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

[Gentled Ben]

I'm upset at the prospect of waiting two or three more years for this to end. Also, Robert Jordan isn't the only mortal involved with WoT. What of the fans who will die between now and then? I mean, it's a morbid thought, but just as it is sad that RJ did not get to finish his story, there are those of us who will not get to finish it, either. By dragging it out for no better reason than to have pre-Christmas releases two or three years in a row, how many fans will unnecessarily not be able to finish the series?

 

If it were to take Sanderson that long to write and revise it, then fine, but that is clearly not the case--he will be done long before 2010, much less 2011, should they release it in three volumes. If they do that, I think I will wait the extra bit of time it takes to rent it from the library and deny them my money rather than purchase the final volume. I can always find it later at a used book store, so that I get their book for my collection, but they never get my money.  >:(

[Jason Denzel]

We won't get three climaxes. Brandon Sanderson clearly states it will be written as one book. One build-up, one climax, one end.

 

Not true.  In the podcast we did with him, Brandon said that he knew of a good place he could potentially split it, if that's what Harriet and Tor decided to do.  Those guys are all professionals.  They know how good pacing works.  I'm certain we'll get satisfactory endings for each volume, if they decide to split it.

[Ashaman Kovan]

So it's definitely split into two volumes. Maybe three. How many pages is each book though?

[Cillian]

I take books with me so that I can read at lunch or whatever, so I would actually prefer two manageable volumes over one unwieldy, massive tome, but to wait a year between volumes is abusive and uncalled for when clearly, the material will be ready for publication sooner than that. To unnecessarily stretch it out is not cool. If they want to milk it like a cow, they can do that later with special editions, books of lost tales ala Tolkien, calendars, conventions, games, movies, whatever, but they do not need to make us wait 2 or 3 years to finish something that is nearly written as we "speak."

 

Hear hear.

How long was Shadow Rising? 400,000 words?

And Brandon is aiming for 700,000/750,000 words?

Splitting that in two would make each volume smaller than SR, which is obviously manageable.

But splitting it in three parts? The only way I can see that making sense is from a "lets milk it for all it's worth" point of view, which just makes me sad.

[Shard]

Well Brandon did say in his blog that he wouldn't artfically inflate the books or story. He also did say some bad information was out there so the three book split may be false and it may only be for sweden we just don't know yet for sure.

[Werthead]

I must admit I'd be surprised if it did go to three books, if for no reason other than Brandon has said the book has a natural splitting point/climax about 400,000 words in, so the book wouldn't flow properly if it was split anywhere else. Also, what he's revising at the moment is the first 400,000 words, so it sounds very much to me like the first 400,000 words will be The Gathering Storm no matter what. That 'only' leaves the 350,000 later words for Volume II (presumably still called A Memory of Light). And I think Brandon would have mentioned if he thought the book was going to shoot upwards to 900,000-1 million (which is where they'd need to start talking about three volumes).

 

For that reason I'm suspecting the third book could be the Encyclopedia, the book o' notes or maybe something else. Or they got it totally wrong and it's just the two books.

 

Werthead - Can you please update your original post to show this info?  I could edit it for you, but I wanted to be respectful of your original post.

 

Done. I left the cover up because I think people would get confused about what we were talking about if it just vanished. I did note it was a rough mock-up though.

 

Also, the previous cover art was released far too late for the fans to do anything about it (I still have fond, fond recollections of people's reactions to the KoD cover). This time they can have a bit more feedback ;) If people from Tor read this thread hopefully they'll think twice before going with the the 'Epileptic Rand' cover image.

[Jagen Sedai]

Hmm we should write a massively-signed fanletter to TOR about that cover...

 

I also hope it is only two books. Man, it's been too long since I've read my WoT books... must do a re-read when I can, but it seems like I got plenty of time.

[Cillian]

Just to add, I'm not worried about the cover art since here in Ireland we get the snazzy all black covers.

 

But yeah, if anything remotely like the art that was posted here earlier gets passed then .... may God have mercy on us all.....

 

ok, ^^that was a bit overly dramatic. But still..  :D

[Toy and Minion]

I'm glad to hear that much of this rumor was bogus.  I will be waiting for the announcement from Tor.

[RobertAlexWillis]

American cover art in general sucks.  Oh, sweet international shipping!

[Mercer]

Cover art aside (and I dig the Sweet stuff for the most part...not including the shifting look of the main players), the title is horribly cliche.

 

Seriously, "The Gathering Storm"? That's not even a remotely original chapter title, much less an entire novel. It's just too generic. Not a big deal, but still...come on, let Sanderson pick something, I'm sure he could do better.

[CUBAREY]

"The Gathering Storm" is probably the working title for the 400k that Sanderson is polishing up as we speak. They would have to name the book something in order to talk about it internally at TOR. Chances are they choose something like "The Gathering Storm" as it is descriptive of the action in the book (all the diverse elements coming together just before the last battle) a final title would be choosen later in the process with Harriet's and probably Sanderson's input.

[Charlz Fel]

There is also a little bit of internal justification from the series.  All that talk about "the storm is coming."

[dmanmiller34]

I Think the gathering Storm is good title for it because Nyneave has mentioned several times that she has felt a storm gathering before an important even. I am sure that she must feel the mother of all storms gathering now. It is very revalent. Cliche, I think not.

[Mr Ares]

Some things are getting garbled as they get passed from ear to ear.

Considering the series in question, I'd say that was rather appropriate. If only we had someone threatening to kill Sweet on the basis of that cover art before discovering the truth of whether or not he's behnd it.

 

Does anyone know where someone in the US could purchase the black UK hardcovers?

I think it's only the paperbacks. The hardbacks for CoT and KoD have the same design, but with red and green backgrounds respectively. As far as I know, the earlier hardcovers are the ones with the attempts at artwork.

 

I a little surprised' date=' after Knife of Dreams, that RJ insisted there was only one more book ... I would rather take two volumes than a gutted story. [/quote']Well, he did indicate it would be one big book. There will be just as much story there no matter how many volumes it takes. After all, BS has said he's writing this as one book.

 

This way we get three climaxes (i've never met someone who has complained about 3 climaxes)

The wife might if they were all yours.

 

Hmm we should write a massively-signed fanletter to TOR about that cover...

Or kill Sweet, to save the world from his book covers. It's the only way to be sure. Future generations will thank us.

 

Anyway, blah blah, generic title, blah blah, rubbish cover, blah blah, I'll be getting the stylish British one anyway, blah blah, no need for three volumes. They don't need to wait a year between volumes, hopefully that part is a mistake.

[Lord Nik]

This way we get three climaxes (i've never met someone who has complained about 3 climaxes)

The wife might if they were all yours

 

Mr Ares you are my hero

[Werthead]

I Think the gathering Storm is good title for it because Nyneave has mentioned several times that she has felt a storm gathering before an important even. I am sure that she must feel the mother of all storms gathering now. It is very revalent. Cliche, I think not.

 

It is massively unoriginal.

 

So far books directly called 'The Gathering Storm' include:

 

The WWII memoir by Winston Churchill (later made into a multi-award-winning, high-profile film from a couple of years back).

 

The penultimate novel in Kate Elliott's CROWN OF STARS fantasy series, also published by Orbit and also the result of the last book being split in half.

 

A novel based on the RESISTANCE PS3 game series.

 

A book on the Luftwaffe (so-called as it covers the same time period as Churchill's book).

 

Variations:

 

DARK STORM GATHERING by Chris Wraight, a Warhammer fantasy novel.

ATTILA: THE GATHERING OF THE STORM by Chris Wraight, a historical novel.

BEYOND THE GATHERING STORM by Janette Oke, a historical novel.

RISING ABOVE THE GATHERING STORM, an economics coursebook.

 

As an often-used title, it's also untrademarkable, which I'd have thought Tor would have been concerned by ('Knife of Dreams' and 'Eye of the World' are unique titles and therefore trademarkeable).

 

As for cliche, the whole "A storm is coming," thing has been done to death. The last time it was ominous and good was at the end of TERMINATOR. Every time it's been used since then (in BABYLON 5, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, WHEEL OF TIME and more) it's gotten more and more corny.

[Majsju]

My gutfeeling says that The Gathering Storm is a work title. It fits well with the split point Brandon mentioned, the build-up in book 1, the actual battle in book 2. But when it comes to actually getting the book out there, I think (and hope) that Harriet might have a word or two to say about the actual title.

[Elgee]

The title doesn't really bother me. I don't remember book titles anyway  :P

To me they're Book 1, 2, 3 etc ... lol.

[Charlz Guybon]

They can change the title up until the book goes to print, so this is probably just a place holder title.

 

In my opinion the title should quote or refer to in some way the Prophesies of the Dragon.

[Jethro]

What about Rider of the Storm, followed by A Memory of Light?

[Charlz Guybon]

What about Rider of the Storm, followed by A Memory of Light?

Ooh, that sounds cool.

[Tyrell]

What about Rider of the Storm, followed by A Memory of Light?

Ooh, that sounds cool.

 

I'll assume neither of you are familiar with a certain song by The Doors.

[Elgee]

That doesn't sound half bad, actually!  ;D

 

Ps: love The Doors  :D

[Charlz Guybon]

What about Rider of the Storm, followed by A Memory of Light?

Ooh, that sounds cool.

 

I'll assume neither of you are familiar with a certain song by The Doors.

I can hear the song in my head as I type this.