Subject: [Minor Spoilers] Robert Jordan book signing

From: "Brandon A. Downey" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 14:45:18 -0800

[Spoilers]

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    I was fortune enough to attend the Robert Jordan book signing at the
Barnes and Nobles in San Jose near where I live in California, and I
figured everyone might be interested to hear what it was like.

    RJ was scheduled to appear at 7pm, so, my (much more dedicated
friend who drove 7 hours from LA) went down to get in line around 3pm.
Shortly after he arrived, he called to warn me, "The guy next to me says
that last year, the line wrapped around the building!" So, I took the
afternoon off work and headed down to ye olde book store.

    I got there around 4, and about 7 people were in line. Surprisingly,
only three of us had read Winter's Heart, so we went off into the onsite
coffee shop, and had a few hours of hard core Jordan discussion. We went
back and forth on a lot of the issues in Winter's Heart: Demandred (we
really _wanted_ to be convinced that the evidence was inconclusive --
IMHO, RJ is a huge, deceptive tease otherwise), the possibilities for
Slayer as Asmodean's killer (Sure, he really looks like it now -- but
did we really have enough evidence to guess it was him pre-LOC?),
whether Sammael is alive, whether he's directing the slayer, if Moridin
was just sending the Forsaken off to "pay the butcher's bill" rather
than actually stopping Rand,  if Olver was Gaidal (this never dies!),
and if a Well explained Verin's delving in the stedding.

Naturally, all this rampant Jordanism led into what questions we would
ask Jordan. I had brought a notebook, and wrote down a few of my
favorites:

-How many more of your books will feature nude women slapping each
other? Is there any possibility they will be illustrated?

-Is it now crystal clear who Asmodean's killer is? [I know what poor
luck Asmodean questions have -- but I figured a quasi-indirect one might
get by].

-What can you tell us specifically about the compulsion used by Aes
Sedai in the warder bond? What effect, if any, does channeling have on
preventing this? Is it sufficient to just be holding saidar/saidin to
avoid this effect?

-Is Machin Shin a result of the dark one's taint on saidin being used in
the creation of the Ways, or a result of some portion of the corruption
of Shadar Logoth creeping into the Ways via the Waygate there? Or is it
something completely orthogonal to both these powers, merely being a
parasite that showed up once the place began to grow dim.

-Were POD and WH originally meant to be one book? Why was the book
jacket changed?

-What does the title dragon mean, historically speaking? Was there some
deeper significance to LTT being named that, or was it because dragons
have always been historically badasses?

-What happens to an Aes Sedai's warder bond if she enters a stedding?
Can she still detect it? What if I tie off a weave, and enter a
stedding? If the weave vanishes, will it reappaear when I leave? If it
won't reappear, why can't shielded/tied channelers such as Asmodean or
Liandrin simply enter a stedding to have their shield dissolved?

---

So, naturally, my friend and I didn't have time to ask all these
questions, but it was quite an event. RJ rolled in at almost exactly 7,
and by that time, the line really did stretch all throughout the store
and outside! RJ nuts of all shapes, sizes, and varying degrees of
hotness were there, and we were having a good time jeering at the girl
in front of us who thought that whoever helped out Rand in Shadar Logoth
was a GOOD guy.

Then, they brought Jordan out, and we all started hopping up and down
excitedly. (Well, not ALL of us.. but the ones that are worth speaking
of. Heh.) Jordan looks a bit like someone's grandfather, except witty,
and if your grandfather happened to be a retired badass. He had his
cane, ring, and glasses, and a charming, witty style of speaking. This
may just be fandom talking, but he seemed like someone you'd genuinely
want to spend an idle evening with, shooting the breeze.

So, being near the beginning of the line, we only had to wait while some
fetching young female types had their picture made with RJ (Mmm..
lechery). After that, my friend got to ask his question, which was the
one about Machin Shin and the Ways:

RJ answered:> "Machin Shin is a function of the DO's taint on the male
side of the force.. er.. source" [we all chuckled, and he mentioned how
much he'd been traveling. :)]
The corruption on Shadar Logoth is a result of an evil specifically
designed to combat the DO's taint. This is why Rand experiences a
resonance while channeling in Shadar Logoth -- the DO's taint is reacing
to the corruption of Shadar Logoth.

Then, I asked my question, which concerned the warder bond and the
stedding:

RJ> No, of course not. An Aes Sedai would still be able to detect her
warder in the stedding.

Then, I asked about going into the stedding with a weave of illusion
tied on you:
RJ> The weave would go away, and would not come back when you left.

Then, of course, I asked: "Why couldn't Asmodean, or Lanfear, or someone
else with a tied off shield go into a stedding and get themselves
freed?"
RJ> No. That's different.

So, that's a confusing set of answers. Why is it that when shielded, the
bond to your warder can become faint enough that you don't notice it,
whereas in the stedding it's just fine? Why is it that weaves that don't
depend on you drawing the one power don't work, but wells do? And, why
do shields (which are a species of a weave) that are tied off not
subject to this constraint?

I had a dinner date, so I didn't stay around for much longer, but I did
get to hear RJ talk about his reading habits (he reads about 2-3 hours a
day, and doesn't watch much TV at all.) Another guy behind me asked if
he felt he was giving the books the level of detail he wanted (and RJ
said yes), then he asked about the one sentence Lan/Toran fight.

RJ said that he had tried writing that scene several ways, but none of
the split POV's worked (and have we even had a Lan POV, outside of "A
New Spring"?) seemed to work out. I chimed in, "Yeah, and Lan is enough
of a badass to ice some punk in one sentence", and RJ said, "Yes, Lan is
very, very good at what he does."

Unfortunately, I had to run after that. I had a great time though, and
felt I was among kindred spirits when surrounded by the RJ fan-o-rama
that was the book signing.

I hope my answers proved helpful to someone out there, as we continue
sifting through the series in search of just one more nugget of detail.

Brandon

---

From: [email-masked] (Hawk)
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 09:22:31 GMT

Brandon A. Downey <[email-masked]> shouted:



:    I was fortune enough to attend the Robert Jordan book signing at the
:Barnes and Nobles in San Jose near where I live in California, and I
:figured everyone might be interested to hear what it was like.
[...]
:So, being near the beginning of the line, we only had to wait while some
:fetching young female types had their picture made with RJ (Mmm..
:lechery). After that, my friend got to ask his question, which was the
:one about Machin Shin and the Ways:

Originally I was going to skip this signing since I A) didn't finish the
book until Monday and B) have been to so many of these before but Batya
wouldn't stop bothering me until I agreed to go.

While I was one of those near the back of the line (though not quite out
the door), I had a surprising amount of fun.  At the store I managed to
bump into someone I know, have some fun debates with the people in line
around me, was introduced to a Discovery Zone book about Dungeons and
Torture for kids, discover that RJ _still_ remembers who I am, and was
able to hang around and listen to RJ speak. Since only one of us in my
group had finished WH, there were very few questions asked about that
book.

Questions asked:

Q:  Why was the glossary so short?
A.  Normally he solicits opinion from people what should be in there, but
he ran out of time this book.  He would have liked it to have been more
fleshed out.

Q:  Have you ever seen 'Army of Darkness'?  There's a scene in there where
Ash (the protagonist) smashes the mirror and mini dopplegangers come out
of each shard.
A:  No.  When did the movie come out?

Q:  What was the use of Elayne's "rod" in PoD?
A:  RAFO and he's surprised at the imaginations of some of the female
fans who mail him - their imaginations are quite vivid.

Q:  Was there ever a Purple Ajah?
A:  They were going to, but they ran off to New Orleans and started up a
biker bar instead.

Q:  There were a lot of fans upset at your decision to sell the Prologue
to S&S as an e-book, and there were other people upset at your "special
introduction", thinking that you were mocking your fans.  What was your
intent/how did this come about?
A:  People who got upset about the "special introduction" need to "take a
break and get a milkshake."  The introduction was definately about mocking
e-books and how it really did feel like selling your soul.  S&S came to
him and begged for something - anything - to sell from WH's as an ebook.
He didn't go to them at all.

Q:  Do you think you'll ever put the books out in electronic format?  
A:  When there's a reader that he can "drop in the water, dry with a hair
dryer, and then read" he'll move over to e-books.  He's also waiting for
the industry to hash out its standards.  He expects that to take another 5
years or so. 

Q:  How many more books? [no one I was with was stupid enough to ask]
A:  At least 3 more.

Nominees for quotes of the evening:

'One time when Harriet asked me what I wanted for dinner, I told her to
read and find out.'

'If you die before the series ends I will desecrate your grave'

All in all, I'm glad I went.  The crowd was definately less than previous
years; however, I feel much of that has to do withthe fact that this event
was barely advertised.  It did give me a chance to get my book
personalized, at least.

Hawk

-- 
Do not meddle in the affairs of hawks, for we are fond of raking with our
talons.