From badowney@sprynet.com Sun Nov 12 18:04:20 CST 2000 Article: 456804 of rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Path: uchinews!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!news-out.digex.net.MISMATCH!dca1-hub1.news.digex.net!intermedia!cyclone-sf.pbi.net!206.13.28.33!news.pacbell.net.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3A0DCBFE.85C249E9@sprynet.com> From: "Brandon A. Downey" X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (Win98; I) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: [Minor Spoilers] Robert Jordan book signing Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 171 Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 14:45:18 -0800 NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.198.57.35 X-Complaints-To: abuse@pacbell.net X-Trace: news.pacbell.net 973983192 63.198.57.35 (Sat, 11 Nov 2000 14:53:12 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 14:53:12 PST Organization: SBC Internet Services Xref: uchinews rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan:456804 [Spoilers] S p o i l - o - r a m a 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 minfarshaw@my-deja.com Sun Nov 12 18:07:57 CST 2000 Article: 456842 of rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Path: uchinews!newsfeed.stanford.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail From: minfarshaw@my-deja.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: WH spoiler : Question at book signing Date: Sat, 11 Nov 2000 23:47:45 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Before you buy. Lines: 70 Message-ID: <8uklr0$p3g$1@nnrp1.deja.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.101.32.102 X-Article-Creation-Date: Sat Nov 11 23:47:45 2000 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.01; Windows NT 5.0; MSN 6.0) X-Http-Proxy: 1.1 x68.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 63.101.32.102 X-MyDeja-Info: XMYDJUIDminfarshaw Xref: uchinews rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan:456842 spoiler space: almost there spoiler: I was trying to figure out who the 3rd person in Rand's head might be so i asked RJ if the dragon is born at the end of every age or only the AOL and the 3rd age. ans: the dragon does not have to be born at the end of every age the heros bound to the horn are spun out when the pattern needs them and the dragon is one of them those heros. that didnt really help much. a good follow up would have been as there are 7 ages which are more or less the same so in how many of them is the dragon born ? but i didnt get a chance to ask this. any thoughts any one Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy. From johnj@idf.centerpartners.com Wed Nov 15 10:13:01 CST 2000 Article: 458541 of rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Path: uchinews!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!130.133.1.3!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!207.108.230.1!not-for-mail From: "John Johnson" Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Selected questions and answers from the chat (contains WH spoilers) Re: Log of Robert Jordan's chat tonight! Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 00:49:24 -0700 Lines: 137 Message-ID: <8utf8i$2rfum$1@ID-53489.news.dfncis.de> References: <3a1223fa.189814930@news.earthlink.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.108.230.1 X-Trace: fu-berlin.de 974274642 2998230 207.108.230.1 (16 [53489]) X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4133.2400 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4133.2400 Xref: uchinews rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan:458541 "LadyJ" wrote in message news:3a1223fa.189814930@news.earthlink.net... > > I logged tonight's chat and edited out the joins and parts. I also > saved some of the funnier snippets from before and after the chat. > Check it out at http://www.ladyj.net/WOT/ I'm going to one-up you here and just paste in the questions and answers that I thought were intriguing. There are some spoilers ahead, so beware. That should be enough. Here they are, typos and all, with some commentary by me. Once again, the chat was pretty much a waste of time. There were a few good questions, but most of them were the same things we hear all the time (How long have you known what's going, how many more books, what background information, etc.) Question : Mr.Jordan, since Gaidal Cain has been born only recently in the WOT universe, how is it that he will grow old enough to fight in the upcoming battle (Tarmon gaidon)? it will take at least 15 years for him to grow big enough to fight. and what about the other heroes? will the also be reborn, or will they remain to be recalled only by the horn? RJ: Who says that what Gaidal has been reborn to do is to fight the last battle? There is more to do to keep the Pattern on course than the last battle. Me: This doesn't rule out Olver being Gaidal, if anything it gives a bit more circumstantial evidence. I think that there's enough evidence in WH to at least bolster this theory more. Question: There's a suggestion in the books that Lanfear was believed to be as strong as any female channeler could ever become. What was the reason for that belief? RJ: Read and find out! Me: Personally I think that Lanfear's comment is due to a bit of meglomania--not only that, but I think that RJ may have just positively confirmed Cyndane=Lanfear (not that anyone should've needed extra convincing after Winter's Heart). Question: If an Aes Sedai links with other Aes Sedai, will or can the others then sense if she is bonded? Also, can an Aes Sedai (at least as far as the Tower knows) 'unbond' a Warder? Its been suggested that they will set a man free/release him if he really wants to leave, but does that mean 'unbond' him or simply 'not pursue' him and release him from whatever oaths he's sworn as a Warder? RJ: No. They can't sense it I think you may be thinking about an adaption of bonds. RJ managed to not answer the second part of the question about "unbonding", but I thought that the rest of the question is very interesting. That would mean that Rand can't feel Ihvon throughAlanna, and that Alanna can't feel Min, Elayne and Avi. Question : Mr. Jordan, When ever a channeler draws on the OP, does he\she become temporarily outside the Wheel's control? I ask this because min's viewings of aes sedai get fuzzy whenever they draw on the Power and in LOC egwene avoids rand's taveren effect by drawing on saidar. RJ: Read and find out! This was a particularly good question, and the second one from this person. I'm wondering if he didn't hit the nose on the head with this question judging by RJ's response. Question : In WH, Lews Therin says "We are not builders, not you, or I, or the other one." Now I know if I ask who the other one is, i know I'll just get a RAFO, but should we be able to figure out who the 'other one' is? RJ:You should have some hints. Follow your hunches. Well, that settles it--it's a former Dragon. Question : Nobody who can channel saidin or saidar can sense the True Power. And, since the Forsaken don't seem to notice Moridin channeling the True Power, is it detectable at all (besides by a gholam)? IE-can someone already holding the True Power sense another using it? RJ:No. Not by any method we've seen yet I thought that this was by far the most interesting question of the night, and the fact that it didn't get a RAFO surprise me. All sorts of interesting surprises spring up from this. A.)If True Power users can't detect each other, then One Power users can't detect True Power users. B.)If One Power users can't detect TP users, then objects (ter'angeal) designed to detect OP won't work on TP users. C.)If objects designed to stop OP users (i.e. steddings, or the triangulation device in Far Madding) can detect OP usage and block it, it's possible that they can't detect and block TP users D.)Assuming all of the above, then it's quite possible that the person that Rand bumped into in Far Madding, is indeed, Sammael, using the TP. Question:Are Dreaming and dreamwalking essentially just different names for the same Talent, or are they separate Talents that often occur together? The illustrated guide seemed to confuse the issue somewhat. RJ: No.They're verty different. A dreamwalker can enter draems, But a dream only "understands" dreams, though Dreamwakers are generally Dreamers too. This made me wonder if Luc/Isam has any Dreamer or Dreamwalking abilities based on his familiarity with T'A'R. If so, it would make him even more dangerous as an assasin. -- John Johnson From merhawkNYET@NYETsonic.NYETnet Thu Nov 16 11:02:53 CST 2000 Article: 458958 of rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Path: uchinews!logbridge.uoregon.edu!HSNX.atgi.net!typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail From: merhawkNYET@NYETsonic.NYETnet (Hawk) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Re: [Minor Spoilers] Robert Jordan book signing References: <3A0DCBFE.85C249E9@sprynet.com> Organization: *snort* Message-ID: X-Newsreader: slrn (0.9.4.5 UNIX) Lines: 105 Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 09:22:31 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.224.36 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 974366551 208.201.224.36 (Thu, 16 Nov 2000 01:22:31 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 01:22:31 PST Xref: uchinews rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan:458958 Brandon A. Downey 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.