A Grain of Sanderson

By: Graham Gillman Taylor Lane Jack McLaughlan
  • Summary

  • From the fantasy epics of the Cosmere to the defunct mobile game companion books, Graham, Jack, and Taylor attempt to read every published work by Brandon Sanderson, in publication order. We hope to gain a better understanding of who he is as an author, how his writing changes over time, and his broader effect on the fantasy genre. Starting with Elantris and finishing half a decade from now, please join us as we travel out of the wardrobe, and onto the wagon train.

    New episodes the second Tuesday of the month.

    © 2024 A Grain of Sanderson
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Episodes
  • Episode 8 - Warbreaker
    Sep 19 2024

    We read the bright, colorful, and most importantly - good Warbreaker in its entirety.

    Next month we'll be reading all of Alcatraz vs The Knights of Crystallia, Episode Airs: October 15th

    https://x.com/headfallsoff/status/1051484419251425280

    Message I sent to Jack during the pod, potential spoilers for Word of Brandon and Stormlight. https://imgur.com/HeaTJ6v.jpg

    I highly recommend this Library of Congress National Book Fair Talk with James SA Corey https://youtu.be/OWSo3qSKAuM?si=aKm4yKIRcgabOsO4

    All those lectures and talks were quite good, if one sticks out to you give it a listen.

    There was an audio issue in the original version of this episode that has since been remedied, shout out to our listeners who got back to us so quickly.

    Content warnings for this episode: ableism, addiction, age gap, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, body modification, broken bones, child abuse, child death, child sacrifice (non lethal), classism, colonization, death, decapitation, discussion of rape, discussion of sexuality, disembowelment, domestic violence, enemies to lovers, fatphobia, fridging, gaslighting, genocide, human sacrifice, insanity, J.K. Rowling, knives, maiming, marital rape, mind control, misogyny, murder, mutation, mutilation, non-traditional use of the word "rape", puppets, racism, rape, rape culture, religious conversion, religious extremism, self harm, settler colonialism, sexual content, sexual assault, sexual violence, skeletons, slavery, stabbing, strangulation, suicide/suicidal ideation, terminal illness, undeath, wounds and infection

    This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

    Insta: https://www.instagram.com/grainofsanderson_pod/?hl=en
    Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/AGrainofSanderson

    Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

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    2 hrs and 50 mins
  • Defending Elysium & Firstborn - Episode 7
    Aug 13 2024

    Join us for our shortest episode yet! We delve into Sanderson's first works of science fiction, two interesting short stories about space and failure.

    Next month we'll be reading all of Warbreaker.

    Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, blindness, broken bones, bullying, child abuse, classism, conspiracies, cults, death, empire, existentialism, failure, fascism, gifted kid syndrome, gulags, homophobia, human sacrifice, human supremacy, imprisonment, insanity, imperialism, JK Rowling, maiming, mental illness, mind control, murder, Nazi Germany, Orson Scott Card, prisons, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, torture, transphobia, wounds and infection

    Defending Elysium: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/defending-elysium/

    Firstborn: https://reactormag.com/firstborn/

    Opening Scene to Cowboy Bebop: https://youtu.be/Z-4ImAf6qYk
    I totally blanked and missed the opportunity to talk about Jet as a disabled character in the episode, but alas, we record these in the morning and sometimes the brain misses the connection.

    Darko Suvin's Estrangement and Cognition: http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/articles/estrangement-and-cognition/ - I did an embarassingly bad job talking about one of the foundational texts of science fiction studies. If it's relevant again I'll do a better job talking about it, but for now I highly recommend reading it only to better understand some of the reasons a text feels like "science fiction".

    If you're intersted in Star Wars or Grand Admiral Thrawn, I highly recommend A More Civilized Age, where Waypoint Radio Veterans Ali, Austin, Natalie, and Rob are going through Star Wars Rebels where he makes an appearance.


    This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

    Insta: https://www.instagram.com/grainofsanderson_pod/?hl=en
    Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/AGrainofSanderson

    Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

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    1 hr and 22 mins
  • Alcatraz vs The Scrivener's Bones - Episode 6
    Jul 9 2024

    We're confronted with our first sleeper hit, Alcatraz vs The Scrivener's Bones!

    Next month we'll be reading the short stories Defending Elysium (2008) and Firstborn (2008), Episode Airs: August 13th

    Content warnings for this episode: abandonment, ableism, betrayal, bleeding, body horror, broken bones, bullying, child abuse, child death, child endangerment, classism, conspiracies, cults, death, existentialism, fighter jets, foster homes, gulags, Harry Potter, human sacrifice, imprisonment, insanity, maiming, mental illness, mind control, murder, prisons, religious extremism, self harm, self hatred, stabbing, suicide/suicidal ideation, time loops, torture, transphobia, undeath, US Military, wounds and infection

    So in the episode I mentioned that I would put a primer to disability studies in the show notes. I'd recommend starting with Beginning with Disability by Lennard Davis, and then if you're interested in the politics of care I can recommend Sunaura Taylor's Beasts of Burden and if you like disability as a product of environment, try Stacy Alaimo's Bodily Natures. There's a million more places you can go from those three books, so enjoy and happy reading.

    Castleman, M. D. (2011). Alcatraz and Iser: Applying Wolfgang Iser’s concepts of implied reader and implied author and reality to the metafictive Alcatraz Smedry series. Children's Literature in Education, 42, 19-32.

    Sorry for the late upload y'all, lost a bunch of editing in the export last night so I redid some work.

    This show is created by Graham Gillman, Taylor Lane, and Jack McLaughlan.

    Insta: https://www.instagram.com/grainofsanderson_pod/?hl=en
    Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/shop/AGrainofSanderson

    Our theme music is "goodnight kiss" by 2mello off the album midnight broadcasts. (https://2mello.net/)

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    2 hrs and 34 mins

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