Nice Meeting you all

[Kalyani Al'Arinelle]

Hello All,

 

This is Kalyani Al'Arinelle.. I am from India and Kalyani is my actual name.. I thought it already sounds like a wheel of time name and to go with it.. Forgive me for this long and rambling post down here, but I wanted to share everything with you, so that you can decide whether I belong here or not..

 

I first heard of wheel of time in 2005 and since knife of dreams is available, I read all 11 books at a stretch in 3 months.. These books are so compelling that I had to finish them off before I could even spare time to talk to my husband.. It helped that he started reading them with me and became as obsessed as I was.. .. Once I finished the 11th book, I started haunting all the WOT fan sites and was very anxious to find that Robert Jordan has a serious malady.I started praying for his health fervently and checking his blog regularly to see if there was an improvement in his health. I was very happy to find that he is getting better until that most shocking and completely unexpected news on 16th Sep 2007.. I was heartbroken and cried for days.. I wished I have known Robert Jordan before, I wish I havemet him once.. I wish I have his sign on one of the books.. :( Once I recovered from the intial shock, I decided to treasure his masterpieces and decided to re read them and by the time I finished the books, I came to know that Brandon Sanderson is chosen to finish the series..

 

I have not heard of him before and wanted to read his work and since I lived in India then and Tor has no contract with a UK publishers, getting his books there is not easy then, but I managed to get hold on Elantris and fell in love with Raoden.. Since I loved Elantris, I wanted to read more books from Brandon and with utmost difficulty managed to get Mistborn first book. It took my breath away and Brandon became one of my most favourite author very fast..By then Well of Ascencion released in USA already.. Happily my husband got a short term assignment in Virginia and he got that book for me.. The final book, Hero of the ages I got through Amazon after 16 days of torturous waiting.. I loved that series so much that I wanted more from Brandon and downloaded then available version of warbreaker and finished that as well.. This book was even better and I started searching for something, anything that is written by him.. I found about his YA Alcatraz series and got them as well and they became my favourites too.. So, without my being aware, Brandon became my most favourite author.. I read everything he published, his short stories, his blog entries, his interviews and thought he is one of mos forthcoming and honest authors I have ever known..

 

Happily for me, we moved to USA in 2008 and after the gathering storm released, I read the book in 17 hours and loved the book and wanted to meet Brandon.. We used to live in VA and I came to know that he is coming to DC and we both went there.. That is where I met WOT fans that are reading the series from its inception with so much dedication that I felt like I wasnt a true fan at all as I only started reading the books from 2005. I sprained my knee a week before and could not walk or stand much so I had the privilage of sitting very close to him while my husband stood in line for both of us.. That is when I saw how nice, kind, gentle, humble and awesome guy Brandon really was and I became a diehard fan.. I lingered until he left the store and he was very kind to me.. I was shy and tongue tied and could not speak much or ask any questions .. He saw that and asked me questions and made me talk to him..

 

When I came to know that he is releasing his own major epic fantasy series book 1, I was soo happy and eager to read his book that I bought a kindle and bought the ebook as well as hardback, as Kindle downloads books at 3:00 AM EST and that gave me a feeling of being part of the midnight release.. I finished the book in 15 hours and to say I loved it is not enough.. Its just super duper awesome.. I wanted to express my love about the book and its author, but I know I will be tongue tied and will not be able to say anything, so, I painted two way of king themed T-Shirts and I and My husband wore them to the signing.. I was very happy to see even more people at the signing than the TGS and started talking to people and they were all very kind to me. But their dedication made me more nervous to talk about WOT with them.. So, I talked about all the other Brandon's books I read and how much I really loved them.. As soon as we reached Brandon, He looked at our T-shirts (none of the others recognized them till then) and said in a loud voice, " Wow.. These T-shirts are sweet.. Do you mind If I take a picture and post them in my facebook /twitter ?? " We both were surprised into silence and nodded like we are too dumb to say anything and grinned like crazy when he took the foto.. The kind lady sitting next to him gave us heaps of gifts (All the WOT bumper stickers, Way of kings Brandon's wrist band, a blue way of kings bag, a post card of way of kings) We were so happy and overwhelmed that we wanted to thank Brandon, So, we lingered again until the last and came to know that he will play Magic, the gathering that night... We told him we dont play that game, but asked him if we can tag along.. He said sure.. We jumped into our car and followed his car and had a wonderful time watching him slaughter 4 guys all the while explaning to us whats happening.. We left by 12:40 AM and we were very happy to know that he will come to Boston for TOM signing since we were moving to Portland, Maine.. He did post our foto in twitter and we were are cloud 9..

 

Now that TOM release date is fast approaching, I started re listening to all 12 WOT books and I also wanted to be a Tower guard and applied for it.. I live 2 and 1/2 hours away from MA so I did not have much hopes of being selected and as I thought, I did not get selected, But saw an Indian name in the lucky people who got selected and was very happy about it.. Since, Brandon loved my WOK T-Shirts, I thought of making one for him for TOM signing, I wanted to make one for his lovely wife, who sacrificed so much of their time together so we can have two massive tomes from him this year.. I also wanted to make one for Peter for his hardwork on Way of kings, TOM and he is the one who answers all my questions in facebook.. So, painted three T-shirts but did not expect his reaction as usual, He recognized us on sight, told Harriet that we always follow him to all his signings and now I made T-Shirts for him" I told him I wanted to be the tower guard this time, but was not selected but happy to find an Indian in the team all the same.. He said that, "Tell Dragonmount that for AMOL, Brandon said that you are selected as a tower guard or whatever is the equivalent for that book".. What else can anyone ask for... This is the chance of life time for me.. He is the Best author and man ever.. Now, all I need to do is Pray that by spring 2012, I will be in USA and somewhere close to a signing... Once again I am very sorry about the length of this post, but I wanted to properly introduce myself.. I love Wheel of time books and as far as I am concerned Brandon Sanderson is the future of epic fantasy..

 

Please find my link for my fotos of the TOM signing below:

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=41638&id=100000539273678&l=7b180489db

 

Please find the our foto Brandon posted after TWOK signing below:

 

http://twitpic.com/2mr2hs

 

Please forgive my typos and Have a wonderful day..

 

Luv,

Kalyani

[Winterwinds]

Welcome to the mount!!

 

Dont worry about the long winded posts, I tend to do them myself sometimes :)

 

And that is awesome that you went to the TOM signing! I got to staff the Gathering Storm Book Tour :D It was awesome so I hope you enjoyed the book signing.

 

And dont worry, we all make typoes once and a while.

 

Now, do you have any questions? Concerns? Perhaps I can answer them or direct you where to go for answers as is my job :3

 

If so, feel free to post here, and I will get back to you asap :D

 

Until then, have a nice day, and have fun Storming the Mount!

[Kalyani Al'Arinelle]

Welcome to the mount!!

 

Dont worry about the long winded posts, I tend to do them myself sometimes :)

 

And that is awesome that you went to the TOM signing! I got to staff the Gathering Storm Book Tour :D It was awesome so I hope you enjoyed the book signing.

 

And dont worry, we all make typoes once and a while.

 

Now, do you have any questions? Concerns? Perhaps I can answer them or direct you where to go for answers as is my job :3

 

If so, feel free to post here, and I will get back to you asap :D

 

Until then, have a nice day, and have fun Storming the Mount!

 

 

Thanks much for welcoming me.. I have a question about the Tower guard or the equivalent for AMOL.. When are they going to announce the selections so that I can keep a look out and make sure to mention Brandon's assurance that I have a sure place in that program ??? Do I need to do something like post 25 posts or something to be an actual part of dragon mount ?? I will ask more questions once I am in and out of the forums and see some posts and stuff.. Please let me know..

 

Kalyani

[Winterwinds]

Hm, this is a good question :3 I think for the most part it will be in the annoucment part of the forum, or it will be desplayed up at the top with the rest of the news (if we have news, truth be told still getting used to this place xD)

 

I will look into this more for you, and see what I can dig up :D

[Kalyani Al'Arinelle]

Hm, this is a good question :3 I think for the most part it will be in the annoucment part of the forum, or it will be desplayed up at the top with the rest of the news (if we have news, truth be told still getting used to this place xD)

 

I will look into this more for you, and see what I can dig up :D

 

 

Its an enormous site with loads of things going on.. I am quite overwhelmed myself.. Thanks much for looking into it for me.. Have a gr8 day.. :)

[JenniferL]

I sort of wish that Brandon would tell me when he does my job for me. Silly man.

 

When we post the applications in 2012, please note somewhere in yours that you talked to Brandon at the Boston signing and that he'd like you to be a volunteer. I'll be on the look out for yours.

[Winterwinds]

The almighty has beaten me to the information :3

[Kalyani Al'Arinelle]

I sort of wish that Brandon would tell me when he does my job for me. Silly man.

 

When we post the applications in 2012, please note somewhere in yours that you talked to Brandon at the Boston signing and that he'd like you to be a volunteer. I'll be on the look out for yours.

 

Yayyyyy.. I am soooo happyyyyyy.. I shall make sure to mention this in the application for AMOL.. Thanks much for the information.. Have a wonderful day.. *Curtesies* :D

[Kalyani Al'Arinelle]

The almighty has beaten me to the information :3

 

hahahahaha... .. Thanks much for trying to get the info for me.. :)