AMoL to be Divided into 3 Volumes - What would RJ say?

[erickm001]

Lets face it.  Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.

 

I disagree. Some of the books were better than others, but I've enjoyed them all. I just can't picture Robert Jordan as a mad money grubber out to bilk the fans.

[CUBAREY]

As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

 

Thus depriving Jordan (when he was alive), his estate now, Brandon Sanderson and Tor of their part of the profit from the books. Which makes it much harder for Tor and other publishers to give young writers a shot. Its one thing to buy an occasional favorite in a second hand bookstore or bargain bin, but when you do it to your favorite author you are depriving them of their livelihood. It's no diffdrent then stealing.

[Voss]

As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

 

Thus depriving Jordan (when he was alive), his estate now, Brandon Sanderson and Tor of their part of the profit from the books. Which makes it much harder for Tor and other publishers to give young writers a shot. Its one thing to buy an occasional favorite in a second hand bookstore or bargain bin, but when you do it to your favorite author you are depriving them of their livelihood. It's no diffdrent then stealing.

 

Aside from the absurd part about stealing you are exactly right and that is the point. Voting with the wallet is the only thing tor understands which is why I'm not giving them another cent for this series. I'll read it, sooner or later but I'm not paying for it. Publish it as one story like Jordan intended. I don't care if it comes in 3 books held together with a rubber band and cost a hundred bucks. I'd buy it. Cut up the work Jordan left so it fits the format of 3 separate books and I'll not give them a cent.

[Casco]

Lets face it.  Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.  I have several friends that stopped reading the books along the way because they said the series would never end.  This is just another way to milk as much profit as possible.  This series could have easily been wrapped up in nine books without leaving out any significnat aspects of the story.  As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

This was a very strange way of seeing things. I cant se that any of the books are pure "fillers" in the series. Its like saying "Rand is born...and then he dies. All in between is just a filler". Its the plots and all the events between that are the story, not only that he was born and he did win or loose TG. Its the length of it that makes it realy good, the details of everything. They are not all that good, but i dont se them as separate books, i see it as 1 story and now when i have readed them, i cant se how to dont include them all for the story.

[Ludmian]

Thank you, EMHeld for one of the best posts and analysis concerning this topic since the news was officially released. Hopefully, after reading this, those who are claiming that Harriet, and Tom, and Brandon and Tor are all splitting AMOL simply to try to make more money will realize the TRUTH behind the motives of James Oliver Rigney's wife, the motives of one of his best friends, Tom from Tor, and the motives of a great young author, Brandon Sanderson.

 

Also, how many of y'all really, really really want to wait another year, or two, or three to carry around a 1400 page novel in hardback and read AMOL WITHOUT READING these next three books just so that y'all can claim YOU were the ones whom were true to RJ's vision, but his WIFE was not???

 

I don't see any "truth" here. I see a hundred of feeble excuses from Tor and unconvincing attempts of some people here to justify their more than questionable actions. To cut the final book of RJ's lifetime work into three parts? To throw away RJ's title for his last book, to give those books the most horrible titles imaginable (the last book called Tarmon Gai'don? *moans*)? To release them a year apart from each other just before the holiday season? Nothing, NOTHING could be farther from RJ's wish. As for people saying that RJ would have stated it in his will if he still wanted AMoL to be published in one volume, again you replace facts (what RJ said many times) with your opinion of what RJ wanted. Most likely he thought that his wish that he expressed in public a million times will be enough for his wife and his friend. Again, if at some point in his life he said to them that he thought there would be three novels instead of one we would have heard about it long ago. But we haven't. Brandon has treated AMoL as one book up to the last moment and he is still insisting on an omnibus edition when the three novels are published. I don't know whose decision it was to ruin the final of the series. It definitely wasn't Brandon and I do hope it wasn't Harriet.

 

And what three books instead of one are you talking about? It's still the same stuff, only divided into three separate books by the kind people at Tor. Again, I don't blame them for making money, I blame them for butchering RJ's last book and fulfilling RJ's dying wish in the worst way imaginable. The fact that Tor owes much of its success to RJ and Tom Doherty was RJ's friend doesn't make things any better, IMHO.

 

[Graendals favourite]

Lets face it.  Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.  I have several friends that stopped reading the books along the way because they said the series would never end.  This is just another way to milk as much profit as possible.  This series could have easily been wrapped up in nine books without leaving out any significnat aspects of the story.  As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

Not everything is for everyone of course, not every tool for every purpose, of course. Nevertheless, on books such as the WoT, I would say that if you regard the later books as filler, then you simply don't understand what is going on there. You do not understand the point, so I would say return to them later if you feel like it, they are not about the same things as the earlier ones were, or if they are they go about it in a different way. The WoT wouldn't be as great as it is without the later books, and it does not stoop from its standards only to please people who simply want more of the same as they've read many times, but naturally as standards rise the reading gets more difficult. Even the fact that books of the second quarter were much longer than the others influences their regarding those as the best, because as longest books they naturally had more happening in them, yet the early and late books both have their own merits. Well, an artist should make his audience work, or what are they getting out of it, mere entertainment and instant satisfaction? Not that these two necessarily should be excluded, not at all, at best there is the entertainment, satisfaction, and material to digest and work with all.

 

Going at how the WoT was going, 300 000 words of AMoL is more than sufficient for one novel. The getting there in life is nothing without the journey, on a personal level at least, this is one important lesson to learn.

[Tyrell]

I don't see any "truth" here. I see a hundred of feeble excuses from Tor and unconvincing attempts of some people here to justify their more than questionable actions. To cut the final book of RJ's lifetime work into three parts? To throw away RJ's title for his last book, to give those books the most horrible titles imaginable (the last book called Tarmon Gai'don? *moans*)? To release them a year apart from each other just before the holiday season? Nothing, NOTHING could be farther from RJ's wish. As for people saying that RJ would have stated it in his will if he still wanted AMoL to be published in one volume, again you replace facts (what RJ said many times) with your opinion of what RJ wanted. Most likely he thought that his wish that he expressed in public a million times will be enough for his wife and his friend. Again, if at some point in his life he said to them that he thought there would be three novels instead of one we would have heard about it long ago. But we haven't. Brandon has treated AMoL as one book up to the last moment and he is still insisting on an omnibus edition when the three novels are published. I don't know whose decision it was to ruin the final of the series. It definitely wasn't Brandon and I do hope it wasn't Harriet.

 

And what three books instead of one are you talking about? It's still the same stuff, only divided into three separate books by the kind people at Tor. Again, I don't blame them for making money, I blame them for butchering RJ's last book and fulfilling RJ's dying wish in the worst way imaginable. The fact that Tor owes much of its success to RJ and Tom Doherty was RJ's friend doesn't make things any better, IMHO.

 

I agree. I won't be buying The Gathering Storm, or any of the other crap titles that they wack on them. The only wheel of time book I'd willingly give Tor or whoever my money for now is A Memory of Light, that's RJ's title, that's what he wanted.

 

And CUBAREY I don't care if I'm "Stealing" from Brandon and all the authors trying to struggle their way up into the industry. I really really don't, the guild lies on Tor not me, my actions are as a direct result of theirs, they are the responsible party here.

[Nightstrike]

I agree with Graendal's favorite. There are lots of storylines to wrap up, and we've known about what the end will be (at least the part where the Bore gets unmade and several viewings) for a very long time, so it really is what happens in between that is important to me as a reader. If the books are well written and fun to read, then there is nothing more to wish for.

[Majsju]

 

 

And CUBAREY I don't care if I'm "Stealing" from Brandon and all the authors trying to struggle their way up into the industry. I really really don't, the guild lies on Tor not me, my actions are as a direct result of theirs, they are the responsible party here.

 

That is like justifying theft by claiming that you do not like the new package for a product, even though the actual product remains exactly the same.

[Tyrell]

 

 

And CUBAREY I don't care if I'm "Stealing" from Brandon and all the authors trying to struggle their way up into the industry. I really really don't, the guild lies on Tor not me, my actions are as a direct result of theirs, they are the responsible party here.

 

That is like justifying theft by claiming that you do not like the new package for a product, even though the actual product remains exactly the same.

 

No it's justifying not buying something because I don't like the new packaging and by refusing to buy the product "stealing" from whoever is cashing in on the aforementioned product. I don't think I'm stealing at all CUBAREY came up with that one.

[Shard]

It's only theft if the book was NEVER paid for since someone would have to have paid for that Book to be in a Library or used book store the Author and Tor would have gotten their money from someone else.

[Gentled Ben]

It's my money, not Tor's, not Brandon's, not Harriet's, and not RJ's. I do not owe it to them, and not giving them what is mine is not stealing. Shoplifting the book is stealing. Scanning the pages of the book and distributing in on the Internet is stealing.  Renting it from the library or purchasing it from a used book store is legal and frugal, and if you feel as some of us do, it is moral, as well.

[Mr Ares]

Earlier in this post, someone had said that Robert Jordan may have been pushing for this to be the last and final book because he knew that his time was growing short. I believe that that is a very reasonable conclusion. If he knew that his time was coming, why would he just write what he could and then leave notes for someone else to finish. Of course he wanted to finish the book himself and could only do that with one more book.

 

I believe that if he could have, he would have put as much into this as Mr. Sanderson is if not more. Could Robert Jordan have done this quicker and with less words. OF COURSE!! It is his creation after all, but I do believe that if he had the choice, he would have made as many books as it would take to finish off the series.

So RJ decided to finish his series with one more book, even if it would mean one book as long as any two other books in the series, because it would save time? There would be just as much to write. As for RJ doing it "quicker and with less words", Sanderson is a fast writer, and RJ was hardly famed for his brevity. As soon as RJ clocked out, this book likely got shorter.

 

The fans and bookstores had been told to expect a book by the end of 2009. Tom Doherty and TOR were concerned that the bookstores would be seriously annoyed if a book the size of brandon's estimate was presented to them. It was going to take Brandon until late 2010 or early 2011 to finish the entire book. The fact that booksellers are demanding smaller books is true visit your local store and look at the page count of the NY TIMES Best Seller Fiction books. Her decision was rational and respected both RJ's legacy and the realities of life.

Yeah, and George R.R. Martin's fans were told to expect A Dance With Dragons in 2006. That worked out well, didn't it. Delays happen. If they are willing to take it from GRRM, they will be willing to take it from a far more successful author like RJ. As for booksellers "demanding" smaller and smaller books, that argument would carry a lot more weight if it wasn't for Steven Erikson. That guy who is published by Tor. Who doesn't get anything like RJ's sales. Who is still stocked by booksellers. And whose last three books have each been more than 200 pages (mmpb) longer than RJ's longest effort. If they'll stock Malazan, they'll stock AMoL. That is the reality.

 

The fact that it will be done as a trilogy speaks to me of the amount of effort that Sanderson is putting in. He's cooking a three course meal to compliment a rare' date=' deliciously aged wine.[/quote']One course or three, there's just as much food. We just pay for it three times over.

 

Who really thinks Jordan wanted to end with 12' date=' and that he wasn't just trying to wrap things up before he died?[/quote']Me. One massive book or three less-massive books, just as much storyline to wrap up.

I'd rather have more Wheel of Time to look forward to for the next few years. I'll savor three good books I can reliably expect from authors I know to produce quality.

You won't, though. There is just as much book. You won't be getting any more this way. The difference is not in how much you get, but in when you get it, and in how many lots.

 

Yes' date=' waaaay back in the day, it was originally supposed to be a trilogy. This was referenced by Tom Doherty in the press release.[/quote']But can anyone find where RJ has said it? Seems like everyone knows he said it, but there is no record of him saying it. In fact, the only RJ quotes I've seen on the matter say nothing of the sort.

 

RJ said:...I knew I was doing something that was going to be longer than usual. But when I first started I thought that 'longer than usual' meant five or six books. I honestly thought I would finish it in five. When I finished 'The Eye of the World' date='' I thought I had a good chance of doing it in six.[/quote']Where did RJ say that? Certainly seems to indicate not a trilogy.

 

Lets face it. Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.

You're talking rubbish.

 

ALL of the books for the WOT were Bestsellers' date=' a few of them even being #1 on the Bestseller lists. Therefore, if some of the books were simply "Fillers", then why did the vast majority of WOT Fans buy them, and read them, and re-read them again and again and again.[/quote']You confuse popularity with quality. The mere fact that a lot of people willingly bought a book doesn't tell you anything about whether or not it was filler. However, all the books advance the plot. Even Crossroads of Twilight. Therefore there is a point other than revenue. Most of the books justify their separate existence as books, as opposed to merging two or more. Crossroads of Twilight is probably the one which does the worst job of succeeding on its own merits, and RJ has said that he was already so far into it by the time he decided that the structure he had chosen (of the various sections starting during the Cleansing) that he either had to stick with it or start the book from scratch, which would have increased the wait. Damned either way. I'm sure GRRM knows the feeling.

[vainebekonnes]

Yes' date=' waaaay back in the day, it was originally supposed to be a trilogy. This was referenced by Tom Doherty in the press release.[/quote']But can anyone find where RJ has said it? Seems like everyone knows he said it, but there is no record of him saying it. In fact, the only RJ quotes I've seen on the matter say nothing of the sort.

It's been a long time since I read that interview, I will see if I can find it.  It was during a time when he was talking about originally working on the story, before he had even really began work on the first book, back when Tam was supposed to be the Dragon Reborn.  Since already a couple of interviews I found links to led to deleted sites, I'm not certain it's even up on the internet any longer, or if it is, I'm not sure I'll be able to find it.  But I'll look for it.  I only remember him mentioning it in one interview that I read though.  By the time the first book was done, he thought it was going to be a 5 or 6 book series.  The trilogy thing was before Eye of the World really got started.

[Alaggor]

 

I don't see any "truth" here. I see a hundred of feeble excuses from Tor and unconvincing attempts of some people here to justify their more than questionable actions. To cut the final book of RJ's lifetime work into three parts? To throw away RJ's title for his last book, to give those books the most horrible titles imaginable (the last book called Tarmon Gai'don? *moans*)? To release them a year apart from each other just before the holiday season? Nothing, NOTHING could be farther from RJ's wish. As for people saying that RJ would have stated it in his will if he still wanted AMoL to be published in one volume, again you replace facts (what RJ said many times) with your opinion of what RJ wanted. Most likely he thought that his wish that he expressed in public a million times will be enough for his wife and his friend. Again, if at some point in his life he said to them that he thought there would be three novels instead of one we would have heard about it long ago. But we haven't. Brandon has treated AMoL as one book up to the last moment and he is still insisting on an omnibus edition when the three novels are published. I don't know whose decision it was to ruin the final of the series. It definitely wasn't Brandon and I do hope it wasn't Harriet.

 

And what three books instead of one are you talking about? It's still the same stuff, only divided into three separate books by the kind people at Tor. Again, I don't blame them for making money, I blame them for butchering RJ's last book and fulfilling RJ's dying wish in the worst way imaginable. The fact that Tor owes much of its success to RJ and Tom Doherty was RJ's friend doesn't make things any better, IMHO.

 

 

My toughs exactly. Yes it is definitely not Brandon, but I think that it is Hariet. Her actions made me think so. She sold the rights to a Hollywood company for filming the EotW and to Dabel Brothers for graphic novels. Also it was her decision to sell RJ's swords and knives collection. I don't think that the decision about splitting AMoL was made by Tor or by Mr Sanderson.

 

And another question bothers me. Why Sanderson hide the important information about finishing the first part of the book under "Mistborn Two Personalized Hardcovers" title in his blog? I guess that he don't want to get any attention on him right after the "Splitting AMoL" post. Shame on Hariet for making all the fans angry about her decision, shame on Tor for their money-grabbing attitude, shame on Sanderson for hiding like a mouse. I think that we the fans deserve better than that. But I guess that after RJ passing we can't expect it.

 

[lt;(^-^)gt;]

One course or three, there's just as much food. We just pay for it three times over.

We get three books worth of material, for the price of three books.  Sanderson wants to include everything, and Tor is letting him write an epic to do it.  How can the packaging of the story offend or disrespect RJ?  Because he said he wanted it to be in a single volume?  I think he would laugh at the idea.  Look at some of his old quotes about the situation of his death:

Q: If you die, will Piers Anthony finish the series?

A: No. No one will finish the series. The hard disks will be reformatted 4x in successions.

 

Q: Is the ending written and stored in a safety deposit box somewhere?

A: No. It’s in my head.

Q: What if you die or something?

A: You’re screwed [basically. Heh.]

 

Q: I'll try this question again: I really hope you have a long and happy life, but have you taken any precautions for the finishing of WOT in case something happens to you?

A: I have not only not taken precautions to make sure that TWOT is finished by someone else than me, I have made that as difficult as possible. So if you want to see the end of TWOT, you wish that I live a long and healthy life guys!

Clearly RJ changed his mind, or he was joking in his answers.  Either way, there is no reason to take his insistence on a single huge volume any more seriously than the above quotes.  Tor is looking at 900,000 words, which to a publisher equals three long books.

[Shard]

One course or three, there's just as much food. We just pay for it three times over.

We get three books worth of material, for the price of three books.  Sanderson wants to include everything, and Tor is letting him write an epic to do it.  How can the packaging of the story offend or disrespect RJ?  Because he said he wanted it to be in a single volume?  I think he would laugh at the idea.  Look at some of his old quotes about the situation of his death:

Q: If you die, will Piers Anthony finish the series?

A: No. No one will finish the series. The hard disks will be reformatted 4x in successions.

 

Q: Is the ending written and stored in a safety deposit box somewhere?

A: No. It’s in my head.

Q: What if you die or something?

A: You’re screwed [basically. Heh.]

 

Q: I'll try this question again: I really hope you have a long and happy life, but have you taken any precautions for the finishing of WOT in case something happens to you?

A: I have not only not taken precautions to make sure that TWOT is finished by someone else than me, I have made that as difficult as possible. So if you want to see the end of TWOT, you wish that I live a long and healthy life guys!

Clearly RJ changed his mind, or he was joking in his answers.  Either way, there is no reason to take his insistence on a single huge volume any more seriously than the above quotes.  Tor is looking at 900,000 words, which to a publisher equals three long books.

 

QFT

 

What's more is we don't know all the talks that went on between RJ, Harriet and Wilson or anyone else for that matter. I think RJ didn't want to think about precautions or tell us of any because it would be admitting defeat. Still the fact remains we are getting this story and that contrary to it being in RJ's head he clearly kept notes and even made audio tapes according to Harriet.

 

I think we should just be greatful were getting anything at all. This could have easily turned into the Spelljammer books, 5 books in a supposed to be 6 book series. The 6th was NEVER written, unfortunatly I didn't know that at the time I started reading them.  :(

[CUBAREY]

Again, if at some point in his life he said to them that he thought there would be three novels instead of one we would have heard about it long ago.

 

Why would Harriet or Tom Doherty revealed such a statement. Everyone believed the story could be finished in one novel. The contract with Brandon envisions a novel of 200k, when he started writing Brandon was estimating 400k. When Sanderson revealed to Doherty that he had 275K and that it represented about a third of the story Doherty was surprised. What's important is not whether Jordan ever communicated to his loved ones that he would be okay with a end product that turned out to be 800k to 1,000k being split into two or three books but rather RJ communicated to them that he wanted the story finished and published however long and how many volumes it took. The fact that his wife and close friend soon after his death arranged for another author to finish the work and gave him the freedom to decide how long the story had to be without making any arbitrary limits on the length (which would have been their legal right) convinces me that they not only wished to finish RJ's masterpiece but that they took all relevant considerations into account when they decided to split AMOL into three books.

I also remind you that AMOL was a woking title. We do not know if RJ ever thought of changing to another name. Moreover, the names of the last two books are only tentative. I suspect that derogatory comments about them might convince Tor to change the names to something more appropriate.

 

My toughs exactly. Yes it is definitely not Brandon, but I think that it is Hariet. Her actions made me think so. She sold the rights to a Hollywood company for filming the EotW and to Dabel Brothers for graphic novels. Also it was her decision to sell RJ's swords and knives collection. I don't think that the decision about splitting AMoL was made by Tor or by Mr Sanderson.

 

First, the writes to make WOT into a movie and graphic novels had been previously sold by Jordon. He had indicated he was not happy with the way had been used by those who had bought them and that there was a time limit to such rights and that he would sell them to someone more worthy when he got the rights back. How is Harriet selling those rights any different then what Jordan wanted.

 

Second, I do not know if you have ever lost a spouse, a child or a parent. But many of us who have find that having things that constantly remind us of our lose to be unbearable. I for one gave away (to those who would cherish them or at least find use for them) many of the personal momentos my parents had collected. Thus, exactly what is so wrong with Harriet auctioning of RJ's sword collection to fans who would cherish the oppertunety to own and exhibit an item owned by the master.

 

And another question bothers me. Why Sanderson hide the important information about finishing the first part of the book under "Mistborn Two Personalized Hardcovers" title in his blog? I guess that he don't want to get any attention on him right after the "Splitting AMoL" post. Shame on Hariet for making all the fans angry about her decision, shame on Tor for their money-grabbing attitude, shame on Sanderson for hiding like a mouse. I think that we the fans deserve better than that. But I guess that after RJ passing we can't expect it.

 

This is just stupid, if Brandon Sanderson was scared of fan reaction he would have simply not commented at all or simply stated that the decision was legally that of Harriet and Tor instead of making three very large posts concerning the Publishing of AMOL and the reasons for splitting it into three novels.

 

 

It's my money, not Tor's, not Brandon's, not Harriet's, and not RJ's. I do not owe it to them, and not giving them what is mine is not stealing. Shoplifting the book is stealing. Scanning the pages of the book and distributing in on the Internet is stealing.  Renting it from the library or purchasing it from a used book store is legal and frugal, and if you feel as some of us do, it is moral, as well.

 

You are perfectly correct, it is legal. However, its morality is open to question if you have the money to buy it new (if you do not then by all means borrow it from a library or buy it from a second hand bookstore). There is also a practical consideration, if a lot of people simply decide not to buy books when published, there will be a lot less fantasy books published. Whether you like to admit it or not professional writers need to get paid for their work, publishers will only pay writers and produce the actual books if they have a reasonable expectation that they will get their money back and a little profit to boot (the profit margins in publishing are quite small which is one of the reasons that the number of publishers has declined over the last 30 years).

 

 

 

[Gentled Ben]

You are perfectly correct, it is legal. However, its morality is open to question if you have the money to buy it new (if you do not then by all means borrow it from a library or buy it from a second hand bookstore). There is also a practical consideration, if a lot of people simply decide not to buy books when published, there will be a lot less fantasy books published. Whether you like to admit it or not professional writers need to get paid for their work, publishers will only pay writers and produce the actual books if they have a reasonable expectation that they will get their money back and a little profit to boot (the profit margins in publishing are quite small which is one of the reasons that the number of publishers has declined over the last 30 years).

It doesn't matter how much money I have; it is my money and I do not owe it to Tor, Brandon, or Harriet. Fantasy is a broad genre with many authors selling many books. If I do not purchase three books by Brandon Sanderson, I will not destroy the genre. <_<

 

The remaining three volumes are guaranteed bestsellers unless the first one proves to be the worst imaginable tripe, and I seriously doubt if that will be the case. Indeed, if I do not purchase the books new, I will likely have no impact whatsoever except on my own conscience and apparently, on a few posters here who feel offended by how I decide to spend my money.

 

[CUBAREY]

You are perfectly correct, it is legal. However, its morality is open to question if you have the money to buy it new (if you do not then by all means borrow it from a library or buy it from a second hand bookstore). There is also a practical consideration, if a lot of people simply decide not to buy books when published, there will be a lot less fantasy books published. Whether you like to admit it or not professional writers need to get paid for their work, publishers will only pay writers and produce the actual books if they have a reasonable expectation that they will get their money back and a little profit to boot (the profit margins in publishing are quite small which is one of the reasons that the number of publishers has declined over the last 30 years).

It doesn't matter how much money I have; it is my money and I do not owe it to Tor, Brandon, or Harriet. Fantasy is a broad genre with many authors selling many books. If I do not purchase three books by Brandon Sanderson, I will not destroy the genre. <_<

 

The remaining three volumes are guaranteed bestsellers unless the first one proves to be the worst imaginable tripe, and I seriously doubt if that will be the case. Indeed, if I do not purchase the books new, I will likely have no impact whatsoever except on my own conscience and apparently, on a few posters here who feel offended by how I decide to spend my money.

 

 

I am not offended by your choices I simply think that your attitude is childish and that your decision is due to you thrwoing a temper tantrum because the responsible people did not give your opinion as to what to do more weight then the opinions of the author writing AMOL, RJ's long time editor and wife and his close friend. Sorry but a temper tantrum by a child that has been told his parents decided that he should not have any candy is what you sound like to me.

[Tyrell]

You are perfectly correct, it is legal. However, its morality is open to question if you have the money to buy it new (if you do not then by all means borrow it from a library or buy it from a second hand bookstore). There is also a practical consideration, if a lot of people simply decide not to buy books when published, there will be a lot less fantasy books published. Whether you like to admit it or not professional writers need to get paid for their work, publishers will only pay writers and produce the actual books if they have a reasonable expectation that they will get their money back and a little profit to boot (the profit margins in publishing are quite small which is one of the reasons that the number of publishers has declined over the last 30 years).

 

I'll be supporting you all the way Ben. And since you're bringing morality of all things into a debate centered on capital, CUBAREY, if there is any moral question here for me it is "Do I want to give my money to the people who have hacked up the legacy of a now deceased author for whom I had great admiration?"

 

Edit : CUBAREY made a new post while I was posting. Could you try to get the levels of condescension any higher? Oh wait, they're already at 11. And since we're throwing insults now, maybe before we talk about childish behaviour, lets look at the person with the ALLCAPS name /snipe.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Even if Tor is milking this for profit, thats what they do!  Its called running a business.  They are, at the absolute worst, guilty of being just a touch disingenuous, which is actually expected in a press release by everyone but the most credulous ...

 

Even if Harriet is milking it for profit, and I stress the conditional there because that does not appear to be the reason for these decisions, so what?  Her husband didn't write these books for charity.  She was intimately involved in the work from day one, and DESERVES to profit from it.  Does anyone really believe that Jim Rigney Jr. would disapprove of his beloved wife and editor of decades being supported from the proceeds of his legacy?

 

No one has been deceptive here.  No one is holding a gun to your head and saying "Buy these books."

 

Some of the readers/fans may have created unrealistic expectations, or given far too much weight to some comments while entirely ignoring their context, but none of that is any reflection on Harriet, Tom Doherty, or Tor as a company.  Your expectations are not their obligations.

 

Seriously, get some perspective, folks.

 

One the other side of the argument, people have every right to spend or not spend their money as they see fit.  No one is under any obligation to purchase these books at all, or to purchase them new if a used book is available.  The decision not to buy the books new is not "morally questionable".  Come on people.  Reading something from the library, or purchasing it used, are two perfectly legal and entirely moral options.  It is, in the absolute worst case, merely slightly silly.

 

This whole thread has become absurd.

[CUBAREY]

I'll be supporting you all the way Ben. And since you're bringing morality of all things into a debate centered on capital, CUBAREY, if there is any moral question here for me it is "Do I want to give my money to the people who have hacked up the legacy of a now deceased author for whom I had great admiration?"

 

Edit : CUBAREY made a new post while I was posting. Could you try to get the levels of condescension any higher? Oh wait, they're already at 11. And since we're throwing insults now, maybe before we talk about childish behaviour, lets look at the person with the ALLCAPS name /snipe.

 

I was not the one who brought  the "Greed" of Harriet or Doherty into the discussion of why AMOL was split into three books. If you claim that someone (especially a man's widow and close friend) are hacking-up an author's masterpiece for base economic reasons you have brought morality into the discussion. Sorry, but its childish to think that you care more about RJ's legacy or know his real opinion on whether or not to split AMOL into two or more volumes then his wife and friend.

 

Lastly, my name is in all caps because when I joined DM I accidentally had the "caps lock" on and as far as I know there is no way to edit your name (nor a really pressing reason to do so).

[Vambram]

 

 

I don't see any "truth" here. I see a hundred of feeble excuses from Tor and unconvincing attempts of some people here to justify their more than questionable actions. To cut the final book of RJ's lifetime work into three parts? To throw away RJ's title for his last book, to give those books the most horrible titles imaginable (the last book called Tarmon Gai'don? *moans*)? To release them a year apart from each other just before the holiday season? Nothing, NOTHING could be farther from RJ's wish. As for people saying that RJ would have stated it in his will if he still wanted AMoL to be published in one volume, again you replace facts (what RJ said many times) with your opinion of what RJ wanted. Most likely he thought that his wish that he expressed in public a million times will be enough for his wife and his friend. Again, if at some point in his life he said to them that he thought there would be three novels instead of one we would have heard about it long ago. But we haven't. Brandon has treated AMoL as one book up to the last moment and he is still insisting on an omnibus edition when the three novels are published. I don't know whose decision it was to ruin the final of the series. It definitely wasn't Brandon and I do hope it wasn't Harriet.

 

And what three books instead of one are you talking about? It's still the same stuff, only divided into three separate books by the kind people at Tor. Again, I don't blame them for making money, I blame them for butchering RJ's last book and fulfilling RJ's dying wish in the worst way imaginable. The fact that Tor owes much of its success to RJ and Tom Doherty was RJ's friend doesn't make things any better, IMHO.

 

 

 

Well, I am sooooo glad that Ludmain would know what Robert Jordan would want, and approve of doing BETTER THAN Robert Jordan's WIFE. {sarcasm alert}

 

Seriously, some of you all need to get a life, and get a real grip on reality. There is no way that anyone could possibly convince me or even come close to seriously suggesting that the fans of WOT would understand what Robert Jordan would approve of doing for AMOL better than the one who knew and loved Robert Jordan BETTER than ANY of us possibly could.

[benr]

The cost of three books, for all of the enjoyment they will bring, is less than the cost of two people for a major concert - way less.  And they keep on giving.  These are a bargain.