Well, the book signing was mobbed. There were well over 150 seats and people were standing. It was strictly controlled with people going to have books signed one row at a time. This, of course, left little time for conversation. I was seated next to three random people who happened to have lurked on the group. I also had a copy of the FAQ with me that two people recognized. So, perhaps the great lurker hordes do exist. Anyways, after scaring the people around me for a little bit, I went up to the books and decided to ask Jordan about Asmodean. In particular, I asked whether "death" was just a pun on "Moridin". He said "oh, god no" quite disgustedly. This made me feel much better and should hopefully put the issue to rest. He also said that by the end of this book, it should be obvious who killed Asmodean and that it is definitely possible to figure it out the instant he dies. That was all I was able to ask. A group of us then walked over and chatted with Tom Doherty and someone named Linda (?) at Tor. PNH wasn't there as far as I could tell. We then went down to the cafe and finally found Bradj bringing the group to me, Nathan Lundblad, Burr, Becky Slitt, Dennis Higbee, bradj and two people whose name I forget. Nathan had to leave to get back to Boston and the rest of us ate dinner at a Brewpub across the street. Someone else can summarize this, I suppose. We later left. That's it. I did say brief. Aaron
This is just a little info from the New York signing on Tuesday. I haven't posted it until now because I wanted to make sure it wasn't in the books. I asked Jordan when a man with the spark would slow. He hesitated and rubbed his chin, obviously trying to make up the answer on the spot, and doing it to be consistent with the books. The answer is: Women usually slow at twenty, sometimes a little earlier, but usually around there. Men wouldn't slow until 25, usually closer to thirty. He claims that they could go past thirty, but that probably depends on how early they start and how much they channel. So, if Taim started at twenty or so, like Rand (actually, that's later than Rand), and channeled a reasonable amount, he would probably slow at twenty-seven or thereabouts. After all, Nynaeve started probably at sixteen or seventeen, and only channeled on the uncommon occasion that someone was dying in her presence of some disease, and slowed at twenty-three (that's the age Setalle Anan thought she was, but she's twenty-six). That's seven years or so. Well, Taim looks thirty-five, according to Rand. He shouldn't. Even if he didn't slow until he was thirty-two, Rand still wouldn't have estimated him as being as much as fifteen years older than he was. So, my conclusion--Taim is Demandred. Only a Forsaken could look that old, given the slowing. Yes, I know it's not solid, irrefutable evidence, but it's still good evidence. That's my two cents. -- Ryan R. ryanr (at) ix.netcom.com "He Who Just Missed Coming With the Dawn"
Report by Pam Basham
A little of this, a little of that. Some general stuff about the signing, self-indulgent personal impressions and Q/A. For those of you just interested in facts, RJ's answers are at the bottom. NOTE: I've only read about half the book, so please use Spoiler Protection in any replies. Only one of my questions pertained particularly to new information in _POD_, and it may be a non-issue by the end of the book, so sorry if it's already been talked about. As a member of the "great lurker hordes," per Aaron Bergman's NY Signing Report, I'm here to assert our existence. I kept trying to ferret out members of the 'froup by asking pointed questions like, "So... how *did* you find out about this signing?" and throwing out random bits of 'froupness such as information about the NY Signing. But no one one around us bit. I kept looking for Tony Z., Julie Kangas or Hohn Cho (sorry if I mangled the spelling), but either my memory's going and I didn't recognize them after 2-1/2 years (post-aCOS DFS) or I didn't see them. The line went up the block to the corner, but I'd guess that it was a considerably smaller crowd than in NYC. At any rate, after getting stuck at Sta. Monica Blvd. and the 405 Fwy and wishing desperately for a gateway we could drive through, we (my husband, Kevin, and I) arrived at Flights of Fantasy at 4:30 and there were a couple dozen people in line ahead of us. As it was my first Jordan signing and I was too manic to stand still, I ended up in the store spending money. As I signed my life away to the credit company for a copy of _Legends_, RJ arrived at the back of the store. I found it extremely gratifying to find out that even store owners get nervous about such things at RJ arriving at their back door while they're finishing up a sale. Back outside, in line, the store personnel announced that RJ would be signing only WOT books, and no personalizations, please. _Legends_, for the purposes of the signing, was considered WOT. We were not, however, obliged to buy _POD_ there, or to include it as one of the two books signed. There seemed to be a number of people there who weren't actual fans, serving as ambulatory book holders for friends or family. So perhaps that made RJ a little more tolerant about answering questions from the people who *are* reading the books. But he seemed genuinely interested in talking about them, and was very warm and responsive. Harriet was with him, and I was really pleased to meet her, as well. She's a lovely, elegant lady. But she sat up suddenly with a startled look several times during our chat, and the whole effect was somehow birdlike. I couldn't help but think of Verin in her "pay no attention to the little brown sister in the corner" mode. 1.) Re: Cadsuane's pointed reminiscences about the good ol' days in Far Madding, I asked, "So can we assume..." and didn't even get to finish the question before he answered... A: "Cadsuane is from Far Madding." And followed immediately, with no prompting, with "and Verin is from Far Madding." *Arched eyebrow* (For some reason, this last elicited a Startled Moment from Harriet. I was determined not to get a RAFO, so I didn't pursue this any further. Also I was nervous and had more questions.) 2.) Re: The Dragon and The Dragon Reborn (and Graendal's thoughts about Ishy's musings) Q: "Is this soul born in any other age, or only at the advent and (theoretically, of course) the closing of the Third Age, as The Dragon/TDR?" A: This soul is one of the Heroes, and bound to the Wheel, spun out as the Pattern wills. "It" is born in other ages, but in a non-Dragon incarnation, to suit the pattern of that Age. In the course of this answer, he related this to why Hawkwing calls Rand "Lews Therin" at Falme--because Hawkwing recognizes this Soul. This didn't really tell me why he specifically calls him "LTT", but apparently they've been hangin' together in T'A'R and the etiquette there is to call each other by the name of your last incarnation. (My interpretation.) 3.) Re: That Whole Thing About the Horn--Hawkwing v. Moiraine Q: Hawkwing says they follow the banner and the Dragon. Moiraine says the Heroes will follow whoever winds the horn. Was Moiraine wrong? A: *Arch look* Moiraine doesn't know everything. She was speaking the truth as she knows it. (I took this to imply that Moir was misinformed, and the conflict resolved, until he continued.) However, she *is* correct in that whoever sounds the horn "controls the Heroes." [exact quote] (I started to get confused at this point. Is Moir right or is she wrong? What's he trying to tell me?) Q: "Then what happens if the Dragon and the banner are on opposite sides of the conflict from whoever sounds the horn?" A: "Then we get a [rift] in the Pattern." [1] (This elicited a _pronounced_ Startled Moment from Harriet, which I took at the time to express the same reaction as me--"A *WHAT*?!?"--but which Kevin told me later he interpreted to be more along the lines of "I can't believe you're telling them that!" It could, of course, mean something entirely different.) At this point, part of my mind was running wild down paths about the Dark One and potential entrances into the Pattern, while the rest of it remained stunned, frozen, in absolute denial: "A _WHAT_?!?" I remain steadfastly in denial about this one. Oh, sure. He *did* say it, and if it becomes relevant, he'll work it in, no doubt. But I firmly believe he Made This Up. If the DO was aware of this, it seems to me that he'd be working a _lot_ harder on making this happen, since it would seem to represent the equivalent of a serious "crack in the door to the Pattern." It's so much less work than using up all your main players (Chosen) in inefficient, conflicting plots and setting up Rand for "easily escapable situations involving an overly elaborate and exotic Death." [2] [1] I'm not certain if this is the exact word he used. It may have been "schism" or "breach," but it was definitely a word expressing the concept of a forced opening/rupture. Sorry. It was lost in the momentary brain freeze. [2] Moridin, of course. He's overly elaborate and exotic even *before* he puts on his silk coats. Still stunned, I didn't notice that the hordes behind us were breathing hard and looking like they might begin a stampede, but RJ then very politely asked us to move on. All in all, in complete abandonment of any kind of L.A. Kewl, I was completely thrilled to meet Jim and Harriet. Wishing everybody at the rest of the signings lots of fun and frivolity and an utter absence of RAFO's. Thanks to everyone for the info from the other two signings. -Pam Basham ----------- Billboard: "Welcome to Far Madding--Birthplace of the Purple Ajah."
Report by Chris Mullins
I asked RJ, at the Palo Alto signing, if Moggy was raped by Shadar Haran in ACOS. His reply was, "Yes. Amongst other things." -- Chris Mullins cmullins (at) connsys.com [W]e have to improve in almost all areas. But it's better than most customers expected. - Brad Chase, Microsoft VP of Windows Marketing, describing Windows NT5
I don't see anyone else doing this, and while it's still fresh in my mind...well, here's a report. Of sorts. I was drinking most of the time, so my recollection of details may be a little fuzzy. My Wheel of Time was definitely wobbling. I got to the Bay Area in time for the book signing. In fact, I got to Bill and Hawk's place in time to make Hot Monkey Love with a few people before we went to the book signing. Not that Hot Monkey Love was made, just that there would have been time for it if we had so chosen. Anyway, we got to Future Fantasy at 2:30. Chris Mullins, Michael Steeves, Batya and I all rode with Hawk, and we met up with Noell Milota at the bookstore. Bill wasn't feeling well and stayed at home. Wuss. (We missed you, Bill) Future Fantasy had a policy in place in which if you had not bought the book at their store then you had to wait until everybody that *had* bought a book and wished to have it signed went through before you. Fortunately, there weren't many people willing to spend full price at some rinky dink bookstore and the number of people who were in front of us was rather short. Also there at the bookstore were Eric Fulton and Brian-Something-Or-Other, Dave H-Someone and a couple of lurkers. Others in attendance at that time were a lot of people whose names I don't remember as I stood in line with Chris discussing some plot points with a lurker. Actually, that's a lie. We spent most of the time in line trying to figure out how we could get Jordan to sign a Terry Pratchett book, or a Goodkind. I can't remember which. Maybe it was both. We also discussed what questions to ask. Most were discarded as frivolous, or obvious RAFO answers. I hadn't thought about it too much, but fortunately Chris had, and he had a few that he let me borrow. The first question Chris channeled through me had to do with the female mega sa'angreal on Tremalking, and the Seanchan damane there. We were wondering if the female sa'angreal would have the same effect on female channellers as the male sa'angreal in Cairhien had on Rand. Our impression of events was that Rand did not willingly channel into the thing, but that it just pulled the One Power through him. Unfortunately, RJ answered the question with a "Yes, if they tried to channel through it." Uh. Okay. Whatever. My second question was whether or not we would get to see the Battle of Tar Valon or if it would happen "off-screen". He opened his mouth, hesitated a second and shot me down with a "Read And Find Out". Bastard. Chris used his moment with the Creator to open himself up to a huge RAFO, but *his* question was answered. Chris asked if Moghedien had been raped by Shaidar Haran. The answer was "Yes, among other things." I don't remember most of the other questions. A couple of interesting things I do remember, however. The first is that the reason tPoD seems short is that Jordan could not go any farther without writing a *whole* lot more. The stage it seems, is once again set. Another interesting thing was Jordan asking Hawk if she was into leather, and if she was "top, bottom, or switch". Dirty old man, indeed. Another interesting point that may just be my interpretation of things, is that someone asked if Lanfear had been raped as well, right on top of the Moghedien question, and he answered right away with a "No". It could be any number of explanations, but it seemed to me that it was a given that Cyndane was Lanfear from the context of the conversation. Like I said, just my interpretation. Someone else who was paying more attention could fill in here. The next thing we did was went to the Thai House to drink. Or at least, Darkelf and I drank, with a little bit of sipping done by Eric and Chris. However, Darkelf and I got married (Work *that* in, K-J) and consummated the marriage with a pitcher of Stout beer (Thanks, oh Dimly Lit Sprite). I taunted Noell with the thought that Cal would beat UCLA until with four seconds left in the game, I relented and admitted that, in fact, Cal would probably not be coming back. After that, things *really* get fuzzy. We went to Amber, an Indian Restaurant, and had food, and talked. Rick Moen, Rajiv, Phetsy, Paul Ward, and "Justin" showed up. Other people showed up, but they were sitting at the other table and I don't remember all their names. (Someone else is *really* going to have to help me out here...anyone make a total list?) Mansur Ward made a cameo. I had Chicken Vindaloo, that was supposed to be spicier than it was, according to Chris Mullins, but since I was already full of beer I couldn't taste much anyway. Somewhere in there my ex-fiancée showed up(1), and I mentally checked out for the evening. I remember going to Brian's apartment complex for the rec room there, more beer, lots of pool, then a jaunt to Bill and Hawks for an hour or so. At that point I had been up for somewhere near forty hours, and had drank sufficiently enough in my sleep depraved condition to make thinking straight a tricky situation. I'm not sure how it ended. Badly, one would assume, but you'll have to get that part of the story from someone who A) was there, and B) was *there*, if you know what I mean. -- Drew Gillmore www.leisureforce.com 1) Don't ask. Weird situation. I'm sure most everyone at the Social is/will be thoroughly confused(2) to find out that she's my ex. 2) About what? Well, that's what you get for not attending.
I asked why Elayne thought even a Forsaken couldn't break the shield Adeleas and Vandene were holding on Ispan, expecting the answer that Elayne is clue-impaired. The correct answer is that holding a shield on someone depends not only on relative strength and fatigue, but also on whether the shield is held by channellers of the same sex as the victim. Thus two women (A and V on Ispan, or Ispan and Falion on Nynaeve in CoS) can hold another woman, but three women just get severed if they try to shield Rand. As a curiosity, it is also possible for multiple people to hold a shield without linking, but this is less strong and less precise, producing basically a layered shield. Then I asked about Elayne's Rod of Pleasure, and got a RAFO with the explicit warning that we might not ever get to the FO part. The popular "are you sure we should be able to figure out who killed Asmodean" question used up my second trip through the line. Next time through I asked about the chronology of Eharon and Shiota, since Bashere describes statues from Eharon as being much older than the Shiotan statue DKS put on the cover. We know Deane was born in the village of Salidar in Eharon (Glossary from LoC, IIRC), yet part of Bashere's lecture mentioned that Shiota also was pre-Hawkwing. It turns out there is a textual inconsistency here. RJ couldn't remember which comes first (apparently historical details aren't as engrossing for him as for me), but one was part of the Ten Nations, and the other covered the same area (Illian + Altara) between the Trolloc Wars and Hawkwing. He said the Guide has the correct order, though since I don't have the Guide I don't know what that order is. A minor error, really; either that statue was from Eharon and Bashere mentioned much older Shiotan statues, or Deane was Shiotan and the statues were as written. As Paul mentioned, RJ mumbled something about Sammael. My interpretation is simply that he meant "right, he's dead, whatever you say", but I can see how one might take it more seriously. I'll believe my favorite male character died when I see him come back in a new body sucking up to Moridin, at which point I'll go looking for a new favorite male character (Mat or Demandred, probably). I think the only other WoT-related comment I heard was that if RJ dies before this is done, we won't find out about this famous last scene since the hard drives of his computers will be reformatted six times and every scrap of paper in his house having anything to do with tWoT will be burned. He seems to feel quite strongly about this... On a related topic we may get an encyclopedia after the series ends, but no endless series publishing all of his notes, analogous to Christopher Tolkien's History of Middle Earth volumes. I didn't hear (or hear of) anything else not recorded here or in Drew's post, though as Drew said, >Someone else who was paying more attention could fill in here. -- Justin Howell jhhowell (at) ucolick.org
Report by Rick Moen
I'm hoping that Hawk will report on the wonderful time The Usual Gang of
Lunatics had last Saturday in Palo Alto, CA and thereabouts, starting with
RJ's signing at Future Fantasy bookstore. So, I'll leave that to her.
There's rather less to report about Sunday's signing at the Barnes and
Noble barn (er, store) in San Jose: I foolishly hadn't checked for
scheduling updates, and found out at 2 pm that it'd been shifted to 3:30 --
but there were already about 100 people in line, zig-zagging around the
store's rope barriers from the signing area in Children's Books. By 3:30,
there were maybe 600, lined up out the front door and down the block.
As usual, there was a two-book limit, one of which needed to be Path of
Daggers. No personal inscriptions this time, just signature, and
paperbacks were allowed (both in contrast to the Saturday signing).
Harriet (Jordan's wife & editor, and a very winning person) wandered off to
other parts of the store.
I'd missed most of Jordan's comments during the signing at Future Fantasy:
arrived late for early remarks, too long in line for others. This time, I
parked myself strategically within earshot, so I could catch everything in
my PalmPilot.
Guess what? 600 people over a two-hour period, and hardly anyone asked
Jordan questions! Arrgh.
He said the book-signing tour will run through November 22nd. He'll spend
two days fishing in Canada, and then return home to Charleston for
Thanksgiving. (He said he finds being on tour exhausting, and always
spends the following several days doing nothing at all.) After
Thanksgiving, he'll start in on the next volume.
Someone mentioned the Internet-based rumours about him suffering from heart
attacks / other forms of poor health. I couldn't tell from his expression
whether RJ was amused or annoyed: Probably both equally. He replied that
he's in good health with a resting heart rate of 71 beats per minute and
good cholesterol.
He told quite a few people that the series would be requiring a minimum of
three more volumes, perhaps more -- and pointed out that he'd had to find
time to work on "New Spring" and the Guide, in addition to The Path of
Daggers. He also pointed out that, so far, the books have always been
published within a month of completion, which he called "instantaneous for
the publishing world". He stressed that he _wants_ to reach the end (the
final scene that he worked out 15 years ago), and would like to be "as
compact as possible". (He said "Don't laugh.")
A reader asked when the term "Ajah" came to have the meaning it has in
Rand's time. He said that until at least 500 years after the Tower was
founded, it meant a temporary association for a specific purpose, and was a
lower-case noun. Its proper-noun sense arose afterwards, supplanting the
earlier usage after the Trolloc Wars.
Another reader asked how long he's been married to Harriet. He said 18
years -- and that he has to have Harriet remind him, since it seems like
last month.
Somebody finally summoned the courage to asking him outright, "What
happened to Mat?" He replied, "He had a brick wall fall on him!"
--
Cheers, Higgledy-Piggledy / Kibo Ubiquitous,
Rick Moen Greps for his name in the / Happynet spool.
rick (at) hugin.imat.com Interdimensional / Cyberspace deity:
Didaktyliaios / Dada is cool. -- Lewis Stiller
Report by Kevin Bartlett
Hello all, Last night I went to the Seattle signing at the UW bookstore, and all in all it was ... anticlimactic. Admission was ticketed, and in order to get a ticket, you had to have a receipt from the bookstore for PoD, Legends or tWoRJtWoT. There were 350 tickets distributed, but more people showed up, and they waited in a first-come, first-served line. He would only sign two hardcover books per ticketholder from the WoT, Legends, or tWoRJtWoT. Of approximately 400 people, I was the only person who tried to ask him plot-related questions, AFAIK. I stood around up near the front until my number (157) was almost up, and heard not a single interesting tidbit. He should really consider putting together a Signing FAQ: "Book 9 will be published shortly after I finish writing it." "There will be at least three more books in the series, and that's a minimum. I've known the last scene of the last book since I started writing, and the series will keep on going until I get there." He must have gotten really tired of giving those answers. I only got to ask two of the five questions I had prepared, and I got one RAFO (sigh). Here they are (my answers are paraphrased, but accurate): 1. In tDR, when Rand encountered the lady merchant and her soldiers and slaughtered the whole bunch, did he have a good reason for doing so? Were they all really Darkfriends? Was that eleventh man really a grey man, or did Rand just count wrong? He said that it's not supposed to be clear to the reader exactly what is going on. What _is_ supposed to be clear is that there was definitely a grey man in the party. But whether or not Rand knew that before he lopped off their heads, we're _not_ supposed to know. It's supposed to be unclear whether Rand is just very observant, or whether he's on the brink of madness. 2. When an Aes Sedai turns BA, does she keep her warder? If so, how is that accomplished. RAFO. Of course, the easiest way is to pick a DF for a warder. But RAFO. He either misinterpreted my question with that parenthetical comment, or intentionally avoided the point. I was thinking specifically of Vandene here, since it looks like she might have killed Adeleas and Ispan, and I have a hard time believing that she has been Black since before she ever bonded a warder. She obviously _has_ been Black for quite a while, since it was most likely her that warded the Draghkar who nearly killed Moi in tGH. But I have to think she most likely turned black some time during her tenure as an AS. So is Jaem a DF too? We must assume... After asking those two questions, I had already taken up my time at the desk, and most of the next guy's time, so I dropped my other three questions (none of which were as good IMO anyway). After that, I made a sojourn to the UW Chemistry building, since it was hot and stuffy in the Bookstore, and I wanted to call my wife. Besides, RJ wasn't exactly dripping with plot-oriented information... After about 45 minutes, I came back to the signing, in hopes that RJ would get a little more conversational as the crowds dwindled (and because I had missed my bus to the Eastside, and it was almost an hour until the next one came). So I missed tickets #160-300 or so, but I doubt I missed much. By that time, it was becoming clear that the line had gone a little quicker than expected, and that the (short) line of first-come, first-served people would all be able to have their books signed. So I got back in line to get another two books signed (and wished I had brought my other three unsigned books). There were a few people with a whole mess of books (some as many as 15-20), and they all got signed. As I had hoped, with a shorter line weighing less heavily on RJ, he did become a little more conversational. Very little had to do with the series, but I thought it might be of interest, so I tried to remember as much as I could. My recollections are necessarily a little disjointed, so forgive me. First of all, Harriet was not present at the signing. I made a complete fool of myself by asking a female assistant (who was in general being very helpful, snapping pictures for starry-eyed fans, and basically making sure things went smoothly) if she was Harriet. She gave me a startled look, and said "No, I'm his publicist," at which point I'm certain I was beet red... After all, she looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties... I bulled ahead and asked Jordan if his wife was on the tour, and he said that unfortunately she had to go home. I didn't press the point or ask him why she had to leave, but I wouldn't count on her presence on the rest of this tour. At one point, he began reminiscing about signings from years past when all of 15-20 people would show up for a signing, and after they were all done, they would sit around and chat. I'm sure that some of the signings he was referring to involved some of our very own Cabal members (TINC). He said he hopes those days never come again, but that he certainly enjoyed the signings more back then... Somehow, the topic wandered over to his Conan novels, and one of the booksellers said he had heard that the art department had serious debates as to whether the scantily-clad warrior-woman should be flung over Conan's shoulder on the cover, or held tightly to his chest. Jordan (dirty old man that he is) quipped that "over the shoulder" was the obvious choice, for perfectly mercenary reasons. He then went on to say that if the cover art included some only partially covered buttock, that the book sold markedly better. He also claimed that it made little difference whether it was the amazon's skin or Conan's, which got a rise out of the observers. So I asked the obvious question: "Are you going to have a talk with Darrell Sweet about this?" He gave a wry grin and said, "This is a different kind of series..." But he did say that he has gotten several letters asking for Rand's butt to appear on the cover... At one point, someone made some comment about Orson Scott Card (which I didn't hear), and Jordan replied with a meaningful "Scott and I disagree on _many_ things." I don't know what brought that on, but evidently the two have had some contact, enough to identify gaping differences. It was hard to miss the point of his comment; in fact, IIRC, he said basically the exact same thing at least twice, and almost in succession. As the line was drying up, the crowd apparently consisted mainly of several booksellers. They got talking about first edition printings of the hardcovers for tEotW. Jordan said that he has a whole box of them at home, and that he should give the bunch of them to his son, so he can finance all his children's college educations... At a later time, he said that he heard recently from a used fantasy dealer that an _unsigned_ first printing tEotW was sold from his store for $700 dollars. RJ said he had heard of prices around $300, but not that high. He also said he heard of first printing LoC's going at $55, which he seemed to think was absurd, since well over 200,000 had been printed. They also commented that at times, the hardcovers have been hard to find, but _not_ because they had been out of print, but because "sensible" people _assumed_ they would be out of print. He said that his books "break the rules", in that hardcovers aren't supposed to stay in print for 8-9 years. He also said that at one point, a computer "glitch" resulted in stores remaindering tSR while there was still a high demand for it at the normal price (10,000 sales annually without any advertising). Someone else mentioned that they had been to a bookstore recently which had the hardcover aCoS both for sale at the regular price _and_ on the remaindering table. Jordan expressed significant disgust with screw-ups of this sort. Well, that's all I scribbled down on the bus on the way home. Again, all in all it was somewhat of a letdown. But I did get four of my hardcovers signed. Of course, I quickly looked at the publishing information page of my tEotW, but it was a fifth printing. I have firsts of tDR, tFoH, LoC, aCoS, and PoD, but those last four are all pretty easy to get, I'm sure. If any one is actually still reading, I'm impressed. Kevinrude -- klbartle (at) u.washington.edu - Dovie'andi se tovya sagain. http://weber.u.washington.edu/~klbartle/lanfear.html
Report by Lara Beaton
I asked at the signing on saturday. The exchange went something like
this:
Me: What happened with Elayne and that warm ter'angreal?
RJ: (laughs) What do you think happened?
Me: We figured it must be some sort of One Power sex toy.
RJ: (laughing harder) I may write something about that in a later
book.
Me: RAFO, right?
RJ: Exactly.
--
Lara Beaton (remove SPAMCATCHER to reply)
The opinions expressed are not those of IAMS.
"Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team
up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our
karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person."
Report by Matthew Hunter
November 14th, Path of Dagger Signing, Louisville
There was an early rush of signees (an hour and a half or so), followed by
about half an hour of questions and answers with little plot-related info,
but a lot of other interesting tidbits. Someone asked about the cover art
and got a surprisingly informative answer. There are some pretty
substantial sections for Flavio and the rest of the military buffs, too.
Plot information
I was able to ask a few questions, and listen in to a few others. We got
three of the "it should be intuitively obvious to the intelligent reader"
answers, and one other that told us a bit more... but not much. The
Creator was pretty tight with his plot information this time around,
according to him, because "certain readers have built up these huge logic
trees," and "can figure out way too much if I say anything at all."
The first "intuitively obvious" question was from someone else: The old
standby, "Who killed Asmodean?" He added that there have been clues in (at
least some, maybe all of) the books published since then. I take this
statement to mean that Graendal is the killer; she's the only one for whom
the case could be called "intuitively obvious", as it is mostly built up
through a process of elimination and a few supporting comments.
The second was mine: "Do you consider the identities of Moridin and Cyndane
to be intuitively obvious?" He said yes, they should be fairly obvious by
now, in many more words. To me, this means Ishy and Lanfear respectively.
The third was someone else again, and I didn't hear the question clearly,
but I think it was about the weird Power effects. Assuming I heard
correctly, this should support the Bowl theory, due to the lack of effects
in Andor despite the gateway detonation and the timing of the effect first
showing up. Of course, he didn't say so explicitly, but that is what would
seem to be the intuitively obvious explanation.
I chimed in later on to ask if "there was a physical resemblance between
Cyndane and a certain height-challenged Aes Sedai". He said "We don't know
yet." I think that means yes, which is interesting. If there hadn't been
one, he could have said no, and he has written the descriptions of Cyndane
ambiguously enough to prevent any proof either way.
My last question concerned the glossary -- the bit about "speculation is
futile." I asked, "Do you really expect that to stop us?" He said of
course not.
Background and Personal Information
After the early rush of signees was over with (there were 162 people with
tickets, and quite a few without), about 20 people settled in for a bit of
discussion without the pressure of signers. Plot-related information was
sparse, and there were relatively few questions, because the answers were
long. There were a few tidbits thrown to the slavering hounds, and a lot
of exposition.
Tidbits
* The Aiel were based on bits of the apache, zulu, bedouin, and arab(?)
cultures. Nothing starting here, but I don't think we've had this one
answered as a complete list before. It was fired off really fast, so I
may have missed some...
* Path of Daggers was finished August 25th, and published in less than
60 days.
* The usual "at least 3 more books" was mentioned several times in an
increasingly loud voice.
* Who killed Asmo?
o It should be "intuitively obvious".
o There ARE clues in later books. They may not be necessary, but
they are there. I am not sure if he said "later" or "latest",
though.
o He does indeed mean "intuitively obvious" in the sense that his
math teachers would use when describing a proof, as speculated on
rasfwr-j. "I always hated that."
* There were some jokes about the sheer mass of the books -- "There will
be a boxed set when the series is complete... on wheels."
* The Museum Replica weapons are good. The design work (some of it at
least) was done by the same person who did the maps, for a somewhat
unusual price. I don't quite recall their name, and can't decipher my
handwriting now.
* "I grew up around strong women; weak men were pickled and salted. The
women wouldn't waste time raising a weak boy."
* Evidently, Jordan didn't like being taught cursive, but showed
otherwise by a teacher at a young age. "A gentleman's handwriting is
always round and legible, always clear, no matter how drunk, how
tired, or how busy he may be. This I require of you." Being "required"
to do something by that particular teacher was evidently a big deal.
* Someone asked about multiple books. Jordan said that the rule was that
you had to go through the line for every two books, and that he would
"enforce the rules with my bullwhip if necessary"; a bookstore
employee(?) commented that it was more of a guideline really. General
laughter and bullwhip comments ensued, culminating with "Just so no
one asks, 'Can I fondle your bullwhip?'" from Jordan. (I didn't catch all
of this. I regretted it. Oh well.)
* Book timings:
o 4 years to write Eye of the World; the next 5 took 14-16 months each
o aCoS took 22-23 months to write.
o The Guide to the Wheel of Time took 5-6 months; there was a lot
of work he had to do on it that he didn't expect to need to do. I
think he expected a few weeks of work from him directly, with it
mostly being done by others.
o New Spring took 2-3 months
o Strike At Shayol Ghul was written from the perspective of a
scholar trying to attract funding for a more complete version
(ie, grant money) and was his first piece of short fiction.
* Where did ideas come from?
o "What if you were tapped on the shoulder and told you had to save
the world?"
o What are the sources of myths? "reverse-engineered" legends.
o The game of "telephone" (he calls it "whisper").
* Proud of the little things that slip up on you, like Callandor being
"The Sword in the Stone."
* Path of Daggers could have been longer, but he had to take out events
he had intended to include because including them would have required
another month of Randland time, and that would have made the book
"twice as fat."
* Jordan likes his fans, because:
o We don't ask for autographs in blood (his, or theirs)
o We have never given him a gift of a dead cat's head on a stake.
At least not in public.
* On Pronunciation:
o Aes Sedai: "I said eye."
o Nynaeve: "Nine eve"
o Faile: "FAI-eel"
o Tear: not "tire".
* Lots of minor comments thinly veiled towards the net-jordanites. I got
the impression he thinks we're a bit obsessive but appreciates it.
Some of the more interesting ones:
o "I like the idea of Bela as a Darkfriend."
o "There is an alphanumeric code in the copyright page." He expects
us to decode it shortly. Let's get cracking!
o "How do you know Mat isn't back as Cyndane?"
o "Any crazy rumors I can start on the Web are good."
* Started off thinking there were at least 3-4 books. By the time he got
to the third, he knew it would be at least 6.
Learning to read
It seems Jordan learned to read by having his father read to him constantly
(when he was being read to, he wasn't messing around with expensive "toys"
that broke easily). They started out with children's books, until Dad
found out that it didn't matter whether Jordan really understood or not,
and started reading books that Dad wanted to read instead. This went on
for a while, until the night Dad put a book away before it was finished, so
Jordan grabbed it and struggled through it on his own, figuring out what he
didn't understand through context. (The Maltese Falcon was mentioned, but
I don't recall how, other than as one of the books that he liked.)
When Jordan was 6, he got a library card -- like "the keys to the city".
The librarians didn't want to let him out of the kids section, so he
learned tricks. If you shelved books in the reading room, they would stay
there, so you could pick them up again later, whether they belonged there
or not. And kids could go to the reference section. "I discovered the
encyclopedia."
The library at the time was in a mansion -- the "Miskelle house", I think.
He spelled it for me (without being asked; by that time there had been more
than one comment about the lunatic scribbling notes on everything), but my
notes were rather cramped by that time.
"Reading is like breathing. If you take it away, first I become antsy,
then violent."
Other Favored Authors
I missed quite a few of these while I tried to scribble it all down.
* CS Friedman
* Hughart
* Guy Gavriel Kay
* Turtledove
* Most Recommended: Guns, Germs, and Steel
Historical Tidbits and Background Information
When China Ruled the Seas
Evidently, China was a real behemoth in the middle ages, right on the
track to world domination, until they decided they didn't really want to
rule the world. The following is a summary from hastily scribbled notes on
a subject about which I am relatively ignorant; if I fuck up, it means I
can't read my notes.
1484
In the time before Columbus...
China has a huge fleet of ships (3000 of them, half-million crew), printing
presses, generally huge technological advantage over everywhere else. The
fleet is commanded by a name that translates as "Three-Jeweled Eunuch"
(although he was evidently not a eunuch??). The fleet had superior
logistics (well, something about logistics right about here) and had
reached Madasgascar. They were planning to round the Cape of Good Hope and
see what they found.
1490
The year they would have reached Europe... and overwhelmed it.
Unfortunately, bad things happened. The current Emperor died and was
succeeded by his son, who was young and had self-confidence problems. The
palace eunuchs (evidently a powerful political force) grew concerned over
the changes caused by outside influences, believing them to be corrupting
Chinese culture. They convinced the Emperor to shut China off from the rest
of the world by burning seafaring boats (including that huge fleet!),
restricting foreigners to certain cities and killing them if they were
caught outside, and killing Chinese who left to see the world and then
returned.
It seems the Japanese also did this -- twice, in fact.
This was a very long spiel coming from the nonfiction military history
books he recommended. There was a lot more detail than I managed to
capture, but one thing that stood out in my mind was that he had just told
us the origins of Shara and the Seanchan. Or some of them, at least.
Cover Art
Someone asked how he chose the cover artist, and we got a nice long spiel
with some previously unknown information. Jordan and his wife went through
bookstores picking out books based on their (if they liked it) cover art
and finding out who did the cover. It came down to two artists, Darrel K
Sweet and Michael Whelan. The deciding factor was that Whelan wants the
manuscript to read for a year before he will deliver a cover, and they just
couldn't wait that long.
They are apparently considering a later reissue of the entire series with
different covers, perhaps by Whelan, once it is complete.
Some stores simply won't carry fantasy, so all the books have been issued
without cover art to expand the market. This came up in response to aCoS
paperback being artless. Why we haven't seen any of these others without
art, I don't know.
Sweet Criticism and General Commentary
* Rand is NOT tall enough.
* The Path of Daggers details are mostly right, at least.
* Rand has a different face on each cover.
* DKS has never done the trollocs right: "They are NOT hairy men with
animal-like helmets."
* Detail problems with Sweet are due to communication difficulties;
there is not much time or opportunity for input.
* Path of Daggers: "The Elvis cover."
* A Crown of Swords: "The pugilist cover."
* Lord of Chaos: "Take my room key, please!"
Meta-Information
The signing was held at Hawley-Cooke booksellers (a locally-owned store,
very nice), and lasted about 2 hours. The official plan was to head on to
Cincinatti immediately afterward in preparation for the next day's signing.
As noted before, Jordan's wife was not present (she had to leave earlier on
the tour for unspecified reasons). There was at least one person from Tor
(a publicist IIRC) and perhaps two, both women. Jordan travels in a
stretch limo, with what looked like a chase car, but that could be
coincidence.
--
Matthew Hunter (mhunter (at) andrew.cmu.edu)
Report by Michael Martin
From the RJ signing for PoD at Books & Co., in Dayton, OH, on Sunday, 11/15: My report is not as exhaustive as Matthew Hunter's--I didn't take notes. From his report, however, it seems that our two signings were quite similar, at least as for as what Jordan said. I had several questions prepared, and, surprisingly, had all but one answered. Of course, only two of those questions really impact plot and stuff, so... My first question: "Was the Aes Sedai who initiated the Pact of Rhuidean from the Age of Legends?" (From TSR). Jordan: (Pause)"No." (Pause)"No, she was not from the Age of Legends." My reason for asking had to do with the Oath Rod theory about agelessness and such. Next two questions were essentially the same, just about different characters: Had he always known the size and importance of the role of Fain and Cadsuane? Answer: Yes. He went on to repeat what he has said before--knowing the end, knowing all the major events, yadda yadda. However, what he did said that was new (at least for me) was that the _order_ of events was _not_ set, and that he allowed some fluidity for them. He made a remark about a cousin of his (who is an engineer) who came over and saw all the notes and work and asked why RJ hadn't created something called "critical flow charts" or some such. RJ replied that the nature of the story was too complex for such linear breakdown. He also said the that the idea for the chapter icons was his wife's. They sat down and decided (roughly) what they ought to look like, and hired an artist to do them. I asked if we would see Isam/Luc again. "RAFO." RJ was very personable and seemed to genuinely enjoy the interaction with the fans. I was disappointed, however, by how few questions there were--most people simply stood there silently while he signed. I was also surprised by how few people seemed to know about the newsgroup, the FAQ, and the Compleat Index. There were a number of people there who were only partway through the series (although I guess we _all_ are only partway through the series!) and many had not yet read the book. Like Matthew Hunter (see his post), I was surprised by the candor of RJ's remarks regarding Sweet's covers. At least we know he is just as exasperated by them as we are. If only Michael Whelan and Jordan had been able to work a deal out--man. Talk about poster-worthy and collectible art. OK. I have to work now. I'll try to respond to any questions or gripes about the report. Michael Martin "I never walk into the light unless I know who turned the switch." --Dime Store Prophets
He also mentioned the fact that Fain is essentially his wild card, a character that is outside the structure of the work and can therefore act totally unpredictably. When I reached the signing table, I asked him if he had a better idea now how many novels there would be than he might have had previously, knowing it was a lame question, but he answered it politely. He said he knew there would be at least three more, and that he generally finds himself with twice as much planned for a novel as he can pull off in 700 pages, which happened with the new one. This suggested to me that 5-6 more books would not be surprising. I didn't stay too long, but I had a good time, and just wish he had stopped in Columbus as well. -------- Scott Cantor In the beginning the Universe was created. cantor.2 (at) osu.edu This has made a lot of people very angry and Univ Tech Services been widely regarded as a bad move. The Ohio State Univ - Douglas Adams
Report by Melinda Yin
I was at the signing at King of Prussia last night, and asked a question about Randland life that has been bugging me for a while - do Aes Sedai ever have children, and why/why not? I was impressed with Jordan's casual reply, as if this were common knowledge - that all Aes Sedai, and for that matter, most women have knowledge of a special herb that serves as an incredibly efficient contraceptive. This herb is just general women's lore, passed to women by Wisdoms and such. He followed up with two other points : 1)Aes Sedai are personally discouraged from having children because they know they will outlive them and 2)its clearly not a popular idea because the White Ajah had suggested having children with men who can channel in order to undo "culling", but this suggestion was not particularly well received. Oh, and he made some comments about how warder of the BA might sometimes meet with "accidents" so the BA can remain secret. Alternatively, BA might intentionally bond darkfriends.
Well I went to the signing. A nice crowd and rather quiet. Highlight of waiting was the mall cop rousting all the people sitting on the floor reading as they waited. Seems it lowered the tone of the august KoP Mall. The 'cop' explained that 'mall shoppers might get the wrong impression'. He was a bit baffled when the guy next to me told him that since Gene's had a policy that RJ would only be signing books bought from their store, everyone in line was a 'shopper'. Apparently the picture in the back flap went unnoticed. RJ sat down at the table and few people even noticed him. I made the comment that he was there and people kept looking around to spot him. RJ seemed rather amused by this. Once again most people seemed reluctant to ask him any questions. Almost everyone in front of me had their book handed to him and said thank you after he signed it. When the first question was asked RJ actually seemed to be relieved. Unfortunately it was impossible to hear what he did say to anyone else. I was able to get a few questions in. Karl-Johan I got a RAFO about the nature of Fain. However I think I worded the question differently than we had originally planned. Damn if I could find the paper I took notes on before I went to the signing. Gender/soul rebirth he said is best illustrated by Mat and Birgitte. But he then said that there was more to it than that. Not sure what he meant exactly. Probably the point. And the silly trivial 'I-just-want-to-know-without-a-doubt-question' which almost got me more than I had planned. I asked him whether Delana Mosalaine had been raised to the Hall as Sitter before the Tower split or after. Karl-Johan and Jed probably recall our analysis of the Halls a month ago. I probably pronounced the name wrong because he just looked at me. I prompted by saying 'Delana, the Gray Sitter who we know is Black. Siuan's old friend from novicedom.' RJ started to say something but was trying to find th right words when I foolishly helped him out by saying 'Delana was raised at Salidar'. He said yes and laughed. I tried then to follow up with asking him if she was an important aspect of Siuan's pattern in the young Sitters. RAFO was the response. I may go down to my dad's tomorrow to catch him at Bailey's Crossing. So Karl-Johan what was the third question we decided on? --- JSH -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
Report by John Nowacki
Regarding today's signing at Olsson's in DC: Fairly small crowd, as expected. Very few questions asked (that I overheard), though RJ did repeat the "I've known the last scene since . . ." bit at least four or five times. He also told one fellow who wanted a photograph that he didn't mind having his picture taken, but he insisted on keeping his clothes on. Someone in the line said "Damn!" rather loudly, and RJ looked back and said that he hears that a lot. Well . . . . RJ said that a channeller can hide strength as well as ability to channel, but added that 1) few people know how to do it, and 2) the AS don't even know these tricks are possible. Those caveats are rather obvious, I know. But I mention this answer because I thought I heard it reported here that this question was met with "RAFO" in the past. I'm sure someone will clarify that for me. One of the regular contributors to the group--I don't recall whom--suggested asking whether Moridin came into existence before or after the 'gars. That one earned a quick glance and an RAFO. Well, that's about it, in a nutshell. -- John Nowacki jnowacki (at) erols.com
Report by John Novak
There was a signing at a local Borders very close to my apartment. Kate, myself, and the Dilicks attended. The signing began at 1:00 PM. We showed up separately between 11:00 and 11:30 AM to find ourselves close to the front of the line. Such paranoia was justified, as the line grew very swiftly and to great length. As the time approached, the cafe area was cleared and chairs set up auditorium style so that those of us who had been waiting were able to sit down and enjoy. This was cool. Those of us in the cafe area (and maybe others) were also given a complimentary cup of spiced cider-- to bring to mind the idea of having a mug mulled wine in front of us. This was cool. There was also an amazing-looking layered sheet cake with a truly impressive Wheel of Time design drawn on the top. I never got the full story on where it came from-- if Tor arranged it, or if a fan owned a bakery or what. It was divied up into small pieces and given to the fans as we went through line. Jordan began with a reading, which was fairly short. He read the first few pages from chapter one of tPoD. I think I'm happier narrating them in my own internal voice. He then commenced with about an hour and a half of rapid signings. I asked politely if I could stand off to the side and record the answers to any questions that he gave. He and the Borders staff were very gracious. They seemed to expect it, somehow... I will make one comment about Mr. Jordan: he seems like a very nice man. He was obviously tired (he commented at one point that he had hit some 27 cities in 32 days) but was cheerful, engaging, willing to chat and banter and seemed generally pleased to be there. I did my best not to be completely underfoot, getting out of the way of photographs, keeping relatively silent while people were chatting to him and asking him questions. On a personal and weird note, a lot of people seemed to recognize me, too. (Of those, I recognized only Amy and her man.) This is unsettling and weird. And I am not nearly as approachable as I may have seemed to be-- but I would have felt like a heel for bitchslapping people who stood behind me trying to talk to me or at me or near me as I was busy listening and jotting and dodging out of photographs, while Jordan was being so nice about letting me hang out there. Here's what I learned: (Bear in mind that while there were stretches while I wasn't writing anything, when I WAS writing, I had to write fast. I hope I didn't mistranscribe anything.) Balefire: I'm right. (This was my question) What this means is, if someone is Balefire, the Dark One can't reincarnate them. But they CAN be spun back out into the wheel as normal. Balefire is NOT the eternal death of the soul. He also made a comment to the effect that even in the absence of balefire, there may be circumstances where the Dark One cannot bring someone back. There was a long line, so I didn't press. The Bowl: Someone asked him whether, if men had helped the Aes Sedai and Windfinders and Kin channel through the Bowl, the One Power would still have been screwed up. His implicit assumption was that the Bowl screwed things up. I expected this to be a sheer RAFO. I was surprised. He went into a relatively detailed explanation to the effect that the Bowl was stressed far, far beyond its original design parameters because of the advanced knowledge of the Windfinders. It was affecting a global pattern, when it was designed for only a small region. Men helping would not have changed anything, and the effects linger most strongly near Ebou Dar, but also along the "spokes" which radiated from that place. (I should have asked if a spoke went out over Tear.) My comment: Nyah-nyah. Moiraine lost her list sometime between NS and tEotW. By the opening of the story, all she could remember was that there had been a name >from the Two Rivers. On the subject of a story set in the Age of Legends, most probably not. The Age of Legends was entirely too boring to write about, up until the time it became too interesting. And at that point, it became too gloomy because it was a long, drawn out apocalypse. He has no particular real world inspiration for the One Power, at least not that he knows of. He admits that he's read a lot of stuff and at times forgets a source here and there. At one point, he looked at me and added (with no prompting or questioning) that no, Mat is not Cyndane. He explained that at another Signing, he had a string of ten or so people in a row ask him about Mat, and he got frustrated and belted out, "What if Mat is Cyndane?" He claimed he then recanted, but couldn't tell if the guy he told that to believed that he was joking. I admitted that I had heard the story, but it was okay-- we got the joke. He then added that while he likes Chalker's and Varley's works, he does not intend to emulate them. "Not at all like Balthamel becoming Aran'gar?" I quipped. He retorted to the effect that was one character, not a whole host of characters. He is already thinking about his next work. He has been thinking about it for five or six years now. It will definitely be a fantasy, definitely not Wheel of Time, and will spend a lot of time in a culture that somewhat resembles the Seanchan. Ie, the Shipwreck thing is still going strong. Someone standing behind me commented about the Seanchan being a bunch of sociopaths, and Jordan returned that the Seanchan system is a reasonable response to the conditions they found. I opined that we could have a serious debate in ethics over that point. I expect that in other circumstances we could have rolled up our debating sleeves and gone at it, but there were more books to sign and I didn't want to get in anyone's way. If an Aes Sedai becomes Black Ajah, the Warder would know instantly that something was up, but wouldn't know exactly what. The Black Ajah has three choices, then-- hope the Warder is a Darkfriend or amenable to being one, hide the affiliation, or arrange for an accident. Yes, this would be painful for the Aes Sedai, but it might become necessary. The process of becoming Black Ajah is evidently quite painful in its own right and thus probably involves more than just swearing new Oaths on the Rod. (I submit that this is why he Red Ajah is rife with Black Ajah-- they have an easier time actively recruiting >from that pool. By the same token, I claim that the Green Ajah is more pure than the others.) Asmodean is, and I quote, road-kill. And he still claims there are many indirect clues from tFoH on about who killed him. He also claims that very, very few of the fan letters he gets are correct about it. Will more heroes be bound to the Horn? RAFO. Who or what is the Tamyrlin? RAFO. (RAFO sometimes means that he intends to reveal it later. Sometimes it means that an answer is not consequential, but it's logical implications ARE consequential.) He really hopes to get the next volume out faster. His plans have not significantly altered from the time of conception. No major scenes have been inserted or left out or substantially altered. Apparently a Dorset House (?) is currently planning to produce replica of jewelry (such as the Aes Sedai rings, Moiraine's forehead jewel) and articles of clothing (like the Shawls) for the market. Does the Snakes and Foxes game played in the Two Rivers have anything to do with the 'finn? RAFO. (My answer: Duh?) A calendar for next year seems like a very possible thing. So does the encyclopedia concept we've heard about-- he already keeps a running compilation of invented terms anyway. There were a lot of amusing personal remarks as well, which I won't try to capture. He seems to have a half a dozen answers for the question, "Where do you get your ideas?" The one that tickled me was that he sends off to a mail order company from Trenton, NewJersey (I think) for some large amount of money, at three ideas per page. I looked askance and remarked that Ellison gave the same answer, except his ideas came from a warehouse in Peoria (which I'm sure I've read somewhere. Think it was Ellison.) He shot back, "Yeah, but did you notice that mine are more expensive?" And at one point, while posing for a picture, he asked if should appear pensive? Or perhaps Byronic? I shot back, "Byronic, or ironic?" "I can do ironic, too, but it costs more." And my favorite fan comment: "No questions. Just, 'Thanks.'" Dunno who that was, but if you're reading, I thought that was cool. So that's that. Last signing of the tour. (I left out a bunch of shit we already knew about how many more books, how does he title things, who's his favorite character, what's his daily schedule, etc.) Two more tidbits. There was one piece of information that I _thought_ I heard correctly, but didn't want to relate until I was sure it made proper sense. Thanks to Rich Boye for confirming the text of NS (which I don't have) and that the following makes sense: One person asked whether Romanda was the Aes Sedai that Cadsuane referred to as being nearly as old as she was. Jordan answered in the affirmative. I was distracted by someone at the time and _thought_ I heard that correctly, but wasn't quite sure. (And I gave the guy who asked the question a really weird look, because the answer didn't seem to make sense-- why was everyone surprised about Cadsuane's being alive, if Romanda was just about as old? Apparently because Cadsuane is so much more heroic than Romanda.) And another tidbit that I meant to mention, but neglected. Someone actually asked Jordan whether a hermaphrodite would channel Saidin or Saidar. Jordan was... non-plussed. "A hermaphrodite?! I dunno. I'd have to sit down and figure that out." He shot the guy a funny look as he walked away, then remarked to the next group of people in line that he put that in the same category as the person who wrote to ask him what Donald Duck would channel. -- John S. Novak, III jsn (at) concentric.net The Humblest Man on the Net
A few things not mentioned but learned at the signing. Jordan has not replied to any fan letters in the last year. I am not sure if he said he would be tackling the old letters or whether he would be answering any from now on. He did say he apologized for not being able to get to them. I think he said he was basically involved in writing something. (duh) There was the usual mention of how many books. I heard three or so but then he said something else which I missed. It seemed to create a bit of buzz but I have no idea what it was. He said he had no idea what the title of the next book was yet. Once again I I did not hear the rest of what he said. I think though he said that once the title was firmly established he will let us know. Which is what he did with tPoD. Romanda is the Sister who is mentioned in New Spring as being as old as Cadsuane. (Sorry if that was something many of you already knew to be true. I had a bet going so was rather pleased with that one) There was something about Black Ajah and the oaths. I am not sure if this was part of the Warder question or not. Problem is what little I heard was then appended by the questioner's perception of what Jordan said. So I may have gotten a few things wrong. Overall it was the friendliest crowd of fans I have seen yet in four signings over the years. For the most part people wanted to talk and get to know one another. The cake was good and as Mr. Novak said quite cool. I got the feeling that the powers that be at this Borders either really liked having RJ there because they were fans or because he was a #1 bestselling author. Either way they were very appreciative to have him there and have his fans there as well. If this is how they do things on a regular basis I think their author series is something not to miss. --- JSH -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
A lot of people I talked to in line had never read the FAQ, nor the
newsgroup. I found that amazing.
Another thing I found amusing was that a woman behind me talked about how
she lives where RJ originates (Charleston?). He supposedly takes his
bicycle around town, waving at people and ringing the bell on his bike.
A bunch of us in line also debated whether Rand was nuts. Most of the
females said he was nuts [including me] and most of the guys said he
was paranoid with good reason -- "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean
they aren't after me".
Another amusing remark when someone said something to the fact that RJ was
dragging the books out and that he could easily end the books by Rand
picking up most of the important main characters (Nyn, Egwene, Mat, etc),
pick up the big ass sa'angreal, then go to Shayol Ghoul(sp) and beat the
crap out of the Dark One. The most amusing part was when the person said
that the creator (or Rand, can't remember which) would smack Mat and
Nynaeve in the process for being such annoying characters. (Before the Nyn
Defense league tries to hurt me with the tugging braid, I'm just the
messenger, don't hurt me :-)
I had a lot of fun, especially since it was my first signing for any author.
Next time I'll get there a lot earlier and come prepared with my questions,
so I can give them out to the other people I talk to in line. ;-)
--
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Rachel K. Warren warrenrk (at) jmu.edu
http://sys12.cs.jmu.edu/homes/warrenrk/
"Her modem lights are on but there's no carrier."
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