythology, witchesAnger Is Only a Shadow by Elizabeth AcevedoYA, novel in verse, mental healthEVEN MORE BOOKS HERE!! Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinglasses

This is a special collaboration with the Shard of Opportunity. The full one-shot can be watched on Youtube here A new day dawns! Your favorite creators team up to play the Stormlight RPG. During the Final Ten Days, a group of five heroes are called to investigate a mysterious region of the Shattered Plains that Odium's forces seem to purposefully avoid. Exploring a strange cave and a haunting rhythm leads them to uncover one of Roshar's most valuable secrets only to feel it slip away. If only there was a way they could try again. Join the Shard of Opportunity on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ShardofOpportunity Get a discount on all your fantasy-inspired candles! Cantrip Candles [Affiliate Link]( hthttps://cantripcandles.com/?bg_ref=u7DgZasLmm) Discount Code: CANTRIPTYLER10 Game Master - Tyler https://linktr.ee/cosmereconvo Eris - Diana Fay https://linktr.ee/dianaoftherose Res - Ryann Bailey https://www.instagram.com/ryannrinabailey/ Marcos - Colby Paulson https://www.youtube.com/@DnDDeepDive Ashana - Ashlee @Stormlight_Memes Tally - Meric Moir from https://www.brotherwisegames.com/ Intro/Outro music is A Motivating Story by - EVGENY SoO art done by - Jofwu Editing by - Tyler A Shard of Opportunity Production Socials managed by - Irving and Cate Artwork was done by - Madi VanDoren & Shayndl Green Additional Music by - Krishna Patel 0:00 Intro & Character Introductions 5:01 A New Day, People 28:36 Into the Shattered Plains 36:26 The Mystery Site 1:22:41 A Dark Cave 1:30:24 Shardblades and Regals 1:53:49 Possible Experiment 2:04:03 A Turning of the Wheel 2:31:09 The Stone Wall Puzzle 2:38:38 The Masked One 3:14:43 In Defiance of a God Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

In this episode, we explore the world of game design, the intricacies of the Cosmere RPG, and the journey of Andrew Fisher from hobbyist to industry professional. Discover insights into magic systems, managing IP, and upcoming projects like Plotweaver.https://www.cosmererpg.com/https://www.plotweaverrpg.com/https://andrewfischergames.com/gamesKey  topicsAndrew Fisher's background in gaming and game designThe development of the Cosmere RPG and its connection to Brandon Sanderson's worksChallenges in adapting complex magic systems like Stormlight and Mistborn into RPGsManaging intellectual property and collaboration with Brandon Sanderson and Dragon SteelThe design and features of the Plotweaver system and upcoming releasesThe process of creating adventure modules like Mistborn LegacyThe importance of narrative resources like the plot die in gameplayFuture projects and the open alpha of PlotweaverThe role of art and world-building in RPG supplementsKeywords:game design, Cosmere RPG, Mistborn, Stormlight, Andrew Fisher, Plotweaver, tabletop games, IP management, fantasy, sci-fi

Blightfall, the first book of Riftwake is out! This is the follow-up to the Skyward series, written by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson. What did we think? Well, stay tuned to find out! (Please note there are some Skyward series spoilers in this episode, but that is also true of Blightfall itself.) This episode we have Eric (Chaos), Ian (Weiry), Jessie (Lady Lameness), Evgeni (Argent), Ene (AonEne), and Will (#1 Taln Fan)! Thumbnail is the US cover of Blightfall. 0:00:00 Introductions 0:03:45 Disclaimer on reaction episodes 0:04:46 Non-spoiler thoughts 0:13:47 (Non-spoiler) Is it worthy sequel? 0:23:21 (Non-spoiler) Entry point to the series 0:30:24 Spoiler thoughts begin! 0:56:18 CW: Medical stuff 1:02:05 Arturo and Alanik 1:29:55 Sadie and Nedd 1:56:30 Dayan 2:05:56 Slugs 2:16:55 Last thoughts If you like our content, support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/17thshard Purchase merch here! https://store.17thshard.com/ For discussion, theories, games, and news, come to https://www.17thshard.com Come talk with us and the community on the 17th Shard Discord: https://discord.gg/17thshard Want to learn more about the cosmere and more? The Coppermind Wiki is where it's at: https://coppermind.net Read all Words of Brandon on Arcanum: https://wob.coppermind.net Subscribe to Shardcast: http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:102123174/sounds.rss Send your Who's That Cosmere Characters to wtcc@17thshard.com

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells gaze up into the sky this week and ponder there thoughts about the Project: Hail Mary movie. Dan has a surprising take this time around and Brandon gives his brutally honest thoughts. If your wondering how this book adaptation holds up to the rest of the greatest, stick around for this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

https://donate.imaginationlibrary.com/Dolly Parton's Imagination Library and its impact on literacy, the controversy surrounding library funding, and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes in school materials are the primary themes of the conversation. The episode also features new book releases and news stories related to library policies and acquisitions.New Releases:Starman: The Cosmic Voyage of David Bowie by Matthew Cordell (Ages 4-8)Quetzal's Labyrinth by Karla arenas Valenti (Ages 8-12)Absent by Rex Ogle, illus. By LJ-Baptiste (Ages 10-14)Blightfall by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson (Ages 12+)Wish You Well by Jamie Sumner (Ages 10+)Your Boyfriend Needs an Exorcist by Justine Pucella Winans (Ages 14+)TakeawaysDolly Parton's Imagination Library has had a significant positive impact on literacy and family reading habits.Controversies surrounding library funding and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ themes in school materials continue to be important topics in the literary world.Chapters00:00 Dolly Parton's Imagination Library05:29 New Book Releases17:32 Library Funding Controversy21:24 Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Themes in School Materials22:48 Library Policies and Acquisitions

Brooke and Tyler hop in their starfighters and take flight with author Janci Patterson to discuss the release of her and Brandon's latest novel, Blightfall. We discuss the unique writing partnership between Janci and Brandon, the development of Blightfall and upcoming Riftwake novels, and the true stars of the series- Taynix. This episode is divided into two sections and there are spoilers for Blightfall beginning at 52m36s. #SomeSpoilers Read Blightfall before listening past 52m36s. Available now wherever you get your books. Follow Janci on Instagram Janci's website can be found here Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells swing into the recent times with a mostly on time review of Spider-Man: Brand New Day! With the passion they share for all the other Spider-Man movies, will this hold up against all those before it? Or is this another spider down the drain, forgotten to time? Find out on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Can Christians love fantasy filled with elaborate magic systems without compromising their faith? Or is there a point where fictional magic crosses a spiritual line?In this episode of Fantasy for the Ages, Jim tackles a question that has followed Christian fantasy fans for decades: Are faith and fantasy truly compatible?We move beyond the old “magic = bad” debate to look at what fantasy stories are actually doing with magic. Along the way, Jim explores Tolkien's concept of subcreation, the difference between fictional magic that functions almost like physics and magic tied to worship or occult practices, and why the moral framework surrounding supernatural power may matter far more than whether somebody happens to be throwing fireballs.We'll also discuss:⚔️ The lingering influence of the Satanic Panic on Christian attitudes toward fantasy

Mike Soule, Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, returns to the PowerShell Podcast for the first time in three years to talk identity security, cloud configuration testing, and the evolving role of AI in the Microsoft ecosystem. Andrew and Mike dig into Maester, the open source PowerShell-based test automation framework that applies unit testing concepts to Microsoft 365 security configuration. Mike breaks down how Maester works, how Sentinel uses it with clients, and how the community has grown it into something that spans hundreds of built-in tests covering conditional access, CIS baselines, CISA standards, and more. They also cover EntraOps, the Enterprise Access Model, AI's impact on the MSP world, and why working in managed services is still one of the fastest ways to level up in IT. The episode closes with a strong Brandon Sanderson tangent. Key Takeaways: Maester brings the concept of unit testing to Microsoft 365 security configuration, letting admins continuously validate their cloud settings against known-good baselines with as few as three PowerShell commands. It's built on Pester, is fully open source, and now has over 100 community contributors. AI is changing the MSP landscape fast, but the fundamentals still matter. Mike and Andrew discuss how to think about Copilot licensing complexity, model routing in agent stacks, and why meeting users in their existing interface is often more important than deploying a shiny new tool. MSP experience accelerates learning in a way that internal IT often can't match. When you're working across multiple clients and environments, you accumulate reps quickly, and that breadth is hard to replicate elsewhere. Guest Bio: Mike Soule is the Field CTO at Sentinel Technologies, a large managed service provider focused on identity, cloud, and security strategy. Mike has been working hands-on with PowerShell, Entra ID, and Microsoft 365 security architecture for years and is a regular speaker at identity and security conferences. Resource Links: Maester (open source framework): https://maester.dev Maester on GitHub: https://github.com/maester365/maester Maester Cloud (hosted version by Merill Fernando): https://maester.cloud HIPConf (Hybrid Identity Protection Conference): https://www.hipconf.com EntraOps by Thomas Naunheim: https://github.com/Cloud-Architekt/EntraOps Mike Soule on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikesoule The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/EQK693gGWoo  

Send us Fan MailWhen a child comes out as transgender, every parent begins a journey. One of Mama Dragons' big priorities this year is building deeper community—making sure every parent feels seen and knows they are not alone. And while moms often find one another pretty naturally, dads don't always have those same spaces to ask questions, wrestle with big feelings, or simply hear another dad say, "Yeah, I've been there too." Today In the Den, Sara sits down with three dads to talk about those first moments of learning their child was transgender, the questions they wrestled with, the things they got wrong, the things they learned, and the ways their kids have expanded their hearts and their understanding of what it means to love unconditionally. Whether you're a mom hoping to better understand your partner, a dad looking for someone who gets it, or anyone who loves a transgender young person, we think you're going to find something meaningful in these conversations.Special Guest: Mike JonesMike is a senior software developer in Boise, Idaho. He and his wife, Shauna, have three children and two dogs. He has been a dedicated supporter of LGBTQ+ rights since his oldest child came out over a decade ago. In his free time, Mike enjoys playing chess, hiking, watching movies, and reading speculative fiction.Special Guest: Michael AlvaradoMichael works as a Sales Manager for Asana Climbing, selling padding systems to climbing gyms across the country. He loves being a dad and when he's not working you can find him fishing, golfing and playing disc golf with his youngest and watching food shows with his eldest.Special Guest: Chris ErwinChris Erwin lives in Idaho with his wife, two kids, two cats and a dog. He enjoys creating things with his 3-D printer, watching Arsenal, and biking near the river, as well as reading all things Brandon Sanderson. Links from the Show:Join Mama Dragons todayGo deeper with Empowered Parent Learning - Mama Dragons' on-demand library of video courses and webinars for parents of LGBTQ+ kids. Two tracks: Parenting Essentials and Parent Advocacy. Free for Mama Dragons members, a small one-time fee for everyone else. Includes Suicide Prevention Training and Parachute eLearning. In the Den is made possible by generous donors like you. Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today at www.mamadragons.org. Support the showConnect with Mama Dragons:WebsiteInstagramFacebookDonate to this podcast

"Brand-new co-host" Donald Mustard III joins Brandon Sanderson to talk all things nerdy. From comic book history to the rise of anime, you'll have plenty to consider on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Brooke and Tyler read through the letters from the Sleepless, the shard of Endowment, and Hoid as we try to understand the hints hidden within the epigraphs. #AllSpoilers Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

In this week's episode, we take a look at some of the common scams targeting indie authors and offer tips on how to detect and avoid them. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Blood, Book #3 in The Ghosts series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: CAINASUMMER The coupon code is valid through August 31, 2026. So if you need a new audiobook this summer, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 316 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is August the 14th, 2026, and today we are discussing common scams targeting indie writers. We also have a Coupon of the Week and a update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Ghost in the Blood, Book #3 in The Ghosts series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store. That code is CAINASUMMER. As always, the coupon code and the links to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through August the 31st, 2026, so if you need a new audiobook for this summer, we have got you covered. Now let's head on to a progress update. As I mentioned last week, Cloak of Frost is done and it's published and you get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and my own Payhip Store. It is doing quite well. Thank you all for that, and people seem to be enjoying it. So if you haven't checked out Cloak of Frost yet, you can get it at your favorite ebook store. Now that Cloak of Frost is done, my next main project is Blade of Visions, which will be the sixth book in the Blades of Ruin epic fantasy series. I am 28,000 words into that. I think the rough draft will be about 100,000 words, but we will see. Might be a little more, a little less. I'm hoping to wrap it up early in September so that the book can be out to you sometime in the second half of September, if all goes well. In other news, my secondary project now is Elven-Warlock, the seventh Rivah book, and I am 1,500 words into that. If all goes well, I hope to have that out in October. In audiobook news, we have three things coming your way. The first one is Blade of Thieves, which Brad Wills is currently narrating and should be wrapped up before too much longer. Hollis McCarthy is narrating Cloak of Worlds, and I believe we'll be able to start proof listening to that soon, so that should be available before too much longer. I just finished uploading Stealth and Spells Online: The Complete LitRPG trilogy in audiobook form. So, the entire trilogy in one audiobook comes to about 32 hours long. So hopefully that will get through ACX processing before too much longer, and then you can listen to it. So that is where I'm at with current writing and publishing and audiobook projects. 00:02:22 Main Topic: Common Scams for Writers Now let's move on to our main topic, common scams to avoid for writers. Authors, especially new ones, but to be honest, all of us are hungry for praise, recognition, and professional opportunities. They also have a hunger to be the big new publishing phenomenon, ideally as fast as possible. Unfortunately, scammers are very aware of this and use it to prey upon authors. An example I use for this is if you've read the Heir to the Empire books by Timothy Zahn, the villain, Grand Admiral Thrawn, makes a habit of studying his opponent's artwork to discover their psychological blind spots. Then he tailors his strategies around those psychological blind spots. Now, the reason I mentioned this is that scamming or falling victim to a scam is not necessarily an indication of base intelligence or savviness. Everyone has their psychological weak spots. If a scam hits your psychological weak spot at the right time when you're in the right state of mind when you're tired or sick or have had some additional bad news recently, that might hit. For myself, the scams I've nearly fallen victim to have been ones based around bad news because I'm essentially a very pessimistic personality, so I always kind of half expect bad news. One example was I got a fake email allegedly from Spotify saying that my tax information was wrong for my Spotify audiobooks and that needed to be fixed immediately. This was one I could have fallen for because it arrived during tax time. As we know, tax time is often very onerous and unpleasant and involves a lot of work and digging through papers. So I was inclined to believe it, but still, fortunately, I didn't click on any links in the emails. I went directly to the portal, double checked, and then realized it was a scam. Another example was that recently I got a phone call purporting to be from my local police department. I was thinking, "Oh man, this is going to be a mess." I was listening to it and then thankfully before I gave out any information, I realized that it was in fact a scam and then hung up. Just to be thorough, I called the actual local police department and double checked that it was a scam. But again, that played out my psychological weak point of being a pessimist and expecting bad news. I mention this because if you're aware of your psychological weak spots, like many writers, as we mentioned, are hungry for praise or quick opportunities, then you're more likely to be aware of scams. The other thing I should mention in sort of the introduction here is that thanks to the rise of ChatGPT and Gemini and Claude and all the other LLM slop machines, it's become a lot easier to scam people than it used to be before. I heard it said that Web 1.0 was a static content. Web 2.0 was interactive content like social media. Web 3.0 is scams in the forms of NFTs, cryptos, and LLMs. For example, as I mentioned, I just recently published Cloak of Frost. Since I published Cloak of Frost, I've gotten like 20 scam emails that for the most part read like this: "Dear Jonathan, I'm Stephanie Davis and the thing that caught my attention about Cloak of Frost was how quickly an obligation Nadia would rather avoid turns into a situation where the fate of earth is suddenly on the line. She's supposed to be attending the Winter Frost Games. Then an old friend arrives being chased by clone soldiers with a mysterious magical artifact and suddenly this isn't just another duty for the Marshall of the High Queen of the Elves. The fact that losing the game can mean earth burns gives the whole premise a wonderfully sharp sense of consequence. I partner with Around the World in 80 books, a vibrant community of readers who enjoy discovering books from different authors." It goes on and on in this vein. Since Cloak Frost came out six days ago, I've gotten 20 different emails along those lines, all of them clearly generated by LLMs. In fact, I didn't have to save that email. I just opened up my inbox, picked the most recent one, and that was it. Of course, if I responded, what would've happened would've been a few more emails and eventually they would ask for payment for attending their book festival and I would provide payment and then they would promptly disappear off the face of the earth and go on to target someone else. So you can see how that kind of scam would be dangerous. Imagine you're a brand new author who's just published your first book and doesn't know all that much about ChatGPT and the other LLM slop generators out there and you get an email like that, you'd think you'd won the lottery and you'd be very susceptible to giving payment to the scammer. So today, that's why we're going to go over a few of the more common scams out there and provide some general tips for spotting a scam. #1: Publishing Packages You will frequently be contacted by scamming companies offering to help you publish, market, and work on social media for your book. Some of them will even have official sounding names like Amazon Author Hub or Amazon Book Publisher, which are using the Amazon name but not affiliated with Amazon. It's very, very important to be skeptical of these types of publishing companies in general. At best, most of these publishing services companies greatly overcharge for basic services. At worst, they're outright thieves and scammers. David Gaughran has written about these types of publishers if you're interested in learning more. Writer's Weekly's website keeps a running list of confirmed scam publishers and publishing services, but even if they're not on a list and you find reviews that seem to be good, it's best to be extremely skeptical. It's very easy to accumulate fake Google reviews. For example, without naming names, a local business that I used to frequent recently changed owners a couple months ago. And before that, the local business had two five-star reviews. Since the new owner came in, suddenly there's like 500 five-star reviews popping up, all of them having a variety of names that do not seem like they come from the geographic region in which I live. So what he probably did was use a ChatGPT type service to automatically write a bunch of fake reviews for his business. A lot of these scammy companies can do that as well, so it's best to be very skeptical about this kind of thing. #2 Fake conference/book festival/book club speaking invitation This scam is incredibly common, but comes in a variety of types. You will be contacted by a book club/conference/book festival coordinator saying that they love, love, love your book and offer some praise or comments about it and then invite you to their event. The scam part will also come in after you accept when they will want money for this privilege. It's bad to work for free, but it's also very foolish to pay money to show up for a professional event, especially one located outside your immediate area. The email I read earlier in the show is a good example of one of these. You notice the danger of these comes in because they're using ChatGPT for these. ChatGPT can ingest your book or the book description and then spit out some seemingly plausible praise that makes it seem like the scammer has read your book, but they actually haven't. So I'd be very, very, very wary of any unsolicited conference or book festival invitations, especially ones that are fulsome in their praise for your book. #3: Fake or scammy beta readers/editors/agents Many people will cold email you asking to be hired. They might cite actual typos they can fix in your book, specific connections they can make for you, and praise your book as the next big thing. In reality, reputable and established people in these positions usually have long wait lists for their services. They're not wandering the Internet for just-established authors to add to their client lists. It's far more effective to find reputable and established people in these areas and contact them yourself instead of taking up offers from whoever randomly emails you. One thing I've found both as a writer and as a homeowner is that really good contractors don't need to cold call people to look for business. Really good contractors are so busy that you have to call them and try and get on their schedule. The same thing can be said of beta readers, editors, and agents. #4: Impersonation of famous authors John Grisham, Brandon Sanderson, and your favorite romance writers are not actually randomly emailing random minor authors, telling them that their book shows real promise and might be the next big thing. Don't let praise from a famous name take down your guard. Anyone can pretend to be anyone on the internet and is increasingly easy for pretending to look very real. For example, earlier this year I received an email from British author Hilary Mantel praising one of my books. This is especially remarkable because I got the email, I believe in March of 2026, and Hilary Mantel died in 2022. So while my ego would like to believe that my book was so good that Hillary Mantel returned from death to praise it, I think it is more likely instead that a scammer was impersonating Hilary Mantel using a Gmail account. There have been frequent examples of this over the past year or so as ChatGPT and LLM usage becomes more widespread. People will occasionally receive emails purporting to be from Brandon Sanderson offering to work together on a project. However, if you watch Brandon Sanderson's social media, you'll know that he is busy writing the screenplay for the Mistborn movie from Apple. I think it is safe to say he probably does not have time to email random strangers on the Internet asking to work on their books. So if you get an email from a big name author purporting [to say] that they love [your] book and want to work on it with you, it is almost 100% certain that it is a scam. Since scams are constantly evolving and mutating and developing new forms, I'm going to focus the rest of the episode on some general principles of what to watch out for when people are contacting you as an author. #1: Cold emails or cold calls Legitimate editors, agents, cover designers, and even library event coordinators are absolutely inundated with unsolicited emails and most tend to dismiss or ignore what isn't submitted through proper channels (or depending on their position, might even be required to ignore it as part of their job). The hard truth is they're not going to spend their busy workdays hunting around the Internet for authors with 10 reviews or someone writing an obscure topic. Although it's flattering to think that you've been discovered at random, it really, really doesn't work this way, especially as staffing at publishing houses and libraries has been cut down quite a bit due to corporate consolidation and tax cuts. Reputable publishers are not crawling the Internet to find authors unless they have a jaw-dropping sales record (like Dungeon Crawler Carl level sale records). Publishers and agents want guarantees of success and so it doesn't make sense to turn away from their usual group of celebrities, influencers, and blockbuster authors to go out and spend countless hours actively recruiting unknown authors with only a handful of reviews and a sales rank so low that more than one comma is needed to display it. As your following grows, the number of cold emails or messages you get will grow. Like I mentioned before that when I published Cloak of Frost, I've gotten at least 20 of those scam emails so far, and I will probably get at least another dozen or so more before the initial sales spike of the release week dies off. These messages might be more sophisticated, but they'll use the same general tone of ChatGPT flattery to try and lure you into their schemes. Don't let your excitement at being praised or recognized as the next great American novelist or the next BookTok sensation cloud your judgment. #2: Urgency As with any internet scam, urgency is a major part of the strategy. There will probably be a short deadline to accept their offer, a limited number of available spots, or some alleged deep discount for acting quickly. In reality, if people are contacting you because they want something in good faith, they rarely make this type of demand in the initial request because that is a terrible way to get someone to do what you want. For example, in my previous example about the call from the fake local police department, I became increasingly aware that it was probably a scam once it sounded like they were going to offer me the opportunity to pay my fine over a payment portal they would provide for me, in which case it became obvious that it was a scam. Though just to be sure, I still did call the local police department to double check. Now that kind of urgency is used to force you into a decision. Take a step back, look for more information online, contact someone with more expertise than you, and don't respond just because of a time limit or the fear of missing out on a request or offer. And remember, as I said before too, actual contractors, whether you're a writer or a homeowner, are usually so booked up that they don't go around looking for clients. You have to contact them to get on their calendar. #3: Request for payment This is the big one. At no point should you be paying someone unless you have an established relationship with them and have signed a contract with them such as a cover designer or a social media manager. Do not pay random companies or individuals to do absolutely anything. The best defense against companies that offer publishing services is to get educated on what services you actually need and what a reputable person actually charges for them instead of paying for a package with all sorts of grandiose promises attached. In no universe should it cost tens of thousands of dollars to format your books, create a cover, and make a website from a generic template. It's better to pay reputable people individually for these services once they've been vetted than to trust a company to do it, especially if they're primarily using AI generic templates. You'll receive higher quality services this way and it should be cheaper as well. There are no, none whatsoever reputable book clubs, libraries, or conferences that ask for money for a writer to speak or present. A key exception is paying for vendor tables at events and conferences. A community group, library, or nonprofit organization might ask you to speak for free, but no reputable organization will ever ask to pay for the privilege of showing up and doing something for them. #4: Gmail/non-organization emails A big thing to watch out [for] with a lot of these LLM scams is if the email is coming from a Gmail account or not. For example, in the fake author ones I mentioned with Hillary Mantel or Brandon Sanderson, these emails are coming from a Gmail account. Even if Hillary Mantel hadn't died four years ago, I'm pretty sure she would not be emailing random people from a Gmail account. The same goes for Brandon Sanderson, John Grisham, Matt Dinneman, and the other well-known authors who've been targeted by this kind of scam. John Grisham's favorite editor or the hottest new literary agent are not conducting their business out of random Gmails or accounts that look like domains that are named after alphabet soup. Although accounts can easily be spoofed, a blatantly unprofessional looking account is an easy way to weed out scammers. The flip side of this is unfortunately, if you are a reputable cover designer, editor or so forth, you're probably going to need your own domain email the same way I have jonathanmoeller.com, given how it is increasingly common for scam emails to come from Gmail accounts. #5: Praise that could fit any book or has nothing to do with your book Authors love being praised and the scammers can feed into that easily by throwing your book or a bunch of your book reviews into an LLM to create some targeted compliments. Once you see an example of this type of writing, it becomes extremely easy to spot. For example, this isn't what I've saved. This is literally one that came in as I was recording this episode: "Dear Jonathan, I recently discovered Stealth and Spells Online: The Complete LitRPG trilogy and was immediately drawn to its exciting blend of epic fantasy, virtual reality, gaming, and mystery. The trilogy's fast-paced adventure and immersive world could strongly appeal to LitRPG and fantasy readers." Now, I published the ebook of Stealth and Spells Online: The Complete Trilogy two days ago. It is 290,000 words long. There's absolutely no way anyone could read it that fast and have cogent opinions about it. But if you just throw the book description into a LLM, it can cough up some sincere sounding praise and flattery for you. Likewise, flowery comments that have nothing to do with your book are a great way to spot scammers. Your horror novel should probably not be making anyone think about an important and timely reminder about the importance of being organized during the holidays. So that kind of overwrought praise is usually a good sign that something has been LLM generated. Weirdly, one thing I've noticed is that when I get emails from actual readers who are sincere about what they're saying, there'll usually be typos or bad grammar or so forth. Another telltale spot of LLM-generated scam emails is the utter grammatical perfection of them, not a word or a punctuation mark out of place. whereas if you're getting an email from a real person, there are more likely to be some mistakes. So in general, as scams get more sophisticated, you'll have to be a lot more skeptical than you already are in the internet. As an author, you can eliminate a lot of the scams by taking the time to learn the industry well. Once you know what an average keynote pays at a small bookselling conference, no obscure conference coordinator can convince you to pay $5,000, not including travel expenses, for the privilege of agreeing to do one. Once you know how to format your own book (and I should mention that I formatted Cloak of Frost on a laptop on my couch using a $150 piece of software), no one can convince you to pay them $12,000 to do it. Once you self-publish your first book, you realize that you never need an agent, much less one that wants $40,000 to make you the next J.K. Rowling. Education, caution, skepticism, and a healthy sense of one's place in the greater universe are strong weapons against the most common schemes writers are facing. I hope this episode will have given you greater tools to defend yourself against scams. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy, and we'll see you all next week.  

JEFFERSON SNOW Author & Writers of the Future Winner – Biography Jefferson Snow writes stories in the genres of fantasy, horror, and science fiction and lives in Eagle Mountain, Utah with his wife and three children. In college, he majored in advertising at BYU but spent most of his time writing stand-up or sneaking into Brandon Sanderson's 318R lectures. Both pursuits honed his writing skills, despite his preference for stories with serious tones and softer magic systems. To Jefferson, the Fantasy genre is a grand cathedral, and he loves the gargoyles who guard its buttresses, anti-heroes like Logen Ninefingers and Tyrion Lannister. But as fun as those characters are, Jefferson believes we're not getting enough stories about the figures still inside the nave, the everyday parishioners, the Samwise Gamgees and Neville Longbottoms of the congregation. We still need stories about ordinary people doing the right thing, especially when it's difficult. Like much of Jefferson's work, “The Rune Witch” handles themes of loss, sacrifice, and temptation. Fascinated by the trope of the Faustian Bargain—like Fëanor and Melkor, Elric and Arioch, King Elias and Ineluki—Jefferson explores whether making a deal with the devil can ever be justified. “The Rune Witch” is Jefferson's first published work and it appears in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 41. He hopes you enjoy it. Find out more at: www.JeffersonSnow.com ROBERT F. LOWELL Author & Writers of the Future Winner – Biography Robert F. Lowell is a Writers of the Future winner and Baen Fantasy Adventure Award finalist. His complicated relationship with reality began when he was born between two movie studios in Burbank, California. In previous professional lives he researched and wrote about international relations, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism. He taught at universities in the US, Costa Rica, and Switzerland and was kissed by a dancing horse in Siberia. Now he expands the universe of online learning as an instructional systems designer and writes about swords, sorcery, robots, aliens, and mystical beasts as a member of the Wulf Pack Writers. He, his wife Lady Lowell, and their dog Murphy live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Find out more at: RobertFLowell.com United Public Radio & UFO Paranormal Radio www.uprntalkradio.com

Brandon Sanderson dropped a real progress report on the Apple deal, and the Mistborn movie just cleared its first big milestone. The Stormlight Archive series is locked at ten episodes, a producer is already picked for Mistborn, and the director search is the next domino.In this Cosmere check-in, we break down where both Apple adaptations actually stand. Sanderson has finished the first draft of the Mistborn screenplay, he is gathering notes, and he expects around three more revisions before it is done. A producer has been chosen but stays unannounced until the contracts close, which means the name likely surfaces in the Hollywood trades before it surfaces anywhere else. Director is the next hire and the one that matters most for how this film turns out. On the Stormlight side, the series is planned for ten episodes with the pilot as the first priority, Sanderson has not started that script yet, he will be working with writing partners, and he is serving as co-showrunner. We also get into the Salt Lake Tribune interview where Sanderson talks about holding James Gunn levels of creative control while openly admitting what he does not know and hiring people who do. Plus a realistic guess at release windows, why Apple's run of quality has earned some optimism, and an honest confession about a certain book series derailing an entire reading schedule.0:00 Cosmere Check-In0:15 Mistborn First Draft Is Done0:22 Producer Picked, Director Next0:37 Sanderson's Control and Knowing What He Does Not Know0:52 Stormlight Ten Episodes and Pilot First1:05 Release Window Predictions1:10 Apple's Track Record After F11:22 Reading Update and Sign OffSource: GeekFreaksPodcast.comIf this one helped you keep track of where the Cosmere adaptations stand, subscribe wherever you listen so you catch the next update. Leave a rating and review, it genuinely moves the needle for a show this size. Share the episode with the Sanderson fan in your life and tag it #Cosmere.Follow along:Facebook https://www.facebook.com/thegeekfreakspodcastThreads https://www.threads.net/@geekfreakspodcastPatreon https://www.patreon.com/GeekFreakspodcastInstagram and TikTok @GeekFreaksPodcastTwitter @GeekFreaksPodNow I want to hear from you. Who is on your Mistborn director shortlist, and are you team 2028 or team 2029 for the release? Drop your answers in the comments or send them our way on socials.

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells return to Intentionally Blank in high spirits after their summer travels across the pond. With whimsy and gusto, they spin tales of their time in the land of chips and iceless drinks. Bear witness to the many marvels and gifts bestowed to them there and the gratitude with which the authors esteem them. All that and more on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

This is a special compilation devoted to a subject very close to my heart and currently consuming a large percentage of my waking hours: writing. Over the years, I've asked some of the writers I admire most questions like: How do you choose a project and stay with it? How do you begin when inspiration refuses to show up? How do you build a practice that reliably produces pages? And how do you keep going when you fear your pages are terrible? Listen in to some of my favorite authors answer these and other questions. Please enjoy this special compilation on the craft of writing.This episode is brought to you by:ProLon science-backed Fasting Mimicking Diet that helps activate cellular renewal through fasting, while still eating nourishing mealsAG1 all-in-one nutritional supplementTimestamps:00:00 — Introduction01:52 — Elizabeth Gilbert: Choosing and committing to a project06:25 — Anne Lamott: Shitty first drafts and taking it bird by bird13:04 — Joyce Carol Oates: Don't wait for inspiration15:47 — Jerry Seinfeld: Building a writing system26:27 — Mary Karr: Revision and throwing out 1,200 pages35:08 — Brandon Sanderson: Consistency, word counts, and output45:04 — Seth Godin: Fear of bad writingElizabeth Gilbert is the author of Eat, Pray, Love; Big Magic; and City of Girls. Her ten books have sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. Anne Lamott is the author of 20 books, including Bird by Bird, Operating Instructions, and Help, Thanks, Wow, and co-author—with her husband Neal Allen—of Good Writing.Joyce Carol Oates has written more than 70 books, including Blonde and We Were the Mulvaneys, and won the National Book Award for her novel them.Jerry Seinfeld co-created and starred in the sitcom Seinfeld—which ran nine seasons and won 10 Emmys—and later created Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and wrote Is This Anything? Mary Karr wrote the bestselling memoirs The Liars' Club, Cherry, and Lit and her book on writing, The Art of Memoir. Brandon Sanderson created the Mistborn and Stormlight Archive series, completed Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, and raised more than $41 million on Kickstarter for four secret novels. Seth Godin has written 21 bestsellers published in 40 languages—including Purple Cow, Linchpin, and The Practice—and a daily blog of more than 10,000 posts. *For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells discuss their interactions and opinions of the worst bosses ever. From the great Palpatine all the way to Prince Humperdinck, who will rise to the top as the greatest overlord of all? All that and more on today's episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Brooke and Tyler read up on the epigraphs from Masha-daughter-Shaliv that bookend Wind and Truth. This will mark the beginning of a series as the best questions and theories always flow from the small details found within the epigraphs. #AllSpoilers It's our birthday season and you can help by writing a review and rating the podcast! Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells are back with another episode of Intentionally Blank! Join them as they recount recent adventures, ponder the pets of the past, and explore some of the cool things you have generously provided them! All that and more on this episode of Intentionally Blank.Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Wherein we have a seat and get served.  Elbow into our inbox: gwritersanon@gmail.com  Spiral down our Facebook Page (Ghost Writers, Anonymous).  

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells find themselves mired in one of the most global food heists yet. With Donald's help, they have acquired some of the famous stolen KitKats, clues to a deeper conspiracy just under the surface. They also talk about time spent in London, Brandon lecture at Oxford, a very famous brick, and other things. All that and more on this episode of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

In this episode Shawn Q and Jack cover chapters 46 and 47 of Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. Kaladin has nightmares and a Nightmare shows up to Dalinar's war camp.Recording and Editing by Shawn QInfo Dump Production by Buzzkill JoeProduced By; The Heroes of Hacathra: Jack, Jay, Phil, Shawn, and Mike and the wonderful Patreon Team.Theme Song by: Jack Forrest ProductionsAdditional Music by: Jason Morin Logo by Trina Macintoshif you'd like to support the show consider visiting our Patreon Page https://www.patreon.com/Heroesofor visit us on twitter https://twitter.com/Heroesof1 or on Instagram https://instagram.com/thestormpod  or email us at http://heroesofhacathra@gmail.comSupport the show

Brooke and Tyler wrestle over the different groups within Isles of the Emberdark in order to discover who has the real power in the Cosmere. Will Dusk and Starling's actions be enough to change the underlying political allegiances or are the ingrained systems too hard to uproot? #AllSpoilers Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

In this episode, Jason Conforto, Chad Morris, and Shelly Brown continue their conversation with Janci Patterson, discussing her experiences collaborating with bestselling author Brandon Sanderson and other writers. Janci shares what it takes to successfully coauthor a book, how collaboration differs from writing solo, and the unique challenges and rewards that come from creating stories as a team. It's an insightful look at the collaborative side of the writing world.

Un pequeño recap de series cuyas temporadas recién terminaron, un book update en el mundo de Brandon Sanderson y seguido por algunas de las películas que nos han decepcionado o impactado.   Suscribanse y sigan a LAG: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lagpod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lagpod_/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lagbytes.bsky.social   Bryan: instagram.com/brncarrion Chanlaser: x.com/Chanlaser_ Jercyan: https://bsky.app/profile/jercyan.bsky.social Rasalas: instagram.com/ratalas Raystryder: tiktok.com/@raystryder   Discord: bit.ly/DiscordLAG

Brandon Sanderson and Dan Wells reunite at last! Their conversation includes a long awaited catching up, food heists, and the best of the best evil lieutenants. All that and more on this week of Intentionally Blank!Want to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Join the DSNX26 Waitlist Here: https://conventions.leapevent.tech/entry/single/Dragonsteel_Nexus/371f286a-23fa-4b84-9ab9-17b8ecffdb49Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com

Brooke and Tyler flip the pages with Smitty to discover why reading is cool and more people should be doing it. We chat about our mutual love of reading, the approach Smitty has to content creation, and how Sanderson's Cosmere will work with AppleTV adaptations. #AllSpoilers Follow Smitty on Instagram Follow Smitty on Youtube Support this podcast by becoming a Patron on Patreon Original music by David Gruwier. "Radiant" by David Gruwier.

Mark and Al share their mutual interest in fantasy novels. Is "high fantasy" fundamentally different than what enjoyed as kids? Did Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and HBO's Game of Thrones show us that these big books are adaptable, or were they exceptions? We're anticipating the upcoming Mistborn/Cosmere adaptations, as we're both into Brandon Sanderson. We also talk about The Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Earthsea, Shannara, Joe Abercrombie, Robin Hobb, Stephen R. Donaldson, Patrick Rothfuss, Tad Williams, and of course Harry Potter. Sponsor: Get started with Claude AI at claude.ai/pmp.

Thought process   Thought process   5 title options Vacationing With Kids (Without Pretending It's a Vacation) — clear, evergreen, leads with the reframe. (My top pick — you said you'll reference this every summer, so the title should say exactly what it is and survive out of season.) Why Your Family "Vacation" Isn't Actually a Vacation — the reframe as the hook You're Probably Not Going to Enjoy It (And That's Okay) — pattern-interrupt, very you Treat the Trip Like a Business Trip — leads with the practical metaphor How to Travel With Little Kids and Still Love Yourself Full show notes below using the top pick. Title: Vacationing With Kids (Without Pretending It's a Vacation) Every summer it happens. You pack up the little kids, drive to the beach or the grandparents, and somewhere around day three in an unfamiliar Airbnb with no blackout curtains and a toddler who won't sleep, you wonder why you thought this would be fun. Sterling Jaquith has a reframe that changes the whole thing: stop calling it a vacation. In this evergreen episode you can come back to before any trip, Sterling walks through why little kids won't remember the vacation anyway, what they do remember, and the three honest questions to ask before you go. It's permission to stop chasing "relaxing" with a houseful of tired, dysregulated humans, and to plan the trip like the world's best personal assistant instead. Because the answer, through all of it, is always love. Including love for yourself. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: Why calling it a "vacation" is the first trap, and treating the trip like a business trip with a mission and a plan instead The honest truth that you may not enjoy it with little kids, and why that doesn't mean anything has gone wrong The three questions to ask before you go: What's my mission? What three feelings am I actually going for? How do I set myself up for those? Creating novelty on the cheap (crazy straws, Goodwill toys, stovetop popcorn, pop rocks, and the screen time you'd normally say no to) Planning something that's just for you, whether it's before, during, or after the trip Why Catholic moms living only for everyone else isn't how God designed you, and how to love yourself hard through the hard parts EPISODE TIMELINE: [00:00] – Why this is your reference episode for every future summer, holiday, and spring break [04:00] – "I don't think you can enjoy it." The coaching conversation that started this [08:00] – What kids actually remember, and why Sterling makes a photo book every year [12:00] – The three questions: mission, the top three feelings, and setting yourself up to feel them [16:00] – Creating novelty, building in real breaks, and planning something for you [19:00] – The answer is always love, and why God doesn't want you at the end of your rope LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED: Rhythm of War which is Book 4 of the Stormlight Series by Brandon Sanderson (the audiobook Sterling and her husband listened to on their cross-country drive): https://amzn.to/4w34nwC Calm Catholic Kids (Summer of Kindness stories free now, Collections 4 and 5 coming soon): https://calmcatholickids.com CONNECT WITH STERLING JAQUITH: Website: https://catholicmomcalm.com Connect on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholicmomcalm

What if the real secret to a lasting writing career isn't talent or luck, but learning to thrive in the mess? Why are in-person events worthwhile even if the maths doesn't add up? How do you protect your creativity when the machines never sleep and the community is at one another's throats? With Mark Leslie Lefebvre In the intro, Has AI Already Killed Non-Fiction [Tim Ferriss]; 9 ways that AI would disrupt authors and the publishing industry over the next decade; Pivoting towards The Transformation Economy; and Who do you serve? This podcast is sponsored by Kobo Writing Life, which helps authors self-publish and reach readers in global markets through the Kobo eco-system. You can also subscribe to the Kobo Writing Life podcast for interviews with successful indie authors. This show is also supported by my Patrons. Join my Community at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the author of horror and paranormal fiction, as well as non-fiction travel and books for authors. He's also an editor, professional speaker, and the Director of Business Development at Draft2Digital. His latest book is Stark Realities: Stacked Up Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know About the Business of Writing and Publishing. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Show Notes Why print and in-person events are making a comeback for indie authors The case for (and against) licensing your voice clone through ElevenLabs Why we keep selling books in person when the numbers rarely add up Measuring success by creative satisfaction rather than money Being honest about author earnings and the fear of being truly seen Managing stress, divisiveness, and the noise around AI You can find Mark at MarkLeslie.ca. Transcript of the interview with Mark Leslie Lefebvre Jo: Mark Leslie Lefebvre is the author of horror and paranormal fiction, as well as non-fiction travel and books for authors. He's also an editor, professional speaker, and the Director of Business Development at Draft2Digital. His latest book is Stark Realities: Stacked Up Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know About the Business of Writing and Publishing. Welcome back to the show, Mark. Mark: Oh, hey, Jo. It's always an awesome time chatting with you. Jo: You've been on the show lots of times over the years, but the last time was in September 2024, when we talked about selling books in person. So give us a bit of an update. What does your writing and publishing business look like at the moment? How do you manage it alongside the day job and everything else you do? Mark: Oh my God. Well, sleep is—no rest for the wicked, maybe. I'll sleep when I'm dead. It's so funny, it was just this last weekend in Waterloo. I was at Waterloo Book Fest, and somebody came up to my table—another author from one of the other tables—and said, “I heard you on the The Creative Penn Podcast. And then when you mentioned something about Waterloo, I said, ‘He can't be from Waterloo.' And then when you mentioned the skeleton, I said, ‘I know where he lives.'” Jo: That's scary. Mark: So I love the fact that there are so many of your listeners all over the world, and that's usually how people know me. No matter what else I've done, it's like, “Oh, you've been on Joanna Penn's podcast.” I'll say, “Yes, I have.” You know what's really funny? The last time I was on the podcast, we were talking about A Book in Hand, which I was supposed to release that year. Jo: Yes. Mark: I just added another 5,000 words to it this morning. Jo: Wait, it's still not published? Mark: No, and it's so funny. I actually have the first 60,000 words of it with an editor right now, and I told her I'd get her the rest of it, which I thought would be another 20,000 words, by the end of June. But I think it's going to hit 100,000. Here's the weird thing that happened with this. This is trying to accumulate my life of book selling, as well as doubling down on doing in-person events in the last several years. I thought I was going to have the book done in 2024. I ran into some issues where I didn't back it up properly. It was an old version, and I accidentally overwrote the only version I had. Jo: So, for everyone listening, Mark—how many decades have you been an author and a publisher? How come you're still missing deadlines and still not backing up your work properly? Mark: Yes, this is a lesson: no matter how long you've been doing something, you can still make boneheaded errors. So if you, dear listener, have made mistakes, just know that this old guy who's been doing this since the mid-'80s still makes mistakes like that. Don't beat yourself up. I probably did something worse. Anyway, that book I thought was going to be maybe 40, 45,000 words, it's going to be bigger than Wide for the Win—close to 100,000 words. Here's a really important lesson I learned in that, Jo. I thought the book would be something. It became something else. Through my own experiences of doing more in-person events, book signings, and library event. Also in talking to awesome folks like Johnny B. Truant, Katie Cross, Todd Fahnestock, and so many other authors I know, and seeing what Ben Wolf is up to, and a whole bunch of different people who are doing in-person events. In creating case studies for how they interact specifically with a bookstore or library, or how they do in-person selling—I really think the book wasn't ready then. It's like the recipe wasn't ready. I still needed to play with some things. I do sincerely have faith, since I got it into the editorial process, that this will be the year the book actually gets released. Jo: As you said, there are some really good lessons there around sometimes the book not being quite ready. I'd bought an early version from the StoryBundle, which is how I got this book as well, actually. Mark: Yes. Jo: That's another tip for people—storybundle.com. You can go and find some great bundles there. I was also thinking, as you were talking, that maybe one of the reasons this book about in-person events has got so big is because that's a real trend in the community. It feels like indies, we've moved… Back in the day, I said, “I'm not doing print. No way.” This was the early days of digital, because print was really hard back then. So I was like, “Oh, and we've got all the advantages doing digital, so I'm just going to focus on that.” It feels like the pendulum has swung, perhaps even more with the ease of mass production of digital with AI. The focus on print and in person is getting stronger and stronger. Do you think that's happening? Mark: Oh, yes, 100%. I did print in 2004. It was really hard back then, so that's gotten easier. I think there are a few reasons. One of the reasons is, yes, digital made it so much easier for indie authors to get out there and break into the community. But the reality is that print books still outsell e-books in general—overall—despite the fact that indie authors can make six and seven figures a year from selling e-books alone on a single platform. So print has never really gone away. It was just never something indie authors attended to. They were in a different business than traditional publishers were in. And second, obviously I've got these gorgeous books that you've created on Kickstarter, because I like the beautiful books. I've never stopped buying print books. I actually buy more print books. I read more because of audiobooks and e-books, but I buy more print books, especially when I can get a nice signed copy. Then the other reason comes back, again, to your advice—something I've been following for the longest time, and you've long been saying. I do repeat this, and I try my best to offer attribution to you every time I use it: to double down on your humanity, particularly in this age of digital generation and the ability for even non-writers to leverage tools to create content. I think it's so much more important for me, as a creative who will never be able to catch up with the machines, to exploit my humanity. I mean, we both have digital voices of ourselves, right? There's a digital Mark Leslie Lefebvre voice that people can use, and I'm making money off it because people are able to license it through ElevenLabs. But when I'm there in person, so far the holograms aren't good enough to fool people. I think I'm not just selling a book to somebody; I want to create an experience where, “Oh, I'm talking to the author, and we're signing a book together, and we're taking a selfie together.” For me, there's that tactile experience that's really enriching. And it may not be something that lines my pockets as easily, because the investment is more significant. For every $10 I make, it costs me six or seven dollars, as opposed to an e-book, where the cost is amortised in the most beautiful way over millions of copies. Jo: There are a few things there. First of all, let's talk about that ElevenLabs voice licensing, because, as you say, I also have a voice clone. Bones of the Deep, the latest book, that's my voice clone. I haven't gone with the licensing, partly because you don't have control over what someone can do with it. So, for example, someone could create Nazi content, or content that I might not agree with, in my voice. So how have you got over that? Because part of me really does want to license my voice, and the other part doesn't. Mark: This is a great question, Jo, and I'm glad you asked it. It's the same reason I don't worry about people stealing my books—adding DRM onto my e-books and things like that. I may as well make some money off it, because let's be honest: you and I, our voices are out there. Thousands of hours of our voices, right? In your podcast, my podcast, in various interviews we've done over the years. The technology exists for someone to make a copy of my voice themselves anyway. The tools exist. They can do it easily, so why not do it myself and at least make money? I'm actually getting money deposited into my account. Not a lot—maybe $30, $18, something like that every week. Again, I've taken a lot of my non-fiction books that I haven't had the time to record myself, as I like to do, and I can at least load those to ElevenLabs and make my voice the default voice. But wouldn't it be great to be able to listen to my book in your voice? It would sound so much better. Because you can do that. When you listen to a book on that platform, you can choose my voice if you'd rather hear it in my voice, or you can choose Burt Reynolds' voice, or some other folks who've licensed theirs. Again, for me, the whole concept of wide publishing has always been important. It's another small revenue stream that's adding to my numerous revenue streams. So I guess that's how I've justified just licensing the voice. If someone's going to do something with my voice that I can't control, they can do it regardless of whether or not I put it out there myself. Jo: I agree with you. That could happen, and neither of us is famous enough that it's likely to happen anyway. I do quite like the idea of people using our voices, say, for other books for authors, because that would make sense—that's where we fit in the niche. I will rethink that, because I think it's interesting. I wanted to come back to print books. You said sometimes there are easier ways to line your pockets, and I think that's funny. So, getting into the book, this leapt out at me quite near the beginning: Why do we keep doing this when the maths almost never adds up? Mark: Oh, I have a perfect example of that from an event I did a couple of weekends ago in Burlington, Ontario. I think it was a $60 table fee. It was a new event. I believe I made $90 or $95 in sales. So even after the costs of printing and all that stuff, I really didn't make money. I made my table back, which is always a good thing. There were a few encounters I had with people who were really excited to find my Canadian Werewolf series of books, and just so thrilled to get started. Among the four of them, they bought one copy, but they were going to pass it amongst each other. You know what? Okay, they bought a single copy, and I was like, “Well, the e-book is permanently free online. You don't even have to buy a copy”—which is anti-selling. I just want them to read the book and enjoy it. But if they read it and pass it along and start talking about it, they could become readers for a long time. It's an eight-book series, with the ninth book coming out later this year. There was another encounter I had that day. A woman and her teenage daughter came in, and they were looking at my traditionally published books that I buy at a reduced price from a local bookstore and resell. They were looking at these true ghost story books I had, and they were pointing: “Do you have that one?” “Yes, I have this one, I have that one.” And the mother's like, “Well, she collects all your books, and she wants to make sure she has them.” We had this conversation, and she was so excited to meet me in person and to get a signed copy of the book. That experience was such a vanity moment for me as an author. We're lonely. I'm a big loser. Nobody's buying my books. We're always down on ourselves. So that investment of time and energy, in order to get that little pat on the back or that feeling of, “Wow, I really connected with someone who likes my stuff”—those moments are really precious. They're difficult to explain if you only look at the world in a financial way. I guess I'm fortunate enough that I do have enough income from numerous streams, including the consulting I do part-time, that it's okay if not every bookish endeavour leads to more money in my pocket at the end of the day. I can still have these authentic connections with people, which I think is one of the reasons I'm a storyteller. Yes, it's the stories I have to tell, but it's also putting the story into somebody else's hands and eyes and heart and mind. Jo: You're very giving like that. You have that sense about you, whereas I'm just a curmudgeon in the corner. Mark: That is not true. Jo: It is, generally. I don't do events like you do for readers. Mark: But that's because it takes a lot out of you. Jo: Yes, but that doesn't matter. Why do I write? I write for me. Mark: Ah, very good. Jo: At the end of the day—just being entirely selfish about this—when people say, “Oh, if you won the lottery, what would you do?” I'm like, “Well, I'd do pretty much what I'm doing now.” Mark: Yes, I'd just do the same. Of course, I'd write more books. Jo: I'd write more books. So this is where I'm trying to get to for people as well: measuring success in a different way. You were talking about measuring success by how that girl loved your books, and how you feel when someone says they love your books. With Bones of the Deep, this thriller I've just done, I feel like I had the benefit of that book before anyone even read it. As soon as it was finished, I made a nice proof copy from BookVault, and I held it in my hand and said, “I made this. I'm proud of the story, I wrote the story, and it's outside my head now.” I feel like I'm creatively satisfied in that moment. Then, of course, the Kickstarter was great, and I love that the books are going out around the world, but— I think the happiest I felt was that moment of finishing—that creative satisfaction of holding the book in my hand. You know what I mean? Mark: 100%, Jo. I cannot agree with you enough. I love so many aspects of writing. Yes, the connection with people is amazing. But I often say this when I'm doing my one-on-one consulting with authors: focus on the projects that mean the most to you, those passion projects. The process of writing, and the painful rewriting and editing and all the things you go through—when you finish that book, like you said, you hold it in your hands and it is a thing of beauty. It's a huge achievement. You've won. Whether or not you sell a single copy, you've won by doing it. Everything else is gravy: the sales, the money in your pocket or not, the reviews, positive or not, the people who say, “Oh my God, Bones of the Deep, thank you for writing this book. I'm so glad you introduced this into the world and into my life.” Anything beyond the creation itself, which is a pure joy—I love it so much. It's just why I get up at 5:30 every morning and write for hours before the rest of my day begins. I try to get stuff done before the rest of the world wakes up. I want to get the writing done first, when I have the most energy to give myself to the page. Then the rest of the day is kind of gravy for me too. Jo: You talk there about giving yourself to the page, but in Stark Realities— You talk about the fear of truly being seen. What do you mean by that, and how do you manage that feeling? Mark: For anyone who has written anything—fiction, non-fiction, memoir in particular, since it's a bit more closely tied to reality—it's exposing yourself to the world. I'll never forget an interview I did with Canadian science fiction author Julie E. Czerneda, who, before being a fiction writer, was writing biology textbooks, but her real passion was science fiction and fiction. When her first novel came out, she said, “It's like standing naked on the front lawn.” When you release a book, even a novel, people look at it and they're going to judge you and rate you. I remember early on, Jo—we knew each other through Twitter, I think, where we initially met, and then interacted with and finally met in person at London Book Fair. I think you and I have a very similar reaction. When people know us as positive and upbeat and out there helping authors in the community, and then they read our fiction, they go, “Well, Jo, you burned a nun alive on page one.” Or, “Mark, what kind of… they're drinking from the skulls of dead people? What the heck is going on with you two?” We are exposing parts of ourselves in our fiction and non-fiction. That's a fear I embrace, but also never get over, if that makes any sense. I write scary stories because I'm a big chicken. So maybe the entire process is just cheap therapy for me. Or not cheap, because it's an expensive pastime, isn't it? Jo: It certainly can be, but I agree. I struggle with fear of judgment still. I think it's also because we do this in public, which comes back to the financial side of things. We do a lot of this in public, and then people judge us on our author businesses too. You could look at Bones of the Deep, which was just on Kickstarter, and compare my Kickstarter to another author's Kickstarter for a fiction book, and judge one or the other person based on numbers. I feel like this is because you and I have done so much in public—for me, almost 20 years, and for you, like 40 years or whatever. Maybe 30 years. You look that old. Mark: Listen there, dearie. Get off my lawn. Jo: Yes, get off my lawn—with those skeletons you have on your lawn. Mark: Yes. They're no longer in my closet. Jo: They're not in your closet. I wonder if that also plays a part of it—the pros and cons of doing this business in public. Mark: Yes, that is a part of it. One thing I try to be very clear about, because there's so much FOMO and so much out there about people thinking that everyone else is making a million dollars from their books and “I'm the only loser who's not”—I try to be clear that I have never made more than a mid-five figures as an author from my author earnings, ever. I haven't yet hit six figures. One of the reasons I try to be transparent in sharing that is I don't want people to think that everyone else is a six- and seven-figure success story, and they're the only one who's only made $100 last year on their books. The reality is, 90 to 99% of the people who are writing and publishing are not going to earn a significant amount of money. I realise I'm also very, very lucky that I've earned this much, and it's taken a long time. I just shared this in a Substack post I posted yesterday: it was 10 years of rejections before I got $5 for my first short story that was published in '92. It wasn't until 2001 that I finally made pro rate, six cents US a word, for a short story that, ironically, Julie Czerneda bought from me back in the day. For me, I've been lucky that it's always been a long, slow slog. It's been a marathon, and I've never instantly sprinted across any dramatic finish line. I've had some really phenomenal moments—doing a book signing in a Costco, walking into Walmart and seeing my books there. Even last night at the Burlington Public Library, going, “Wow, they have eight of my books here—four of my self-published books and four of my traditionally published books, in two different sections.” I was like, “That's kind of cool.” So I've had these amazing moments as a writer, but I've never had the blockbuster—the Brandon Sanderson, or even the Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, kind of moments. I still think I've had a very fortunate and lucky journey. Even if I wasn't making the money I'm making, I'd still be writing, and I'm sure you would be too. Jo: Oh, yes, for sure. I actually think the thing most of us would probably let go is the marketing. If we won the lottery, we'd carry on with all the creative stuff, the writing, the community stuff, and we'd just literally do no marketing at all. Mark: Well, yes, of course. Or potentially say, “Oh, here, ad agency, here's some money. You just run it, whatever. Let me know if it works or not. I don't care.” Jo: That's a much better idea. Mark: At least I've got the extra disposable income, so I may as well, because I'm helping the world when my books are out there. I know my books will help people. I really honestly think that as storytellers—whether it's fiction or non-fiction, we're still storytellers—what we do in writing and podcasting and all the things we do, the re-sharing on social media, is really helping connect people. I think that is one of the most profound things we can do as writers. And I mean that the writing, in and of itself, is a reward. Jo: Like you said, we met on Twitter when Twitter was what it was back in the day. I do very, very little social media now. But you just mentioned your Substack, and you also have your podcast, Stark Reflections. So how are you balancing what you put on each? I only do this podcast now. I don't even blog. I write books, obviously, and then I do the podcast. So what are you doing differently on Substack to the podcast, and what part do they play in income and marketing? Mark: Great question. I realise most people have never heard of me, or read or listened to the things I put out into the world. And I've been a longtime fan of “reduce, reuse, recycle my IP.” My podcast is not as long-running as yours, but I'm in my ninth year, and I've not missed a single Friday in the full eight years, or eight and a half by now, that I've been doing this. Every week I reflect on what I learned from an interview, or I'll reflect on something you've posted and say, “This episode is not an interview, but Jo said this last week, and I'm going to talk about it.” The podcast itself takes a lot of work. I still do all of it myself, and I know I probably shouldn't, but I like doing it, so it's one of those tasks I enjoy. I also have reflections that aren't going to come out vocally but might come out in writing. Sometimes in the morning I'm not in the mood to write the novel or the non-fiction book I'm writing, but I'm writing some tangent. I just let the creative monster go. I find that re-sharing… I might have reflected on something for a couple of minutes at the end of an interview, but I really want to expand upon it, so I write the Substack article. I try to reuse some of that content. Someone's going to enjoy seeing it on a short video clip I share on YouTube, or whatever the platform is. Someone else is going to listen to it on a podcast, wherever they listen to podcasts, and someone else is going to want to read it. It could be the same information, just shared in a slightly different way, to potentially get it out to other people. So for me, it's part of that wide publishing mentality. I'm trying not to completely duplicate the work, although I am duplicating some of it. I'll give you an example. Hey, Canadian listeners—if you have not registered for Public Lending Right in Canada, please put something in your calendar for February 2027, because the deadline's over. It was May 1st of 2026. Put it in your calendar for next year. I even had somebody at this writers' event I was at this last weekend say, “You mentioned something in a presentation you did for the Canadian Authors Association about Public Lending Right, and thank you, because now I get thousands of dollars a year from this.” So just look up Public Lending Right. I've been saying stuff about Public Lending Right for at least 10 years now. Every time I get my beautiful multi-four-figure cheque from them in February every year, I post on social media and remind authors to check it out. I know it exists in the UK, and it exists in 36 countries in the world—just not the US. Jo: Not the US. Mark: They don't have a programme like this, probably because the big publishers—and probably one of the authors' associations—think that libraries are cannibalising book sales, which is not true. It's been proven time and time again, and that lobbying has prevented it from happening. Whereas here in Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Writers' Union of Canada worked hard to make this happen. Anyway, I talk about something like Public Lending Right and I feel like I must have said this so much that people are sick of it, but every single time I mention it, someone goes, “Oh my God, thanks for saying that. I never heard it.” That's a good reminder, especially for folks like you and me. We know the basics. We know what an ISBN is. We know KDP Select means you can't put the e-book on any other retailer, or even sell it on your own website. We know all these things, but it's hard for us to remember that there are folks coming to this for the very first time who've never heard it, even though we feel like, “Oh my God, I've said this till I'm blue in the face.” I think I got that from retail. When I worked in retail, I recognised that somebody's going to come in and ask for “that blue book that Reese Witherspoon was talking about,” or Oprah was talking about, or whatever. And you do your darn best to help them figure it out rather than mock them. I try to take the same approach when people ask me those questions, because I'm trying to remember what it was like when I honestly did not know the answer, and having someone take the time to help me. I've been very, very lucky that I've had a lot of people take the time to help me. I'll never forget—God rest her soul—Nancy Kilpatrick, a horror writer here from Canada who passed away a few years ago. She gave me a blurb for my very first book in 2004 because she'd acquired one of my short stories for an anthology she'd edited. I was trying to call my short story collection an anthology, and she very kindly took me aside and said, “It's not an anthology if it's a single author. An anthology is a…” Jo: I didn't know that until, like, last year. I got that wrong as well. There are lots of words like that. I want to circle back, because you didn't really answer earlier about the time management. You just mentioned YouTube, on top of Substack and all the things you do. You also have a day job at Draft2Digital—it's part-time, right? You also do part-time at the university, teaching publishing, right? You do all kinds of things. How do you manage your time with all of that? Mark: Well, I mismanage my time more than I manage it, Jo. That's the God's honest truth. Fortunately, most of the things I have that aren't scheduled—like, scheduled to do this lecture at this time, or scheduled to have this meeting at this particular time with Draft2Digital—most of my work is very flexible. I do not work a regular 9:00 to 5:00, Monday to Friday. Well, I never did. I always worked way more. But I have a very flexible schedule. Every single day is a work day, and every single day is a play day for me. So I'm very, very lucky. I do schedule in the very important things, particularly where somebody else is reliant upon me—meetings and connections and stuff like that. Then I make the time first thing in the morning to get the writing done. Everything else is not as important, and it's part of… I guess it's part of playing. You know, like the social media sharing. I don't look at social media as marketing. I just look at it as another way to connect with people, with other creatives, and with readers potentially, all six people who read my stuff. I probably could do a better job of managing my time. I've tried several times over the years to adapt processes to make it better, but I consistently default back to what I do, and so far I guess I've been getting away with it. So I was like, “Do I want to waste more time trying to come up with a process, or do I just want to roll with it?” Because so far I haven't killed myself doing it, and I've been enjoying the journey. So, if it ain't broke… Jo: I think that's the point, if it doesn't feel like it's broken. Having known you for a long time now, and we work together—obviously we co-wrote The Relaxed Author—you do work very, very differently to me. You definitely are a little bit more chaotic. I'm chaotic in some ways too. Mark: Oh, you're very generous. “A little bit chaotic.” Thanks. That was generous, Jo. Jo: You're chaotic in your work practices and scheduling and all that, which I couldn't cope with very well. Even though I feel like a part of my brain is very chaotic—the creative side, I guess, can be quite chaotic—I think I'm actually quite controlling and very scheduled in my work practices. As you say, for someone else on the outside, it might feel to me like you have too many balls in the air. But if you don't feel that, then that's the way of working that works for you. So this is another important thing, isn't it? You can't adapt to what other people say your life should look like. It's what feels good to you. Mark: Oh, for sure. One thing I know about my procrastination tendency is that panic and fear motivate me. So, a deadline—”I have to get this into a publisher by this date, I have to get this manuscript to an editor by that date”—I'm motivated by fear. And I'm afraid of everything, so I guess I'm always motivated. Jo: But I also know that when you hear the word “deadline”—and I know a lot of people who do this—the deadline means you get it in on the deadline, or the day before the deadline. To me, a deadline means I have it ready a month earlier. Mark: I love that. I've done that a few times and shocked myself. I actually had a pre-order up—with the audiobook, the print, and the e-book—a month in advance, and I didn't know what to do with myself. I was like, “Well, what am I going to do now in the next month?” Jo: Work on the next thing. Mark: But I'm so used to working on it up to the last second that I was kind of like, “What do I do?” That actually caught me by surprise, and I honestly felt weird. I was like, “I've never felt this before.” I'm really lucky. I know you have a very supportive and amazing partner, and so do I. My partner, scarily enough, is maybe a bigger procrastinator than me, so she never gives me a hard time. She supports me, and I do the same thing with her own work. I'm up all night with her at the last minute so we can get something turned in. So, fortunately, we really understand one another, and we don't give each other a hard time. We just go, “Well, got away with it again. I guess I'm not going to change my ways.” Jo: We made it. And again, that's the point. You and I could stand up in front of people, both hold up the last book we wrote, and say, “We made this,” and our processes are completely different. Our brains are completely different. We come from different countries. There are lots of things that are different, and yet we both made a book. So hopefully that encourages people. You don't have to do anything that we're telling you, or anyone else tells you. But if you want to be an author, at some point you have to produce a book. Mark: Exactly. As Brian in the classic Monty Python film gets them to say: “Yes, we are all different.” Embrace that difference. I think that's such a powerful reminder that there is no one process for getting anything done. Jo: Given that we co-wrote The Relaxed Author back in 2021—and we did that because we had another show, and we were talking, and we said, “Oh, everyone's stressed and the anxiety levels are really high, and we think there's a better path”—we co-wrote that book, which I think is still a very good book. Definitely people should get it. Interestingly, I think the stress and anxiety might actually be higher now than it was. So what do you think the main stresses are in the community now? You also see a lot with Draft2Digital, I guess, as well. Mark: Oh, for sure. Honestly, Jo, I'm so glad we wrote that book, because I actually pick it up every once in a while to remind myself of the things we tried to help others with. Again, it's therapy for me as well, so I'm so glad we did it. I think we're 10, if not 100, times more stressed. The world events and things going on, the divisiveness—not just in the world in general, in politics and everything else, but the divisiveness in the author community. The witch-hunting that happens, people trying to tear down other authors either because they're successful, or because, “Oh my God, you dared use a new technology.” All of these things are happening, and everyone's at one another's throats. I need to pick that book up and reread it. I'm a lot more stressed than I was. I'm just getting over shingles, which is… Jo: Oh. Which is actually related to stress as well, isn't it? Mark: It is, yes. I was in LA for Writers of the Future—I'm a judge for that science fiction and fantasy conference. I went right from LA, like a week in LA, which was a phenomenal experience getting to mentor the winners. And I mean, come on, it's a free trip to Hollywood, hanging out with Kevin Anderson, having beers and stuff like that. Then I came back to the Toronto Indie Author Conference, run by Tao Wong, here in Toronto. I went right from the airport—didn't even go home—straight to the hotel, because I kicked into another conference. We did a display on how to set up an in-person booth, so I ended up having to hand-bomb boxes, blocks down the street from where I was parked. My chest was really sore when I got home on the Monday, and I thought it was because I hadn't used these muscles, because I'm not in the best shape. Then I took my shirt off and went, “Oh, there's a rash there.” Liz goes, “You have shingles.” Because the pain in my chest, which I thought was the muscle, was actually underneath. I'm one of those lucky people that it's taken the full five weeks, and I'm still in pain even afterwards. So, again, public notice: if you're an older person like me, and there's a vaccine available for shingles, you may want to consider it. Jo: Yep, get it. Mark: Oh my God, it hurts. But, yes, the stress, I think, is higher—even though I didn't know I was feeling it. It was happy stress, right? I was stressed out because I'm there in Hollywood, helping people and doing some good things, and then I'm doing the same thing, interacting with some amazing authors at the Toronto Indie Author Conference. I didn't feel anxious stress. I was happy stress. Is that a thing? Jo: I think possibly… your physical body masks stress, physical stress, because you enjoy all of that stuff. Whereas someone like me, I'll feel it quicker and withdraw. Although I say that, back probably a decade ago, Jonathan would say to me, “You're going too fast, and you're going to hit the wall. And when you hit the wall, it's not going to be fun.” And I did hit the wall. Then, probably in 2021—I mean, that was when I just started going into menopause, and obviously we had the pandemic, and I wrote Pilgrimage, and I was doing all those walks, which I think really helped me. I learned a lot about maybe stopping that before it happened. Becca Syme obviously talks a lot about this too. But I find it interesting with you, because I think you're so positively happy with these events you do that it might mask your physical symptoms in a different way. That's really hard to watch out for. I'll give a tip to you and everyone else listening: schedule the calendar, and look at your calendar and go, “I can't go back-to-back-to-back. I have to put in some rest days.” Mark: Well, thank you. You know, Jo, you and Becca Syme are two of my best unpaid therapists. I appreciate that. Jo: You just don't listen, Mark. Mark: Or sometimes I do. Jo: Just coming back to the community, and the divisiveness there is primarily over AI at the moment, I think that's one of the biggest things. And the arbitrary lines as to what you're allowed to use it for and what you're not allowed to use it for, which is just kind of crazy. Obviously, you know I've opted out of that whole discussion now. How do you think we can move through this [divisiveness over AI], move on? We remember when it was trad versus indie, and then it was wide versus KU. So this will pass—it's just hard, when you're in it, to know when it might pass. Mark: Yes. I think the more generic advice—for whatever may come, whatever has come—is: why are you doing this? Why are you a writer? Heads down, focus on what gives you pleasure, and do that, because everything else is noise. All the marketing tactics and strategies, and all the people yelling at one another. Write your books. Do the things that motivate you. Do the things that give you that intrinsic reward. It's hard to ignore. I get it, it is hard to ignore. I have difficulty ignoring the haters and the yelling and the screaming that happens, but I do my best. Like this morning, when I was in the throes of my manuscript and I looked up and went, “Oh my God, I've got to shower. I'm going to be talking to Jo soon, I should comb my hair”—which I have none of. Because I was so in my book that everything else melted away. That, for me as a storyteller, as a writer, is one of the most beautiful places to be. Jo: I think you're absolutely right. I have a little thing that pops up in my calendar sometimes which says, “If you're feeling all of these things, just go create something.” The moment you refocus on creation—whatever that means to you—things change. It changes the energy. That, or go for a walk. That's my other tip. Mark: Outside. And I have to say, Jo, Pilgrimage is still one of the most profound and powerful books you've written, and you've written a lot of amazing ones. Jo: Oh, you're very sweet. Mark: That one really resonates, not just for me, but with Liz. Because one of the things we often do when we get stressed is go for a walk, ideally in nature. The vitamin N. I think there's something really profound in that, and it really helps me a lot. And again, sometimes going for a walk listening to your podcast, or an audiobook, or sometimes just attending to the environment. A tip I picked up years ago from Brooklyn author Denis Hamill was: go for a walk with your character. Listen to what they see. What do they comment on? How do they approach this environment that you've seen a million times? How do they see it? What do they notice that you don't notice? That's such an incredible experience of creativity—when you're not writing, but writing. That really helps me a lot. Jo: Oh, nice one. Okay, so your latest book is Stark Realities, but you have so many more. Where can people find you and your books and your podcast online? Mark: Jo, you can find everything you want to know about me—and stuff you don't want to know about me—over at MarkLeslie.ca. It links to all the other places from there. Jo: Brilliant. Thanks again for your time, Mark. That was great. Mark: Thanks so much, Jo. Bye-bye. The post Creative Satisfaction, In Person Print Book Sales, And Author Mindset With Mark Leslie Lefebvre first appeared on The Creative Penn.

Peter Orullian and Brandon Sanderson find out who their spiritual 80's bands are.  Alongside their musically-challenged moderator, they confront a quiz that will force them to truly consider their rock feelings. See who these two authors could have been on this episode of Intentionally Blank! Also, check out the new book Songs of the Dead, available now!Get Your Copy of Songs of the Dead: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Songs-of-the-Dead/Brandon-Sanderson/The-Strata-Wars/9781668068144Take the quiz yourself: https://us.idyllic.app/quiz/f204zmndzk-which-80s-band-do-you-belong-inWant to send me something to open?Dragonsteel EntertainmentATTN: AdamP.O Box 698American Fork, UT 84003Get your Wheel of Time updates here with the Bound and Woven newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/brandonsanderson/eye-of-the-world-campaignStay up to date by following my newsletter: https://brandonsanderson.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=7d056bb7596a3e617f82004b2&id=fa68f14db0Interested in signed books and swag? Check here: https://www.dragonsteelbooks.com/You can also follow me on:Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@authorbrandonsandersonFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrandSandersonTwitter: https://twitter.com/BrandSandersonInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandsanderson/?hl=enTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/mistbornbrandonFrequently asked questions: https://faq.brandonsanderson.com