We did a poll yesterday to find out where our readers came from, and I was surprised that almost three quarters of you were unfamiliar with the Seven Suns universe! I'm certainly glad to have you, and now you can read the entire epic from start to finish. This is my best-selling series (other than Star Wars and Dune) and has appeared around the world in many languages, but I am so pleased to finally be able to bring it out in a beautiful, consistent edition.

A special welcome to fans of Brandon Sanderson, those of you who took his recommendation and supported this campaign. I've known Brandon for many years, even gave him a blurb on his very first novel. Fifteen years ago Brandon and I formed the first business-oriented/career-centric writing conference, Superstars Writing Seminars, with David Farland, Eric Flint, James Artimus Owen, and my wife Rebecca Moesta. It's held every February in Colorado Springs. You can see more information at Superstarswriting.com.


This afternoon I am flying off to Sweden to be a guest at the Stockholm Comic Con. On the long flight, I will be editing and assembling the pieces for the new Seven Suns companion book, SPIRAL ARM. I expect to have it ready to go by the time the campaign ends in a week. (You can still add a copy to your pledge.)

We are making great progress toward our next stretch goal at $328K, an exclusive Zoom hangout with me, open only to backers of this campaign. I hope you'll be able to join us (assuming we hit that level in the next week!).

I also host monthly Zoom calls exclusive to my Patreon supporters, which are always a lot of fun. If you'd like regular close interaction and also get a behind-the-scenes look at my writing and new projects, you can join at patreon.com/kevinjanderson.  For $3/month I'll share news, hiking photos, cat photos, my favorite recipes, and travel updates; at $10 you can read all of my new manuscripts—novels, short stories, articles—the moment I finish them and send to the editor, which is often a year or so before anyone else. At $20 you can join our monthly Zoom hangout, and at $30 you get all of the other stuff plus a free signed copy of all my new books as they come out (and wow did the backers get a bargain this year with all the new novels and graphic novels I published).


Again, thanks so much for supporting the Saga of Seven Suns. Welcome to my universe. Whether you're reading the series for the first time or coming back for a reread or just to complete the series, I hope you'll enjoy the big story. And best of all, it's finished, so you can binge right through from start to finish.

KJA

We're curious to see how much of the series, if any, you've read before. Please check an answer and help us out!

Just before I went to bed last night, our campaign crossed the $300K mark—I've certainly never done that before, never even came close! Thank you all for your support.

In the previous two stretch goals, I'm creating a brand new companion book, SPIRAL ARM, which you can now add on in all formats, including the fancy deluxe edition, and next I promised to create a special 7 Suns bookmark, which we will include with every order of physical books. 

A crowdfunding campaign is a special relationship between the creator and the audience, so for the new stretch goal, let's do something more personal. If we hit the next stretch goal—at $328,000—you can all join me for an exclusive Zoom call and conversation. We'll spend an hour just hanging out face to face (well, screen to screen), open to backers only. You can ask me questions, and we'll talk about whatever you want.

(Why an odd number like 328K, you ask? because that is exactly FOUR TIMES the amount of my biggest previous campaign, which I think is pretty significant.)

BackerKit invited me to take part in this year's Holiday Market—sort of like a table at a Christmas faire. It's a campaign that only runs for a few weeks and ends on December 1, with creators offering ready-made items that can ship out right away so you'll receive them in time for the holidays. (Because of the tight turnaround, we are only offering shipping in the US.)

I have extra copies of nice editions from previous campaigns, and I can sign—and even personalize—the books to you or to a loved one for a special holiday gift. These are ready go go. Follow the pre-launch page so you'll be notified when we start—and you'll get a free ebook of my hilarious Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. Christmas story Naughty & Nice. I have limited quantities of these titles, so we'll probably run out.



In the meantime, we are halfway through the Seven Suns campaign. I leave on Wednesday for six days in Sweden for the Stockholm Comic Con, but I'll be home for our big finish on November 5. Hope to see you on Zoom after we pass the next stretch goal!

KJA

At the World Science Fiction convention in 2002, the year HIDDEN EMPIRE, the first book in the Saga of Seven Suns, was published, I brought extra copies with me to give to other readers and writers. I hosted a kaffeeklatsch, and one of the attendees was brand new writer Brandon Sanderson. I gave him a signed copy—and that's what hooked him on the series. A few days ago Brandon backed The Complete Saga of Seven Suns and shared to his followers—so I'd like to welcome the 200 new backers who came to this project because of him!

I'm about to head off to the recording studio to finish narrating the audiobook of the new book, Roamer's Wrath. Next I will be recording new audios of the other two bonus books, Veiled Alliances and Whistling Past the Graveyard.  You can get all three of these audiobooks as add-ons. I hope you enjoy them.

While gathering materials for the new volume SPIRAL ARM, I discovered a treasure trove of concept artwork from comic artist Igor Kordey. We hired Igor to do designs and sketches early in the development of The Saga of Seven Suns. 54 pages of annotated sketches! I am including all of these in the volume. You can add it on in deluxe, hardcover, trade paperback, or ebook format.



AND we passed the second stretch goal, so that means all print orders will receive a new specially designed bookmark featuring two Seven Suns characters!

Thank you all for your support in making this big project happen!
KJA

Thanks to you, the Seven Suns campaign continues to be amazing, and it's time to announce our next stretch goal, something I created exclusively to reward backers. If we reach $246,000 before the end of the campaign, we'll make a brand-new Seven Suns bookmark using the character art you voted on. This bookmark will be included with every physical order, whether deluxe, hardcover, or trade paperback.

The characters featured are the ones you voted on, Estarra and Bron'n:



You might ask, why set the goal at $246K, instead of just an even $250K? Well, at 246, we will be exactly THREE TIMES my most successful previous campaign—and I think that's a pretty significant number. So I hope you'll do what you can to nudge us over, and get a free special bookmark in the process.

Thanks to this campaign, I have been digging into my Seven Suns archives, and wow did I find some exciting stuff. Early in the creation of this series, I hired comic artist Igor Kordey (he did the art for our graphic novel Star Trek: The Gorn Crisis) to help me design the worlds, aliens, ships, settings. I just found 47 of his hand-drawn and hand-written pages of characters, costumes, settings, ships, along with his detailed notes.


I am going to scan and include all of these in the companion book SPIRAL ARM. They will be a terrific addition to the bonus volume—along with a new 4000-word essay I wrote on "The Saga of the Saga" AND a new essay from artist Stephen Youll on how he worked on all the cover paintings. Plus it will include my TV Pilot script for a Seven Suns series, and the complete graphic novel script. You can order SPIRAL ARM as an add-on in deluxe format, hardcover, trade paperback or ebook.

AND, I found seven original paintings and watercolors that Igor Kordey created for Seven Suns. I had forgotten these existed!  I will include these seven paintings in the Seven Suns Digital Art Gallery ($25 as an add on)—nearly 100 beautiful pieces of Seven Suns artwork, most of them never before seen. Here is just one of Igor's paintings.


Thanks again for making this my best campaign ever. Please consider adding the digital art gallery or the SPIRAL ARM companion book to round out your complete Seven Suns experience.



Next stop, $246K!

KJA