An Open Letter To Brandon Sanderson

You’ve been exactly the beacon of light I needed in the belly of the whale.

Picture courtesy of the author

Hey Brandon,

I doubt I will ever have the opportunity to have a face to face talk with you equivalent to the length of this article. Maybe you’ll read it, and maybe you won’t. I still would love to unpack everything I feel about how you changed my life and what you added to it after tonight’s event.

I came to Icon Festival today, thinking I’m going to see you on stage and it was unreal. To date, I’ve consumed eight of your books. I plan on consuming more soon. I read the three original Mistborn books, the three Stormlight Archive books, Warbreaker, and listened to Skyward on Audible. I loved all of them.

You made it pretty clear in your short Q&A that you got to where you are in a very dream-like scenario. But you still managed to inspire me with your belly of the whale comparison.

My name is Oren Cohen. I’m 32 years old, a Software Engineer, a writer, a gamer, and an all-around geek.

But you know what? There are some other things about me that I don’t usually tell people when I introduce myself to them. I have a huge debt to repay (51K worth of dollars), I still live with my parents, I’m not married or in a serious relationship. I…