Discussion among Fantasy afficionado friends and colleagues today brought to light a very mean-spirited and mealy-mouthed profile story from Wired Magazine, by a certain Jason Kehe, about an author who is unbelievably successful, but about whom even some fans of Fantasy literature may not know much. At first it came across very much as a hit-piece by a bitter elitist nerd on an ordinary and well-adjusted man who has made millions by writing very very popular fiction. As I read it, I wondered if it wasn’t a little more complicated than that …
(Kehe’s story, entitled “Brandon Sanderson is Your God” can be read here:
https://www.wired.com/story/brandon-sanderson-is-your-god/ )
Okay, yes, this is kind of horrible to read, but hear me out: this is not a “bad” piece. Here’s why: I would wager that Sanderson did see it, and that he DIDN’T CARE IN THE SLIGHTEST. I would further wager that he and the writer talked about the direction he was going with the piece, that it was more about the journalist’s inability to understand the appeal of Sanderson, and then a vague bit of epiphany, and I think that the payoff at the end is something that Sanderson would endorse, and that the conversation that it all leads to about the link between Mormonism and his work is one that he himself is deeply interested in.
Further, I would argue, this is ABSOLUTELY a piece which shows the writer “telling on himself”, and that in a sense, the subtext of the whole thing is: “why do we, nerdy snobs, not get Sanderson? What the hell is the appeal? Okay, here’s what it is… What is wrong with US? After all, who’s the guy with the strong community around him, the millions, the empire? Is THIS why we can’t have nice things?”
And here’s my experience with Sanderson: I read several of the immense tomes of The Stormlight Archive. And they are actually not at all badly written; they are EFFECTIVELY written.. They are that kind of genre fiction where the writing is clear, clean, simple, and GETS OUT OF THE WAY. You never for a second stop to think “oh wow what an amazing sentence”, but neither (and the writer is wrong about this) do you ever stop and think “oh that’s a terrible sentence”.. Even the examples he gives are not *awful*, they’re just a bit lame. But unlike Dan Brown, say, where there are howlers on nearly every page, Sanderson’s prose is just fine. It never strains for effect. It never gets convoluted.. It is an absolutely efficient delivery system for the payload, which is not (spoiler) “Literature”. No, Sanderson seems to me to provide that very lovely thing, most sought after by fantasy readers, which is “immersion”; not exactly escapism, it’s not that simple. And it’s not “story”; I absolutely could not tell you what the actual “story” of that series is, not because there isn’t one, but because there’s SO MUCH. The books immerse you in a vast and complex world, with hundreds of complex characters, with multiple threads of narrative arc that go from the deeply personal to the cosmically epic. The world is full of wonder, of well-done fantasy tropes that are jewel-like and glowing, satisfying; but there are also those “real people” the readers mention in the article: they are not just epic superhuman heroes: they have flaws and struggles too.
But I think the key to this immersion, as into a warm and comforting bath, is the sheer VOLUME. There is SO MUCH OF IT. And because he works so fast, there is ALWAYS more. And then, if he were to one day drop dead at his keyboard, presumably he will have chosen and trained his heirs to continue his legacy (as he did with Jordan, who definitely is his spiritual predecessor), or you could just turn around and start all the books again, and the Wheel of Time would turn forever….
I think it’s telling that the only moment in my life where I have felt the urge and the ability to read Sanderson was when I was stressed, depressed, anxious, heading into the final final (no excuses!) year of my PhD, we’d just had our first child, my wife was suffering from extreme post-partum depression… And I was tearing through the Stormlight Archive. Because it provided not just immersion, but *insulation*. I could plunge in and forget where I was, or what was happening. Crucially, I could dive in while on a twenty minute coffee break, with no struggle to find my place or “get back into it” that one can have with a more self-consciously literary prose. No barrier to entry. No difficulty of access. Flip the Stormlight Switch, and BOOM, you’re back there on the battle-field with the heroic sappers, the bridge-builders, as they charge forward once again…(come ON! That shit is EPIC! Who could be immune?)
I think this is the secret. These are not “Fantasy Novels” the way the writer of the article wants to read them. Ones with strange, disturbing, thought-provoking LANGUAGE as well as Narrative and Worldbuilding. No, these are Sagas. Epic, ramifying-rhizomatic, lush, Emporia of Wonder. And they are infinitely accessible, and you can take a single hit on your coffee break, or binge the new volume in a weekend, barely breaking to eat or sleep.
I don’t necessarily want to read more Sanderson. I feel like reading things that challenge me more. But that’s because I have enough time and leisure and attention to dedicate some of it to books that are “difficult”. Even to write them myself. Books with intertextual references, poetic effects in prose, unsettling indeterminacy of character, troubling lack of resolution or moral judgement…
But Sanderson exists, and I for one am delighted. Because I know what it is (I think we all do) to have had moments in my life (my Stormlight moment, but so many other previous ones) where I did not need to be CHALLENGED by my fantasy reading. I need to be enfolded, and comforted, and entranced. And I was. And I think he does this for millions of people, and I am delighted he does.
And this article, I think, shows why elitist nerds like Wired readers “don’t get it”… But I think it is self-conscious enough to provide hints about why. And I think that Sanderson’s readers may rail against how mean this article is, but deep down they’ll be a little pleased. “See? They just don’t get it, do they?” And Sanderson himself, who finishes the article compared to a benevolent God-Man, while the writer has no qualms about showing himself as a mean-spirited snobbish jerk (who doesn’t like Hugh Jackman? Come on!), and I think if you read to the end there’s really no doubt about who the winner is… I think Sanderson, who is a very intelligent and wise man, will be rather pleased with it. It’s very On-Brand, for Brand-on… (if you please, observe what I did there…)…
Anyway. Sorry for writing a whole blog post here. Actually not sorry at all. I should make it a blog post. As ever, thanks to Ellen Kushner and friends for always sparking discussion! 🖤
Further to the initial blurt of BLOGGINESS in response to the original article, further discussion with my friend Mélanie Fazi who is Sanderson’s French translator revealed that Sanderson himself did not know the direction the article was going to go, and was genuinely hurt when he read it. His fans, needless to say, were furious. All I can think is that, in the end, the writer of the article comes off looking like a bullying, bitter, mean-spirited, joyless prick, and that only people similar to him will revel in the snark. And I still maintain that there’s just enough self-awareness in the article to actually lead us towards this ourselves.
And finally, Sanderson himself made this incredibly generous, humble, and classy response. To be honest, I think the whole thing will have won him more fans, not even necessarily for his writing, but just as a cool person.
https://www.reddit.com/r/brandonsanderson/comments/1200dzk/on_the_wired_article/
And I just think that’s absolutely perfect. Interesting that he mentions Pratchett: that kind of humanity, that kind of Attention, given to any human being, is indeed what makes EVERYONE interesting. Sanderson is absolutely on the money there; and, funnily enough, the warm embrace of the Discworld novels has been another immersive and enfolding Place of Refuge for me (and I’m sure for many of you), in those Times of Stormlight, when only the immersive, the accessible, and the full of wonder will suffice. Poor old Jason. I doubt he’ll ever be happy. Good old Brandon: I am almost certain that he is. Long may it be!
MARK DEVLIN
Born in Australia to Irish parents, Mark Devlin spent most of his childhood in Ireland, with occasional spells in the United States. As a child, he was obsessed with fantasy literature and roleplaying games, but kicked the habit in his mid-teens, when he realised that sex, drugs and rock’n’roll, and being a Dungeon Master, were mutually exclusive. He would still read The Earthsea Trilogy at least once a year, but he didn’t talk about it. After studying English and Philosophy at University College Cork, he became a secondary school teacher in an all-girls Catholic school and started a theatre company. When his nerves couldn’t take it anymore, he applied for a position as a lecteur in English literature at Université de Paris-Nouvelle Athènes. One thing led to another, and he ended up getting sucked in by academia again. Initial enthusiasm gave way to diffidence and procrastination, and he defended his very pedestrian thesis in 2015, after spending five years researching irrelevant and esoteric topics in the dark corners of the internet and furtively reading RPG forums, and one year desperately typing the thing that he ended up calling his dissertation.
Eventually, he gave up pretending and started writing a fantasy novel. He very much enjoys hiking and camping, and communing with Nature. He lives in Montmartre with his wife and two children. He works as a Passeur, a Guide and Translator, a Smuggler across borders of people, ideas, culture.
