That was incredible. For those who don’t know, Saige, Olivia and I attended Dragonsteel Nexus 2025 this past weekend in Salt Lake City. It’s everything Brandon Sanderson, thrown by the man himself with tons of amazing guest authors and vendors. Our first time was in 2023, and this time it was three days instead of two. We’re all exhausted, our feet are broken, and our shoulders are destroyed from carrying books and merch around.
Alright, I’ll stop yapping. This is a photo diary, so let’s get to the photos. I’ll do my best to name things as I can, but Saige took so many photos I probably won’t be able to get too specific about all of them.
Part One: The Con
Just walking in on day one! Getting ready for the first panel, Inside Emberdark.So many people! So many fun decorations all over!Yay for climbing this huge set of stairs multiple times a day!Our first view of the largest panel room, Roshar. The backdrop was lined with the pennants of all the orders of the Knights Radiant!Inside Emberdark was fascinating and made us all really want copies of the gorgeous book.Our first view inside the Exhibitor Hall, where vendors sold fantasy related merch and also SO MANY BOOKS.There were many of these fun little polls set up by the entrance throughout the con.Inside the Poppy Books stand, which was the single largest drain on my bank account, coming in at over $200 total.My first visit to Poppy Books, I only bought four- two of which I already had, just not in hardcover. I know, I’m a snob.We had to physically restrain ourselves from buying massive amounts of art prints.Next was the Pierce Brown spotlight! This was a great presentation and the energy in the room was incredible.This was also the moment when Saige and Olivia finally believed me about Pierce Brown being absolutely dreamy.Saige got very excited to see some Dresden Files inspired jewelry at the Badali Jewelry booth.One of the poll results, spren by a landslide!This panel was so fun, and our first Christopher Paolini sighting!The legend himself, Mr. PaoliniOn a wait for the bathroom, we happened across the Salt Palace’s resident industrial vacuum robot, aptly named Meryl Sweep. Meryl did a great job.Spotted a Lightweaver in action! I am horribly frustrated to say that I cannot find his Instagram handle anywhere in my notes. Sincere apologies, since he was incredibly talented.A stunning diorama of the ship sailing the emerald sea!A Moash fangirl ready to be dunked at the Lightweaver Foundation dunk tank!And Saige managed to capture the dunk! Boo Moash!There was always something going on in the practice ring!The ACTUAL diorama used to create art in Isles of the Emberdark!The Future of Sci-Fi and Fantasy was a great panel, and we absolutely fell in love with Tomi Adeyemi here. SO hilarious.Seriously, there were so many talented artists here.I’d decorate my entire house with prints from these artists if I could.Some beautiful art inside the Dragonsteel Store.BOOTS!WAX FLYING WITH STERIS AGGHHHHSelling signed pages of the ACTUAL original manuscript for Elantris!!We ooohed at every single piece of art in the Dragonsteel store.Incredible.The actual original painting from Isles of the Emberdark!A beautiful graphic novel I got signed by Marcus Harding, on socials at @marcuscomix. I even got a little figurine!I judged these books by their covers and bought them.Our least favorite panel, which Saige will discuss in-depth in her upcoming post this Sunday.Metal allomancer vials for sale made with the actual real metals!
Part Two: The Cosplayers
Again, I missed getting handles for a lot of these talented people because things were usually quite chaotic moving around in the con. If you see yourself here and would like to drop a handle, please email me and let me know. I’ll update the post!
We spotted Wayne right off the bat! Loved these dueling canes.Saige knows who this fusion cosplay was…Our first Kaladin! Fun fact- we actually photographed @c.nicholson115 twice without realizing it. His cosplay was just that good.“I am a stick.” “But you could be fire.”So brave of these talented guys to go as the three WORST characters in the Stormlight Archive- Amaram, Moash and Sadeas!This guy had a Nightblood that ACTUALLY SMOKED!My personal favorite (I’m the only one of us who’s read any Dungeon Crawler Carl)- @pgriffymd and Princess Donut!The best duo of any book ever- Syl and Kaladin by @marcelle_pearson and @son.of.a.pear_42Tress, complete with cup and rat!An absolutely stunning Shallan by @jillianderson_Right after that, Radiant and Veil walked by! The incomperable @officialsavannahcarrasco and x_cherry.pop_xWe found a Lift who made herself slippery!The CUTEST cosplay by far- Spensa, doomslug, and M-Bot! We melted over these guys.LOOK AT HOW MANY PINS ARE ON HIS HAT!Nothing’s cooler than an Inquisitor!This Venli was absolutely stunning, and so much attention to detail! By the gorgeous @laurens_openworldWe love to see some Era 2 love!UZI JESUS! UZI JESUS! UZI JESUS!We were searching for a Spook for SO LONG! The burns on his cloak actually glowed, too!WoK Hoid was out of this world! My favorite iteration of him.Lift and her spren!! They gave us stickers that said “Lift stole my food and all I got was this storming sticker”!A Lightweaver and his Pattern puppet!Saige knows who this is- ask her.There’s got to be a punchline about two Kaladins and a Szeth…A delightfully color-coordinated Wax, Steris, Marasi and Wayne!We LOVE a fushion cosplay- this is Captain Kaladin!It was great to see some love for Allik!Can you say “holy crap”? The DETAIL!This Jasnah by @archives.in.ash was STUNNING and she was also so nice!!We LOVED how creative people got with their Patterns!It took us FOREVER to find a Kelsier, thanks @mj.schnee !I keep seeing Patterns everywhere…These Emberdark outfits were so cute!So many stunning Shallans!It took us almost the entire con to catch a Vin and Elend!This Wayne was actually wearing more hats before- this is just pared down for the Worldhopper Ball!
Part Three: The Us
Sophie wanted to come along!Picking up Olivia at 5:45am!We looked pretty good for 6am.Saige enjoyed herself getting to know this camera on the way.Nobody tell Olivia I included this shot.Olivia with the Pattern standy- she is (of course) a Lightweaver!I was so proud of myself for ONLY getting four books at the Poppy Books booth (I came back and bought more later)Also don’t tell Sims I included this shot.We enjoyed all the Sandy Standys around the Exhibitor Hall.Big Money BrandonSomeone let us hold shardblades!Who thought we could be trusted with such dangerous weaponry?I felt it was only fair to include this shot after what I did to Olivia and Sims. We’re even now.Look how cute we are! This was day 2, where we were all supposed to do Hoid in Tress of the Emerald Sea, but Saige and I chickened out that morning. Olivia pushed through, hence the shorts and Hawaiian shirt.We loved all the photo ops around the Salt Palace!My return trip to Poppy Books.I’m a vain bastard, so I’m including this shot Saige got of my hair looking admittedly fantastic while I was chatting with Marcus Harding.Our Mistborn Santa Photo provided by the Lightweaver Foundation! This is definitely going on the Christmas card.
The Reflection
I’m definitely sad it’s over, and I miss Saige and Olivia’s companionship already (we’ve been apart for 6 hours total as I’m writing this). We can’t wait for next year, where we hope to join these amazing cosplayers in dressing up as some of our favorite characters. We’ll see how that goes- I can’t sew!
Thank you again to all the fantastic cosplayers who allowed us to photograph them (and a big thank you to Saige’s mom who trusted us with her very fancy camera)!
Stay tuned til Sunday, when Saige will break down all of the panels we saw in some fantastic detail- seriously, she took PAGES of notes.
Thanks for following our experience!
December Writing Goal Update #2 – 12/3-12/9
One of my submitted short stories has been shortlisted for possible publication! I will share more if it gets accepted.
Progress:
I’m at 6,020 out of 30,000 words! A large chunk of that was making some great progress in Project Name Romantasy, which I’ve been thinking about constantly lately. I also wrote some holiday-themed flash for the blog! We’ll see how that turns out- my editor has it right now (my dad). I think I’m definitely on track to meet my goal by the end of the month.
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[…] you read last week’s article, or have been following my Instagram, or even read Ava’s last article, then you’ll know that last week Ava and I were at Dragonsteel 2025! Here for you today is a […]
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