Towers of Midnight is currently scheduled to be released on November 2nd.

You can pre-order Towers of Midnight on Amazon.

In the 27 minute-long MP3, Sanderson talks about how he got into writing, some of the books he likes, and how he ended up writing The Gathering Storm.

The Gathering Storm is different, but not in a bad way. It feels like a Wheel of Time book once you get into it, albeit with writing that flows a little quicker. The characters are the same, the story plays out as expected. It’s definitely Wheel of Time. It’s just a little different.

Things happen. Gathering Storm sees long-expected events to completion, and for once focuses more on Rand and Egwene, who had often taken a back seat to other characters’ escapades in previous books. Egwene’s assault on the White Tower makes progress, and Rand goes through a lot of important character development. Matt and Perrin make short appearances, as do many of the other regulars.

Confrontations abound, and the dynamic scenes keep the pages turning. A few subtle clues hint at what’s to come in the next two books, and true to it’s roots, the story builds up speed until it reaches the brilliant finale and ends on a high note.

I don’t want to spoil too much, so I’ll leave it at this: The Gathering Storm is one of the better Wheel of Time novels, and Sanderson has done an amazing job. I honestly can’t wait until Towers of Midnight is released next year.

Three lucky Fantasy Folder readers will receive, by random drawing, Robert Jordan’s The Eye of the World and Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn. Here’s how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post. It can be anything; why you want the books, a funny experience you had related to one of the series, whatever you want. Be creative. (Haikus are encouraged!)
2. Please make sure that you leave a valid email address when you comment. We will need it to contact you if you win, as we will need to ask for a shipping address.
3. If you retweet this post on Twitter and leave the perma-link to your tweet in your comment, you will be entered twice into the drawing, giving you an extra chance.

RT @fantasyfolder Win a Copy of “The Eye of the World” and “Mistborn” http://su.pr/6hlB54

You can only enter the contest once. This contest is only open to residents of the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as Tor cannot ship the books elsewhere.

The drawing will be held on October 20, 2009, and the winners will be announced after we forward the shipping addresses to Tor.

Entries are now closed, at 12:00 AM October 21, 2009. Winners will be picked shortly with the help of Random.org.

Yes, our narrator has changed. Sanderson’s writing is more focused on plot, and his style seems to put more weight on making things happen rather than world building. As we are in the concluding books in our story, this is especially welcome to the reader. Quite simply? Things happen. They happen fast. This book concludes things that have been plaguing me from the very beginning. The story moves forward in a fashion that satisfies and rewards invested readers. Our narrator has changed, and so the pace in which we hear the story has changed. But he serves this final part of the story exceedingly well and the characters speak true.

This latest review is quite encouraging. “Eleyan Sedai,” the reviewer and head of TarValon.net, is obviously a serious fan of the Wheel of Time series, so the review’s praise for Brandon Sanderson helps ease any doubts I still have about the upcoming book.

It’s going to be epic.

The Gathering Storm will be released on October 27, 2009.

The wizards at Ankh-Morpork’s Unseen University are renowned for many things—wisdom, magic, and their love of teatime—but athletics is most assuredly not on the list. And so when Lord Ventinari, the city’s benevolent tyrant, strongly suggests to Archchancellor Mustrum Ridcully that the university revive an erstwhile tradition and once again put forth a football team composed of faculty, students, and staff, the wizards of UU find themselves in a quandary.

Scott Westerfeld’s much-awaited novel Leviathan has been released. It is an alternate history set at the dawn of World War I, but with a bit of a focus on sci-fi/fantasy dirigibles, both steampunk-style and “organic.”

Tor has posted a two-minute video interview with Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson, two people very important people behind the new Wheel of Time book, on YouTube.

The thirteenth book in the Wheel of Time epic will be called Towers of Midnight. The publication date is estimated to be around late 2010, roughly one year after the upcoming The Gathering Storm. The fourteenth and final book will be called A Memory of Light, as the late Robert Jordan originally intended.

For those still confused, there has been a lot happening in the Wheel of Time realm this year. Because of the abundance of material and notes, the twelfth book morphed into three books.

WoT 13 title: “Towers of Midnight” [Dragonmount]

In other news, Scott Westerfeld’s new book, Leviathan, will be released on October 6th. (The same day as Terry Pratchett’s Unseen Academicals.) Leviathan is an alternate historical fiction novel set at the beginning of World War I, with steampunk airships.

Prince Aleksander, would-be heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, is on the run. His own people have turned on him. His title is worthless. All he has is a battletorn war machine and a loyal crew of men.

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She’s a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn’s paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

The first edition is slated for a May 13 release. Click over to Fantasy-Fan.org to see the pictures.