Shadows Beneath

The Writing Excuses Anthology

By: Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal, Dan Wells, Howard Tayler

Narrated by: Full Cast, Terence Aselford, Colleen Delany, Richard Rohan, Eric Messner, Ken Jackson, Kimberly Gilbert, Dawn Ursula, Michael John Casey, Evan Casey, Nick DePinto, Mort Shelby

From the Hugo Award-winning hosts of the Writing Excuses writing advice show comes a collection of all-new stories of the fantastic, with beautiful illustrations and a behind-the-scenes look at each story’s creation.

Brandon Sanderson’s “Sixth of the Dusk,” set in his Cosmere universe shared by the Mistborn books and the number one New York Times best-selling Stormlight Archive, showcases a society on the brink of technological change. On the deadly island of Patji, where predators can sense the thoughts of their prey, a lone trapper discovers that the island is not the only thing out to kill him.

Mary Robinette Kowal’s “A Fire in the Heavens” is a powerful tale of a refugee seeking to the near-mythical homeland her oppressed people left centuries ago. When Katin discovers the role the “eternal moon” occupies in the Center Kingdom, and the nature of the society under its constant light, she may find enemies and friends in unexpected places.

Dan Wells’s “I.E.Demon” features an Afghanistan field test of a piece of technology that is supposed to handle improvised explosive devices. Or so the engineers have told the EOD team that will be testing it; exactly what it does and how it does it are need-to-know, and the grunts don’t need to know. Until suddenly the need arises.

Howard Tayler’s “An Honest Death” stars the security team for the CEO of a biotech firm about to release the cure for old age. When an intruder appears and then vanishes from the CEO’s office, the bodyguards must discover why he is lying to them about his reason for pressing the panic button.

For years the hosts of Writing Excuses have been offering tips on brainstorming, drafting, workshopping, and revision, and now they offer an exhaustive look at the entire process. Not only does Shadows Beneath have four beautifully illustrated fantastic works of fiction, but it also includes transcripts of brainstorming and workshopping sessions, early drafts of the stories, essays about the stories’ creation, and details of all the edits made between the first and final drafts.

Come for the stories by award-winning authors; stay for the peek behind the creative curtain.

Performed by Terence Aselford, Colleen Delany, Richard Rohan, Eric Messner, Ken Jackson, Kimberly Gilbert, Dawn Ursula, Michael John Casey, Evan Casey, Nick DePinto, Mort Shelby, James Konicek, Dylan Lynch, Tim Getman, Thomas Keegan, Thomas Penny, Scott McCormick, Steve Wannall, Chris Davenport, Gregory Linington, Lily Beacon, Christopher Graybill, Andy Brownstein, Bob Payne, Todd Scofield, Nanette Savard, Jeff Allin, Paul Reisman, Patrick Bussink, Shanta Parasuraman, Yasmin Tuazon, Scott Graham, Bill Gillett, Dani Stoller, Chris Genebach, Lise Bruneau, Michael Glenn, Deidra Starnes, David Jourdan, Rose Elizabeth Supan, James Lewis.

©2014 Mary Robinette Kowal (P)2016 Graphic Audio, LLC

great insight into the writing

A rare insight into the writing process, showing that even the pros can struggle with producing the best works in the genre. Lovedthe stories and the information.

A valuable purchase

I'm glad I brought this! This gave insights to many genres that I would probably never read on my own, as well as the basic of brainstorming and workshopping. This is the first time I hear sometime like this, wow, Graphic Audio really outdid themselves.

I loved the inside look at their process

The stories were all the more interesting for having a glimpse at the process they all went through, about how they work with writing groups, move through draft processes, and how long it actually takes to out stories like these together from start to finish (while also having a life).

awesome stories and an awesome bts look

awesome stories and an awesome behind the scenes look at the writing process from 4 very excellent authora

A Must-Read for Anthology Lovers

These are some real top quality science fiction stories with a little fantasy vibe in each. What really makes this set stand out is the nearly unmatched quality of audio performance. The full cast and narration make them completely immersive and entertaining. It is a little difficult to understand the world's at first due primarily to their unique jargon and too original names but you get past it. It was also interesting to listen to the brainstorming sessions that lead to the stories after hearing them. I did however have very little interest in re-listening to the stories in their first drafts.

2 of the three stories not very good. Performance major letdown.

The other two authors’ stories (other than Sanderson) were just not good. The performances were not great either. Yes, this style of audio book is not my thing, but still these voice actors are just not good actors.

Chapters need titled and reorganized

Enjoyed it but times are odd. The chapters don’t start on each story so here is a lay out times:
Intro-
chapter 1 0:00-7:01
Story 1 - A Fire in the House (by Robinette Kowel)
chapter 1 7:02- chapter 2 14:13
Story 2 - An Honest Death (by Howard Taylor)
chapter 2 14:14-52:24
Story 3 - IED Demon (by Dan Wells)
chapter 2 52:25 - 0:00
Story 4 - Sixth of the Dusk (by Brandon Sanderson)
chapter 3 0:00 - chapter 4 22:44
Part 2 The Writing Process:
Brainstorming A Fire Heaven
Chapter 4 22:45 - 39:06
First Draft - A Fire in the Heavens
chapter 4 39:07 - chapter 5 14:32
Workshopping - A Fire in the Heavens
chapter 5 14:33 - 32:40
Brainstorming An Honest Death
chapter 5 32:41 - 51:56
First Draft - An Honest Death
chapter 5 51:57 - 56:59
Second Draft - An Honest Death
chapter 5 57:00 - chapter 6 9:20
Notes on the Second Draft of An Honest Death
chapter 6 9:21 - 10:20
Boneyard? -An Honest Death
chapter 6 10:21 - 12:20
Workshopping An Honest Death
chapter 6 12:21 - 39:48
Writing An Honest Death
chapter 6 39:49 - 43:34
Brainstorming IEDemon
chapter 6 43:35 - 58:10
IEDemon Essay Part 1
chapter 6 58:11 - 59:22
First Draft - IEDemon
chapter 6 59:23 - 1:05:31
IEDemon Essay Part 2
chapter 6 1:05:32 - 1:07:31
Seconds Draft - IEDemon
chapter 6 1:07:32 - chapter 7 14:50
IEDemon Essay Part 3
chapter 7 14:51 - 20:58
Brainstorming Sixth of the Dusk
chapter 7 20:59 - 36:44
First Draft Sixth of the dusk
chapter 7 36:45 - 0:00
Workshopping Sixth of the Dusk
chapter 9 0:00 - 30:17
Fixing Sixth of the Dusk
chapter 9 30:18 - 37:39
Application and Conclusion
chapter 9 37:40 - 39:57
Group Notes for Sixth of the Dusk
39:58 - end

Awesomeness

Not only were the stories interesting and entertaining, but learning about the writing process from brainstorming, to drafting, to editing and polishing was enlightening.

Surprised Me Twice

When I purchased this, I had two expectations: I would, it being the motivation to read this, enjoy Sanderson’s story most and that I probably wouldn’t enjoy or even finish the “writing” bits.

As it turns out, Mary Robinette Kowal’s story blew everyone else’s out of the water. While I enjoyed all four tales, “A Fire in the Heavens” absolutely enthralled me and will be a story I revisit. The entire book was well worth the cost for that story alone.

And the writing bits were fascinating! Hearing the feedback and drafts was interesting despite me having no desire to write whatsoever. I got invested enough to even find myself engaging in the discussion.

And GraphicAudios performance was, as ever, totally on point.

Great perspective.

Great and interesting to see the process in a condensed manner. I wasn’t forced to sit through hours of a pod cast for the payoff. Not that that is a bad thing; I just don’t have time for it.