A MEMORY OF LIGHT Volume I Cover Art and Title (Apparently) Confirmed

[Darth_Andrea]

I got a reply from Brandon just moments ago.

 

 

 

Andrea,

 

I wish I could say something official, but it's just not my place.

Harriet rightly gets to release information like that.  I did just fire

off an email to Harriet and Tor, suggesting that they respond to this

and speed up their timetable for a press release.

 

As for that cover, that strikes me as a rough mock-up rather than the

final version.  For instance, I'm surprised it mentions this as a sequel

to Crossroads of Twilight, rather than Knife of Dreams.  (At least, I

think that's what the image says.  The text is kind of hard to read.)

That's just one of the things that strikes me as odd about the cover.  I

can't say more yet, I'm afraid.

 

The short of it is I doubt this is a hoax, but I also doubt that

everything you see here is official.  Some things are getting garbled as

they get passed from ear to ear.  Keep an eye out for more news,

hopefully Thursday or Friday.  Feel free to pass this along.

 

Best,

 

Brandon

 

lets hope it's all garbled communications.

 

 

 

Darth_Andrea          

 

[Vambram]

Thanks, Darth!

[Werthead]

Thanks Darth Andrea. That puts my mind a bit more at rest that somone has gotten their facts mixed up somewhere.

[Kadere]

Brandon Sanderson just responded to this on his blog.

[Vambram]

That is a very good response there by Brandon Sanderson, and a blog response that for now, at least, will settle down some of the rumors.

[Jason Denzel]

I'm glad Brandon responded to this on his blog. 

 

I've not received any official word from Tor yet, but I do know they were planning to send me something in the first few days of April. Based on these rumors (which actually started trickling in earlier than this post), I think Tor is considering pushing their official announcements out earlier than originally planned.

 

As for the cover art: love it or hate it, it's what we've seen for the past 11 books (12 with NEW SPRING).  Do you really think it's time to change artists?  I think they should use DKS as the artist for this last book (books?), and then consider having new artists re-do it for the 20th anniversary of EOTW in 2010.

 

I'll comment on the 1 book vs 2 books vs 3 books thing once we get official word.

 

J

[OsaroLJ]

Anyone want to guess what Rand is doing in the cover art? Any guesses who the chic is...and what they are doing together  :o :o 8)

 

Rand is a playa... :-*

[Jakobus]

Wow... Just... Wow.... This makes me so angry. I know there is nothing I can do about it so... *general anger at those who made this book so*

[Moghedian]

*Cries*

I won't have internet access when the press release comes out! :'(

[Isabel]

**cries**  I seriously hope that they don't make it 3 books. Is Tor trying to copy Goodkind with his finishing triology??? And I also hope there won't be a year between, if possible. (not sure how much editing still needs to be done after Brandon reaches 100%).

Also I am not impressed by the cover.... How can get Darrel any worse????????

[Graendals favourite]

I am only surprised that Sweet has not put a hook on Rand's stump in that picture. At least the woman, I presume it is Aviendha, is rightly wide-eyed if Rand is doing that, but too bad this means they are distracted from noticing the alien sneaking up on them in the right corner.

[Gentled Ben]

...I must admit that when I was thinking of '(possibly) penultimate book of beloved fantasy epic' and 'beginning of the struggle against ultimate darkness' the first thing that came to mind was 'Rand breakdancing in front of a haunted house'.

 

I dunno...it looks more disco to me. "Ah, ah, ah, ah stayin' alive, stayin' alive!"  :P

[Toy and Minion]

Um...wasn't it his RIGHT hand that got blown off?

 

Regarless, hate the cover, I'm okay with the title, okay with 2 books, not sure about 3.  Hope it all gets sorted out.

[Guest The Thin Inn Keeper]

It’s 0700 GMT … give or take…

 

Something is a little off…

 

1.

Only Barnes and Noble have The Gathering Storm listed on their sites. Sale date: November, no thumbnail picture.

 

2.

A Google Image Search brings up nothing.

 

3.

A Google Book Search brings nothing up.

 

And that’s just the wonderful world of the Internet. As for the image….

 

Firstly, it’s clear that it says “Crossroads of Twilight” not “Knife of Dreams”. That blows it sky high …

 

But… for those who like a good bout of paranoia…

 

Secondly, I think Sweet’s art sucks … but not that badly… Check out Rands left leg. My leg certainly doesn’t bend that way.

 

Thirdly, and this is a guess on my part here as I have, thankfully, not got US covers for all the books (I’m from the UK)…. It’s my understanding that the color of the border around the oval-shaped “sequal to book ABC”, and the title is always different… TGH was green, TDR was red … etc… Looking at it… it’s the same color as the title and general layout of KOD… Now… sure, a color/style might be repeated, but not from one book to the next.

 

Someone has merely copied the stylistic layout of the title, colors and all, from KOD and applied them to “Gathering Storm” … this is unusual. Additionally, they’ve forgotten to update the sequal oval…

 

At the time of writing, it’s only listed on 1 of the major English language bookseller’s sites….

 

There are NO hits in google image or book searches…..

 

It’s a fake.

 

The title might be right, hell, the picture might be right … but that is not the layout of the cover…

[balefireruinssteaks]

Did Semirhage give Rand Down Syndrome during their battle?  He looks...uhm...slightly retarded.  That must explain the look on Aviendha's face, and also why she's white.

[Omegadragon]

Title :-\     

Title is not great, but could be worse.

 

Cover  :o

Cover is just shocking, and I know that at the very least, it isnt a finished version.  *prays*

 

3 volumes   :'(

To me, three volumes would only be acceptable if the story really went 900k+ words, since a 400k word volume is possible, but 2 volumes, (as it seems for most people) seems appropriate and neccesary.

 

 

 

 

 

[Thorum]

Honestly i dont mind the idea of there being two or even three books, my issue is with the delayed release dates. They would not need a year between each, and the fans have already waited such a long time.

 

Exactly my idea. I would rather wait half a year longer for the first one, and then in 2 months the next one (and in 4 months #3?), than quickly the first part, and then 1-year waits :(

 

Oh yeah, where's that Dutch website?

[spothistto]

As for the cover, I don't care. All of my copies are those black books with wheel and serpent symbol and plan to keep it that way.

 

If there will be three volumes the better. That means I have more to read, if indeed the word count gets close to mil. But the fact that a year is between every publication...I pray to Light it is not so.

[Werthead]

Someone speculated on Wotmania there could be three books announced, but AMoL is still only two volumes. The third could either be the 'book of notes' Brandon wanted to publish afterwards, or Harriet's WoT Encyclopedia mentioned way back by RJ.

 

As for the cover art: love it or hate it, it's what we've seen for the past 11 books (12 with NEW SPRING).  Do you really think it's time to change artists?  I think they should use DKS as the artist for this last book (books?), and then consider having new artists re-do it for the 20th anniversary of EOTW in 2010.

 

Not to mention the RPG and the sourcebook as well, so I take the point. However, the UK covers did change with what they thought were just three books to go and I understand Tor are changing the Malazan books' cover style with just two volumes to go after overwhelming public negativity.

[Nightstrike]

Someone speculated on Wotmania there could be three books announced, but AMoL is still only two volumes. The third could either be the 'book of notes' Brandon wanted to publish afterwards, or Harriet's WoT Encyclopedia mentioned way back by RJ.

Yes! I wish it is WoT Encyclopaedia, or at least the book of notes. That would be so great. I was thinking about it some time back. This could be an indication that it will happen. Very good.

[Luckers]

I like that Brandon is pushing for them to be released as quickly as possible if it is split.

[rhadamanthus]

I don't care about the cover art.  It's the book that matters.

 

Three volumes?  This makes me suspicious.

 

No hardcover?  That pisses me off.

[Werthead]

I don't care about the cover art.  It's the book that matters.

 

Three volumes?  This makes me suspicious.

 

No hardcover?  That pisses me off.

 

Amazon.ca is now listing a hardcover. I think the 'no hardcover' thing was down to the original site that posted the news getting confused.

[Shard]

Aren't we all used to Sweet's bad cover art by now though? I mean it's not like we can have high expectations from him. Like we would from Marie Grandpre or Michael Whelan, I mean isn't it a tradition to make fun of Sweet's art at this point? I know I've read countless LoC "Rand Elvis" jokes.

 

I sincerly hope that they don't split it into three books just so they can get an extra $20+ from the fans.

[Tyrell]

 

UK Covers. Nuff said.