The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book comes out in the year that will mark the tenth anniversary of the
Mistborn series. Considering all the other things I’ve been doing, it seems
like six books in ten years is a grand accomplishment! I can still remember
the early months, writing the trilogy furiously, trying to craft something that
would really show off what I can do as a writer. Mistborn has become one of
my hallmark series, and I hope that you find this volume a worthy entry in the
canon.
As always, this book involved the efforts of a great number of people.
There’s the excellent art by Ben McSweeney and Isaac Stewarϯô€ˆ‰maps and
icons by Isaac, with all the broadsheet art done by Ben. Both also helped a
great deal on the text of the broadsheet, and Isaac himself wrote the Nicki
Savage piece for it􀈉since the idea was to have Jak hiring out his work now,
we wanted to give that a different voice. I think it turned out great!
The cover art was done by Chris McGrath in the US, and by Sam Green
for the UK edition. Both are longtime artists on this series, and their art keeps
getting better. Editorial was done by Moshe Feder at Tor, with Simon
Spanton shepherding the project over at Gollancz in the UK. Agents on the
project included Eddie Schneider, Sam Morgan, Krystyna Lopez, Christa
Atkinson, and Tae Keller at Jabberwocky in the US, all overseen by the
amazing Joshua Bilmes. In the UK you can thank John Berlyne of the Zeno
Agency, an all-around awesome guy who worked hard for many years to
finally break my books into the UK.
At Tor Books, I’d also like to thank Tom Doherty, Linda Quinton, Marco
Palmieri, Karl Gold, Diana Pho, Nathan Weaver, and Rafal Gibek.
Copyediting was done by Terry McGarry. The audiobook narrator is Michael
Kramer, my personal favorite narratorô€ˆ‰and one I know I’m probably making
blush right now, as he has to read this line to you all who are listening. At
Macmillan Audio, I’d like to thank Robert Allen, Samantha Edelson, and
Mitali Dave.
Continuity, all-around editing feedback, and countless other jobs were
done by the Immaculate Peter Ahlstrom. Also working here on my team are
Kara Stewart, Karen Ahlstrom, and Adam Horne. And, of course, my lovely
wife, Emily.
We leaned extra hard on my beta readers for this one, as the book didn’t
have the chance to go through writing group. That team is: Peter Ahlstrom,
Alice Arneson, Gary Singer, Eric James Stone, Brian T. Hill, Kristina
Kugler, Kim Garrett, Bob Kluttz, Jakob Remick, Karen Ahlstrom, Kalyani
Poluri, Ben “wooo this book is dedicated to me, look how important I am”
Olsen, Lyndsey Luther, Samuel Lund, Bao Pham, Aubree Pham, Megan
Kanne, Jory Phillips, Trae Cooper, Christi Jacobsen, Eric Lake, and Isaac
Stewarϯ. (For those wondering, Ben was a founding member of my original
writing group with Dan Wells and Peter Ahlstrom. A computer person by
trade, and the only one of us in that original group who had no aspirations
toward working in publishing, he’s been a valued reader and friend for many
years. He also introduced me to the Fallout series, so there’s that as well.)
Community proofreaders included most of the above plus: Kerry Wilcox,
David Behrens, Ian McNatt, Sarah Fletcher, Matt Wiens, and Joe Dowswell.
Well, that was a mouthful! These folks are wonderful, and if you compare
my early books to my later ones, I think you’ll find that the assistance of these
people has been invaluable in not only slaying typos but also helping me
tighten narratives. Finally, though, I’d like to thank you readers for sticking
with me these ten years, and being willing to accept the strange ideas I throw
at you. Mistborn is not quite halfway through the evolution I have planned for
it. I can’t wait for you to see what is coming your way, and this book is
where some of that finally starts to be revealed.
Enjoy!
