Tor Books has released the cover art for the upcoming ebook release of LORD OF CHAOS, the sixth book in the Wheel of Time series. Each month, beginning this past October, Tor will release the next book in the series in a variety of electronic formats. See below for a full list of links to the released books, as well as a schedule of the upcoming releases.

With each eBook, Tor is including brand new artwork for the “cover”. A different artist has been selected for each one, giving the art team at Tor a chance to provide us fans with a variety of styles.

This month, the artwork is by Greg Manchess. The ebook will be released on March 16th.

(Click image to enlarge)

(Click image to enlarge)

As with the previous covers that were released for the ebooks, Tor Art Director Irene Gallo has done a write up about the process behind creating this image. Be sure to check out the full article. Here’s an excerpt:

We knew we wanted to focus on the Asha’man and the Aiel. In fact, at first we didn’t see any of our core characters. I did, however, request to see some wolves (because, hey, wolves) and once we saw wolves it made sense to add Perrin, and if we’re going to show Perrin we should show Loial as well…. I’m glad we added these characters.

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: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Buy from Amazon
• The Shadow Rising: Tor.com Feature | DM news | Buy from Amazon
• The Fires of Heaven:DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• Lord of Chaos: DM News | Tor.com feature | Buy from Amazon
• A Crown of Swords: DM News | Tor.com Feature | Available to buy April 20th
• 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 at a later time.

The Reality Break podcast has posted an outstanding 30-minute audio interview with Robert Jordan that was conducted in 1994, while RJ was on book tour for LORD OF CHAOS. In the interview, RJ gives many of his trademark responses (like how he’s known the end of the series since before he wrote the first book). But nonetheless, the interview is insightful, well conducted, and more than a little heart-breaking when you think of Jim’s all too early passing.

You can listen to the interview at the Reality Break podcast website.