Delacorte Press has announced the acquisition of a new young adult book trilogy by Brandon Sanderson under the title “Apocalypse Guard,” to be published beginning in spring 2018.
The description for the trilogy notes that “Apocalypse Guard” is set “in a world parallel to that of the Reckoners [trilogy].”
Which makes one wonder…is Sanderson building a second Cosmere?
From Delacorte’s press release:
The Apocalypse Guard series is set in a world parallel to that of the Reckoners, and an organization of superpowered individuals is at its center. Their collective objective is to save doomed planets, until the day something goes horribly wrong and it is up to one young member of the guard to fix things before time runs out for her and the planet she calls home.
Publication of the first book in the series is planned for spring 2018.
“Parallel” to the world of the Reckoners, i.e. Earth? Interesting. Is this set in Earth’s future, beyond the events of The Reckoners, or before? Or both? Sanderson has stated before that The Reckoners isn’t part of the Cosmere that Stormlight Archive, Mistborn, and other books take place within, but that doesn’t preclude Sanderson from expanding the universe he’s begun with The Reckoners series. And since Apocalypse Guard is about a collective that saves doomed planets, it seems as if we’re about to see a much larger Reckoners universe, almost like a second Cosmere!
This is pure speculation on my part, but that’s part of why Sanderson’s books are so much fun, because they make room for wide speculation. We’ll see for sure come spring 2018!
Note: The comments below contain spoilers for Calamity. Proceed with caution!
I love Sanderson. I honestly don’t care about these books. I’ll buy then and wish they were Cosmere. Take my money anyway.
I don’t blame the guy for wanting to spend time writing a YA-focused sci-fi comic book story, after toiling over the 1300-page plot-rich epic trilogy-book that is Stormlight 3.
I was hoping he’d try polishing off the final Wax/Wayne steampunk Mistborn novel, but he’s likely a bit burnt out on that too.
Knowing Brandon, his decision to write a YA trilogy is the closest thing to a vacation that he’ll allow himself. It’s almost as if he can pump these out at will.
Reckoners seemed nicely tied up, but with the whole “parallel world/Bioshock Infinite/sliders” power I guess the temptation to expand that was a bit much.
Plus he totally set this up with Calamity’s backstory.
Always great news that the Sanderson story machine continues to work new ideas. I don’t think this was on his previously released list of upcoming projects (didn’t he just update us last month on projects?). I think Delacourte put some pressure on him to continue with the Reckoners due to its success. Brandon compromised with this idea which he had in his head but didn’t want to previously commit to due to everything else he has said he wants to do with his career. I was hoping for more Rithmatist soon as a break between Stormlight.
After finishing Calamity, and knowing that it’s the finale of the series, I felt that there was room for at least two more books. Prof and David still have stories to tell, and Calamity himself too. :-) So, great news.
Still holding out hope that Sanderson will write another crazy, metafictional and hilarious romp with serious underlying themes like the Alcatraz books…which this probably won’t be. But it will be fun to see Brandon Sanderson’s wonderful creativity and earnest optimism in another new context. He has a knack for experimenting with new ideas while keeping a comfortable foundation of familiar characterization, themes and tone – just the mixture of thought-provoking surprise and cozy familiarity that AFAIC makes for thoroughly enjoyable entertainment.
It amuses me that he’s now effectively canceled out finally finishing two of his series (Alcatraz and Reckoners) this year, what with White Sand starting in June and now this too. And it’s only March! Who knows what further terrible harbingers of where’s-my-sequel syndrome may come later in the year? But I have to admit, if we’ve got to wait upwards of three years between Stormlight books, then this is just about the most pleasant way to do it.
And I’m also glad that he’s taking a break, sort of, because I need him to stay around for a long time. Not just because I want Dragonsteel to get written someday, but also because he’s an awesome guy.
@@.-@ wallyrocket: He did mention it in 2015’s State of the Sanderson, with more information on the 17th Shard blog from the SoS release party. I think Rithmatist 2 is still happening.
@@@@@2. swiffer
At the back of Bands of Mourning, it says he’ll finish the series with a book to be written after the next Stormlight book (Oathbringer), so maybe by end of next year.
So is this parallel world the one that Megan frequently pulls from and that we saw more of in Calamity? Or just one more in the multiverse? I wonder if Megan (or an alternate Megan) is the protagonist in this series.
@8 I think that is exactly what this is
Alcatraz 5 isn’t cancelled. It’s finished, and they have a publishing date
Love them name too.
Alcatraz 5 is coming out this summer, and he’s said that the research for Rithmatist 2 (the reason it was set aside for so long) is now finished.
ETA: According to Amazon, Alcatraz 5 will be released September 6. I couldn’t find a date on Brandon’s site.
@2, 4 Wax and Wayne 4 is still on his schedule to fit in before Stormlight 4, as well as Rithmatist 2 and this new YA series.
This project was mentioned in his State of Sanderson in December, just not given a title.
@10: Whoops, I guess I shouldn’t have tried to make jokes late at night. I know that Alcatraz 5 is coming out (and I’m ridiculously excited for it!). My point is that Sanderson is finishing two series this year (Alcatraz and Calamity), but then he’s starting another two series (White Sand and Apocalypse Guard). So the net number of series that he’s working on is still the same. Which is exciting, but also somewhat alarming for anybody who really wants a sequel to a particular book.
@14: Could be much worse. Sanderson’s working on a plural number of series; how many writers can you think of that have that claim to fame? Pierce is perhaps the only non-Sanderson one I can think of.
@14 and 15
Will Wight is working on two series at the same time – and he puts out books almost as fast as Sanderson does.
They are interlinked series though, so maybe they don’t count as separate.
@16: eh, If Cosmere stories on different worlds count, then Will Wight’s “interlinked” series count.
Brandon has six projects coming out this year:
1. Bands of Mourning
2. Mistborn: Secret History
3. Calamity
4. The 5th Alcatraz Smedry book
5. The White Sand graphic novel (adaptation of an unpublished novel that Brandon wrote before he wrote Elantris)
6. Arcanum Unbounded (collection of all published short stories set in the Cosmere, plus a previously unpublished novella set in the world of the Stormlight Archive. Could also include a star chart of the Cosmere!
@18: Quick nitpick – Sanderson wrote White Sand after writing Elantris, but before publishing it. (See http://coppermind.net/wiki/Unpublished_works) At any rate, I’m really excited to see how White Sand turns out as a graphic novel. And if they’ll leave in some of the more awkward moments…
Here’s Brandon’s projected schedule for upcoming major novels, taken from the “State of the Sanderson 2015” announcement. He said this schedule wasn’t set in stone and could change, and it doesn’t include any novellas or short stories that may or may not appear during moments when he feels the need to do something new:
******************************************
Projected Novel Release Schedule
January 2016: Wax and Wayne 3
February 2016: Reckoners 3 (final book)
June 2016: Alcatraz 5
Sometime 2017: Stormlight 3
Sometime 2017: Rithmatist 2
Spring 2018: Apocalypse Guard 1
Fall 2018: Wax and Wayne 4 (final book)
Sometime 2019: Stormlight 4
Sometime 2019: Apocalypse Guard 2
Sometime 2020: Elantris 2
Sometime 2020 Apocalypse Guard 3 (final book)
Sometime 2021: Stormlight 5 (ending of first arc)
Sometime 2022: Elantris 3 (final book)
*****************************************
The man is an unstoppable writing machine. Wow.
Sanderson is my favorite writer (followed by Iain Bankes). How he keeps the high level of writing quality and story lines straight is mind-boggling to me. I’m hoping we get to dig into Firefight’s world (Disclaimer: I am late to the Reckoners’ world and am just now finishing Calamity).
Steelheart was my first Sanderson book as a WOT fan (obvs with my handle) I was curious who this dude was who is taking over. I hated the first book the first time I readit. But I didn’t hate all of it. After rereading it for the third time to blitzt all three books at once. I realize I didnt like the characters that much but I liked the world. The worldbuilding is not horrible. I’m actually quite invested in the world more than I am the characters. A very odd sensation. This is one of the very few fictions that I could actuallly see myself playing an RPG of and enjoying it. I could actually picture myself as any class of character from regular person to reckoner to low level to high level epic and I wouldn’t miss the characters I’ve come to know.
@15: Mercedes Lackey. Her books may not be quite as epic as Sanderson’s, but she has been consistently churning out multiple series for 25 years. She has published more than 140 novels, “at a rate of 5.5 per year on average”, according to Wikipedia. She also has a similar way of switching between heavier and lighter subject material.
I am definitely not going to like any other character as much as David.
First off I’m no other and I am no book expert or editor but personal I would love to see him do a book on the same Reckoners ,because while he ended it like the end to a series I felt he left a gaping hole. That hole being the epic Oblivion. Oblivion had said that he would be headed up to Toronto to obliterate it ,and had said that he was expecting to fight David there. This would also be a cool setting because of Abraham. But who knows maybe the plot leads the protagonist to our earths Reckoners and that issue is Oblivion but that is personally what I would like to see.