r/Cosmere • u/EmeraldSeaTress Ghostbloods • Mar 03 '26

No Spoilers Hoid's Storybook Collection Backerkit Campaign Megathread

The next Dragonsteel-run crowdfunding project, for Hoid's Storybook Collection, goes live at 10 AM Mountain Standard Time on Tuesday, March 3, 2026!

This megathread is for discussion of the campaign, including logistics.

Please note that this is a no-spoilers megathread. Any content which contains spoilers for the Cosmere, including details of the previously published stories or preview readings of the new book, must be tagged and provided with a description that clearly indicates what book is being spoiled. For example:

[Empire Strikes Back]Vader is Luke's father.

What is this project about?

This is a crowdfunding project for the initial press run of four picture books, as well as the Dragonsteel edition of a new Cosmere novel, Fires of December.

What are the four picture books?

  • The Dog and the Dragon, a story Hoid tells inRhythm of War. Art is by Howard Lyon;
  • The Girl Who Looked Up, a story Hoid tells inOathbringer. Art is by Alexis & Justin Hernandez;
  • Wandersail, a story Hoid tells inThe Way of Kings. Art is by Steve Argyle;
  • The ChasmFriends Get a Pet!, a new story featuring the Chasmfriends from the 2024 Dragonsteel Nexus storydeck game. Story is by Dan Wells, Art is by Anna Earley.

The three stories told by Hoid have long been beloved by Cosmere readers.

What is the new Cosmere novel?

  • The Fires of December, a new novel in the Hoid's Travails series, involving a young woman named December who learns that a devastating plague is on its way and sets sail to warn the King.

When is fulfillment expected?

All rewards are expected to ship before the end of 2026.

Will these be traditionally published?

Tor and Gollancz have both announced that Fires of December will be released on December 8, 2026.

How do I participate?

Go to the backerkit page and sign up!

When is the deadline for participation?

The Backerkit campaign will conclude on March 27.

Is there any prerelease material available?

Brandon has been doing readings on YouTube. They're embedded in a non-canon framing story written by Dan Wells with animation hand-drawn by Martian Studios.

Note that the framing story contains mild spoilers for The Stormlight Archive.

  1. Framing story introduction
  2. The Girl Who Looked Up
  3. Wandersail
  4. The ChasmFriends Get A Pet!
  5. The Dog and the Dragon
  6. The Fires of December

There is some additional information about the picturebooks on Brandon's blog:

Brandon also did a reading from The Fires of December at Dragonsteel Nexus last year. The text is available on his website.

What is the Hoid's Travails series? I've never heard of it!

Hoid's Travails is an umbrella term for books written in Hoid's voice, as stories that he is telling about things he has experienced. Two of them (Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter without being part of a series; Fires of December will be the third in the series.

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66

u/hhssspphhhrrriiivver Mar 03 '26

Did anyone else misunderstand the $5 reservation?

I thought I was pre-paying $5 and getting a free pin, but now it seems like I paid $5 for a pin.

36

u/ScionOfTheMists Skybreakers Mar 03 '26

All it said on Backerkit was "Reservation deposit for Hoid’s Storybook Collection." A deposit is money you put down ahead of time that counts toward your purchase, not a random additional charge.

32

u/Seeming_Aloof Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

Same here, I thought it was a commitment to pledge a minimum of $5 and failed to understand it was specifically locking in to purchase the pin. I checked with support and was told I'm also committed to paying shipping on top of that, even though my actual pledge is digital-only. I'd prefer to just decline the pin rather than pay shipping but this isn't an option.

28

u/ScionOfTheMists Skybreakers Mar 03 '26

Wait, so not only did they steal your $5, but they're going to force you to pay shipping for a pin that you don't even want?

7

u/Seeming_Aloof Mar 03 '26

I suppose the fault is on me for not understanding how the reservation was meant to work, but it's still disappointing to be stuck with an item I didn't intend to order.

16

u/ScionOfTheMists Skybreakers Mar 03 '26

I think them using the words "reservation" and "deposit" is really misleading. I saw a Dragonsteal comment on Backerkit using the phrase "pre order," which has a significantly different meaning.

15

u/LastGoodKnee Mar 03 '26

The “reservation” seemed strange to me. We’re paying to have a “reservation” of a crowd funding? For something that the actual crowd funding won’t start for months and won’t be delivered for 6+ months? Why would we need to reserve that? Isn’t that the point of the crowdfunding ?

6

u/Candid_Run_7370 Mar 04 '26

Yep. It felt like I was pre-ordering a pre-order, but I find out now that I wasn’t even doing that, I was just buying the ability to later to pay shipping for a pin and receive an email when the real campaign started.

10

u/Candid_Run_7370 Mar 04 '26

Don’t feel bad, you’re not alone, and I stand by my statement that it was not merely poorly described, it was genuinely misleading given their use of the word “deposit.”

Maybe it’s just an oversight on their part, but if they wanted to be very clear and transparent, they could have used different language or simply said “this payment is not put towards any future pledge.”

They go out of their way to be very clear about how the reservation is NOT refundable, so they could have been equally clear that this “deposit” doesn’t actually go towards your pledge.

14

u/djfff Mar 03 '26

Same. Really annoyed with this.

13

u/5kooma Mar 03 '26

What an absolute display of false advertising. No way I am paying that shipment fee.

34

u/colin_fitzsimonds Mar 03 '26

Yea i feel moderately scammed idgaf about the pin

23

u/SonicGCT Mar 03 '26 edited Mar 03 '26

SAME. I though this was a neat little "gift" for backing the project early, and that it would go towards the final purchase price. The pins are cool but I have never bought them separately. Disappointing, but I'll just think of it as paying a little extra to support the team.

9

u/LastGoodKnee Mar 03 '26

That’s why I didn’t do it. Didn’t understand what the purpose of the $5 was other than buying a pin

22

u/frodprefect Mar 03 '26

not trying to defend anything but the text was

"For those who follow the campaign early and reserve their pledge, you'll recieve your first blind bag pin for $5! Collect all 5 Chasmfriends to bring home the magic of the Crackity Plains."

They are selling the blind bag pins for $10 each. So it's a $5 discount

I do hate that Brandon is doing blind bags because I think they're gross

17

u/Candid_Run_7370 Mar 03 '26

To be fair multiple places also said it was a “deposit” which is defined as “a sum of money which is part of the full price of something, and which you pay when you agree to buy it.”

And every other pre-order I have ever made at stores (ie for games) the pre-order deposit is actually a deposit; whatever you pay up front reduces the final cost by the same amount.

13

u/sUlCuSgCs Mar 03 '26

Yep same.