Maria Simons, one of the two continuity editors and long time assistant to Robert Jordan was kind enough to sit down for an interview with one of our forum moderators earlier this week. In addition to being an incredible resource on Wheel of Time setting and character information, she also has a unique insight into working with Robert Jordan, and now Harriet McDougal and Brandon Sanderson. She will also be appearing on several panels at the upcoming JordanCon, which takes place in Atlanta, GA April 23-25 this year.

Hey everyone, Luckers here. Most of you will have heard of Maria Simons (The Maria from MAFO—Maria and Find Out), who along with Alan Romanczuk work for Team Jordan in making sure the continuity of the series is maintained—essentially, they’re the one who go through the 4 million words of notes to supply Brandon with the information he needs to keep the series running on path.

These guys are the mechanics which keep the world running, and recently I was given a chance to get to know Maria a little better. Here is the interview; I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh, and please note that Maria refers to Robert Jordan as Jim (which is his real name–James Oliver Rigney).

James: How did you get involved in working for the Wheel of Time? What did you do before that led to this job?

Maria: Back in the late 80s, I worked as an editor for a small publisher in California. It went belly-up, and I became a stay-at-home mom for a number of years. In 1994, we moved home to Charleston, and I needed work. I had one part-time job, but needed more. My husband ran into Harriet on the street one day in January of 1996, and asked her if she knew anyone who needed an editor. She didn’t, but did say that she and Jim needed help answering fan mail. We saw the two of them at a party soon thereafter, and Jim and I talked about my coming in for that, and sized each other up (we had met before, but just socially). Soon afterwards, I came home from my other job to find a note: Jim Rigney called; he has some work for you (I still have that note). I started out working twelve hours a week on fanmail and filing. Harriet told me later that the reason that she wanted to hire me was that she knew that with editorial experience, I would know my way around proofs and galleys. After a year, I went to work full time for Jim.

James: So how long have you worked on the Wheel of Time?

Maria: If we count the fanmail as working on the Wheel of Time, it’s been just over fourteen years.

James: Were you aware of the Wheel of Time prior to taking it on as a job? Had you read it?

Maria: Back in 1991, I was visiting my husband’s family. My young brother-in-law (14 at the time) showed me this huge book. “You have to read it. It’s great! And it was written by our cousin!” (That’s not quite accurate. Harriet’s aunt married my husband’s great-uncle, so there are shared cousins, but no actual blood relationship. But in Charleston, it’s close enough to claim). He kept on and on, so finally I picked it up just to get him off my back. That book was /The Eye of the World/, and I loved it. I ran out and bought copies of /Eye/ and /The Great Hunt/ and sent them to my husband (he was in Panama on military duty). I also read /The Great Hunt/, of course. After that, we eagerly awaited each book, and grabbed them as soon as possible (by this time I had joined my husband in Panama). When we visited Charleston, my husband would head over to Harriet and Jim’s and get them autographed. I don’t know why I never went; it probably had something to do with having two small children. I finally met Jim at a family gathering in 1994; I managed to contain myself and not go all fangirl on him, but I did enjoy talking to him. By that time, I had read /Eye/ at least six times, /The Great Hunt/ five, /The Dragon Reborn/ four, etc.

James: Ok, so once you started reading the series what was it that really got you hooked?

Maria: I’m a character-driven reader, so any book that hooks me does so primarily because of the characters. So, on the first go, it was the characters that grabbed me. The world-building and lovely convoluted plot with so many mysteries didn’t hurt, either. I just loved the books.

James: Do you still do frequent re-reads? How many times would you say you’ve read the series to date?

Maria: I don’t actually read the books straight through anymore. I did read The Eye of the World /after Jim died, but usually I read them in bits and pieces. A lot of times when I’m trying to answer a question from Brandon or fans, I’ll get distracted from my search and find a scene that I love, and read it. At one point, I worked out that I had read /The Eye of the World/ at least 20 times. It’s kind of scary, sometimes; when I’m looking for a particular scene, I pick up the book, open it, and I’m at the scene that I’m looking for. Sometimes Alan and I race; he searches the digital copy for something, and I pick up the book. I frequently win.

James: What did you do for Robert Jordan as a part of that job, and how much as that changed since his passing?

Maria: My job has constantly evolved. First there was fanmail and filing. Then the audiobook project got underway, and someone had to go through and mark all of the changes in point of view so that Michael Kramer could read the male POVs and Kate Reading could read the female ones. Jim decided that I could do that, so, much to my delight, I was getting paid to read The Wheel of Time. I was in hog heaven, of course. At that time, Jim was finishing up /A Crown of Swords/, and when the proofs came in, Harriet suggested that I assist in going through them, but Jim said no, he didn’t want to spoil me. I was crushed. Over the next year or so, though, my job broadened. He gave me the in-house glossary to tidy up, and some of his notes to consolidate. He also would give me lists of questions like “Has character A ever met Character B?” and “Give me three examples of character C’s speech” and “Find me all of the information you can on what a baby feels as he’s being born.” By the time he had /The Path of Daggers/ ready to give to Harriet for editing, I had convinced him that I could help with maintaining our house glossary going forward, and he decided that I would get the pages at the same time Harriet did. Harriet encouraged me to edit as well, and I would do that and pass the pages on to her. I don’t know if any of my edits made it into the final book, but Harriet did begin recommending me for freelance editing.

I did other things as well. Jim had a massive personal library, and mentioned that he would love for it to be cataloged; I cobbled together a classification system, using WordPerfect mail merge. I also cataloged his music collection, and kept the existing catalog of movies updated. I did shopping for him, arranged appointments, worked on the Wizards of the Coast RPG and the /New Spring/ comics. When the new cat went missing, I made and put up posters in the neighborhood (we found her hiding under the house, eventually); when cranes and herons started stealing goldfish, I was given fox urine to spread around the pond to discourage them (Jim did encourage me to delegate; I managed to pass that one on to someone else. It smelled so bad that that idea was soon abandoned and we covered the fish pond with a net. I still sometimes find huge birds staring hungrily at the fish when I walk out there). Eventually I took over the bookkeeping as well. He took to calling me his right arm. Over time, I picked up assistants, two of whom are still with me: Marcia Warnock, who took over the book catalog, spread the fox urine, keeps me in office supplies, handles all the annoying phone calls, and keeps me on schedule; and Alan Romanczuk, who took over the questions and research, became our IT specialist, and assists with the bookkeeping, among many other things.

Then, after the Knife of Dreams tour, Jim was diagnosed with amyloidosis. Our focus changed somewhat; we all worked to help him and Harriet as much as we could. After the night that Jim told the ending to Wilson and Harriet, I would sit and talk with him about the end of the series, with a tape recorder running. The last thing that we did together was select the winners of the calendar art contest. Note: I didn’t select, I just gave him the art and took notes, and then emailed the winning names to Tor. That was two days before his death.

The significant thing that has changed about my job since then is that Jim isn’t here. It’s quieter — there is no big, booming voice calling “Maria!” or singing as he comes in the office. There’s no one explaining military stuff to me and making it really clear and interesting. There’s no one sitting at his desk wearing a silly hat. What I do at my job hasn’t changed that much. Now I work directly for Harriet, who is as wonderful a boss as Jim was. When Brandon has questions about the books, I work on finding answers, as does Alan. When Brandon sends us a book, I go through it looking for continuity errors, just as I did with Jim, and suggesting other changes, just as before. I still do the bookkeeping with Alan’s help, and other banal stuff. I know a lot more fans now, of course; I went to JordanCon, DragonCon, and the Charleston and New York booksignings for /The Gathering Storm/. I can hardly wait until JordanCon 2, which as I type is 11 weeks and 1 day away.

James: I always knew Team Jordan was a close-knit group, but I get the sense from this that Jordan Estate was more like its own little community, with Jim as a sort of patriarch and all of you working to support each other. Was this how it was for you? And did this help you all in the wake of Jim’s passing?

Maria: Heh. That’s more or less it, but . . . let me tell you a story. One day, many years ago, I went into Jim’s office. While there, I mentioned some problem that I was having (I have no idea what it was; it was that long ago). Jim immediately proceeded to give me chapter and verse on what to do. I answered that I was going to think about it more, and then went upstairs to my office. A few minutes passed, and then there was the booming “Maria!” from the bottom of the stairs. I went out, and he said that he was sorry for going all patriarchal on me, that I was a grown, capable woman and that I should do what I thought best. I hadn’t even thought twice about it, but he was worried that he had overstepped his bounds. Therefore, I hesitate to call him a patriarch. He was our leader.

So we all worked together. It’s a strange little group, sort of random, but not really. Harriet was at my wedding; she appears in some of the pictures taken. Jim may have been there (really, most of that day is a blur in my memory), but he was probably off writing. Marcia was once my husband’s boss. She and I share the same birthday, and almost no one can tell us apart when we answer the phone. Alan’s son went to the same school as my sons; I became friends with his wife before I ever met him, and he later coached my son’s tennis team (It was at a tennis match that his wife suggested he might be interested in working with us). We’re coworkers, yes, but we are friends too. We watch out for each other, and we’ve always joked that we’re more like a family than a business. Dealing with Jim’s illness brought us all even closer. We pulled together, and supported each other. And yes, it very much did help us when he died, and since.

James: You said Jim didn’t like to spoil you. Did this include you having access to the notes on pre-existing issues—as in resolutions to current mysteries and plotlines? I guess the question is, how much insider information did you have along the way? And, as a fan, did it ever make you gasp (squeal, laugh, pull your braid… ?)

Maria: In the early days, Jim didn’t want to spoil me. After not getting to work on /A Crown of Swords/, I went on a campaign to convince Jim that I didn’t mind spoilers, doing things like pointing out that I frequently reread murder mysteries. I finally had some success. At some point, early on (I think 1997ish) he realized that he had multiple files with the same name in his gazillions of notes. He asked me if I would be willing to consolidate notes, given that it was quite possible that I would find spoilers. I gave him an emphatic yes, and he passed the notes to me. The first thing I did was look up Verin; it was amazingly cool to get the scoop on her. I may have squealed. And I knew who killed Asmodean pretty early on, too. Some things he did keep hidden, though. He really enjoyed pulling off surprises..

James: Brandon said that as much as he was terribly excited to be involved in finishing the Wheel, there was an element of sadness as a fan to not be coming to the final product fresh. Is that true for you also?

Maria: Yes, it is. I would have loved to see how Jim put it all together. The sadness is ameliorated somewhat by the fact that I got so much from Jim himself in his last days, and that Brandon did such an amazing job with /The Gathering Storm, /and is a joy to work with.

James: You told me that you sometimes lurk on the boards. Have you ever encountered something that for whatever reason made you laugh out loud? If so can you tell us what?

Maria: I frequently encounter things that make me laugh out loud. WoT fans are an extremely clever bunch. Once, at Wotmania, someone joined using Harriet’s name. That person made a lovely post that included the (false) info that Talmanes was a Darkfriend (I have a crush on Talmanes. Not as big as the Mat crush, but . . .). There have also been many posts regarding Bela that tickled my funnybone (Is she the Creator? A Darkfriend? The Neigh’blis?). And somewhere recently I saw someone aver that it stated flat-out in the text who murdered Asmodean; it had just been transcribed inaccurately. According to this poster, Asmodean didn’t say “You? No!”; he said “Uno!” And Leigh Butler’s reread posts generally make me laugh out loud as well. It’s rare for me to go a-lurking and not lol at some point.

James: ‘YouNo’ lol. That’s brilliant. And I guess it means I don’t have to ask the tedious ‘who killed Asmodean’ question and we can just move on into the fan stuff. So is Talmanes your favourite character then? If not, who is, and have they always been so or has it changed as time has passed?

Maria: Mat is my absolute favorite. I love me some Mat. I don’t know exactly when the real Mat-love started; I started liking him a lot when he took out Galad and Gawyn with his quarterstaff. I don’t remember who my favorite was before that, but I did like Rand, Perrin, Lan, Verin and Moiraine (Mat was okay then, but the whole nasty dagger attitude kept him from being top tier). I didn’t love Nynaeve at first, but she has really grown on me over the years. Talmanes is my favorite secondary character. Other second tier characters that I love are Siuan Sanche, Gareth Bryne, Bayle Doman, Rhuarc, Halwin Norry, Bain, Chiad, and Gaul. Okay, I better stop now. That list could get very large.

James: Which is the character you most identify with? (Personally I’m thinking you and Verin are peas from a pod).

Maria: I do adore sneaky sneaky Verin. I identify myself as a member of the Brown Ajah, that’s for sure; I’m constantly studying books and notes. But when I’m handling all the financial stuff, I identify with Halwin Norry.

James: If you had to name a single moment and a single plotline that was your favourite, what would they be? You’re only allowed one. *grins evilly*

Maria: Your evil grin is wasted. This one is easy. I have a favorite chapter–chapter five of /Lord of Chaos,/ “A Different Dance.” There is just so much classic Mat in that chapter: when he can’t keep up with Betse’s mouth and Talmanes hums “A Frog on the Ice”, his dance with Betse with the memories from just before the Trolloc Wars, taking out the Hunter of the Horn with a low blow, and so much more. I absolutely love that chapter. It may have been that chapter that cemented the love for Mat.

James: Are there any characters you really dislike?

Maria: Gawyn. Joline. Sevanna. Therava. Elaida . . . oops, I mean Suffa. Liandrin. Padan Fain. Asunawa. The Forsaken. Again, I will stop here. The list could be large, too, but not as large as the “like” list.

James: Are you and Harriet working on the Encylopaedia now, or is that more of a ‘after everything is done’ kind of thing?

Maria: Harriet, Alan, Marcia and I have all put in some work on the encyclopedia. If there’s nothing else pressing, we work on it. Of course, there’s no way that we can finish it before the series is finished; once AMoL is done, we’ll kick it into high gear.

James: What are your plans post-WoT? Will you be involved with the potential Outrigger/Prequel Release? And what is beyond that for you?

Maria: Even after the last book is finished, there will still be things to do. It probably won’t be quite as exciting as working on a new book, but I do a lot that doesn’t directly involve the book in progress. Since no decision has been made on the Outriggers/Prequels, I can’t really say anything about them.

So that’s about it. I want to say thanks again to Maria for putting up with me—it was amazing to get such an insight into Team Jordan, and the process that led to us getting these amazing books, and on behalf of all the fandom thank you for your work on the series—I feel very comfortable knowing the ending is in the hands of such a dedicated group of people!

Thanks, also, to Jennifer Liang, our very own Kathana, for helping me in this. It would not have happened without her!

A beautiful new video interview has been posted online by Mythmaker Films, a production company based in southern California.

You can view it below, or click over to this link to see it in full High Definition.

This video was created while Brandon was on tour for The Gathering Storm. One of the Storm Leader for the Los Angeles book signing event, Tess Ortbals, works with Mythmakers and took the time to gather her troops to make this awesome video. Thanks, guys!

This is the seventeenth 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.

Ushered into Tor headquarters at four, Storm Leaders were treated to their pick of Tor books, Wheel of Time comics, and attendant paraphernalia. Kids in a candy store aptly describe the way we felt surrounded by such wondrous works of science fiction and fantasy. Then, backpacks stuffed to the brim, we descended on the conference room where light refreshments and snacks awaited.
After a brief and boisterous welcome for Team Jordan, Storm Leaders moseyed around the conference room, meeting the human cogs in the magical process that produces some of our favorite books. As the champagne flowed freely, Brandon and Harriet caught up with all the people that went into making the Wheel of Time, chatting with agents, editors, and publicists alike.

From New York City

The first humorous moment of the evening came when we had to call our fellow Storm Leader and Tor.com contributor, Leigh, who was conspicuously absent from the event up till that point. Brandon caught on and proceeded to make light of her unexpected absence by Twittering about it from his blackberry! Suffice it to say a slightly winded Leigh arrived shortly after.
After things wound down a bit and the Wheel of Time themed deviled chocolate cake was safely stored in our stomachs, we were treated to our hour with Brandon, Harriet, and Maria. And what a wondrous time it was.

From New York City

After a brief explanation of RAFO, spoiler killer extraordinaire, we got down to the nitty-gritty business of trying to tease out threads from the pattern. The questions ranged from the deeply theoretical – these came mostly form our Theoryland Storm Leader’s – to the factual. For your convenience, bullet points:

- Which Ajah heads will stay in power? It will be dealt with traditional Aes Sedai quietness and generally default to those who were heads before the split.
- There are no tinker prophecies… as we would have seen them already if there were.
- The Dragon on RJ and Harriet’s gate was commissioned after the series began.
- We will most probably not be seeing any actual dragons in the series – the naming of Aludra’s cannons is not because of the shared fire breathing, but simply a general association with power.
- When asked about Harine, Brandon confirmed that Rand was not sticking to the bargain.
- It was mentioned that a fight between Eugene and Cadsuanne would be totally awesome. I concur.
- Brandon initially got hooked for the series because of the hero’s journey – and the size of the books (he was on a budget). It changed as he grew up, and he mentions how much he enjoyed the prologue by contrasting it with generic fantasy prologues that are long and drawn out. What kept him reading was the depth of world building and the secrets embedded within secrets.
- Brandon apparently likes writing so much he would continue putting out a book a year even if they went unpublished. He never even submitted his first five books and jokingly referred to them as sub par.
- He avoids bad reviews like the plague, but when he does stumble across them he then proceeds to read one star reviews of great works of literature, like Shakespeare.
- Writing the Gathering Storm, Brandon admits he received input from numerous sources. He was, however, uncomfortable discussing the amount of input and the amount of freedom he had in writing The Gathering Storm. He says maybe after A Memory of Light he will reveal a bit more about what specifically was RJ’s. Generally though, he was unrestricted in his writing, and Harriet, as editor, was there to perfect what he had done.
- When asked about the outriggers, Harriet responded with the famous line from Kenny Rogers: “Know when to hold-em, know when to fold-em.” It is something they will get into once the A Memory of Light is in the bag, but the tone of their replies seemed to suggest that is was not even close to a done deal.
- Rand and Egwene are in the same time zone, approximately, at the end of tGS.
- Tuon’s scene was 3-4 weeks after her last scene in the previous book. RJ was “crafty” with his use of timelines, but generally they were chronological within a viewpoint.
- When asked if the timeline will ever be published, Brandon referred to a couple admirable efforts by fans, and Maria added that she tracks it with an Excel spreadsheet, but it would take a lot of effort to get it into a publishable format. Also, RJ was uncomfortable showing anyone his unpublished work and would go through a number of drafts, even if it was just for Harriet.
- When asked about the number of years between the breaking and current day Brandon replied that it was well know and referred us to ewot, which is accurate except for a year here or there.
- Regarding the notorious clue that everyone has missed, Brandon pinned it down to somewhere between books 4-6 (reread time!). He reiterated how astonished we would be when we found it… but won’t get any more specific for fear of ruining our surprise. Also, the “never mentioned” aspect of the clue might not be entirely true, but Brandon himself has never come across it. Maria had a knowing smile at the time, suggesting maybe it has been mentioned. Time will tell.
- Brandon confirmed that the wolf dream / fortelling of Rand as a beggar and the one with bandages over his eyes is fulfilled with his visit to Ebou Dar.
- Brandon reiterate how satisfied he was with RJ’s ending to the series but danced around the question of what he imagined the ending to be before he read it. RJ’s ending “satisfied the promise of the books”.
- When the Internet was in its infancy, Brandon (before ever even using email) went to rec.arts.rj. It was the first site he ever visited online.
- RJ was surprised by the devoted fans of the WoT and always felt a bit egotistical when doing readings—hence his use of a pseudonym and bring “low profile”.

This event recap was collectively written by the Storm Leaders, and in every submission I received (my job is to cobble them together), they mentioned how wonderful it was to meet both Harriet and Maria. And, indeed, their presence seemed to brighten the room and podium both. Their devotion and love for the series, and its author, shone through in their actions and conversations – the sincerity of their numerous thanks to fans did not go unnoticed. The following paragraphs are taken directly from the individual recaps sent to me, so excuse their slightly disjointed nature, but I unable to depersonalize such sincere words.

I want to talk about Miss Harriet. It is my sincere hope that every single one of you gets to meet her in person. Even if it’s just for a moment at a signing or a convention, if the opportunity arises, go say hello. Seeing her smile really lit up the room; she is one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of meeting. In every way, it is in large part thanks to her that we now have The Gathering Storm, that we will have a conclusion to the series that is so near and dear to all of us. She thanked all of us, repeatedly, and I nearly laughed every time she did – it is to her that I wish to say thank you, not the other way around.

After Harriet, the next woman who deserves some mention is Maria Simons. If you don’t recognize the name and weren’t able to make it to the New York signing, Maria was one of Mr. Rigney’s assistants, and is the guru of all things tWoT. Flip open your copy of The Gathering Storm: she’s one of the two individuals that Brandon dedicated the book to, with good reason. She is a true sister of the Brown Ajah, and not just because of her shawl. Very much like Harriet, Maria was very easy to approach and talk to. Just don’t go up to her expecting to get secrets or tidbits out of this living Wheel of Time depository. She carried with her a hat that reads “RAFO: … it’s a way of life”, and she truly does live it.

From New York City

For me, these two ladies were the heroes of the hour, and I was honored to get to spend time with them. Brandon has done a magnificent and incredibly tough job-don’t get me wrong, but many of us tend to forget how much Harriet has invested in this on a personal level, and Maria as well. I think that deserves a very honorable mention, and for me, personally, these two amazing women made the whole evening and event that much more important to me than just a book signing.

The signing itself was, in my perhaps less than unbiased opinion, a complete success. I do not believe an accurate count was taken, but I estimate roughly three hundred to three hundred fifty or so fans were in attendance. Brandon’s speech had many of us both laughing and drying our suddenly moist eyes. I feel no shame in admitting that hearing Brandon speak of both Mr. Rigney’s death and how he himself was chosen to finish the series had brought tears to my eyes, and other fans confided the same in me.

That latter I think is what makes me claim that I had the best job of the night. Each of the Storm Leaders had a task, and I know several, perhaps all of us, think we had the best jobs. . . but seriously, I had the best job of the night: writing out the personalization’s on sticky-notes and bookmarking the pages to be signed. I got to speak with the vast majority of the fans who came to the signing. With some, it was only long enough to find out how they wanted their book personalized; but with others, I got to talk about how they were interested in the series, or other people they knew who read, other series they liked, other events they’d been to. A hundred different stories. Two in particular touched me, one man having his book dedicated to his mother, another to his children. I hope the latter will forgive me for sharing his dedication, anonymously: “May reading this bring you the peace of the stedding.” When he first said it, I thought it was cool, but when he explained that it was for his children reading the series, I damn near teared up again. It was an honor to get to speak to so many of you, every single bit as much as it was an honor to meet Team Jordan.

From New York City

To open the signing at the Union Square B&N, Brandon begun by describing how he had come to store, back in the day, with his agent, and signed the one copy of Elantris that was on the shelf. His agent promised that he would do a signing there one day, and lo and behold, it came to pass. Among other interesting tidbits in Brandon’s introduction was the story of how he came to write the Wheel of Time, his first incoherent conversation with Harriet, and his follow-up email where he assured her he was “not an idiot”.

The ebullient crowd was generous with both applause and laughs, and listened in rapt attention as Harriet read the Prophet’s passage from the prologue, which proceeded at a fairly brisk clip. Before she began, she thanked the crowd, saying, “It is because of you the series continues.” And she meant it.

From New York City

The Q&A that followed was filled with interesting tidbits from both Brandon’s work and the WoT series. More bullet points!
- When asked to briefly describe The Way of Kings (Brandon’s forthcoming epic fantasy series) he said he is not good at short descriptions. Harriet humorously interjected that is precisely the reason that he was hired. He went on for a bit about the Way of Kings (WoK?!). What sets it apart from other epic fantasy, which is done in a setting where magic is in decline and the world has lost much of the splendor it once held, is that WoK is about a “renaissance of magic”.
- Harriet commented that she browses fan boards sometimes and that she had looked at people saying: this part is Brandon and this part is RJ. She laughed and said that most of the time they were totally wrong.
- When asked if his religion played a part in his books, Brandon replied that it was a part of him, and that as a consequence it did.
- When asked if he knows who killed Asmodean, he replied, “Yes, I do.”
- When asked why Justice (AH’s sword) was introduced at this point in the series, Brandon refused to answer, saying it was not even certain that Justice had been introduced, and thus he could not say either way without spoilering.

To add to the fun during the signing Tor provided a bunch of awesome posters for giveaways, which we raffled off. Storm Leaders also conducted an informal survey of those waiting in line to get their books signed. The results might surprise you!

Who is your favorite character? (top three responses)
- Mat: 25 votes.
- Rand & Perrin: tied with 8 votes.
- Lan & Thom: tied with 4 votes.

How many times have you read the series?
- with 50 respondents answering, the average was 3.37!
- the most times was 14!

Who killed Asmodean?
- Lanfear with 10 votes.
- Graendal with 7 votes.
- Slayer & Morridin with 5 votes each.
- Tam with 1 vote…

And so, fellow fans, I hope you all get a chance to meet Team Jordan, for it is truly a memorable experience. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comments, as we will endeavor to fill in anything we left out from this brief recap. Tai’shar New York, it was great meeting all of you! Oh, you can also check out the rest of the picks here.

This isn’t exactly one of our Storm Leader reports that we’ve been 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. Sometimes, things got out of hand. We will have a full report with photos and possibly video for Brandon and Jason’s epic Magic battle later on. An explanation of what is going on can be found here, here and here. Prior Storm Leader reports can be found here.

News Flash: Apparently feeling a need to bring some excitement to our otherwise placid pre-signing dinner in Half Moon Bay last night, Jason Denzel suddenly smashed his water glass against the table we all shared and brandished it as a weapon, all too close to both Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal. Ever-heroic Brandon shielded serene and amused Harriet with his own body. Vigilant and brave Storm Leaders scribbled notes furiously. Jason and Brandon agreed to settle their dispute later in the evening at The Ritz Carleton over a potentially dangerous game of Magic. You see, myth becomes legend. . . .

From Half Moon Bay

From Half Moon Bay

From Half Moon Bay

From Half Moon Bay

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.

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.

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.

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?

Fans awaiting Brandon’s arrival

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.

Brandon addresses the crowd

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 fans passed the time playing stones

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.

Aes Sedai of the Blue and Green Ajahs made an appearance

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!

Not to be outdone, the Black Tower sent a delegation

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.)

Brandon’s littlest fan comes bearing sustenance.

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.

One of the lucky winners who took home a New Spring comic

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.