Author Brandon Sanderson had one more surprise for fans up his sleeve

Everything we know about Brandon Sanderson’s Secret Projects

We’re going to close things by giving a broad overview of what we know about Sanderson’s Secret Project books. When the author’s Kickstarter went live, there were literally no details about these stories, but over the course of the month he released the titles and first few chapters of each, as well as talked a bit about the inspiration behind them. If you want the full scoop you can go listen to the author read those chapters on his YouTube Channel. Otherwise, here’s an abridged overview:

Secret Project #1

The first Secret Project, which is arriving in January 2023, is titled Tress of the Emerald Sea. It is set within the Cosmere and has a fairy tale style. The entire book is a story being told by Hoid, the world-hopping character who has appeared in every single one of Sanderson’s Cosmere books, often manipulating events from behind the scenes. If you’ve read Rhythm of War, think of it as similar to the incredible The Dog and the Dragon chapter of the novel, only it’s an entire book written in that style.

Tress was originally written as a gift for Sanderson’s wife, and draws on The Princess Bride for inspiration. Though this story is told in the style of a fable, its events are canon, meaning that Tress is a real person in the Cosmere and her adventure actually happened. But this particular telling will be done with Hoid’s typical flair for the dramatic, so who knows what details he might fudge?

Secret Project #2

Secret Project 2 is titled The Frugal Wizard’s Guide For Surviving Medieval England. This is the only one of the Secret Projects that is not a Cosmere book. Instead, this novel plays on an idea Sanderson has had kicking around for a while that can roughly be summarized as “time travel disaster tourism.” The idea is that people travel back in time to witness tragic events like the sinking of the Titanic for fun. Mash that together with a Jason Bourne-type character who has no memory of who they are, and you have The Frugal Wizard’s Guide.

Secret Project #3

Next we have Secret Project 3, which is another Cosmere story told by Hoid. Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a manga-inspired tale about a young woman who has her soul switched with that of an incorporeal spirit. They both have to try and figure out how the other’s magic works in order to reverse the switch. That’s the story in a tiny; if you want the full details on the book go listen to Sanderson read it. This is the author’s favorite of the four secret projects.

Secret Project #4

Finally we have Secret Project 4, The Sunlit Man. This one is more integral to the Cosmere mythos. It centers around Sigzil, a character we know from The Stormlight Archive as one of the members of Bridge Four. Sigzil was formerly one of Hoid’s apprentices.

The Sunlit Man begins by waking up on a planet and needing to figure out its magic system in order to survive. This idea of a person waking up on a planet and needing to figure out its magic is one that goes way back in Sanderson’s career; he originally tried to write a version of this story that featured Hoid instead of Sigzil, back before the term “Cosmere” even existed. Of all the Secret Projects, this was the one the author felt that he truly had to try and write, because if he didn’t get it out during this period when he had the opportunity to, he thought it might be years at best before he could return to it.

Secret Project 4 is Stormlight Archive-adjacent. Sanderson said he intends it to be read before the fifth Stormlight book…but that there is a certain event in that book which leads to The Sunlit Man. It also involves the Threnodites — people native to the planet Threnody, which was the setting of Sanderson’s short story Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell. Of all the Secret Projects, The Sunlit Man is the one that will be a must-read for Cosmere fans.

It’ll be a while until we’re able to read Sanderson’s Secret Project books, but already there’s a lot to get excited about. And whether his record-shattering Kickstarter has truly changed the publishing industry or not, there’s no denying that this is a historic moment for the platform. Any day that fantasy novels are able to break into the mainstream news cycle is a good day.

In the meantime, Sanderson’s Skyward Flight: The Collection book, which gathers all three Cytoverse novellas he wrote with Janci Patterson, comes out on April 5. And The Lost Metal, the final book in Mistborn era 2, hits shelves on November 15. So even if it’ll be some time before we can read the Secret Projects, there’s always more Sanderson to read in the meantime.

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