Pop Goes the Monkey

I just finished reading three books by Brandon Sanderson, and I wanted to give the books a quick plug. For those of you who are fantasy fans, Sanderson is a great up-and-coming author and I would highly recommend him to you.

Sanderson’s trademark is to take a conventional fantasy plot, and turn it on his head. For example, how often have we heard the story of a hero who goes on an epic quest to defeat the dark lord, and after many trials, the hero triumphs over evil. In his novel Mistborn, Sanderson asks the question, what would happen if the Hero of the Ages failed in his quest and the Dark Lord triumphed?

Or, have you ever read a story about a hero who wakes up one morning with special powers? In Elantris, Sanderson writes about city whose inhabitants all have godlike powers. Only, when we begin the book, an unknown event has taken away those powers and turned everyone in the city into zombie-like creatures.

Another trademark of Sanderson is to leave the reader satisfied at the end of his books. Even though Mistborn and its sequel, the Well of Ascension, are part of a trilogy, Sanderson makes sure that his stories give you answers.

Sanderson currently has the three aforementioned published, with the third book in the Mistborn trilogy set to publish later this year. He has a new book called Warbreaker coming out early next year. After that comes the big one: A Memory of Light. Sanderson has been commissioned to finish Robert Jordan’s beloved Wheel of Time series. This is a huge honor for Sanderson, having the opportunity to complete Jordan’s life work. If you haven’t had the pleasure to read the Wheel of Time, take a year or so and give it a try (the 11 book series has almost 10,000 pages). Book twelve will be arriving in 2009 or 2010 so you have some time.

College football tips off this weekend! I’m really excited about Georgia’s chances for a national title. They start the year off number one for the first time in school history. They have a tough, tough road ahead of them though. In fact, ESPN rated Georgia’s schedule as the most difficult in the country.

They play at South Carolina, at #15 Arizona State, at #7 LSU, and at #10 Auburn. At home they get #18 Tennessee, #24 Alabama, and the always difficult Georgia Tech. Oh, and I forgot #5 Florida in Jacksonville. Oh, and if they are able to survive all this, they have to make it through the SEC championship game.

All told, it has to be one of the most difficult seasons in college football history, so I’ll keep my fingers crossed. It’s definitely time that we win a title.

I’m also excited to see how BYU’s and Utah’s seasons play out. Either one has a great shot at being in the BCS this season. I think there is even a scenario where BYU could end up in the national title game. Maybe I’ll blog about that later.

Well, have fun watching your favorite teams everyone.