Hi everyone,

Last weekend I attended the first annual JordanCon convention. Jenn (Kathana) can probably give you the actual numbers, but it seemed like there were about 200-300 people who attended, which is pretty darn good for a first year convention.

While I don't have the energy right now to summarize the whole weekend, I WILL mention a few things.

First, the Opening Ceremonies. Jenn had asked me to be the "Toastmaster" for the convention, which I took to mean that I was to be sorta like the Oscar host. I had to come up with a plan to fill an hour and "break the ice", introduce the guests of honor, and give people an idea of what was going to happen over the next few days. The idea I came up with was to "summarize" the first 11 Wheel of Time in a series of skits. I procrastinated until a few days before the event and eventually wrote a script for it. 40 pages. One sitting. O_O I was going to clean it up, fix the typos, and generally polish it for you, but actually, I like the idea of you seeing it raw. Here it is. It's in PDF. This is what I emailed and printed for everyone.

(BTW - we had a few last minute changes to the script. The Dabel Brothers couldn't make it, so we skipped that scene. And Will McDougal wasn't there in time so web designer guru Ben Gunderson played Mazrim Taim. )

I'm sure it will be on YouTube soon. I have a tape that has half of the show on there. I've emailed some other people asking for the rest. If nobody else publishes it, I'll see about putting it on YouTube myself, and updating this post.

For a more complete breakdown of what happened at the convention, check out There's another summary from the guy who played "Mat" in the opening ceremonies THE GATHERING STORM. It turned out not to be a reading, but an audio recording of Robert Jordan dictating the opening of the book. Now, if any of you have heard Robert Jordan speak, you know how powerful his voice was. It's was like a deep storm, thundering right around you. Well, when you heard this recording, it was heartbreaking to hear how tired it was. It was recorded just 20 days before he passed away. The amazing thing though, is how compelling it still was. There were probably 200+ people in that room, and not a sound was to be heard. A third of the people in the room were probably crying by the end of it. It wasn't that anything particularly exciting or dramatic happened in the narrative, but RJ's voice, with its raspy cadence, was just overwhelming. It built the perfect tone for the scene: haunting, heartbreaking, and hopeful. It was truly the most transcendent moment of the convention for me. I don't know if Harriet will ever publish that audio recording, but I hope she does. To hear his voice telling that story was a true privilege.

Oh, and if you're interested, here's a nice little summary of what was in that prologue opening. Spoilers, naturally.

On Saturday night, there was a silent auction for a wide variety of items; the proceeds to benefit charity. After an intense final few minutes in which I got caught up in a bidding war, I was lucky enough to win a page from the original Eye of the World manuscript, complete with hand-written edits from both Harriet and RJ.

The page is from the scene were Rand meets Ba'alzamon for the first time in the World of Dreams. The most significant of the edits on that page (and the reason why Harriet selected this page to be auctioned) was where Ba'alzamon says to Rand "At last we meet face to face." You can see that RJ crossed out "At last" and wrote above it "Once more". See the significance? Amazing to think what might have been influenced by that small edit.

Here's a scan of the page. I've obviously watermarked the page. (Mostly so people won't try to duplicate it). Click to enlarge and see the whole thing.

[url="http://www.dragonmount.com/OurCommunity/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/eotw_manuscript_page_web1.jpg">

 

Now here's the really cool part. Later that night, Saturday, I was talking to Brandon Sanderson. I showed him the page, and he did a big "Hmmm." We were in his hotel room at the time, and he walked over to the desk where, "hidden" beneath his closed laptop was a large stack of papers. This stack was, of course, the latest manuscript for THE GATHERING STORM. He flipped through the stack and pulled out a paper, handing it to me.

 

(Potential spoiler alert!!!!!)

 

"Don't read this yet," he said. "It goes with that one you already have."

 

 

I have not read it yet.

I do not intend to read it until I've read the book in full.

I will not scan it in or put it online. (So don't ask).

(I can't believe my inhuman will power!)

 

I did see that the page was full of red editorial ink marks from Harriet. My intent now is to take both pages, and frame them behind UV-resistant glass, and keep them in a dim wall in my house. I'll take photos of the whole setup once the book has been published. (And yes, I'll show the scanned page from tGS after its published if its OK with Harriet and Brandon)

 

It's amazing to me that even though RJ has passed away, and despite the fact that we're approaching the END of the series, WoT fandom is getting bigger and bigger. JordanCon is intended not just to be a celebration of Robert Jordan and the Wheel of Time, but of all works of art in his tradition. The convention will happen again next year, in 2010. Pencil it into your calendar. If you're reading this, I encourage you to attend it. The people are amazing, and the memories will last a long time.

 

Hope to see you there

Jason @ dragonmount.com