Since Robert Jordan passed away, there have been reports and speculation about what would become of the “other” Wheel of Time novels he had been planning. The topic came to light at JordanCon last April when Harriet, Brandon Sanderson, and Tom Doherty discussed the possibility of WoT books being published after A Memory of Light (the final book in the main series).

The topic came up again recently this week when Dominic, from the Thirteenth Depository website, posted a report from his trip to the WorldCon convention. It has also been further discussed on different forums and blogs, such as the Keeping the Door blog.

Obviously there’s a lot of speculation going on. So we asked Brandon if he could please summarize and explain where things are. Here’s what he said.

There’s been a lot of talk going on about other wot books, specifically the Outriggers and the other two Prequel novels. I’ve talked about this on my blog before, but I’ve been vague and–I worry–self contradictory. So perhaps it’s time to do a definitive/updated post dealing with these topics. This trumps anything else that has been said before.

By way of clarification for those who don’t know what we’re talking about there, before he passed away, Mr. Jordan spoke with Tor (and even signed contracts) regarding some other books set in the WoT universe. The talk was originally centered on the three prequels Mr. Jordan wanted to write (New Spring, which was published, was the first of these three.) Later, Mr. Jordan shifted the discussion to something called “The Outriggers” which were within WoT continuity, taking place after the end of the series. They were to deal with some certain characters from the main storyline, expanding on their lives. (I’m being vague to save spoiling too much for those who don’t want to know. Some few minor details regarding the Outriggers have been released; you can find them without too much trouble.)

So fans have begun asking if these books are going to get written. I think that Harriet and I are on the same page when we say we’ve got our hands full with the three books of A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Really, this is big enough a project for now, and all of our energies are focused on making certain these last novels are everything they need to be.

That doesn’t answer your questions though, does it? Will the other books get written? Here’s where we get vague, because I simply can’t tell you a yes or a no.

The decision will be Harriet’s. She gets to make the call. And since all of her energy is focused on these last three books, I suspect we’re not going to know the fate of the Outriggers or the Prequels for some time yet. I’m afraid you’ll just have to be patient.

At JordanCon, Tom Doherty (CEO of Tor) mentioned the Outriggers and how excited he is for them. (They would be about his favorite character.) Tom has been very involved in the WoT all through its life, and is a huge fan. Tor doesn’t work like a lot of other publishing companies; it has very much a ’small press’ feel to it, with Tom being very involved in everything the company does. He isn’t just the publisher of the WoT; he was deep personal friends with Mr. Jordan.

Tom wants the Outriggers. That’s a big deal, one that I suspect with greatly influence Harriet’s decision. But that doesn’t mean that it’s a given that the books will be written.

Personally, I’ve taken a slightly different road when talking to Harriet. I don’t want to see the Wheel of Time turn into an eternal franchise. I said this last weekend at my signing in Montreal. Part of the value of a great work of art is, in my opinion, the ending. An ending loses power if it isn’t allowed to be…well, the END. Beyond that, Robert Jordan was very uncomfortable with people writing in his world. If we were to turn this into “Book of the Month, McWheel of Time” I think it would be dishonoring his memory.

I haven’t specifically told Harriet not to do the Outriggers. That isn’t my place. When she’s asked for my input, I’ve said “My suggestion is to be very, very careful. I would err on the side of protecting Jim’s legacy, and don’t know if it would be appropriate to do any more books.” However, if she asks me to do them, I will most probably say yes.

Why? Well, a couple of reasons. My soul is not part of the Wheel of Time. This series is NOT mine–it is Harriet’s and it is yours. But my soul is in there, and it would be very hard to let someone else write it. Almost as hard as it would be to let go of another series. My reasoning would be the same as my reasoning behind picking up AMOL in the first place. If Mr. Jordan’s not here, I want to make certain that someone who respects the series is writing on it.

Yes, I’m hesitant about further books in the WoT. Not because I’m hesitant about the books themselves–I, like a lot of the fans, would LOVE to see these stories Jim promised us. My concern is for Mr. Jordan’s legacy. However, that’s not my decision. If Harriet feels that doing the Outriggers (or the prequels) is all right, then I will accept her take on it and will move forward. She is the keeper of the legacy of the Wheel of Time. She gets to decide which projects would be exploiting the series, and which would be expanding and growing things that Jim himself wanted done. She will have my complete support in whatever she decides, just as if Mr. Jordan himself were here to decide what he wanted to do with his series.

Notice that the conversation has shifted away from the prequels and toward the Outriggers. Originally, I thought the prequels were more likely, but after talking to Harriet and Tom, I think the Outriggers are the more likely project that would get done. IF one gets done.

I have told Harriet, and I have repeated it on blogs, that I would say no (though it would hurt to do so) if a decision were made to go beyond the Outriggers and the prequels.

But please, understand. There has been very little talk of these things. AMOL is what NEEDS to be done. Everything else would be a completely different conversation. I’m trying to be frank and explore the topic for you, and have gone on perhaps too long on it. I would suggest leaving the bulk of the discussion until after AMOL is out.

If we see any more books, it would be years in the future, and would only be done after a great deal more consideration and thought. I haven’t looked at (nor asked for) the notes regarding the Outriggers or the prequels. We’re just not there yet. Please, let us do what we’re doing here first, then let us get some rest before making us decide about something as emotional (on both sides of the decision) as the Outriggers or prequels.

Best,

Brandon Sanderson

So what do think? Should there be WoT novels beyond A MEMORY OF LIGHT?

AMC (yes, the cable TV channel) has posted a new interview with Brandon Sanderson today. They ask him about his feelings on taking over for another writer, how it’s affected his writing style, and whether or not he thinks Jordan could have finished the series with “just one more book”.

AMC article
Enjoy!

For those of you who missed it, the first annual JordanCon convention kicked off last weekend to a huge success. Be sure to check out our coverage of the event, which will likely contain a YouTube video or two in the very near future.

Attending the convention were Harriet, Brandon Sanderson, Tom Doherty (the president of Tor Books), and various other people involved closely with the MEMORY OF LIGHT project. A lot of information was shared with people attending the convention, and we’d like to list it here in one place for you.

• Confirmed: There are three (3) remaining full-length novels remaining in the WHEEL OF TIME series. This has been discussed at great length already. Read our original news report, and Brandon’s detailed blog post on the reasons for the split.
• The first of the three remaining books will be entitled THE GATHERING STORM.
• The working title for the second book is SHIFTING WINDS, but that is likely to change

Updated: Originally I posted “Swirling Winds”. Sorry about that. The title being considered is SHIFTING WINDS. Again, that is likely to change.

• The third and final book in the WoT series will be entitled either TARMON GAI’DON or simply, A MEMORY OF LIGHT. (Which do you prefer? Leave your thoughts in the comments!)
• Each book will have its own set of chapters. Meaning they are likely to have their own prologues, and each will have a chapter 1 that begins with “The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass….” (It had previously been believed that the three books would be a single volume cut into 3 parts.
• Tor believes that Darryl K Sweet (the artist who does the cover art for all of the previous US edition books) is the right artist for the job on these remaining books. Once the series is done, however, they are very open to commissioning new covers for each book
• Tor is very interested in publishing the three (3) “Outrigger” novels that Robert Jordan spoke of before he passed away. Harriet and Brandon appear to be more hesitant about the idea. A decision on this will not be made until the main series is complete
• The overarching idea for the outrigger novels was revealed. It obviously contains spoilers. Please visit our forums to discuss.
• One of the most powerful moments of the convention was when an audio recording of Robert Jordan was played for all those present. He dictated the opening of THE GATHERING STORM prologue. Please see our JordanCon recap for a description of what happened. (The link to the plot summary is here)

The program for the convention also contained what appears to be the text that will appear on the hardcover edition of the book:

A Memory of Light was partially finished by Robert Jordan before his untimely passing in 2007. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final book. The scope and size of the novel was such that it can not be contained in a single volume, and so Tor proudly presents A Memory of Light: Gathering Clouds as the first in a short sequence of novels that will complete the struggle against the Shadow, bringing to a close a journey begun almost twenty years ago and marking the conclusion of the Wheel of Time, the preeminent fantasy epic of our era.

In this epic novel, Robert Jordan’s international bestselling series begins its dramatic conclusion. Rand al’Thor, the Dragon Reborn, struggles to unite a fractured network of kingdoms and alliances in preparation for the Last Battle. As he attempts to halt the Seanchan encroachment northward—wishing he could form at least a temporary truce with the invaders—his allies work in desperation to forestall the shadow that seems to be growing within the heart of the Dragon Reborn himself.
Egwene al’Vere, the Amyrlin Seat of the rebel Aes Sedai, is a captive of the White Tower and subject to the whims of their tyrannical leader. As days tick toward the Seanchan attack she knows is imminent, Egwene works to hold together the disparate factions of Aes Sedai while providing leadership in the face of increasing uncertainty and despair. Her fight will prove the mettle of the Aes Sedai, and her conflict will decide the future of the White Tower—and therefore the world itself.

Update: Note that summary text above is preliminary. It was written before the title GATHERING STORM was finalized. Hence, that’s why they use the working title GATHERING CLOUDS. This text is probably what was sent to booksellers, and may not be what appears on the book jacket. We’ll keep you posted.

If there was something we missed, let us know in the comments and we’ll add it to this main article.

Tor Books announced today that A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the 12th and final novel of The Wheel of Time series, will be initially released as three separate volumes. The first volume will be entitled THE GATHERING STORM and will go on sale October 27, 2009. (This date was changed from a previously announced date)

Here’s the press release:

Tor announces The Gathering Storm, Book Twelve of Robert Jordan’s legendary Wheel of Time® fantasy series

Tor Books is proud to announce the November 3rd, 2009 on-sale date for The Gathering Storm, Book Twelve of The Wheel of Time and the first of three volumes that will make up A Memory of Light, the stunning conclusion to Robert Jordan’s beloved and bestselling fantasy series. A Memory of Light, partially written by Jordan and completed by Brandon Sanderson, will be released over a two-year period.

Robert Jordan, one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, passed away in 2007 after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis. Brandon Sanderson, the New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final book.

The Wheel of Time series has sold over 14 million copies in North America and over 30 million copies worldwide with translations into 28 languages. The last four books in the series were all #1 New York Times bestsellers, and for over a decade readers have been eagerly awaiting the conclusion to the epic story.

Harriet McDougal said on the process behind A Memory of Light: “The scope and size of the novel was such that it could not be contained in a single volume, It was a piece of marvellous good fortune that Brandon Sanderson undertook the work. He is a great pleasure to work with, as well as a wonderful writer.”

President and Publisher of Tor Books, Tom Doherty, also expressed his happiness with A Memory of Light, saying: “It is a magnificent closure to a great American epic fantasy whose journey began almost twenty years ago. There is no way Robert Jordan would have squeezed it to a single volume, and somehow it seems fitting that what began as a trilogy will also end as one.”

The first ever JordanCon will take place this April 17th – 19th, 2009 in Alpharetta, GA. Harriet McDougal, Tom Doherty, Brandon Sanderson, and other members of “Team Jordan” will attend as featured guests and speak personally on The Wheel of Time and The Gathering Storm and the stories behind the rich literary legacy of Robert Jordan. JordanCon will also include a special preview of The Gathering Storm.

This year will also see major publications of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time comic books and graphic novels with the launch of The Eye of the World comics in May and the New Spring graphic novel with bonus material in November. The Dabel Brothers will be releasing the comic book series, which will then be collected and published as graphic novels by Tor Books.

Universal Pictures acquired the movie rights to The Wheel of Time in August 2008, and currently plan to adapt The Eye of the World as the first movie.

So there you have it, folks. A Memory of Light will be divided into three volumes. According to Brandon Sanderson, the titles of volumes 2 and 3 are tenatively “Shifting Winds“, and “Tarmon’Gaidon“. The release dates of the second and third novels are not known at this time. (See the note below abour Brandon’s blog post for more information about these items)

In past interviews Brandon Sanderson has said that if A Memory of Light was split, it would still be a treated as a single novel. He has also said on his blog and in interviews that he will push to have an “omnibus” edition published after the third volume is out. In this way, if you prefer to read the complete novel in one piece, the omnibus will provide that opportunity.

Also, neither Brandon or Harriet or Tor has any intention of inflating the size of these books. We’ve known for a long time that this book was going to be huge, and the possibility existed that it would be split up.

To go along with this news, we did an interview with Harriet where she was kind enough to give us some more answers.

Be sure to check out our updated page for A MEMORY OF LIGHT. It will give you a nice summary of everything we know so far about the book, as well as links to various interviews and announcements.

NOTE: Brandon Sanderson has posted an article about this news on his blog. He addresses directly the concerns of various upset fans. If you are frustrated by this news, please read his article.

About false rumors: There have been rumors floating around which supposedly contain the cover artwork for the book. While the artwork might actually be a mock-up for the cover, it has NOT been approved by Brandon, Harriet, or even Tor. It was probably an in-progress image that somehow found its way out of the Tor offices. We’ll be one of the first to show you the actual book cover once its ready.

What do you think of this news? Share your thoughts in the comments section below, or on our community forums.

Tor Books, the US publisher of The Wheel of Time, is now suggesting that A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the 12th and final novel in the series, may be published in November of this year.

The publisher has published a “widget” that anybody can post on their website. This widget (seen here below) counts down to November.

No official word has come yet from Tor about a more specific release date, or even whether or not November is just when they hope the book will be ready by.

Brandon Sanderson, the up-and-coming fantasy author who has been selected to complete the novel, frequently blogs on his website about the progress that he is making. From what he has said so far, it seems unlikely that the entire novel would be ready in time for a November release.

The idea has been discussed several times that A MEMORY OF LIGHT may be broken up into two parts. Brandon has discussed this possibility in great depth both on his website and in a podcast interview he did with Dragonmount’s 4th Age Podcast team. Although the decision to divide the book into multiple parts has not been made (or at least not made public), if this were to happen, a November release date for the first installment would become much more possible.

It should be noted, however, that most novels require several months of lead time from the time they are “turned in” the authors to the time they show up in stores. With Robert Jordan’s previous WoT novels, Tor has always expedited that process and published them in about six weeks, which is an extraordinary speed. With that in mind, if Brandon has a deadline of late September to finish the entire novel, a November release date for A MEMORY OF LIGHT may still be possible.

This is all speculation on our part, of course. We’re just making our best guess based off of a website widget. (Which, btw, you can download for your own website here) . Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Tom Doherty, the founder of Tor Books, the publisher of The Wheel of Time series, will be attending JordanCon. Doherty formed Tor Books in 1980, after a stint as publisher at the venerable Ace Books publishing house. Since 1988, Tor has been selected by Locus Magazine readers as “Best Science Fiction Publisher”. Tor authors include the late Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey and many other notables. Doherty will be appearing on panels regarding the upcoming publication of A Memory of Light, the final book in The Wheel of Time series and on the future of fantasy publishing in general.

JordanCon is the first convention dedicated to exploring the literary legacy of Robert Jordan and his ground breaking The Wheel of Time series. JordanCon takes place April 17-19, 2009 at the Alpharetta Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Pre registration is currently $60. Other guests include Harriet McDougal, Wilson Grooms, The Lost Boys, Big City Burlesque, Jendaiyi Belly Dance of Atlanta and Brandon Sanderson. For more information, please see our website at http://www.ageoflegends.net

Tor.com, the newly revised and popular website for Tor Books, is starting a regular blog series where its author, Leigh Butler, re-reads the entire WoT series and contributes commentary along the way. The series will have two posts a week, and should run all the way through to when A MEMORY OF LIGHT is expected to probably be published.

Leigh Butler is a long time fan of the series, and one of the primary people behind the “infamous” WoT FAQ. She’s also a great writer and has excellent knowledge and insight into the series.

You can read the introductory post here, and expect to see the first commentary begin tomorrow.

Melissa Craib, the founder and webmaster of the popular WoT fansite TarValon.net, has announced that her website, in association with Brandon Sanderson, will be facilitating a contest for which the grand prize will be to have your name and possibly your likeness put into A MEMORY OF LIGHT. Proceeds from the contest will benefit Heifer International, a non-profit organization that helps combat hunger in areas that need it most.

The winners will be announced in April at the first annual JordanCon convention. (Which, if you’re reading this at all, you should be attending!)

You can read the full rules and FAQ on TarValon.net’s Charity website.

It should be noted that this is not the first time a contest like this has been run. Robert Jordan once did a fundraiser which resulted in somebody from his local community winning his name in KNIFE OF DREAMS. The character that resulted from that fundraiser was Charlz Guybon. (The Andoran officer who bravely leads a charge to save Elayne).

UPDATE: Brandon has posted an article about this over on his blog.

Good luck to everyone who wishes to participate!

Dragonmount’s 4th Age Podcast team recently had a chance to interview Brandon Sanderson in this exclusive, first ever, hour-and-a-half long, WoT-only discussion. You can find it here.

In case you’re not familiar with it, the 4th Age Podcast is DM’s semi-regular podcast where a group of fans sit down and talk about various topics related to the series. We’ve published almost 50 episodes so far, so be sure to check them out. They make for great listening while you’re on the road, at the gym, sitting at work, or wherever. (And no, you don’t need an iPod to listen to them, although that’s possible to do of course)

It has now been one year since Brandon Sanderson was tapped to complete A MEMORY OF LIGHT, ther final novel in The Wheel of Time saga.

To commemorate that, and to show how far he’s come in the last year, Brandon offered to re-answer the original questions we sent him when he had been given the job. You can view the original interview here.

You can also click here to read Brandon’s blog post regarding this newly updated interview.

You can read the updated interview here.