Tailored realities by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is a Number one New York Times bestseller, a Sunday Times bestseller and a David Gemmell Award winner (for heroic, epic and high fantasy books) and Hugo Award winner (for best Science fiction or fantasy works). Having sold more than 37 million books around the world, he is most famous for his fantasy series The Stormlight Archive and The Mistborn Saga. His work also includes the Skyward science fiction series, the Legion spy sequence and The Reckoners superhero novels. Sanderson was chosen to complete The Wheel of Time, an epic fourteen novel American fantasy series on the death of its author Robert Jordan. Sanderson has been recognised by the World Science Fiction Convention with 9 nominations.

With the complexities of dense high fantasy worlds, the casual reader may not care to follow such series. They become more favoured by their core fan base, who follow every detail and probably discuss it with their friends. Dense science fiction/fantasy books can become daunting, except for the devotees, as the created worlds are usually multi-layered and populated by myriads of beings. In writing Tailored Realities, a collection of short stories and novellas, one wonders if Sanderson has in mind, those readers who need a little help with the genre. It also must be a relief to experiment with short, clean stories which are not saga length. Tailored Realities includes the novellas Moment Zero and Defending Elysium which is set within the world of Skyward (his science fiction series- familiar to his readers), Snapshot, Perfect State and five other stories many which have not been available in print before.

There is an experimental tone to this collection. Interestingly, for the reader, Brandon writes a postscript at the end of each story where he describes things like the genesis of the story, the plan, the world he was building, the concept he was playing with and other aspects of setting, theme, character development and author craft. 

Topics that he explores include a detective story (involving a serial killer which he describes as ..."being about as far away as you can get within speculative fiction") where problems are solved by literally going back in time and stopping the problem before it happens, the idea of "body jumping" (of having the ability to literally take over another person's body) - inspired by callous video games, eugenics and shopping for your child's brain, of being chosen to interact with superior races, nature vs nurture, and "cops trying to stop the apocalypse from either side of the time stream." In other words - big, imaginative, speculative stories, full of  fast-paced action, amazing futuristic settings and technology and superhero characters.  

These stories lend themselves to the screen and to graphic novel format. Settings and action are cinematic and fast-paced.  Plots twist. The worlds are complex requiring strength and intelligence from the characters if they are to survive and sometimes save the world. The last story, Moment Zero, is for this reader, the most successful story as Sanderson has developed the characters well to the extent that the reader engages and feels for them. Tension and drama is built well in all of the stories. 

The art work in Tailored Realities is stunning and consistent with what one would expect from Brandon's work. Certainly his imaginary worlds are creative and diverse. The cover art, created by Utah-based Bryan Mark Taylor features a detailed oil painting - striking and provoking thought re the themes. A port hole/ portal/wormhole draws the eye into the tailored realities that Sanderson creates. A city scape bathed in a strange ethereal light seems both wordly and otherwordly.  Interior art is by Ben Mc Sweeney and Jessi Osche who are both known as character and concept artists and illustrators/ designers/ animators working within gaming and other areas of visual art. The visual art within Tailored Realities is very much reminiscent of that of graphic novels. Certainly, Sanderson's stories lend themselves to visual adaptation. Merchandise and books are all available from Sanderson's own Utah-based company Dragonsteel, LLC.

For lovers of speculative fiction and science fiction/ fantasy worlds, Brandon Sanderson's books are well-known best sellers. Tailored Realities, being a collection of short stories and novellas, is a departure from his usual lengthy works and a useful segue into his world.  Those who enjoy Sanderson may also enjoy as Sanderson himself recommends: Terry Pratchett Discworld (series) and Anne Mc Caffrey Dragon riders of Pern (series)

Themes: Science fiction/ fantasy worlds, Time travel, Body swapping, Portals, Alternate worlds, Apocalyptic worlds, Eugenics, Crime, Punishment.

Wendy Jeffrey