We’re pleased to bring you an unexpected BONUS Storm Leader report from Seattle, Washington, the home of computer giant Microsoft. Brian T. Hill, a Microsoft employee and big fan of Brandon’s, was kind enough to send us this report only hours after the event. Thanks, Brian! Consider yourself an honorary Storm Leader. We’ll get you and your son a t-shirt.

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Report by Brian T. Hill

I’m not really a Storm Leader, but I kind of played the part today. Sanderson said I should go ahead and send a report. You see, Brandon Sanderson made an extra stop today that wasn’t publically advertised on his Book Tour. It was my great pleasure to host Sanderson at the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Washington. As so many people have already mentioned, Sanderson is gracious and generous. He kindly accepted my invitation to add one more event to his already busy schedule and visit with us.

Sanderson came to Microsoft directly from the airport. Though we’ve had plenty of rain lately and the forecast shows nothing but rain all week, the sun came out and the day was beautiful. Sanderson said that in his dozen visits to the Seattle area, he has never seen it rain here. We then told him to come more often! Anyway, traffic cooperated and we had time for a quick lunch before his lecture. He and his media escort joined me, my wife, my son, and several coworkers at a restaurant here on Microsoft’s campus. Conversation was friendly and relaxed. Brandon told us he’s on week four of his tour. At the end of the week, he gets to go home and resume his regular schedule. I can tell he’s looking forward to it.

There has already been so much coverage of Sanderson’s book tour that I don’t want to repeat things that have been said many times. It was obvious that Brandon has heard the same questions over and over again. I thought I had come up with a new question when I asked what his Ward Calling (at Church) is. Nope, he’s been asked that before. It turns out that he and his wife co-teach the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School class.

My son asked a question that Sanderson had heard before, but not yet on this tour. My son asked what was the “Mistborn bead” made of and what would happen if an Allomancer burned it. Sanderson said it was made of Larasium, the opposite of atium. If an Allomancer burned it, it would double the Allomancer’s power. Hmm… Larasium… So Preservation is Laras, right? Does that mean Preservation is the Mistress of the Kitchens? Aha, but no. Sanderson says it’s not spelled the same. So I guess I should make that Leras and Lerasium? I guess I should have asked what the correct spelling is.

I asked Sanderson if he ever found anything (of Jordan’s) that he didn’t agree with. He didn’t mention any specifics, but he did said that things don’t always go the way he would have done them. He indicated that although he has “complete creative license,” he is very careful to do things Jordan’s way because it is, after all, Jordan’s story. He will never change a thing just because of his personal preference, but he might have to change something if it would have a detrimental effect on the storytelling. Again, no specifics, but his respect and even reverence for Jordan was interesting to see.

After lunch, we headed to our Conference Center where we had a room reserved. We got there right on time (okay, maybe a minute late) and there were 100 people waiting for us. I had meant to record the session, but I got flustered trying to start right on time as soon as I walked in, that I forgot to start the recorder. Anyway, I gave a brief introduction, thanking the University Book Store in Seattle for bringing Brandon Sanderson to town. Then I turned it right over to our guest of honor.

I had asked Brandon to tell the same story he always tells, about discovering Jordan’s books, reading them while growing up, becoming a writer, learning of Jordan’s death, getting the call from Harriet, and stepping behind the curtain. Sure, I’ve read the blog and the Storm Leader reports, but not everybody has, so I wanted them to hear it. So, Sanderson launched into the story. I won’t repeat it here, but I will say that it was so much better hearing him tell it in person. I don’t think there was anything new for me, but he made it come alive in a way that I didn’t get from his blog or from other people’s reports. If you have a chance to hear him tell the story in person, take it!

Oh, there was one thing that I hadn’t heard him say before. He switched his college major to English, but he told our audience that if they were considering becoming writers, an English major was not a requirement. He described the irony of Creative Writing classes: that they don’t teach people how to write. He explained that people will write a segment and then the instructor will provide feedback. Or maybe a group of students will collectively give feedback. Then the author will revise and repeat. What Sanderson had always wanted them to do was teach the students how to develop a good plotline, how to write sympathetic characters, how to build believable settings, and so on.

Sanderson spoke for 35 or 40 minutes and then took a few questions. Somebody asked about his movies. Mistborn is in the hands of a producer. The producer is busy working on a screenplay, which he will then take and shop around Hollywood. Sanderson indicated that this is a bit of a long shot. Lots of movies never get past this stage. Meanwhile, Dreamworks Animation has the rights to Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians. Sanderson said that there was a lot of excitement and activity at the beginning, but he hasn’t heard anything for a while. The option runs out next year or so. Maybe something will happen before then and maybe not.

Somebody said they thought The Gathering Storm matched the previous books really well and asked about the similarities (and differences) in writing styles between Sanderson and Jordan. Sanderson explained that he had not tried to match Jordan’s prose. He thought that would end up sounding silly or mocking. If he tried, all the characters would end up standing around with their arms folded beneath their breasts, sniffing at one another and tugging on their braids. Instead, he concentrated on just making the characters true to their previous appearances. If he succeeded, it’s because he was so comfortable with them and he knew them so well, having read the series eight times and followed it since he was himself a teenager. He said there is a big difference in their writing styles when it comes to battle scenes. Sanderson likes to write large, cinematic scenes, while Jordan liked to write more gritty, chaotic perspectives. He said this speaks to Jordan’s experiences in Vietnam.

Somebody wanted to know whether the Asmodean mystery would be answered in Towers of Midnight or if we’d have to wait until Memory of Light. RAFO on that one.

Were there any big surprises for Sanderson? There were several, but he only mentioned one. He said he was very surprised by Egwene’s visitor in The Gathering Storm. I guess he was trying not to drop a spoiler, but one of the benefits of being near the end of the book tour is that I had time to finish reading the book, so I knew what he meant.

After a few questions, he stopped to sign books. Not everybody had brought one, but plenty of people did. He answered questions directly posed to him. I didn’t hear all of them, but I overheard him mention Jain Farstrider, so I threw in another question of my own: Was Noal Charin lying about being Jain Farstrider’s cousin? Sanderson looked thoughtful for moment, then said he couldn’t answer it. He then added that we’d have to RAFO.

He mentioned some stuff about an Elantris sequel, a second Mistborn trilogy, and the Way of Kings. He also mentioned his super-powers viruses idea. I think this has all been discussed elsewhere, so I won’t rehash it here. Except I didn’t realize he has an entire new trilogy to add onto Mistborn. I had only heard him talk about a single-book sequel before.

This visit by Brandon Sanderson didn’t add a lot of insight to the nagging mysteries, but it was great to hear him in person. I’ve read a lot of reports (like this one), but seeing his enthusiasm and magnetism in person is quite different. It was a great experience.

Brian T. Hill

PS: I’m attaching a photo of Brandon Sanderson posing with me and my son. We are standing in front of a section of the Berlin Wall, which was donated to Bill Gates and now sits in the Microsoft Conference Center.

This is the sixteenth of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

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Report by Katie Frey

Fans of the Wheel of Time started arriving at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego around 10:30 in the morning, three and a half hours before the book signing. By the time Brandon Sanderson arrived at 2pm, there were over 90 fans throughout the bookstore, waiting to hear from Brandon Sanderson. There were people of all ages at the signing. A young boy came to the signing who had just read the Mistborn trilogy. There were a couple of pre-teens interested in Brandon’s Alcatraz series. And a brother and sister who’s parents had just introduced them to The Eye of the World. We also had a fan that has literally been reading the Wheel of Time since the beginning, having picked up The Eye of the World on the day of its original release in 1990.

Brandon began by telling the story of how he ended up being chosen to write the ending of The Wheel of Time. He started back in 1990, when he was 15 years old and saw a paperback of The Eye of the World on the shelf. Thinking that it was huge and had a “good page to dollar ratio” he returned to the bookstore a few days later to purchase Book One of The Wheel of Time. It was because of The Wheel of Time that Brandon decided he wanted to become a writer.

Fast forward to 2007. Brandon Sanderson has become a published author, with Elantris and Mistborn on the market. In September he, like many of us, was online checking up with what was going on and he heard the news that Robert Jordan had passed away. He was shocked. Robert Jordan had always been so optimistic about his condition, and Brandon had been convinced that Jordan would complete the series out of sheer force of will. Brandon described hearing the news as though “all of his childhood friends had died at the same time.”

After writing and rewriting his post about Robert Jordan’s passing, he finally put it online about a week afterwards. A month after that, he received a phone call from Harriet which simply said “I would like you to call me back. There is something I would like to talk to you about.” After frantic calls to Harriet, his editor and his agent, none of which we’re not answered, he finally thought to call Tor and was told “Oh, yea, that. It’s probably what you think. Hang on, we’ll get her to call you again.”

Well, as Brandon continued to explain, Harriet did eventually call back to tell him that she was working on a “short list” of authors to complete The Wheel of Time and asked him if he would be interested. With trepidation he said he would be interested. He couldn’t sleep that night, instead he kept thinking about The Wheel of Time, about possibly being the one to finish the series. He felt that he might be “setting himself up to fail,” since no one could ever finish the series as well as Robert Jordan himself. However, after sometime he came to the conclusion that he “would screw it up the least.”

Brandon was a published writer and a big fan of the Wheel of Time. Perhaps “not the best writer or the biggest fan” (his words!), but he didn’t know anyone else who was a bigger fan AND a published author. He wanted the series to end the right way and he felt that no one else would have the same respect for the work and the same desire and ability to see it through to the conclusion. Lastly, he knew that another writer would have to delay several more years in publishing the books in order to do all the of the research involved in understanding the plot lines and characters. Brandon, on the other hand, had spent much of his life studying this series as he learned how to write.

At this point, Brandon decided to treat the audience to a reading from the prologue of The Gathering Storm. He chose this passage because it was very special to him. It was one of the last things Robert Jordan had dictated, and it exemplifies the hybrid quality of writing this book. Brandon had notes and description, much of which read as a screenplay, and in the finish product there isn’t one paragraph of it that doesn’t have something of Robert Jordan in it. He read nearly three pages, starting at the very beginning of the book on page 17 and ending just before Thulin appears on page 19.

After about half an hour of questions (detailed at the end), Brandon began signing books. Everyone lined up out side and we started handing out the bumper stickers and flyers. Erin spoke with each person in line, asking whom his or her favorite character was. As it turns out, San Diego’s favorite Wheel of Time character is Mat Cauthon with 29 out of 90 votes!

Also, this was the time we started our sculpture contest.

Inspired by sandcastles at the beaches in San Diego, we decided to see what kinds of things our fans could create with Play-Doh. We ended up with seven Wheel of Time related entries and three other sculptures.

((From left to right starting at the top: Snake, Wheel and Spear. Avendesora Leaf. Samurai Slug. Heron. Cadsuane. Butterfly. Snake. Dragon. Narg the Trolloc. Seal of the Dark One’s Prison.))

Our winner for “fan favorite” was Cadsuane.

Next, Brandon Sanderson judged the Wheel of Time sculptures…

… and his favorite was Narg the Trolloc.

Finally, the Snake and Wheel won an honorable mention from Brandon Sanderson.

The book signing started to wrap up around 5, and Brandon put out a notice on Twitter and Facebook that fans who called within the next 30 minutes would get a chance to talk with him and order personalized copies from Mysterious Galaxy. The bookstore took about five calls, even some after the thirty-minute deadline as Brandon finished signing books for the bookstore.

Brandon takes a phone call near the end of the signing.

The Storm Leaders finished helping where we could as Mysterious Galaxy closed up shop nearly an hour later than usual, and headed home.

The Storm Leaders! From left to right: Heidi B., Laura N., Katie F., Brandon Sanderson, Erin D., Antony W., and Greg L.

The Mysterious Galaxy Crew, holding up Elantris, Mistborn, and Alcatraz, all of which were written by Brandon Sanderson.

Questions and Answers:
Q: (Our first question was the obligatory) “Who killed Asmodean?”
A: The answer will be in one of these three books.

Q: What character is easiest for you to write? Which is most difficult?
The Two Rivers folk were the easiest (Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, and Nynaeve). Aviendha was the most difficult. She thinks more like an Aiel than most Aiel. But he was glad to bring her back to the forefront because he had always liked the way she thought. Tuon was not easy either.

Q: Is there a connection between the spoilage of food and Rand’s temperament?
A: Look at the Fisher King prophecies, and the prophecies in WoT that mention that the “land and the Dragon are one.”

Q: What is your favorite scene that you got to add?
A: I’m not saying which scenes I added and which parts are Jordan’s until all three books are out. He has lots and lots of notes left by Robert Jordan, which aren’t organized. No one really knew how Robert Jordan was organizing his work. Some files had only sentences, some whole paragraphs and whole scenes. His assistants, Maria and others, what Brandon calls “his own personal Brown Ajah” started asking Robert Jordan questions about all of the chacters, where they would end up and how they got there. So Brandon has so much information all jumbled together without any order. And its his job to take all that and make a book.

Q: What myth’s influences Robert Jordan the most?
A: Native American and Norse mythology are featured prominently, but there are obvious influences from the Fisher King and Grail legends. Brandon also mentioned that Odin and Loki were thought to have originally been one person in the early myths, but was split into two. He noted that Odin had a spear and that Loki was pictured with Ravens. Also, Brandon would sometimes ask Harriet about a particular passage and ask where Jordan got his inspiration. Harriet would pull out a book of myth, turn to a page and point it out.

Q: What is Robert Jordan’s office like?
A: He worked on the first floor of a carriage house, the first room was a big library and the second was like a “wizards workshop.” The Brown Aes Sedai whose quarters he describes in The Gathering Storm, with skeletons everywhere, was basically a description of Robert Jordan’s office. He had skeletons everywhere, and weapons (though the weapons were left out of the Aes Sedai’s room).

Q: Was the passage about Cadsuane spanking Semirhage already written, or was there just information in the notes. How did you feel about writing that section?
A: He was given creative freedom to do what was needed. No author can ever stick 100% to an outline, things change as they are being written, and he was given that kind of control in order to make the books work. Regarding that passage in particular, it made Brandon Sanderson cringe, but Robert Jordan wanted it in the books so it stayed.

Q: When are books 13 and 14 due out?
A: He is three-fourths of the way through Towers of Midnight, and he expects to turn that in in January. He hasn’t been able to write as much as he had hoped during this 26 city tour, so that is putting him back a bit, but he is still confident he can get it in close to on time. It took him 16 months to write The Gathering Storm, and some of that writing ended up being allocated to Towers of Midnight. He expects it to be published in the fall of 2010, or at the latest March of 2011.

Q: Did the ending of the Wheel of Time shock you?
A: No, it “satisfied me.” There were “shocking thing in the notes, such as ‘Egwene’s unexpected visitor’” but on the whole the ending was satisfying.”

Q: Were you surprised to learn who Asmodean’s killer was?
A: No, not really. He had read every theory out there, and there is basically a theory for every character. One of those theories is right (he wont say which of course!), so since he had already read the theory it wasn’t a surprise just a “ah, so it was that person.”

Q: When will we see Way of Kings?
A: I’ll be posting more about it in 2010, this year is for WoT. He expects it to be available around September 2010.

This is the fifteenth of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the First Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose in Atlanta. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turnings of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.

West and South the wind blew, over Alabama and Mississippi, over Arkansas and Oklahoma, and finally reached Dallas, Texas. With it, the wind brought Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal to the Borders bookstore on Preston Rd.

This was the first Wheel of Time book signing ever to occur in Texas, and the fans were certainly excited! People began arriving before 10 AM to secure their places in line. Storm Leader Claire brought a Wheel of Time trivia quiz, crossword, and word search to keep folks entertained until the signing, scheduled for 2:00. During the next few hours, over 200 fans had their books signed. In his opening remarks, Brandon said that Texas was not originally on the tour schedule, but so many fans wrote to him asking for a stop that he asked Tor to add it saying, “Those folks have guns, and they will find me!” Harriet added that Robert Jordan once wrote an unpublished western that has the opening line: “I never meant to leave Texas.”

Brandon mentioned that he started as a biochemistry major in college, but only lasted a year after running smack into honors chemistry and honors calculus. He quickly changed to English. It was a goal of his to publish with Tor books because they published the Wheel of Time. When his first published novel was picked up by Tor, his agent suggested trying to get other publishers to bid for it, but Brandon said he wanted to stick with the best!

From Dallas TGS Signing

Harriet did a reading from The Gathering Storm prologue, Masema’s point of view. The Storm Leaders helped out during the signing by putting flyers in the books, taking pictures, policing the line, signing folks up for Brandon’s mailing list, and taking notes. Special thanks to the fans who were not official storm leaders, but helped out when we needed it! Thanks to Bao, Sharon, Shannon, Poonam, and Melissa (to name a few!).

Brandon and Harriet were both very thankful to the fans for showing up en masse and waiting so long in line. It was great to see the interaction with the fans, and how excited people were to meet the author and editor. Several fans had small gifts for both of them, including a starfish bookmark (because they regenerate, and the fan was hoping Rand’s hand would also) and a hand blown glass pen, a replica of Cadsuane’s box, and magic cards and mac & cheese for Brandon. Adrienne and Adam, whose names were chosen to be in Towers of Midnight through the WoT fundraiser benefitting Heifer International were in attendance and excited about how their names might be used.

From Dallas TGS Signing

After the signing, Harriet retired to the hotel, and the Storm Leaders went with Brandon to Cantina Laredo (Thanks Tor!). We talked a lot about balefire philosophy, and Brandon said he always wanted to know what would happen if you ‘shot yourself in the foot’ with balefire. He also spoke about some of his ideas for other books. One that he plans to write after the Wheel of Time is finished is about a world where super powers are transferred by disease and terrorists use penicillin as a weapon. We also talked about a lot of topics that would be spoilers for TGS, so you can find them on Dragonmount’s spoiler forum under ‘signing questions & answers’. Below, I’ve included the Q&A that happened at the bookstore:

Q: What was the most difficult part of writing TGS?

A: (Brandon) Keeping track of everyone, due to the exhaustive detail of the books. Brandon used Encyclopaedia WoT often. It was also difficult to make the character ‘voices’ correct. Aviendha and Tuon were the most difficult of these, because they are from different cultures.

Q: What medieval Arthurian texts were in RJ’s library?

A: Harriet didn’t remember anything specifically Arthurian, but there were a lot of books on mythology, religion, Asimov’s guide to the bible, Norse, Greek, Cheyenne Indian. RJ wrote about the Cheyenne under the name Jackson O’Reilly. The Aiel are based on the Cheyenne.

Q: Is there any history to the term ‘blood and bloody ashes’?

A: (Harriet) No

Q: Does RJ work out things like conservation laws, since he was a physicist?

A: (Brandon) From what I’ve seen, he considered it, the power that is doing all these things is coming from somewhere. They discovered the dark one by finding the power (true power). (They are) not aware of the source of the one power. The law of conservation of energy works, it’s coming from somewhere, we’re not sure where. It’s not something the characters were considering, so it wasn’t appropriate to include in the books.

Q: Are all the different cultural prophecies from a common source, and is it evil?

A: (Brandon) It’s not that simple.

Q: Who killed Asmodean?

A: (Harriet) We could tell them, but I think they want to live.

Q: Why do you write?

A: (Brandon) “If I didn’t I would go crazy.” He wrote 13 novels before he sold one (Elantris). He would write a book every year even if he didn’t do this for a living.

Q: Is Cadsuane Ilyena reborn?

A: (Brandon) First, I’m not gonna answer that, but second…. Ew!

A fun time was had by all, and the Storm Leaders want to sincerely thank Tor and Dragonmount for giving them the opportunity to be there and help out!

From Dallas TGS Signing

You can see the full album of pictures from the event here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dmwtorg/DallasTGSSigning?feat=directlink

Also you can view videos from the event here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pes4ANuJMKU Opening Remarks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXEsRI6iRo Why and How was Brandon chosen to finish WoT? (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6X115edPG4 Why and How was Brandon chosen to finish WoT? (part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEnDjaLMUK8 Why and How was Brandon chosen to finish WoT? (part 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJQNZng8gQI Harriet reads a scene from TGS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTDELROOYs8 Q&A (part 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xpu_boV1SR8 Q&A (part 2)

Brandon Sanderson will be doing a book signing in Phoenix, Arizona this evening (November 16th). Here is the live video stream for the event, provided by the local Storm Leaders. If you’re around, come by and watch, and chat with fellow Wheel of Time fans. Brandon has also taken questions submitted online at previous events like this. Join the live chat to see if he’ll do it this time as well.

This is the fourteenth of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

By Storm Leader Tiffany Franklin.

Friday the 13th may be daunting for some, but definitely not for everyone! Ok, perhaps those stuck in traffic on 285 would disagree, but once inside the cozy Community Center in Norcross, those trials were quickly forgotten.

The doors opened pretty promptly at 7 PM and the room very quickly filled up. We filled the room to capacity, 200 folks! That wasn’t counting the Storm Leaders! We gave away 5 copies of the WoT comic book and no one had acceptable bribery to bribe the number caller (a great disappointment, I must admit). Not long afterwards, Nancy, the Executive Director for the Gwinnett County Library System, welcomed everyone and introduced Melissa Carter, who would be introducing Brandon and Harriet. Melissa does quite a lot of work with the media, from co-hosting a radio show on Atlanta’s Q100 to beginning the Melissa Carter Transplant Fund at Piedmont Hospital. She’s a self-proclaimed geek, who admits to attending Dragon*Con and becoming fascinated with the “women on leashes.” After finding out why these women were on leashes, she and her brother started reading and the rest is history! She introduced Brandon and Harriet, who stepped out from behind the blue curtain and the real fun began!

From Norcross

Brandon started off by talking about how he got this job, finishing our book. If you’ve been paying attention, you already know the story, but I pulled out some quotes that I thought were entertaining.
* When discussing the book store where he found The Eye of the World. “The new books are right in the front and right there was a copy of a “VERY BIG BOOK.” I like very good books.”
*”The good thing about big books is that when you realize you liked it, you still had so much to read! It’s also a good page per dollar value.”
*When discussing learning about Jim’s passing: “I was stunned when I heard the news. It was like all of my high school friends died at the same moment. I had acquaintances in high school, but my real friends were the characters from the books I read.”
* Discussing seeing Jim, “I saw him once at a convention and I was too chicken to go talk to him.”
*Discussing the day he got the phone message from Harriet, “My wife says I was more nervous on that day than on our wedding day.”

From Norcross

*Discussing things he was thinking about while he couldn’t sleep that night he found out what Harriet was after:
“The first one was- I couldn’t write as good a book as RJ would’ve. I realized that no one could replace him and that I was going to fail, in part, because no one could write the book that RJ would’ve written.
And then I realized something else… the next best thing to having RJ, was to do it myself. You know that old adage” when you want something done right, do it yourself.”

“There are better writers, there are bigger fans. But there’s no one who has both.”
And I realized that I had to do this book because I was the one who would screw it up the least. As a long time fan of the series, I could write this book in such a way that it wouldn’t change what it had been. “
*“The only thing I promise you guys is that it’s in the hands of a fan. And the one thing I can promise you is that I promise not to screw it up, or at least, I promise not to screw it up the least.”

Brandon then introduced Harriet, who read from The Gathering Storm’s Prologue. I would tell you which scene she chose, but then I’d have to beat myself with the spoiler stick. They urged everyone to come have a seat, because there were people standing everywhere. While many of them found a place, perhaps the others just felt they needed to stand in the presence of such greatness.

From Norcross

After the reading, they started the Q&A. If there’s a spoiler issue from the new book, I did not include it here. HOWEVER, I will tell you that they were very interesting questions and if you want to know what they were… well, you should’ve been there!
1- Q: “Who killed Asmo?”
Brandon- Harriet you want to do the honors?
Harriet- You want to live?
Brandon- We have our first RAFO of the night. I know, Harriet knows, and he told us to put it in the book somewhere.

2- Q: Were you a part of any of the WT online communities?
a. Usenet for RJ my first day on the internet. I was a member of DM and Wotmania, but never posted. He’d go to DM to check blogs. He’d drop by WoTmania, but they were kinda mean (aggressive about their viewpoints.)

3- Q: Why a pseudonym? Why not his real name?” (Harriet- and why?)
a. A: Harriet – He wanted to write everything there was when he was beginning. In the first place, he said he wanted to save his real name for his history of SC. Then his Vietnam novel.
b. A: Harriet – In youth he loved Louis L’amour’s westerns. He bought a new Louis L’amour book one time and when he read it, it wasn’t a western, it was a mystery! So, he thought he’d have a name for every genre to keep this from happening to his fans. “Robert Jordan” had nothing to do with For Whom the Bell Tolls.
c. Reference to a post from DM’er: The post was from a woman who started reading the series 12 years ago. She had small children, not enough money for drugs or alcohol. A friend gave her The Eye of the World. And it worked! Now her son is reading them and when he picked up the Gathering Storm answered the question of why he didn’t use his own name: “Why of course he did! He’s a superhero! You don’t think Batman’s real name is Batman, do you?”

4- I can’t tell you the question, but I think the answer was insightful, so I’m editing out the spoilers to give you this:
i. You’ll notice that the prologues fulfill a purpose. Most of the prologues are written like epilogue to the book before. [This Prologue]was more of an epilogue to the [end of] Knife of Dreams. Brandon believes that RJ liked giving his fans something to talk about and then answer it in the prologue of the next book. Brandon “I can’t speak for what Robert Jordan was thinking.”
ii. To which Harriet responded, “Even Robert Jordan couldn’t speak for what Robert Jordan was thinking.”

5- Q: How’s The Towers of Midnight coming?
a. ToM is 70% done.
b. Harriet’s answer: “ If I can quote Robert Jordan, I can assure you without fear of contradiction, that ToM will be on the shelves very shortly after Brandon finishes writing it.”
c. “This is a very, very… there’s a lot of work involved. People assume that when I was given the outline, I was given a point by point outline. RJ wasn’t like that. He wouldn’t show it to Harriet until he’d done 12 drafts. We got this in a state of incompleteness. The creative process isn’t as neat and orderly. Things were in dozens of files. “
Harriet: Brandon would say “what order do you want it in?” and I would say “Brandon, you’re the writer. It’s foolish for the editor to take over the part of the writer. And vice-versa.”
d. He dictated some and the assistants transferred it into notes, scoured their memory for anything he’d said and put that in the notes. And then all the files… “this was all handed to me and told ‘ok, let’s write a book.’”

6- Q: Was it difficult for you to find any of the character’s voice?
a. Answer: Brandon: Aviendha- the Aiel way of thinking is so different and I think like a Two River’s folker. It was easy to write the Two Rivers. And when I started writing Aviendha, I was writing like a Two Rivers-er.

7- Q: I am struck by how alike this is to Tolkien. Have you ever talked to Chris Tolkien (since he took over for his father using his notes)?
A: Brandon’s responses:
i. No, but I’d like to.
ii. We’re in a little better shape. Jim actually finished scenes. We have a lot more to work with. He wrote the end himself! He left landmarks to follow from here to the end. Not specific details, just “strong stuff” to get us to the end.
iii. “There are no characters that we don’t know how they end up.”

From Norcross

Afterwards, Brandon made a few announcements:
Brandon’s Announcements (Some of them were specific to this signing, but here are some interesting bits for the rest of you):
1- We have lots of fliers and things that we will stuff in the books as we sign them.
2- Special Shout out to JordanCon here in Atlanta, where “both Harriet & I will both be there” (Great advertising, Brandon! THANKS!)
a. He’s presently on tour for Warbreaker, too!
b. On Mistborn, “I like epic stuff.”
i. “These dark lords never get a break!“
c. On Alcatraz
i. Children’s series, they can all be read independently. It’s geared towards 10-12 year olds who are too smart for their own good.

3- Mailing list
a. I send e-mails before I come to places and for Announcements.
b. I promise I don’t spam.

Other stuff from listening to chatter:
When I mentioned that I couldn’t hear anything because of the noise in the room, Harriet responded: “At one book signing, there was so much noise that this man who was talking could’ve been saying “I’m going home and I’m going to slit my throat. I hope my wife will find me.” And I was just nodding and saying “Good!”

Brandon and Harriet racked up with gifts from fans! They got everything from handmade truffles, to some breath-taking art work, to Brandon getting more Magic cards for his epic battle with Jason! (GO BRANDON!)

From Norcross

Some other little tidbits you might be interested in:
*Aviendha is Brandon’s favorite female of the series.
*Brandon’s favorite color is maroon. Green shirt says so!
*He’s planning another stand alone story about a world where virus and germs have evolved and possess magic powers. So if you catch a cold you can fly, when you get over it, you can’t anymore.
*He really likes carrot cake, and he likes Key Lime Pie, too. ‘And you know, a good brownie, with ice cream and… that’s really good, too.”
*For NaNo, he participated for 4 years, but couldn’t “win” since he never wrote anything FOR NaNo. He just continued with what he was already writing. It usually came out to another 70 or 80 thousand words, though!

To see the rest of the pictures, please check out our album.

This is the thirteenth (posted on Friday the Thirteenth!) the of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

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by Tim Kington

We arrived at the restaurant a little early, and the Storm Leaders introduced ourselves.  Brandon showed up at 5:30, and we sat down to eat.  He was extremely friendly and talkative, and we had a great time at dinner.  We spent quite a bit of time talking about various non-WoT books with him, and then near the end we grilled him on WoT for a while.  We had made sure that all of the Storm Leaders finished the book before the signing so that we wouldn’t have to worry about spoilers at dinner.  Those questions and answers are at the bottom of this report.

He talked for a while about how he got started writing.  He had written thirteen books before he got one published.  His strategy was to keep starting new books each time he had finished one.  Eventually book number six was accepted for publication at Tor, and became Elantris.  The thirteenth book was the Way of Kings, which will be released next year around September.  Originally when he was signed at Tor, they wanted Elantris and they wanted him to write the series he has planned that starts with the Way of Kings.  Brandon decided that was too risky, and convinced them to give him a deal for Mistborn instead.  He said that the scope of Way of Kings was large, and he had never written a sequel before so he wanted to try something shorter first.  He wrote all of the Mistborn books before the first was published, and this let him go back and tweak the earlier volumes so that they fit together really well.

Way of Kings is going to be a large-scale epic, and one of the central ideas is magic battle armor.  He said that is something he has always wanted to see in a fantasy epic, and no one has done it the way he would like.  Plate armor is awesome but totally impractical, so what if you had magical battle armor that looked like plate, but could do things like augment your strength?

He recommended Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and most of the table had read it and agreed.  He said that with writers starting out, there are two basic ways they tend to go – one is to keep writing different things like he did.  The other is to work on one book, rewriting and improving it for a long time.  He recommends to his students that they take the first approach, and one of the reasons is that if you take the second and then hit it big, you don’t have a lot of experience starting something new and getting it done.  Apparently Patrick Rothfuss is kind of in this situation – Name of the Wind was the first and only book he has written, and it has become wildly successful.  That puts him in a tough spot – the publisher wants the next book in the series, and he’s working under pressure for the first time.

One of the points he made over and over was that writers starting out need to do a lot of writing.  You just have to spend a huge amount of time doing it to improve your skills.  He said that a great writer can take a terrible idea and turn it into a good book, and that a poor writer can start with a great idea and it won’t turn into a good book.  Apparently Jim Butcher once made a bet with a friend that he could write a book from any two bad ideas.  The two ideas his friend came up with were a lost Roman legion and Pokemon.  He ran with it and wrote the Codex Alera series.

We got onto the topic of sci-fi, and someone mentioned Starship Troopers.  Brandon thought this was really funny because the book and movie went in completely opposite directions.  The book is about how you should have to serve in the armed forces to earn the right to vote.  Heinlein’s idea was that you should have to prove that you’re willing to put your life on the line for the country before you have a say.  There’s very little action in the book – it’s mostly a political argument.  The movie is a campy alien warfare movie that is mostly action, and centers on a love triangle that doesn’t even appear in the book.

Brandon pointed out that I, Robot went basically the same way.  The robots in Asimov’s books are supposed to be the next step in evolution – we create them to be better than us.  They’re supposed to be smarter, stronger, and they obey the Three Laws of Robotics as sort of a moral code.  On the other hand in the movie, they go berserk and are all out to get us.

We headed over to the store at seven, and there were around 150 people who had already gotten their line numbers.  Brandon first talked about how he was chosen to finish the series.  One thing he mentioned was that the first thing he ever did on the internet was get on Usenet to read rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan.  Before he ever sent an email, even!  During Brandon’s opening remarks, his father made a surprise appearance.  He had driven down from Detroit to attend the signing.

Brandon also told the story of how Robert Jordan originally pitched the Wheel of Time to Tom Doherty.  He and Harriet pitched it together and said that it would be a trilogy.  At the end of the first volume Rand was going to take Callandor.  Tom Doherty knew how Jordan worked, and decided to write him a contract for six books just to be safe.  He said to Brandon that when he did it, he thought he had done a really smart thing.  He commented recently that it’s appropriate that a series that was supposed to be a trilogy in the first place will end with a single volume that turned out to be a trilogy itself.

Brandon answered questions for around twenty minutes.  They’re collected below.  After that the poster of the cover art was raffled off, and the signing began.  Brandon was extremely friendly and genuinely interested in everyone.  It took about two and a half hours to get through the line.  Beth handed out a crossword puzzle that she had made to help entertain the crowd, and we raffled off several WoT comics.  Everyone who came through got their choice of bumper sticker, and a nice map of Randland.

Some excited fans brought gifts.  Brandon collected lots of Magic cards, including a deck with character names from WoT.  He also got a box of seven cuendillar cookies shaped like the Seals.  One of his youngest fans brought some Mac and Cheese, which is one of his favorites.

The signing wrapped up around 10:45, with a few dedicated fans staying until the end and peppering Brandon with questions.  The rate of return dropped off near the end, as they were left with mostly RAFOs.  Brandon’s planning to have cards made that he can hand out when he RAFOs someone.  Everyone had a great time, and the signing was a success.  The bookstore sold out all of Brandon’s solo books, and huge piles of TGS.  As we were leaving, we were already looking forward to next year.

Questions
Q: What’s the status of the WoT movie?

A: Universal has bought the rights for it, and they’re in the process of writing a script.  Maria is the official contact point for making sure they get the details right.  Brandon is plenty busy writing, so he hasn’t been involved.

Q: Is there a WoT MMORPG coming out?

A: Red Eagle has the right to create WoT video games, and they’re working on some.

Q: Were you surprised when you found out who killed Asmodean?

A: Brandon had been a fan for a long time before he got to find out who killed Asmodean.  He said that he had heard arguments for every possible suspect, including the really crazy ones like Tam.  So when he found out the real answer, he wasn’t shocked.  His reaction was more “Oh, those guys were right”.  He said that the clues are there, but he never would have figured it out himself.

Q: Was Taim turned by a circle of thirteen?

A: RAFO.  I will say that he was never a very nice guy.

Q: Slayer made a gateway in Far Madding when he tried to kill Rand and Min.  Does this mean he uses the True Power to make his gateways?

A: Slayer does not channel.  His powers come from somewhere other than the Source.  Slayer is not affected by the Guardian in much the same way that Perrin wouldn’t be.

SPOILERS AHEAD!  IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED THE BOOK, STOP HERE!

The change in Mat’s personality that many of us noticed in TGS was deliberate.  He’s reacting to being married, which was the last thing he thought would happen to him.  RJ’s notes said specifically that “Mat refuses to become husbandly”, and he’s doing that by trying to go back how he was in TDR.  This is part of where the silliness with the backstories comes from – he knows that he was less serious and more of a joker at the time, but can’t really get back to how he was then.

When he was writing Talmanes, Maria mentioned that Talmanes doesn’t usually mock Mat in the earlier books.  Brandon said that he has always read Talmanes that way, and that’s what he finds so funny about it – Mat doesn’t realize he’s being teased.

Q: Do the Seanchan consider the raid on the White Tower a success?

A: Yes, they consider it a success, but they’re disappointed that they didn’t get their hands on the Aes Sedai superweapon.

Q: Will Moiraine be rescued in the next book?

A: You’re assuming that Moiraine will be rescued.

Q: Will Moiraine’s rescue attempt be in the next book?

A: You’re assuming that Thom and Mat will attempt to rescue Moiraine.  (I’ll tell you, he’s as bad as an Aes Sedai.)

Q: What will be the focus of the next book?

A: This book really needed to focus on Egwene and Rand, and get their stories moving.  There was also a nice contrast between their arcs in this book, with Egwene’s going upwards and Rand’s downward.  The next book will be much broader in scope – we need to see what’s going on with a lot of different parts of the story.  There will be a lot more Mat and Perrin than in this one.  I suppose you could say that if there was going to be a rescue attempt, the logic place to put it would be in a book with a lot of Mat .

Q: Will we see what’s going on at the Black Tower?

A: We’ll see whether that fits in or not.

Q: Will Fain be in the next book?

A: Padan Fain will be seen again.  He’s a mixture of two things – Mordeth’s power, which he got by seeking out all of the evil things that weren’t related to the Shadow, and the Dark One’s Hound.  Brandon said that Fain’s number one goal is to kill Rand, and a close second is to kill the Dark One.  Now that Shadar Logoth has been destroyed, all of the Mordeth power that remains in the world is in Fain.

Q: It’s pretty clear now that Moridin and Rand are linked because of the balefire incident.  Since Rand used saidin to create the balefire, and now he gets sick when channeling saidin, does that mean Moridin gets sick when he tries to use the True Power?

A: You’re assuming that Rand’s channeling sickness comes from crossing the streams.

Q: After Rand has channeled the True Power, he has a dark cloud around him.  When he meets with Tuon after this, she manages to resist his ta’veren pull.  Is this because the True Power has reduced his ta’veren mojo?

A: The reason she manages to resist is that she has a lot of willpower.  Rand is just as ta’veren as ever.

Q: How about the food going bad in Bandar Eban?  Was that caused by Rand being nearby with his cloud of evil?

A: We’ve heard earlier in the books that the Dragon is one with the land, and the land is one with the Dragon.  This is an old belief – many kingdoms believed that the wellness of the King was directly tied to the wellness of the land.  In WoT, this is quite literally true.

Q: In Falme we saw Rand fighting Ishamael and the Heroes of the Horn and the Seanchan were mirroring the progress of the battle.  Does this mean that there is something inherently evil about the Seanchan Empire?

A: Nobody in WoT is inherently evil, except for Shadowspawn.  At the time, the Seanchan were being led by a Darkfriend.

Q: Was the Domination Band made of cuendillar?

A: The original one is made of cuendillar.  The one that was destroyed was a copy, but one would assume that the copies are made of cuendillar too.  The True Power works by destroying the Pattern.  Everything that is done with it involves damage to the Pattern.  For example, when we see Ishamael Travel, he does so by poking a hole in the Pattern.  Cuendillar can be destroyed using the True Power.  There is another way to destroy cuendillar, too.

Q: Is Mesaana still in the Tower?

A: Egwene makes some deductions about this at the end of the book.  Egwene is not incorrect.

Q: She could swear that she’s not a Darkfriend on the Oath Rod, right?

A: As long as she believed it to be true.  Every remaining Aes Sedai in the Tower has retaken the three oaths.  You should be thinking about ways to defeat the Oath Rod.  There is a way to do it.

Q: At the darkfriend social, Carridin is given orders by Ishamael that he can’t remember.  Later on in Ebou Dar, he sees Mat out the window and he sort of goes into a trance, sees more imagery, and when he snaps out of it, time is stopped and Sammael is in the room.  How did this happen?  Was Sammael paged somehow when Carridin’s orders were triggered?

A: MAFO – Maria and find out.  This means he will answer the question, but he wants to check with Maria first to make sure he has the details straight.

Q: After Moiraine uses balefire on the Darkhounds in TDR, she says something about how she’s much more dangerous now than when she met Perrin in Emond’s Field.  How did she become more dangerous?

A: There are a couple of ways she might mean that she has become more dangerous.  Think about this – when she went to Emond’s Field, she thought Rand was the Dragon.  Now she knows that he’s the Dragon.  That in itself, combined with the fact that she’s Blue makes her much more dangerous.

This is the twelth of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

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Before beginning my account of the Lexington, KY appearance of Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal at Joseph-Beth Booksellers, I have three opening remarks. First, I would like to thank Brian Delambre, Jo-Beth’s Sci-Fi Guy, who, during the two weeks leading up to the event, did almost all of the legwork of promoting and setting up the event. He was not a Storm Leader by title, but I think he made the rest of us look bad in how hard he worked to make this event as successful as possible. I’m sure he accounted for a large number of Brandon’s books being sold. Secondly, I would like to apologize if any Q&A facts or other revelations have already been made known by other Storm Leader reports and you are reading this information and complaining, “I already knew that”. I have read a few of the other accounts, but I won’t compare mine to theirs and weed out the facts which might be repetitious. Lastly, I apologize for the sheer length of this report. I believe it was eight pages in Microsoft Word. I took a LOT of notes and probably incorporated far too much of them into this. On the upside, it’ll be a lot like being there for the reader.

I brought two bags with me to the signing. The first bag contained an alternate change of pants and shoes, which I would only need if everyone outdressed me. The Storm Leader handout had specified khakis, slacks or really nice jeans, so that we all looked as professional as possible. However, in every picture I’d seen of The Gathering Storm tour so far, every Storm Leader, and Brandon Sanderson himself, had worn jeans. So I wore my jeans and packed a pair of slacks just in case. My other bag held the three books I wanted signed (The Gathering Storm, Warbreaker, Mistborn), a couple of notebooks to help me remember everything for this report, pens, gum and your typical these-might-come-in-handies like aspirin and TUMS.

I arrived at ten minutes to five in the late afternoon and met my fellow Storm Leaders. I was the only local from Lexington and the only representative of wotmania.com and readandfindout.com. I met Bradley first, of Elizabethtown and Theoryland. Then Mark from Tennessee and Dragonmount. Finally, Ben and Shannan from Cincinnati and TarValon.net. It was nice to have representatives from so many different Wheel of Time web communities. Good news, everyone was wearing jeans. After introductions, the Joseph-Beth staff quickly put us to work setting up chairs.

It was after the chairs were in place and we were standing around wondering what to do next when Brandon and Harriet materialized. Yes, materialized. One second there was no one there, the next we were falling over ourselves shaking hands with the two figures who had suddenly appeared as if by Gateway (the Traveling method, not the computer).

We proceeded as a group (Brian Delambre, Storm Leaders, Brandon and Harriet) up to the bistro attached to the bookstore for our six o’clock dinner. A group photo was taken at the dinner table which I do not have yet to share, as it was not my camera. I don’t know about the other Storm Leaders, but I had so many questions I wanted to ask and it was always tough to find a break in conversation for them. Above all, you didn’t want to be rude and interrupt, plus you wanted to make sure everyone had equal time to freely converse. I’ll address what questions I successfully managed to ask at the end of the report, along with those asked by others at the Q&A and signing. When Brandon’s upcoming novel The Way of Kings came up, I managed to interject how it was wotmaniac David Wood who had submitted the false cover for his long-listed but never available book, and that we had all enjoyed submitting fake reviews for it (given that it has yet to ever be released or read).

For those who aren’t aware, Brandon Sanderson is challenging Dragonmount’s Jason Denzel to a Magic: the Gathering Game. Fans have been supplying Brandon with packs of Magic cards to help him out in his card battle. Storm Leader Bradley presented Brandon with a couple packs to help him out. Later a fan in the signing line also gives Brandon a pack. The big surprise though was when Brian Delambre, who used to be a dealer, pulled out a totebag full of binders and boxes of massive amounts of Magic cards. Brandon is going to have a hell of a lot of cards to build his deck with. The stakes are rumored to be a Trolloc appearing in one of the last two books named after Jason. It would be the first named Trolloc since Eye of the World’s Narg.

After dinner, we all went down to the signing area, a large columned room with seating in an arc around a fountain with a stage at its center. I was immediately struck by the sheer amount of people waiting as we descended the escalator. Yes, I had helped set up the chairs, but to actually see all those chairs filled with people, as well as the many standing, was quite a sight to behold. We estimated attendance numbers to be north of two-hundred.

I’m sure many of you are familiar with Robert Jordan’s traditional opener for his signing appearances. He would always open by reciting the proper pronunciations for all the many names, places and unique items in the Wheel of Time. Brandon’s opening ten minutes of this tour feature him relating to everyone how he came to be standing there today, as the author chosen to complete Jordan’s Wheel of Time. He began at the very beginning with how he got into the genre to begin with. Because of the often massive tomes in Fantasy, he referred to the genre as having more pages for your money than any other. Each book had real weight. “It’s great when you’ve found something you love, and there’s a lot of it,” he said. The book that first grabbed him was Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane, which is currently out of print, but sure to be found at most second hand bookstores. Brandon first read Eye of the World in 1990, and a scattering of hands went up from those who had also been fans since the beginning. When Brandon was selling his book and got the offer from Tor, it was suggested he wait and see if he got a higher offer from another publisher. But for Brandon, Tor was Robert Jordan’s publisher, and when Tor wants you, “you don’t say no.”

As most people know, Brandon’s Mistborn book and his eulogy of Robert Jordan on his website were a large part of Harriet selecting him as the author to bring WoT to its conclusion. He awoke at noon one day ~ “I keep a writer’s schedule,” he says ~ and there was a voicemail from Harriet asking to talk with him. He claimed that she’d read only 40pgs of Mistborn before deciding on him. Brandon spoke with such humility when he discussed how he “cannot be as good” as Robert Jordan was and he only took the job because, as a fan and a writer who really loves the WoT characters, he believed “I would screw it up the least.”

After Brandon’s introduction, Harriet McDougal read from the prologue to The Gathering Storm. She began at page 44 and read the segment featuring Masema and Faile’s interaction that follows the rescue at Malden. It may have simply been my own perspective, but there seemed an unintended extra weight to Faile’s line, “Sometimes, a wife must do what her husband cannot,” when read by Harriet, Jordan’s widow. For some reason, when Harriet speaks those words, it feels as if she too is doing what she must, because Jim no longer can.

Following Harriet’s reading, Brandon took questions from the audience. He was asked, as he often is, how much material Jordan supplied before passing. How much of the book was his. Brandon indicated that it is very difficult to pick apart. He insisted it is a true collaboration that is 100% Jordan with “some of me, too.” Jordan’s notes are not a neat little outline, he explained. The computer files of notes consist of some four million words. Brandon took another moment to be humble and self-deprecating before continuing; although he did indicate it was possible once the series was complete there might be some annotation indicating which moments were the brainchild of whom.

Concerning the prequels, it was stated that Jordan had signed contracts for two additional prequels (other than New Spring), that would feature Tam’s story and possibly Lan and Moiraine’s journey to the Two Rivers. Regarding the often rumored Outrigger novels, they are still undecided. Harriet expressed horror at the thought of “Wheel of Time” becoming like a Star Wars-like thing with an expanded universe of excessive amounts of novels. She felt Jordan would come back to get her if she allowed that to happen. She quoted Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler” and said that “You’ve got to know when to hold `em and know when to fold `em.” And it’s hard to know when that moment is. For those wondering, Harriet holds the copyright to the “Wheel of Time” series and Tor cannot make novels without her say-so. It was also mentioned that a new Encyclopedia is under contract and should be seen a year or so after the last book in the series.

When asked which Brandon’s favorite characters to write were, he revealed it be Egwene. He also mentioned that Rand was often a pain to write rather than a pleasure given his mood now, although that might change as those of you who’ve read the book know. For Brandon’s third choice, he picked Aviendha. However, he also considered her the most difficult character to write. He largely laid that blame on her being Aiel and Aiel being “weird”. He said that she’s not just Aiel, but seems to be actively trying to be Aiel, while surrounded by these wetlanders whose ways she finds so alien. Most Aiel simply are Aiel, but Aviendha seems to be making an effort to become what she should naturally be. He also said that he wrote at least two chapters of Aviendha that were thrown away until he got her right, one of which even Harriet had never read.

For those who were unable to ask about spoilers or refrained from likely RAFO answers, simple comments included those with an inability to tell the differences between what Jordan might have written and what Brandon might have written. Brandon was very flattered by this. He mentioned online comments that people had complained that Brandon’s chapter titles weren’t at all like Jordan’s chapter titles. Little did they know, he explained, that almost every chapter title in the series has been named by Harriet.

Finally, the Q&A deviated from WoT when a gentleman asked about Sanderson’s new novel Warbreaker. He thanked the man for pimping his book and told him “your check is the mail.” The tour is actually a combined book tour for Brandon, promoting both The Gathering Storm and Warbreaker. The latter is a standalone novel. He revealed that he wrote a book that featured a magic system based on colors because someone suggested he write a more “colorful” book.

Back to the topic of WoT, Brandon and Harriet were both asked their favorite quotes or passages. Brandon’s favorite quote was “Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.” His favorite passages were the prologue to Eye of the World and Rand’s experiences in Rhuidean. Harriet’s favorite quote was “Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.”

After Q&A, we moved to the signing area. Brandon requested a water that was half-hot chocolate because it helped him retain his voice. Brandon’s rules were three personalizations or one personalization and just signatures on the rest of the stack (if there were many books). People were allowed to return to the end of the line if they needed more than three personalizations. Brandon admitted a love for independent bookstores, particularly those which could do signings as grand as ours. Harriet stated that Joseph-Beth was one of the world’s great bookstores. We Storm Leaders were stationed as book stuffers, picture takers, mailing list keepers, book prep (post-it with name and signing page marked), and note taking. Everyone got bookmarks and Brandon’s recs with their books and we tried to get promotional materials to people in line.

Before anyone came forward, I took a couple of pictures of just Brandon and Harriet. Harriet stole this opportunity to give herself moose ears. My slow camera caught it mostly in blur, but I appreciated it. She was very friendly, personable and sweet. The first oddity I noticed was the number of readers of Sanderson’s Alcatraz series of Young Adult Fantasy. The Alcatraz series is a humorous light-hearted action series about Evil Librarians, a cult who secretly rules the world. There were several children present, even as late as it was. There was also a pregnant couple whose child was years away from reading that wanted the Alcatraz books to be among the first their child would read. Several people mentioned they were buying them as Christmas presents. A few librarians came through the line to profess a love of the series. Brandon’s reaction to librarians is a lot like what some people display to those who have served in the armed forces. He lets them know what a fondness he has for those in the profession and thanks them for their service.

One fan seemed underwhelmed with the Seanchan raid against the White Tower and asked if it had originally been intended as a truly epic battle. Sanderson said that it was always intended to be a raid.

When asked about Rand’s new sword, Brandon acknowledged that most people assume it is Artur Hawkwing’s and that Rand had last seen it at Falme in The Great Hunt. Brandon did not outright declare this to be true, but he did agree that the logic makes sense.

Brandon, who is of the Latter Day Saints faith, was asked how he keeps his theology out of his books. He answers that a writer should not ram his ideology down the reader’s throats. A good writer, he says, should present multiple perspectives and beliefs through his characters writing all arguments with equal strength, lest they carry less weight. He then says that Robert Jordan was once quoted saying “I love when my books ask questions, I do not want to give answers.” Another visitor also comments on Brandon’s faith, praising that he’s one of the only LDS authors he’s read where you can’t tell his faith through his writing.

One interesting bit of trivia that came up during the signing was that Brandon and former Jeopardy! wiz Ken Jennings were college roommates. He said that he’s just like he seems on TV, a wryly witty guy.

A fan asked Brandon how he found time to sleep with all his writing and the fact that he also teaches (writing). Brandon admitted that he writes compulsively, but he actually only teaches a couple of months during the year, one night a week. Another fan who asked about the schedule prompted Brandon to offer that if the fan was ever in Provo in January to April, he could send him an email and sit in and listen to Brandon’s class on some Thursday night.

It was revealed during the Q&A that Harriet was the editor of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, as many fans know. There was at least one fan in the line that brought a copy of the book for Harriet to sign. A few others expressed regret at not bringing their copies.

It was great seeing so many people there for different books. Many were buying them for brothers, sisters, friends, children and other family members. One father and daughter stepped forward whose whole family read and loved the Mistborn trilogy. When he asked how his daughter could get a job just reading books for a living, Brandon suggested becoming a book reviewer or editor. Though he warned you might have to read a lot of really bad books.

Brandon took a moment during the signing to point out how excited his brother, whose name is Jordan, had been when he discovered that holding up the book with your hand half–obscuring the cover revealed “Jordan Sanderson” as the author. He also paused to explain his upcoming Way of Kings as the opposite of all those novels where magic is dying or leaving, in that it revolved around magic arriving/returning in a magical renaissance.

A fan that asked Harriet if she considered any other author to finish the “Wheel of Time” received the answer he expected in that she had, but would not name the other candidates. She went on to say that Brandon was an easy choice.

One visitor who came through the line for a signature had actually crafted a pen for Brandon as a gift. Harriet and Brandon were both amazed at the present. Another man had his adorable daughter in a “Daddy’s Little Amyrlin” t-shirt.

A girl in a Wando Warriors t-shirt surprised Harriet when Harriet recognized the high school from Mt Pleasant, SC. Brandon was very personable in saying people’s names in greeting as he signed them and prompting them for questions if they seemed quiet. Many seemed flustered as if the thought of what to ask had fled their head. Others didn’t want to know any more than they could read as it was published. A few held theirs back knowing they’d get a RAFO. It was charming watching the occasional “Thank you” / “Thank you” battle between very grateful fans and the equally thankful Brandon and Harriet.

A nervous boy, who had his Alcatraz books signed, told Brandon that he’d written a book report in school about The Evil Librarians. Brandon seemed delighted by that. The boy also had a book signed for his friend. One woman wore an entertaining t-shirt which read “Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons… for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.”

When asked about writing tips from various aspiring authors, Brandon always made sure to suggest his podcast about advice for writers. He also confided that he had written 13-15 books himself before selling one. The address for his podcast is: http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/808/Annotations–Writing-Excuses

A question about Mat’s behavior in TGS prompted Brandon to reveal that Jordan’s notes had clearly stated “Mat insists he will not be husbandly” and Mat is struggling with trying to return to his old self while dealing with the new stresses of love and marriage.

One local author came to the signing with a writing sample for Harriet and asked what it would take to let him write the prequels. Harriet commented that they weren’t certain they were going to do them at all, but she graciously took his page. She also explained the issue with her name where she is Harriet McDougal professionally and Harriet Rigney privately (James Oliver Rigney is Robert Jordan’s real name, for those unaware).

A fan with a full collection of signed “Wheel of Time” hardcovers (including the Big White Book) came to have Harriet sign the whole stack. Brandon commented that he (Charles Saylor) now might be the only person he knows of that has the entire collection signed by both Robert Jordan and his widow Harriet.

A special treat for Brandon arrived when a young couple stepped up to the table wearing the necklaces of his Elantris characters Raoden and Sarene. They had exchanged them for Valentine’s Day. Brandon was thrilled and immediately asked for a picture of them. The necklaces can be purchased at this website.

I asked Brandon which WoT websites he peeked at. He said that he tries not to go to them for fear of being drawn into discussions. He said that if he goes anywhere, it’s usually Dragonmount. To Matt of Theorland who said to say “Hi”, Brandon says “RAFO”. When I asked him about my old home of wotmania, he said that he had been there and they seemed to like to argue a lot. I had to concede that.

At the end of it all, we (both fans and Storm Leaders alike) were all very grateful for Brandon’s visit and thankful for his work finishing the “Wheel of Time”. We also felt especially privileged for our time with Harriet, as not all the signings were blessed with her presence and she really is wonderful. There were fans in attendance that had driven five hours or more from neighboring states, one military veteran taking time from his retirement in Puerto Rico and even a woman from Wisconsin who appeared to be the only one dressed as a character. There were brand new fans and fans who’d been reading WoT since 1990. We sold a great many books and had a fun time.

Below are some of the additional facts/snippets/details I picked up while taking notes throughout the evening.

• This is perhaps old hat by now, but Brandon has coined new term MAFO referring to Maria, one of the fact handlers behind Wheel of Time. She sometimes wears a RAFO hat and tips it for Brandon when he can’t give someone an answer.
• Brandon’s introduction to Fantasy came by way of three female authors: Barbara Hambly, Anne McCaffrey, and I missed the third (sorry).
• Brandon said there would be a sequel trilogy to Mistborn and also a short story spin-off that would likely be posted online.
• Harriet indicated that the Bloodwrasps mentioned in TGS is not a typo of Bloodwasps and is a new thing we haven’t seen yet.
• Brandon says of the five Redarms that enter Hinderstap with Mat that the three that seem unaccounted for when everyone else escapes are not “forgotten” and their circumstances are RAFO. He also said that he appreciates the finding of continuity errors so that they can be corrected before books go to paperback, but they are an unavoidable part of the business. He doesn’t like when authors ignore continuity on purpose, but understands accidents.
• 

  Brandon hinted at some severe limitations on Shaidar Haran to affect the physical world. He says that a lot of actions that people assume to be those of Shaidar Haran in the book in one particular scene were physically carried out by Elza. He further indicated that Shadar Haran would have been incapable of physically placing the collar himself.

• Brandon admitted there would be overlapping chronology between The Gathering Storm and The Towers of Midnight and that Graendal’s name will be mentioned a few times.
• Brandon said the progress of book completion is sometimes edited down and then up depending on the subtraction or addition of submitted content.
• Jordan’s outline for WoT’s conclusion was about 2500 pages.
• Brandon is a fan of Jerry Garcia ties.
• Jordan was intentionally vague about the issue of Rand and Lews Therin’s one soul and what part madness played in the two identities.
• Brandon’s pregnant wife is due in late Jan / early Feb.
• When it comes to Asmodean’s death or possibility of rebirth or potential killers, Brandon seems oddly obsessed with balefire being the means of death when discussing talking points.

As we reported right before The Gathering Storm hit, Tor is releasing the entire Wheel of Time series in eBook format. Each month, beginning last month (October), they will release the next book in the series. THE EYE OF THE WORLD has already released been released and is currently available in eBook format.

This month, THE GREAT HUNT will be released. Here is a sneak peak at the cover that will be released with it. The artwork is by Kekai Kotaki.

Be sure to read the full feature on this artwork on Tor.com from Irene Gallo, the art director at Tor. Here’s a portion of what she had to say about this piece:

I mentioned to Harriet McDougal that Kekai is particularly good with depicting creatures so she suggested the cover be a recasting of the print edition of The Great Hunt cover. Trollocs, a wooded landscape, and Rand in full hero pose—you can’t beat that.

Wheel of Time eBook News and release schedule
Tor Books plans to re-release each one of the Wheel of Time novels as ebooks according to the schedule below. Each will have new cover art, specially commissioned for the eBook format. Each will feature a different artist.

• The Eye of the World: DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Great Hunt: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Dragon Reborn – 12/15/09
• The Shadow Rising – 01/ 19/10
• The Fires of Heaven – 02/16/10
• Lord of Chaos – 03/16/10
• A Crown of Swords – 04/20/10
• The Path of Daggers – 05/18/10
• Winter’s Heart – 06/22/10
• Crossroads of Twilight – 07/20/10
• Knife of Dreams – 08/24/10
• New Spring – 09/28/10
• The Gathering Storm – 11/2/10
• From Two Rivers – 11/16/10
• To The Blight – 11/16/10
• The Hunt Begins – 11/16/10
• New Threads in the Pattern- 11/16/10

So what do you think of this new image? Leave your comments below. Remember, we’ll have a more detailed report on the overall future of the Wheel of Time print-edition covers in the near future.

This is the eleventh of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here. PS. This one was sent to us almost a week ago, but we got a little backed up here. We’ll add the pictures later this week, but we didn’t want to delay posting any longer. Sorry!

TEAM Salt Lake: (From Left to Right) Jason B, Matt H, Jake H, Kristy P, Brandon S, Stephanie R, Amie B, Nichole R
Greetings from the great Salt Lake! Well, really, Salt Lake City to be exact, and Brandon Sanderson’s home state of Utah! The Salt Lake signing event was a big success. The night began with the Storm Leaders meeting ahead of time at Sam Weller’s bookstore downtown. Let me just tell you… if you ever make it to Salt Lake City, you MUST check out this bookstore. We were amazed to see just how big and magical this place was! Three stories high, with an endless collection of new and used books plus a really awesome Rare Books section fit with a Door guard and alarm buzzer when you enter. =0) We met with John Clukey, a longtime staffer of the store and huge Wheel of Time fan, who was so great to help us get organized and arranged for the event. After our initial meet and greet, we proceeded just down the block to eat dinner, meeting Brandon, his wife Emily and friend Peter there. EVA Restaurant was a deliciously fantastic joint with some tasty Mediterranean cuisine. Brandon made me giggle at one point, because he had a hard time figuring out what “Cous Cous” was, but he dove in and ordered that for dinner anyway! He also ordered the whole table these amazing Garlic Parmesan French Fries, which we devoured so fast, we could barely keep up with the conversations at hand. Here’s a shot of us deep in discussion at dinner:

Dinner was a treat for us Storm Leaders to spend time with Brandon and ask all the down and dirty questions we figured that NO ONE had asked already – ‘Who killed Asmodean’ kinda of stuff ya know? Needless to say, Brandon is a GREAT interviewee and so animated with his responses even if we didn’t get the answer we wanted, we got a great glimpse of what may come. One of the most interesting of conversations at dinner came about when Matt Hatch, from Theoryland.com, brought up the subject of Time vs. Power comparison on the use of Balefire. Luckily— Jake, one of the Stormleaders, had a tape recorder and was able to capture the WHOLE conversation about it. ** SPOLIER ALERT ** I would NOT read this if you do not want any spoilers!! (I actually have NOT finished Book 12 myself, but I didn’t mind hearing the spoilers at dinner that night)
Matt- Question: Did Robert Jordan leave a power to time comparison, as to how much time is burned back on a thread using balefire. Is there a calculation that says x amount of power will burn back x amount of time on a thread?

Brandon: M.A.F.O – Maria and Find Out. What he did leave, he left a lot of stuff, there is discussion of these things in the notes. I need to look and see if there is an actual equation. He was very focused on strength of the power and things like that. He has probably told you before, I think I’ve seen a copy of that on notes and things. He did leave scales on exactly how powerful each person is…

Matt – Question: The Choedan Kal, does it amplify your power? Is it a limited, for example, if I have a certain amount of power does it give me 10x what I have, or is it a certain amount of power I can access?

Brandon: One of the things I’ve been doing when I answer questions is that I’ve been saying that this is my understanding and putting an asterisk at the bottom that is a – I am speaking from my understanding and not from specific knowledge from the notes, meaning yes I am probably right but these are the questions I could be wrong on…this one my understanding is that it is a reservoir of power. It is not necessarily a magnification. A very weak person with a very powerful sa’angreal is very powerful. I’m pretty sure on that one, but I will add the asterisk just in case. If you send me an email, I can go back and look to make sure. But I’m reasonably sure on that one, the reasons being things that are talked about in the notes mixed with the way an’greal and sa’angreal worked previously in the books mixed with two specific things that he talked about in the notes when people using an’greal and sa’angreal after they become very weak or after they are weak.

Matt – Question: We know that in the Age of Legends that the Forsaken/Chosen, everyone agreed to stop using Balefire because of its effects on the Pattern. Is it unrealistic then to say that a great amount of power could burn someone’s thread back a year or six months. Is that an unrealistic thing to say that there is enough power available to either one or multiple people to burn somebody back that far?

Brandon: I see what you are getting at you are trying to figure out if Graendal was killed with a whole lot of balefire would it bring Asmodean back to life (Brandon had heard about this idea, which he mentions later).

Matt: …like that could ever happen…

Brandon: That’s what you are digging for isn’t you?

Matt: Let’s say, if a Forsaken was responsible for killing another Forsaken.

Brandon: Uh huh

Matt: And said Forsaken was balefired….

Brandon: You are under the assumption…You are trying to figure out who killed Asmodean again. That’s what you are trying to do and I’m not going to get caught and let you know…

Matt: It’s a legit question…and I’m sure whatever is said at this table stays at this table…

Brandon: I’m sure, the leader of Theoryland and the guy taping this…

~Much laughter from table~

Brandon: Let’s divorce it. Rand balefires Rahvin as hardcore as he could and Rand is one of the most powerful people to live and he got us, what have you determined, from the lightning killing Mat until balefire killed Rahvin, I’d guess fifteen minutes.
Matt: Well, he at least got us fifteen minutes. We don’t know how far back, we just know up to that moment.

Brandon: Well, we do know because if it had been too much further than that we would have noticed a lot of discrepancies in the Pattern from things he’d done…

Matt: Let’s say thirty minutes to an hour, at the most

Brandon: Alright, thirty minutes to an hour. Okay, let’s say the Choedan Kal amplifies his abilities 100 fold…let’s say it’s a 100 times more powerful than Rand. That’s giving us, lets say he got an hour, we’ve got four days, from the most powerful, one of the most powerful sa’angreal ever created. I think it is unrealistic to assume you can get back a year, but that’s not saying it is impossible. I think that if you did that to the Pattern the ramifications would be so dramatic you’d see the Pattern unraveling hardcore at that point, it’s like balefiring an entire city. When I first read that guess I just laughed, I’m like guys c’mon lets run the math on this.

Matt: Like I said to Jennifer, it is my job at Theoryland to entertain these ideas.

Brandon: Yes it is, it is your job to entertain them. But in the terms of Mythbusters let’s go ahead and call that one “Busted” in the realistic world. I’ve got to give you at least something, so I’ll at least give you that…If it were possible to do things like that, we’d have the Dark One just going and balefiring you know Tam so Rand never gets picked up off the mountain….
At that point, we realized it was useless to torture the author with trickery, as he has learned from the best Aes Sedai ways to the “skirt the truth” shall we say? Hehehe. In all seriousness, Brandon was great. My foreboding question “When is the most beautiful, talented, baddest, awesomest, most fantastical of characters coming back…. ??” Meaning, Moiraine (may she live forever) of course! Which I was quickly RAFO-ed by Brandon right back into eating my sorrows away on my dessert. And what a dessert it was, check it out:

After dinner we hurried back to the bookstore for Brandon to start his reading. Brandon chose an awesome chapter to read from in The Gathering Storm, Chapter 6 ‘When Iron Melts’. He explained the detailed background of Robert Jordan’s military history, and why this character, Rodel Ituralde, was one of Jordan’s favorites to write. One of the Stormleaders, Jason, was very impressed at how well Brandon captured the tone and depth of Rodel’s character, even in his reading of the man. Brandon finished the short reading and then explained that he has a personal connection to this particular segment of the book because “I sent this chapter to Harriet for review. Usually when I would send something to her, it would come back with some notes like ‘This is good, but change this, or this needs to be adjusted’ however, this one section out of all of them in the whole book came back with nothing. Just a note on the top that said ‘This is great, good job’ I was stunned she had no changes!” We all thought that was so heartwarming to hear from Brandon, and shows just how much he cares about these books and doing the story right, just how Robert Jordan would have wanted.

With over 100 people in line for the book signing, things went smoothly. The crowd was so fun, patient and high spirited. The Storm Leaders did Trivia Questions to give away bumper stickers and SWAG that TOR Books had sent us. We also had a Crossword puzzle for everyone to try, with one of the clue’s being ‘Asmodean’s killer’ but suffice to say, no one was able to finish it!

Brandon was so energetic and engaging with everyone that came up to chat with him. What was really neat were a lot of fans that had been following Brandon from his other books, who were now very dedicated Wheel of Timer’s— including one of our own Stormleaders, Jake. He had read Brandon’s books first before it was announced that Brandon would be finishing the Wheel of Time series. Here were some other huge Sanderson “groupies” that were so impressive!

Brandon was so honored about the tee-shirts they had, he wore his the rest of the night. Even Brandon’s wife, Emily, thought this was the most creative thing she had seen! Nichole, the Storm Leader helping Brandon stuff books all night, said she loved how Brandon was so chatty and talkative with all of his fans, cracking jokes and discussing theories all night. He really is a great mind and great person.
As for me, my mind still burned to find out when my sweet, precious, loving, darling favorite of females would return, Moiraine (may she live forever). Every fan that came up and asked about her made me *squeal* with giddy, and Brandon would turn his head and glare at me with the “I am not telling you anything eyes” which I took to mean, really “You know what the answer is anyway, duh” eyes. So I took to taking funny photos all night that I knew would end up online somewhere for people to laugh.
Stormleader Kristy, taking the blame with a smile for Asmodean’s demise.

Recognize this criminal? Matt Hatch from Theoryland.com on the loose at Sam Weller’s
Pick the right answer and you win a BUMPERSTICKER!
A. Matt is going to kill me if Jason posts this picture on Dragonmount or B. Matt hates this picture

Brandon signed my book cough, voluntarily, cough as “Moiraine WILL be back” So I say. Yes, I made him write it. If she does not return, I will hold him for ransom on the next book tour.
Overall, the Salt Lake signing event was a great success and so much fun for all of us involved. Brandon was also happy to be home for a day and spend time with his family, and it was nice for him to bring along his wife to the signing event. She was very sweet and supportive! I don’t think any of the Stormleaders could say it better but It was one of the best nights of our lives, and we all walked away with some great memories and lots of hope that our theories for the future books will be addressed! We definitely want to shout out to John Clukey at Sam Weller’s and his staff for working so hard and allowing us to overtake his store for the night. Also, Brandon’s wife Emily and his friend Peter who came along to help with whatever we needed.
As for me, all I kept saying to everyone that night was “Wait until JordanCon … you BETTER be there” And I meant it folks! Team Salt Lake will reunite again in Atlanta for some fun and more torture on Brandon to find out the truth once and for all!
~~ Kristy Pew, Stormleader
Some neat observations from Salt Lake Signing courtesy of our Stormleaders:
• There were a lot of “Newbies” to the Wheel of Time world at the signing event. A few people in line only started reading the books just this year, including one of our Stormleaders, Nichole!
• We also found someone in line who started reading Wheel of Time when “Eye of the World” came out!
• We ate wayyy too much at dinner. I am still full.
• Many people brought more than one book to have signed so they could have presents to give out for friends and family who couldn’t be there.
• We met a gentleman in line who was sight-impaired, so he followed the books exclusively on AUDIO CD and had Brandon sign the discs for him. He stated he loved the readers who do the books on CD, and I agreed with him!
• Matt Hatch is a God. Seriously. I heart you, Matt.
• Brandon is a mega big time MAGIC Card player… so, YES, we learned all about the upcoming Epic Magic Battle Between Brandon and Jason Denzel. Another great conversation at Dinner.
• The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia IS coming! For details… MAFO. But, yes, Harriet, Maria and Alan are working on it. =)
• MOIRAINE (may she live forever) ain’t back yet. At least, today she is not. Next year though……..

This is the tenth of our Storm Leader reports we’ll be posting throughout the U.S. book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. At each tour location, Dragonmount and Tor Books recruited a select group of volunteer fans to help run the event, hand out promotional materials, and represent us to the fans. In return, they were given the opportunity to meet with Brandon Sanderson and (if present for their event) Robert Jordan’s wife Harriet. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for each one of the tour stops. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

by Meg Lurvey

It was at about 10:30am, just two hours before we were to meet Brandon for lunch that it really hit me…for the last 14 years The Wheel of Time has been such a huge part of my history, and now I am a part of its history. Absolutely mind-blowing. *shakes head* Mind-blowing.

Brandon met us outside the Speaker’s Corner restaurant at the Crown Plaza hotel in Nashua, NH, where I was staying and Conor actually works! Not knowing exactly what to expect, and feeling more than a little star struck, Brandon immediately set us all ease with his friendly, laid-back nature. As we only had an hour before we needed to get over to the bookstore, we set immediately about ordering nachos and lunch. Brandon couldn’t understand how some of us ordered burgers without fries, and ordered his fries with great conviction that made us all smile. As soon as the orders were in, we started asking him our own questions, everything from the nature of the True Source (it is, in essence the soul of the Dark One), the complexity of balefire and the paradoxes it causes (you’ve heard of shooting yourself in the foot, but how about balefiring yourself in the foot?), and whether he knew what he was getting into when he took on this project. Ofer was kind enough to ask if we’d all finished reading The Gathering Storm (and could he speak freely about it), and when I said I hadn’t yet everyone was very kind to speak “in code” so as to not give anything away, and still include me in the conversation! Brandon shared with us how extensive Robert Jordan’s notes were, and in no kind of order; he said sorting them out and putting them in order took three months of hard work! No, he didn’t know what he was getting himself into, but he doesn’t regret it in the least bit. He also told us how many notes “Jim” (Robert Jordan) left on Egwene, and how enjoyable it was to write her, that she really comes into her own in The Gathering Storm. I was particularly please to hear this, as she is my favorite character aside from Siuan Sanche.

Lunch concluded with Brandon extremely happy that Conor worked at the hotel – he hates to throw away food so asked Conor if he could put the other half of his cheeseburger into the fridge for later. Kevin Dean handed us our t-shirts and we all made for our cars to head to the Toadstool Bookshop up the road in Milford, NH. A crowd of fans was already gathered as we arrived, busy purchasing their books and browsing through the other featured works out on the main display table – the rest of the Wheel of Time series and Brandon’s other published works.

As Brandon came forward to address the crowd, an odd kind of silence came over it. Those who had already read The Gathering Storm looked on eagerly and expectantly, and those, like myself that were just purchasing their copies today looked curiously wondering exactly who it was that the ending of their beloved series had been entrusted to. Brandon began to speak, and it was clear to all of us that the right author had indeed been chosen for the job. Captivated, we all listened him tell us how it all started (joking that “of course there’s no beginning to the wheel of time” as the crowd chuckled) the time he walked into a local bookstore at the age of 15 looking for a ‘big book’ and picked up Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World, to feeling shocked and heartbroken like the rest of us to hear that Robert Jordan had passed. Brandon said “the genre had just changed in a very big way.” He went on to tell us of the eulogy he posted on his blog which ultimately led to his being contacted by Harriet. After some incoherent spluttering on Brandon’s part, an email that began with “Dear Harriet I promise I’m not an idiot”, very little sleep, careful consideration, thought, worrying (more nervous than he was on his wedding day), and a secrecy contract that we Storm Leaders believe must be signed in blood, he agreed to finish the Wheel of Time series. Brandon said it the best himself, as a fan like us who has read Eye of the World eight times, he “needed to do it…someone who cares had the project in his hands,” and would, “screw it up the least.” After all, like so many of us, Brandon grew up with Rand, Mat, and Perrin as his best friends and he felt like he lost them when we all lost Robert Jordan. Now, our best friends don’t have to be dead.

Storm Leaders and fans alike were moved to hear Brandon tell of how much Robert Jordan wanted to make sure the story gets to us, so much so that though he’d previously joked that if he died his hard drive would be burned, he dictated scenes on his death bed. It was his dying wish that his wife and editor Harriet find someone to finish the series. Brandon also noted that he’s been asked many times which parts of the book are his, and which are right from Robert Jordan, but aside from the first chapter of The Gathering Storm (which Robert Jordan dictated directly and has been played at JordanCon) he’s waiting until all three of the last books are out before he will say anything on the subject, and then only with the permission of Harriet. He will say that we will notice that he didn’t imitate Robert Jordan’s prose, because that was not his intention. Rather than approaching this project thinking “how would Robert Jordan phrase this?” he thought to himself, “How does Rand think?” A few fans raised their eyebrows at this statement, nodding thoughtfully.

Brandon then borrowed a copy of The Gathering Storm from a fan with good taste in both books and baseball (sporting a hat from his favorite team and mine) and read from Chapter 1, Tears from Steel. He read with such passion and understanding that any last doubts fans had about him were quelled. The reverence he used when speaking the words “The White Tower” were dear to my own heart, being a personal fan of the Aes Sedai; his voice took us from the Toadstool Bookshop in Milford, New Hampshire to Tar Valon, under siege by the rebel Aes Sedai, each of us personally choosing whether we sided with Elaida or Egwene. There were clearly a few Blues in the audience, as they visibly bristled and possibly even sniffed a few times when a woman in a red-shawl was mentioned.

After the reading, and a round of applause, Brandon answered some questions both on the Wheel of Time and on his own works:

Q: Regarding the Mistborn books, do you think you will ever write a prequel trilogy?

A: Brandon is hesitant to do so. He has considered it though. He [Brandon] “loves epic fantasy” and the “hero’s journey, like Rand’s journey at the beginning of the Wheel of Time”. When writing the Mistborn books, he knew Robert Jordan had done epic fantasy the best it could be done, so thought to himself, ‘what hasn’t been done?’ The answer he came to was ‘what if the hero [e.g.] Rand/Harry Potter/Frodo lost?’ The idea was a good one, but that would make a “downer of a book”. (The fans, myself included, chuckled slightly horrified at the idea of the Dark One winning, and one fan made a reference to the Star Wars prequels, which also amused the crowd, and Brandon alike.) Brandon went on to say that he wrote Mistborn as 1000 years after the heroes lost, and he is more strongly considering a sequel trilogy that would take place about 600 years after Mistborn.

Q. After Knife of Dreams came out, Robert Jordan had said he was writing two more prequels…will you [Brandon] do them and what’s the status on them now?

A. There are notes for two prequels, one based around Tam’s story, and the other about Moiraine and Lan before they went to the Two Rivers. There are also notes for three additional books, Outriggers, which take place in the Wheel of Time world. Brandon equates being handed the Wheel of Time series with being handed the One Ring – the longer you hold onto it, the harder it gets to let go. He doesn’t want to ruin Robert Jordan’s world; Robert Jordan and the series deserve to be allowed to rest. However, Tom Doherty wants them to be written, though the decision is ultimately up to Harriet – if she decides they should be written, he’ll do it, but his gut says ‘no’, they won’t be. At this, he was met with an “aaawwww!” from the fans, and nodding, he said that it is with a heavy heart but he feels it would be best. The last he heard, Harriet was leaning towards ‘no’. If he does write them though, he feels there should be no more after this, “it would be nice to have a will” so no more can be made. He admitted that this is a half answer, but concluded with “Robert Jordan’s legacy is more important.”

Q. Are you ticked you know the ending? (The fans, Brandon, and all of us Storm Leaders laughed!)

A. “I’m excited.” Brandon, in having Robert Jordan’s notes on the whole series, has even seen the “handwritten note of who killed Asmodean!” [I didn’t know Robert Jordan knew my name!] A moment with a somewhat quizzical look on his face, Brandon went on to say that he does feel a “sense of loss that I didn’t get to read a new Wheel of Time book last week.”

Q. Which character’s point of view is your favorite to write?

A. “Whoever I’m writing at that moment”, they’re the most important. With some characters it was easier than others, as “Cadsuane already believes she’s the most important.” [I think I laughed the loudest at that remark.] He also said that the notes on Egwene were the most extensive and she was a pleasure to write. He also enjoys having more Aviendha viewpoints, as he missed her, and commented that writing Rand is both dramatic and draining.

Q. Has Mesaana’s alter ego been seen yet “on stage”? [I suspect the fan that asked this is one of the Blues I mentioned earlier, though she may be a Brown, too.]

A. “I’m afraid I’m going to have to RAFO [read and find out] that.” Any yes/no would set all the fans, especially on the message boards and fans into figuring it out by process of elimination. The crowd pressed him for hints, and he did confirm that she is still in the White Tower. This statement was met with speculative “oohhh”’s and pensive looks as new theories were born then and there.

Q. Will there be any sequels to Elantris?

A. In 2015, the 10th anniversary of the series he intends to release Dragonriders, three books based on side characters. They will take place 10 years after events, in the city of Dacor.

Q. Will we see anywhere in the world a visual representation of The Wheel of Time?

A. A video game is pretty likely. The executive option was bought for full rights as well, and screen plays are being written. Jason Denzel and Maria are consulting. If the films get made, they will be full feature films. There are also comic books put out by the Debel brothers that are accurate, but they may not continue – the Debel brothers have “visual genius and financial troubles.” [We raffled off three of the comic books to excited fans!]

As the Q&A session concluded, Brandon urged everyone to check out JordanCon, at which he will be the guest of honor. He referred to JordanCon as “laid-back” and “not weird”. He also spoke on the books available at the Toadstool Bookshop to purchase, requesting that fans purchase at least one book from them; after all, Brandon got his start by purchasing a “big book” from a local bookshop and wants to see them continue. He also stated that Mistborn works as a stand-alone book, but either buy just Mistborn, or all three…”if you get just the first two, you’ll get mad at me.”

The employees of the bookshop and Storm Leaders Tim Gile and Conor Lippman then organized the fans into a line, passing out bumper stickers, maps, and notices for JordanCon. They also raffled off Wheel of Time comic books, and a special gift bag that included extras from Tor in honor of National Bookstore Day. Kevin Dean and a friend of his set up a video camera, and Kevin made himself available to the fans so they could have their pictures taken with Brandon. Hanging above the table that Brandon was signing books and maps at was both the poster for The Gathering Storm and a poster of Knife of Dreams signed by Robert Jordan. Ofer Nave positioned himself between Brandon and the line of fans to make sure all the fans got bookmarks as well as a flyer for Brandon’s website. He had the privilege of using Harriet’s pen that Brandon had on hand to write out the sticky notes with people’s names (so save your stickies!) I also sat with Brandon, off to the side a bit with pen and notebook poised, ready to jot down any further bits of information to share with anyone. I’m sure if my former teachers are reading this, they are questioning the wisdom in trusting note taking to my handwriting, but I assure the readers it has gotten worlds better since my NI’s (needs improvement) in grade school.

From the very first fans to greet Brandon today, Jerry, a father who came out while on crutches with his son Jameson, who brought his first edition copy of Elantris, the experience of watching Brandon interact with his fellow fans was…oh do I have to pick on word? No? Good…touching, humbling, amazing, incredibly cool, amusing, inspiring…I think you get the idea.

Some quotes and notes and a few more Q&A’s from Brandon and fans during the signing:

Quotes:

* From a fan with a Book Club edition of Mistborn, “Thanks for writing ‘big books’!” (Brandon replies “now [that he’s written The Gathering Storm] they will let my books get bigger!
* Brandon calls The Gathering Storm a “focused book”
* Several guys named Matt came through the line, and after joking with them “are you sure you don’t want me to spell that with one ‘t’?” one Matt laughed and agreed to let Brandon write it that way, becoming the first ‘Mat’ on the tour to let him do it!
* When asked about some of the back-story of the characters, he shares the enormity of Robert Jordan’s notes, and says that “when we write, [the story] is like the tip of the iceberg, a lot isn’t seen but the authors need it.”
* “The Wheel of Time series is so big that the last book is a trilogy!” Storm Leader Ofer Nave
* Brandon stopped reading from about 4th-8th grade, so he wrote Alcatraz for “me at that age”.
* Storm Leader Kevin Dean remarks that he’s looking forward to only a year until the next book!
* “Great addictions are those little dumb cards,” says Brandon of Magic cards.
* One fan stood in line to get a signed copy for a friend and says, “Brian – fix the boat!” Brandon wrote this in Brian’s book.
* “As a fan, my favorite depending on how old I was.” – Brandon
* As the line thinned out and it got quiet, Brandon comments on this and says, “Suddenly, the store gets very quiet. Then…the Myrdraal come in.” After laughing (and glancing around at shadows nervously) the talking starts up again.
* Brandon calls himself a “compulsive writer”. As a vacation, he’ll write something he’s not supposed to be writing.
* He feels like “a kid in a candy store” at book stores.
* Brandon reconnected with Heather, a friend that sat next to him in a class he took with Peter and Dan. Heather and her friends are also fans of the game Mage and in discussing the different editions, Brandon jokes [about the earlier editions] “We didn’t have rules that made sense, and we liked it!”

Additional Q&As:

* Several fans asked whether there would be a sequel to Warbreaker. Brandon said it was planned as two books, and Nightblood will be released after the Wheel of Time
* “So…Memory of Light was supposed to be book 12 and the last book…will you split them up again?” Brandon, to the wide smiles of all who heard, said definitively “Fourteen is it!”
* Q. Do you have new stuff, or new ideas? A. Yes – one is “The Silence Divine” a world like ours where you gain magic by diseases; another is a world where the only superheroes are all evil super villains and a group of regular people called The Executioners gather to hunt them down and take them out.
* Q. Which character did you perceive yourself as? A. Perrin. Quiet, a little bigger than my friends… “I always felt a lot like Perrin.” Eventually, his favorite shifted to Mat.
* Q. Do you have plans to write a longer series? A. Yes, The Lay of Kings will come out next year.
* Q. There’s a lot of female influence in The Wheel of Time, was it hard to write from their perspective? A. In my early years writing, it was hard. I finally got it right in Elantris. It was harder to write from other cultures, especially Aviendha and Tuon. It took three tries to get Aviendha right…”Aiel are weird.”
* Brandon describes Mat dealing with Tuon leaving as Mat having his feet knocked out from under him” and says that in Robert Jordan’s notes it says specifically that “Mat refuses to be coming husbandly”.

Generally interesting notes and antidotes:

* Two fans in a row met Brandon this past year at JordanCon
* When Brandon signed any of the Alcatraz books for new young fans, he’d write something in them then tell the child conspiratorially “that will make sense once you read the book”.
* Robert Jordan’s signature on the title page is there at Brandon’s request.
* I enjoyed one fan’s request to have his book addressed to himself as “The Old Wolf”.
* One fan, a woman, has been reading the Wheel of Time from when her son was in diapers. He’s of drinking age now!
* Even Brandon had moments of “Aaaah! I knew it!” He also has had the “wait, really?” moments and often, while going through notes, has said, “Ah, that group is right!” [Referring to groups on the message boards.] He also confided that there is one thing that isn’t being discussed on any of the forums yet that will blow our minds when we read it. Yay!
* Brandon recommends his favorite books as a kid, Three Investigators to a young reader
* Brandon relates Tam to Bilbo and Rand to Frodo
* Robert Jordan never really intended to clarify on whether Rand is hearing Lews Therin because he’s insane or if he’s really there.
* Brandon finished The Dresden Files on the plane this morning.
* Brandon recommends the Peter Rothfus’ trilogy; the first book is Name of the Wind.
* If you’re trying to get Brandon to make an appearance at your event, contact to Peter@BrandonSanderson.com
* While Brandon likes all the characters, he said that even he got annoyed at Faile while she was traveling with Perrin through the Ways. He did assure us that he does like her though!
* Quite a few fans commented how much they appreciate how Brandon has replied to their emails.
* Secretively, Brandon wrote who killed Asmodean on someone’s Kindle. Later he revealed the answer to the Storm Leaders, and at the risk of giving away too much, I’m willing to tell you. Ready? It was………………………ROBERT JORDAN!
* Brandon likes having single volume epics out because he remembers being annoyed at having to wait on even though he didn’t like the author, but just to get to the ending.
* Geoff, his wife, and his young son Luke drove seven hours from Ottawa, Canada to get their books signed

Brandon’s advice to writers:

* Network. Go to where the editors are, learn names. He describes himself as gregarious.
* Write compulsively. Be able to send things out constantly, not every editor will like everything you write.
* His advice isn’t a “silver bullet” of getting published, but he says to “keep at it.”

The event came to a close, and we all did as we were told when we took this ‘job’: sat back and marveled at a job well done. We each got our own books signed by Brandon, and our pictures taken. We all have numbered copies of The Gathering Storm now, and I can’t even express how excited I am to have my copy addressed to me as “To Meg, A.K.A. The Amyrlin”. I’ve read it so often in the last few hours that I’m surprised the words haven’t faded from the page yet. Another Storm Leader at one of the earlier events described Brandon as gracious, friendly, and humble. After spending the day with him, I can only agree, and add that today was a day none of the Milford, NH Storm Leaders are likely to forget. Thank you Dragonmount, Tor, Harriet, and Brandon for giving us this amazing opportunity.

In the Light,

Storm Leaders Meg Lurvey, Kevin Dean, Tim Gile, Ofer Nave, and Conor Lippman