Today marks the second anniversary of Robert Jordan's passing. Harriet described this morning in her hometown of Charleston as "a gorgeous day outside, a terribly sad one inside."

It never ceases to amaze me at the amount of influence RJ had on all of us. Whether you're a long-time fan of the series who visits all of the WoT websites, or a casual fan who has enjoyed his books over the years, think we can all agree that there was something incredibly special about the man. He loved his fans very much, and I know he very much looked forward to going on tour in order to meet as many of you as possible. He left us a wonderful gift in the form of his blog where he frequently would respond to a great number of fan questions and comments.

So today, while we all remember him, I propose we take Harriet's often-given advice and look "Onward". In order to pay tribute to RJ, we're going to give away some prizes. There are two contests happening. One is just beginning, and one has just ended.

CONTEST: Win a free GATHERING STORM eBook

Tomorrow (September 17th) will see the release of the GATHERING STORM's eBook prologue, What the Storm Means. It'll cost $2.99 to purchase it, but for TEN (10) of you, it will be free. Those 10 winners will receive a free copy of the eBook, courtesy of Dragonmount.

All you have to do to enter is send an email to Contests@dragonmount.com with the subject line "Storm Contest" within the next 24 hours. (Deadline: September 17 @ 1:00 PM U.S. Pacific Time). One entry per real person, please. (Also, we ask, on the honor system, that you not get every member of your family / office / school to register just to increase your odds of winning. Let's all play fair, oaky?)

The winners will be contacted via email and will receive their eBook prologue by the end of the day.

Recognizing the Dragonmount Staff

As I said above, Robert Jordan loved being a part of the WoT community. He loved the diversity of his fans, and the conversations and ideas we brought up. Whereas the WoT community extends beyond DM, the Dragonmount staff has played an important part in creating and maintaining a place where fans can gather and socialize. As near as I can estimate, there are about 40 people who help run DM. Too often they go unrecognized for their efforts, and so today I would like to acknowledge them. They consist of admins (Jennifer L, Kevin, Matalina, Empy, and Owen), forum moderators, podcasters, org leaders, division leaders, and writers on the ASK THE CHOSEN advice column. Dragonmount would not be possible without them. If you ever run into one of them, thank them for their efforts.

So in order to recognize them, I put their names into a nice, decorative bowl that used to live in Robert Jordan's home office. (Picture Below) From there, I drew out names and awarded several prizes, including a increasingly-hard-to-find Heron-Marked Sword.

The winners of the staff contest were:

Congratulations to these staff members, and thanks to ALL of them for being such an awesome team.

Finally, speaking of fans, check out this video that Tor Books released last week. None of us got around to posting it on DM's news page, but you may recognize it if you follow our Twitter account.