A Dribble of Ink

Tor Books announced today that they have acquired two more Mistborn novels from Brandon Sanderson. These two novels will be set in the same timeframe as The Alloy of Law, the standalone sequel to Sanderson’s popular trilogy, and will likely be of similar length. The first of these novels is titled Shadows of Self. According to Tor, the series is about “a team of cowboy detectives who investigate crimes that arise in a Scadrial that is rapidly approaching modernity.”

Sanderson on the upcoming Mistborn novels:

[O]ne thing I’ve wanted from the beginning of the Mistborn series was to show the interactions of magic with technology and society through different eras of that world’s development. There is much more to explore with Waxillium Ladrian, his comrade Wayne, and their time period, so we’re going to stay with them for a couple more books. I think you’re going to like what’s coming.

Moshe Feder, Sanderson’s agent, describes the deal as ‘the biggest’ they’ve done with Sanderson, and reconfirmed that these books are not part of the ‘trilogy of trilogies’ that Sanderson has described on several occasions. Instead, they are ‘bonus books.’

Feder describes the ‘trilogy of trilogies’:

The Mistborn series was conceived as a trilogy of trilogies. The first was set in what will eventually be thought of as Scadrial’s mythological past. The second will be set in Scadrial’s equivalent of Earth’s 20th century. The third will be in its high-tech future, roughly the Mistborn equivalent of Star Trek’s world. Obviously, the second and third trilogies are going to offer exciting opportunities for science and magic to combine and clash. I can’t wait to see what Brandon will do with that!

The Alloy of Law and Shadows of Self take place about 75 years before the second trilogy in the planned ‘trilogy of trilogies.’ There is no release date for the second trilogy.

Shadows of Self is tentatively scheduled for release in Fall, 2014. The third novel will follow in 2015.