on book signing by BS in Toronto

[herid]

I just came back from a book signing by BS at Chapters here in Toronto and I wanted to relate a few tidbits.

It started with about a half hour Q&A which unfortunately I missed completely because of absolutely horrendous traffic in downtown Toronto.

I did get to ask him a couple of questions when he was signing books and I also heard a couple of questions by other people in line and I want to share those.

• Somebody asked if he killed any characters against RJ's wishes. He said that there was one character who he was going to let live but Harriet insisted should die. And there was another character who's fate was not spelled out in the notes (I didn't quite hear what he said there) and that he killed that character himself. Other than that everybody who dies, dies by RJ's hand. I think he talked about this in other interviews so this is probably not new.
  
• When asked if any of the Forsaken ever had any children he said MAFO. This pretty much means "no" IMO. So I'm afraid that does it for the nice theory that Taim is a son of Moridin and Narg.
  
• I asked him if there is a time limit on how long the DO can hold the souls he grabs. He said that he is not sure and might have to consult the notes but he thinks that there is a time limit. I think that should put an end to the theories that the DO has been holding any souls for hundreds or even thousands of years.
  
• I also asked him if the Heroes of the Horn are invulnerable when they are called by the Horn. He was very ready for this question - when I started to explain that Birgitte told Nynaeve something along those lines in TSR he said that he knows the quote I mean and then he said this. Firstly, the heroes when called by the Horn are not completely invulnerable. But he specifically said that he is not saying that one of them will die. Rather, he said that the issue will be addressed in a discussion between two characters in the book. I found this to be a very interesting answer. I think it puts a serious crimp on the theories that Rand will die and come back to fight the DO as a hero of the Horn.
  
• I also asked him if the character of Verin had any mythological parallels. He said that he doesn't know and would have to see if there is anything in the notes. He also said that most of that stuff was done by RJ but he did add some of his own. He specifically mentioned that Perrin getting wounded in the leg in TOM was his own addition. He didn't elaborate but there are a number of deities (particularly blacksmiths of some sort) like Vulcan and Perun who were wounded in the leg.
  

That was more or less it on AMOL related questions. We chatted a bit after the signing and he was extremely nice. He also said that Jason was there earlier (I would have really liked to meet him) but he was gone by the time I got there.

I wish I wasn't late for the Q&A but perhaps somebody else who was there can post about that.

[Suttree]

...

 

Thanks Herid! Good man...

[herid]

my pleasure. I wish I had a recorder with me - paraphrasing answers can easily lead to errors. but at least I posted as soon as I could while my recollections are still fresh.

[sleepinghour]

Thanks for the report! Perrin getting wounded in the leg is a very fitting addition; it's a bit surprising that RJ didn't think of it himself. Aside from the mythological parallels to Hephaestus and other lame blacksmith deities, it works well thematically as well since both Mat and Rand have also been maimed in recent books.

 

As for Verin having any mythological parallels, I would guess it's Athena / Minerva who was the goddess of wisdom and often depicted with an owl. There's a hint to that in TDR when Egwene goes to see Verin and sees an owl in the room.

 

What appeared to be a stuffed brown owl, not much bigger than Egwene’s hand, stood on what seemed to be a bleached white lizard’s skull, but could not be, for the skull was longer than her arm and had crooked teeth as big as her fingers. Candlesticks had been stuck about in a haphazard fashion, giving good light here and shadows there, although seeming in danger of setting fire to papers in some places. The owl blinked at her, and she jumped.

“Ah, yes,” Verin said. She was seated behind a table as cluttered as everything else in the room, a torn page held carefully in her hands. “It is you. Yes.” She noticed Egwene’s sideways glance at the owl, and said absently, “He keeps down mice. They chew paper.”

 

Also, something I never noticed but Zombie Sammael pointed out on Twitter: Verin's full name is an anagram of "Minerva"—Verin Mathwin.

[herid]

thanks! You may be right about Verin - I never thought about Minerva. Sounds pretty reasonable. I asked that question because I was thinking about her rather unusual role in the books and whether that has any historical or mythological parallels.

[nwash_10]

Do you know what part of AMoL BS read from? He tweeted earlier that he would be reading from AMoL.

[herid]

sorry, no idea. as I said I was quite late because of traffic and missed all of that completely. when I walked in he was literally answering the very last question of the Q&A.

[JenniferL]

Jason said it was the wind scene again, I think.

[MasterAblar]

When asked if any of the Forsaken ever had any children he said MAFO. This pretty much means "no" IMO. So I'm afraid that does it for the nice theory that Taim is a son of Moridin and Narg.

 

Damn, I liked that theory. A lot of thought was put into it.

[nwash_10]

Jason said it was the wind scene again, I think.

 

Cool. Thanks.

[The Fisher King]

Thanks, Herid!

 

Two Things:

 

1 Could someone maybe ask Mr Jason to post the Q/A?

 

2 I don't mean this rude but does anyone else ever wonder how well Brandon REALLY knows the material? Ive noticed that the answer he gives to almost every question through the years is either "Ill have to consult the notes" or "MAFO."

 

Heck, maybe we should have had MAFO/Maria finish the serries, LOL!!!

 

 

Fish

[herid]

Thanks, Herid!

 

Two Things:

 

1 Could someone maybe ask Mr Jason to post the Q/A?

I actually asked the store employees in charge of the event if the Q&A was recorded and they told me it wasn't.

 

2 I don't mean this rude but does anyone else ever wonder how well Brandon REALLY knows the material? Ive noticed that the answer he gives to almost every question through the years is either "Ill have to consult the notes" or "MAFO."

 

Heck, maybe we should have had MAFO/Maria finish the serries, LOL!!!

 

 

Fish

 

Please, please, let's not start with that again. I fully expected a MAFO in response to the question about Forsaken's children unless the issue played a role in the books in which case it would have been a RAFO. So his answer told me everything I wanted to know. The answer about Verin was not very surprising either. Jordan used an enormous amount of mythological and historical input for the novels and expecting BS to know all of it is not realistic. The answer about the Heroes of the Horn was very informative and he clearly thought about the issue beforehand. The only question where I was hoping for a better answer was the one about how long the DO can hold the souls he grabs.

[Mik]

...

 

Thanks Herid! Good man...

This. Thanks!

 

Shame you missed the Q&A.

The HotH answer is... interestingggg. *grins*

[The Fisher King]

Huh? Start what, exactly? Yours is a prime example in a series of interviews over the years where he seems to not have answers ready. To expect him to know every little detail off the top of his head is not realistic, but, expecting him to have a better grasp than he has shown is very valid. Especially considering he has had access to all RJs notes and has been working in this world every day for years now.

 

As for the Q//A, I deeply wish you had read my post a bit more closely and then you wouldn't have misread it. I wasn't speaking of a Store Recording...merely Jason possibly posting his own personal notes or memory of the Q and A. Assuming that he was there for all of it of course.

 

 

Fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Agitel]

Huh? Start what, exactly? Yours is a prime example in a series of interviews over the years where he seems to not have answers ready. To expect him to know every little detail off the top of his head is not realistic, but, expecting him to have a better grasp than he has shown is very valid. Especially considering he has had access to all RJs notes and has been working in this world every day for years now.

 

As for the Q//A, I deeply wish you had read my post a bit more closely and then you wouldn't have misread it. I wasn't speaking of a Store Recording...merely Jason possibly posting his own personal notes or memory of the Q and A. Assuming that he was there for all of it of course.

 

 

Fish

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

Many of these are very obscure questions, but while it may not be mandated under the rules, if we want to discuss this and other examples, can it be brought up in thisguy's topic?

[JenniferL]

The notes are physically located in Charleston, SC. Brandon lives in Utah. Whenever he needed to know something, he had to ask Maria. From what I understand, Jordan's files related to the series, "the notes", are about twice as many words as the actual series, including Brandon's contributions. Maria serves as gatekeeper because she works in the building where the notes are housed and because she created the filing system that's used. While it would be nice if Brandon could answer everything immediately like Jordan did, its simply not possible. And we're going to to have to get used to more and more MAFOs from him as time passes, because his mental energy is going to be taken up by his current projects.

[The Fisher King]

LoL, Poor Brandon and Charleston ...they have cool things now days known as Fed Ex, UPS, Scanners, Copy Machines, Fax Machines. Etc.

 

Point made - finito ;-)

 

 

Fish

[Olver_is_a_Forsaken]

...

 

1.How big was the crowd?

2. Was it GTA people mostly? Many from further afield? Yanks drive up from upstate NY?

 

I'm asking because I had the following conversation with Peter Ahlstrom via Twitter:

Me: Would it be correct 2 assume Mr.Sanderson will not return 2 GreaterToronto or Halifax post-AMoL tour? Other Canadian cities?

 

Peter: Toronto is possible for the AMoL tour but I wouldn't count on it. Halifax, no

 

Me: So what about other Canadian cities? Last two WoT tours were US only. When are tour dates/locations expected to be announced?

 

Peter: The original schedule had 3 Canadian dates, but that was before it had to be changed due to baby #3. I don't know if the new schedule will have any Canadian dates at all. And they haven't told me when it will be announced, but I have asked.

[FarShainMael]

...

 

Thanks Herid! Good man...

This. Thanks!

 

Shame you missed the Q&A.

The HotH answer is... interestingggg. *grins*

 

Isn't it just...

 

Thanks Herid!

[herid]

The notes are physically located in Charleston, SC. Brandon lives in Utah. Whenever he needed to know something, he had to ask Maria. From what I understand, Jordan's files related to the series, "the notes", are about twice as many words as the actual series, including Brandon's contributions. Maria serves as gatekeeper because she works in the building where the notes are housed and because she created the filing system that's used. While it would be nice if Brandon could answer everything immediately like Jordan did, its simply not possible. And we're going to to have to get used to more and more MAFOs from him as time passes, because his mental energy is going to be taken up by his current projects.

Thanks for the info. I had no idea that BS's access to the notes was so restricted. That does explain a lot.

...

 

1.How big was the crowd?

2. Was it GTA people mostly? Many from further afield? Yanks drive up from upstate NY?

I'm really bad at estimating the crowd size but I'd say around 60. The store employees did say that it was quite a bit bigger than they normally get and they didn't expect that many people to show up (the signing was in a suburban branch of Chapters and not downtown).

I can't say where most people were from. If there were any non locals present I didn't hear them says so.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

The store employees said they sold 60 books and they estimated about 100 in the crowd. That estimate may be high but there were probably more people there than books sold, because that's the way signings usually go (people bring books they have already, etc.).