It’s my pleasure to announce that Michael Whelan is confirmed to create the cover art for Words of Radiance, volume 2 of Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive. Whelan has turned to gallery work in recent years, so we were honored when he took on the series debut, The Way of Kings. That cover was a stunning beginning for the new epic fantasy series and I am delighted that he has agreed to explore Sanderson’s growing world again with us.

Some initial thoughts from Whelan on Words of Radiance: “The material I have is enormously evocative. I haven’t read a fantasy epic this engaging in decades. It is wonderfully imaginative and inspiring, a rich and cogent universe that feels entirely believable, with interesting characters and plotlines that weave through the book like the moves of an expert fencer. For me, the chief attraction is of course, the deep, deep well of creative possibilities, original and moving concepts that any artist in our field would jump to be a part of.”

Below is the cover Whelan painted for The Way of Kings, you can read about the behind-the-scenes creation of this piece here.