It’s June 25th, and that means we’re officially one month away from the arrival of Light Bringer, the sixth — but not the final — book in the Red Rising saga, releasing on July 25, 2023. Now seems like a good time to do a roundup of the Light Bringer events that I’ve seen coming up. As many Howlers likely know, there are some prime things happening or in the works, leading up to and in the days following the release of Pierce Brown’s new book. So let’s get to it!

To be clear, I’m not involved in any of the events mentioned in the post below, though I have linked out to pages where you can find more information. 

Pierce Brown at Comic-Con

Once again, a new Red Rising book’s arrival is happening weeks after San Diego Comic-Con. So it’s no surprise — though always exciting — to see that Pierce Brown is expected to attend the event. The author has his attendance at Comic-Con listed at the top item on his Light Bringer Launch Tour page, though details for this one are very limited, understandably so. We know that San Diego Comic-Con will take place between Thursday, July 20th through Sunday, July 23rd, however the panel schedules for each day have not been announced yet, so we don’t know exactly when/where fans can see Pierce Brown during the event just yet. If you’re planning to attend Comic-Con, I’d suggest keeping an eye on the official Comic-Con site for schedule updates (and badge requirements) as the convention approaches. 

The Light Bringer Launch Tour — including a Virtual event

Based on the dates that are currently listed on Pierce Brown’s Light Bringer tour page, it looks like most of the events he’s attending following SDCC are happening just before, the day of and after the official release of Light Bringer. 

Virtual Howlerfest With The Strand

As someone who’s unable to get to any of the in-person signings or HOWLERCON (more on both in a moment), I’m extremely grateful that Del Rey Books and the Strand are hosting a virtual Howlerfest event on the day of Light Bringer‘s release. Based on the EventBrite page — where tickets are available — Pierce Brown will be conversing with editor Tricia Narwani, and artist (and Lit-Escalates co-founder) Joel Daniel Phillips. A ticket to this virtual event also gets you a signed copy of Light Bringer and a limited edition map of Archimedes by Joel Daniel Phillips. The event page mentions that shipping is only available for U.S. and Canada addresses, so be sure to read through all of the details on EventBrite’s page.

In Person events

After Comic-Con, the first in-person event listed on Pierce Brown’s Light Bringer tour page is set for July 24th at the Barnes & Noble in Union Square (New York City). Among the other North American locations Pierce Brown has listed for the tour are Massachusetts, Georgia, Washington DC, Minnesota, Toronto, Illinois, and Los Angeles. Be sure to check out Pierce Brown’s tour page for details, including information about times, locations and tickets. 

He’ll also be in Tulsa for HOWLERCON. 

HOWLERCON

Those Howlers in — or able to travel to — Tulsa, Oklahoma may want to check out the details for HOWLERCON, a planned event, which is scheduled to take place on Thursday, August 3rd at Cain’s Ballroom. From the information listed on the Cain’s Ballroom website, where ticket packages are listed, it sounds like it’s going to be a lot of fun. It’ll be exciting to see updates on the event from the Howlers are in attendance.

That about covers the big Light Bringer-specific things I’ve seen lined up, but I’ll add to the list if I see anything else announced. In the meantime…

Lit Escalates’ Kickstarter Campaign

If you haven’t heard, Lit Escalates has a Kickstarter Project going on right now, with rewards that include a Darrow of Lykos Lambda Helldiver Action Figure, a gorgeous Helldiver poster, a Lambda patch and more. There was also a seriously cool looking 3D printed Helldiver Sculpture available as a reward, but that appears to be one of the numerous limited edition items that have already sold out. 

The Kickstarter has over 1000 backers at this point, with thirteen days left before it wraps up. More details and photos are available on the Kickstarter page

Who else has been rereading the first five Red Rising books?

On a personal note, it was a goal of mine to reread all five previously-released Red Rising books this year, leading up Light Bringer, and I’m relieved to be mostly on track. I reread the original Red Rising trilogy earlier this year, as well as all three Volumes of Sons of Ares graphic novels (Vol 3 — Forbidden Song came out earlier this year). Yesterday, I started my Iron Gold reread, which — like my reread of the original trilogy — will likely be a combination of listening to the audiobook and reading on my Kindle. 

To say that my TBR list in 2023 is daunting would be an understatement, and for every one book I read, it seems like there are five new books on my radar. That’s not a bad problem to have (is what I remind myself any time I start to feel stressed about everything I want to read.) Revisiting the Red Rising books leading up to Light Bringer has been a lot of fun and it’s undoubtedly helping me build even more anticipation for the sixth installment.

I have one month to finish rereading Iron Gold and Dark Age, so I better get back to it…