The Basement Office

I picked this up and I’m excited!

Shadows Beneath by Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette-Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler

I’ve posted a few times about podcasts and Writing Excuses has always been a favorite (even my wife, who dislikes podcasts in general finds it “entertaining”) so when they mentioned Shadows Beneath, I sat up and listened.

The details are on the link but in my own words it’s like this:

Last year, the folks on Writing Excuses each brainstormed a story on the podcast.  I have listened to those and it was kind of cool to listen to four professionals going through what we also go through.

Shadows Beneath contains all four of the stories in their final, polished versions.     This is kind of cool, since I’ve heard the brainstorming and it’s nice to see what comes out of it.

But wait there’s more!

It includes each podcast/brainstorm session’s transcript with each story.   Ok, that’s nice.

But wait there’s even more!

It includes the first draft of each story!   Now we’re getting somewhere interesting!  I want to see those first drafts!

That’s not all!

In includes the writing workshop notes for each story.   Ok, now I don’t know about you fine readers, but for me, being able to see the complete evolution of a story from beginning to (polished) end is somewhat of a useful treat.  I’ve read all four of these writers and enjoy their work.   I could get something out of this.

Still more…

If you buy the hard cover, the ebook is free.  (Now that’s pretty awesome…something I think EVERYONE should be doing).

The best part?  I managed to snag  a signed copy.  Sure it’ll take a long time to get here but until it does, I have the ebook to read.