Dragonmount's co-leader, and JordanCon founder, Jenn Liang, and her husband Jimmy Liang, will be next year's Fan Guests of Honor at Kansas City's ConQuesT.

From the ConQuesT site:

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Jennifer Liang has been an active fan for 20 years. She was one of the first to raise her hand when Jason Denzel asked for volunteers for Dragonmount.com and hasn’t stopped since. Jennifer served as “Amyrlin Seat” and community leader of the site for ten years and continues to be involved in special projects and content creation. She ran the Wheel of Time program track for DragonCon from 2001-2012 and was invited back to helm a new High Fantasy track in 2017. She was a beta reader for the final three Wheel of Time novels and coordinated volunteers around the country for those book tours. Additionally, Jennifer served as President of the Southern Fandom Confederation, the region’s oldest active science fiction fan club from 2013-2018 and chaired two DeepSouthCons. She has been a featured panelist at conventions around the country, speaking about the Wheel of Time, fantasy literature and fandom in general. In 2017, Jennifer received the Hank Reinhardt Georgia Fandom Award for her contributions to fandom. Jennifer is the founder and Chair of JordanCon, the only fantasy literature focused convention in Atlanta.

 

In her professional life, Jennifer is a Level Two Google Certified Educator and Common Sense Digital Citizenship Ambassador. She is the Instructional Technology Specialist at a small independent school for students with autism spectrum disorders.

 

Jimmy Liang has a boring office job and generally just does what Jennifer tells him to.

ConQuesT takes place every Memorial Day weekend, at the end of May (May 24-26, 2019).  The year's theme is "mad science and experimental wizardry."  Tickets are on sale now for the early bird price of $30.  On November 1, that price will increase.

The first episode of WoTchers—a Wheel of Time reading podcast—was released earlier this month.

The podcast, hosted by three authors, Hank Garner, Josh Hayes, and Jaime Castle, starts on an epic quest to finish The Wheel of Time series.  The podcasters come from different points in The Wheel of Time journey, Hank and Jamie read a few of the series, while Josh is completely new.  This is bound to make for interesting dialogue as these men progress farther into the series.

First off, the podcasters state right out that this is not a “fanboy love fest.”  In fact, Jamie admits that he would not have finished the book if he hadn’t committed to doing this podcast.  They have plenty of criticism to start.  This first episode is sort of an introduction, a brief overview of the tropes expected, and the unavoidable “just a Lord of the Rings knockoff” banter. 

Even so, they have some good points.  Reading the series fresh in the year 2018 is a lot different from reading it when it began in 1990.  Times have changed.  Readers have evolved.  It’s difficult to keep the mindset of where the books originated.  (This same argument can be used with many older books, and even films; it’s sometimes hard for modern audiences to grasp the culture of the past.)  Jaime states that the podcast’s purpose is to look at The Wheel of Time as an example for them to examine their own craft.  Viewing the series through this lens would definitely shift the focus.  Reading for enjoyment and reading for learning are two separate things, in my opinion.

All in all, this was an enjoyable first podcast and I’m curious how their opinions might change—or stay the same—as they progress farther into the series.

You can learn more about WoTchers at their website.

Our friends at the Wheel of Time Spoilers podcast have a new project in the works: Mistborn Spoilers.  Following the same format, Patrick and Seth scrutinize Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn series—one chapter at a time—and discuss all the nitty-gritty details, backstories, foreshadowing, and wonders that make up this fantastic series.

The first three episodes focused on the background information needed to comprehend the world, the Lord Ruler, and the current life of the people.  After that, they delve right into the books.  I was very pleased when Seth and Patrick allowed me to be a guest host for the Prologue and Chapter 1 episodes.

I’m a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson, and the Mistborn series is at the top of my favorite works by him.  That doesn’t mean the books are flawless.  I’m very quick to point out the under presentation of women in this first novel, and the over-dependence on using rape as a plot device.  That said, I do love this book, and I love these characters, and I was happy to be able to discuss them with others who are so knowledgeable.

Patrick and Seth currently record Mistborn Spoilers on Monday, and for a $1 Patreon donation, you can listen live while they record!  The back and forth dialogue with devoted fans adds a lot to the quality of the show, one of the reasons why both these podcasts are so popular!

You can follow Wheel of Time Spoilers on Facebook or Twitter, and you can follow Mistborn Spoilers on Facebook.

Most Wheel of Time fans know that Robert Jordan, besides being an avid writer, was an avid reader.  On the lastest episode of Wheel of Time Spoilers, Wilson Grooms—Jordan's relative—stated that Jordan was reading one book a day.  This led his personal library to reach over 10,000 books.

And that collection will soon be available for purchase from Mr. K’s Used Books, CDs, DVDs and More:

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Starting the first weekend in May, Mr. K’s Used Books, CDs, DVDs and More will be proudly offering for sale the personal library of James Oliver Rigney, Jr., better known to the literary world as Robert Jordan, author of The Wheel of Time fantasy series which was recently chosen by PBS as part of their Great American Read series as one of America’s 100 most-loved books. These were purchased from Mr. Rigney’s estate and taken directly from the carriage-house office in Charleston, S.C. where he wrote and worked to the four Mr. K’s locations across the South.

 

Mr. Rigney who passed away in 2007 of cardiac amyloidosis at the age of 58 was not only a beloved author but also an avid book lover. Mr. K’s manager Kelly Langston-Smith says, “When talking to his long-time editorial assistant and library organizer Maria Simons, she told us that one of the things that he was most pleased about in being a successful writer was that he could buy any book he wanted. When asked if he kept every book he ever bought, she told us that, no, if he didn’t like a book, he got rid of it. These were all books that he wanted to keep.”

 

The collection consists of more than 10,000 books across a wide variety of subjects, many of them non-fiction works which he used as research for his writing. “A lot of these books are really esoteric,” Langston-Smith says. “If he was interested in a subject, he didn’t have one or two books on the subject, he had ten or twenty. He especially seemed fond of Asian culture and art, weaponry of all sorts, Native Americans, naval ships, exotic languages, ancient history (primarily Greek, Roman and Medieval), military battles and the like. I have worked for Mr. K’s for over 15 years and 80% of these books I have never seen before. I doubt I will ever have the privilege of processing a collection this interesting and unusual ever again.”

 

All four Mr. K’s locations will have a section dedicated to “The Jordan Collection” in which only books that came from Mr. Rigney’s library will be displayed. The initial offering will be available for sale starting May 4th and will be regularly refilled as more of the collection is processed. “It’s over 400 boxes of books,” Langston-Smith laughs, “I’m not even half-way through them yet. I’m sure we will be adding new and interesting things to these displays well into the summer.”

For those in the areas, the four Mr. K's locations are in Asheville, North Carolina, Charleston and Greenville, South Carolina, and Johnson City, Tennessee.  You can see a map of their locations here.

Don't miss out on the opportunity of owning one of Robert Jordan's personal books!

Dragonmount’s Ebony Adomanis, who is also the director's assistant/manager of the World of Wheel of Time track at JordanCon, recently had the opportunity to sit down with Seth and Patrick, the voices of the podcast Wheel of Time Spoilers.  This interview shows a lot of the behind the scenes intricacies that make Wheel of Time Spoilers such an enjoyable, and engaging, podcast!

Ebony: Thank you for visiting Dragonmount. Please introduce yourselves for our readers who might not be familiar with your podcast.

Patrick:  The Wheel of Time Spoilers Podcast is a show that's released 3 times a week.  It's a book club in audio format, made by fans of the series for fans like us.  It's a show for people who have already read The Wheel of Time, and may want to read it again, or at least listen to a more in depth understanding and discussion of the series.  We talk about important plot points, character motivations and allegiances, explain the magic use/magical item use and function as they appear during our read-through, and talk about lots and lots of different fan theories.  We felt that there's another layer revealed with each re-read or audio book listen we did, and we wanted to share that with the fan community.  Another thing that makes us a bit unique, I think, is that we always record episodes live in a Discord Server, so our fans can take part in the discussion of each chapter while it's being recorded.  So, Seth and I are blessed with real-time fact checking, and theory discussions in text form in front of us while we have our conversation, while people read through the series with us.

Seth: Patrick and I are friends from Portland, OR. We met in 2013 when we rented rooms in the same house. I immediately noticed Patrick’s “Spear and Buckler” Aiel chapter heading tattoo on his arm and that started a conversation that is still going on today. We talk about minor plot points, character motivations, magic systems, and just how awesome the Wheel of Time is. Our podcast is that conversation, organized chapter by chapter, recorded and edited. We have been making WOT spoilers for nearly a year now. 

E: Whose idea was it to begin Wheel of Time Spoilers?

P: It was definitely Seth's idea to try to start recording the conversations we were already having, and put them into some kind of podcast format.   It really started as two friends having a couple beers and talking about our favorite books.  Then we put a laptop and a microphone in between us.  All the social media interaction, the Discord server, live listening and discussion, merch, that all came later, and mostly by listener request. Those requests have been the major driving force in the development of the podcast over time.  We never even expected it to pay for itself until listeners sent us messages offering to help pay for hosting fees, software, equipment, and time.  We expected a hobby, but the awesome, kind-hearted, and dedicated fans of the series have turned us into something more sophisticated than that.  I think it's what they wanted, and we just went with it, because we were just happy that there was so much interest in our geeky projects.

S: I’m a huge fan of podcasts. I found a bunch of tech and political podcasts to listen to, but I wanted more Wheel of Time Content. I’m not sure who first said “We should make this a Podcast”, but the topic started to come up whenever we were hanging out over a few beers. About two years ago Patrick took some time off to Hike the Pacific Crest Trail. A few months after he got back into town I asked him to help me move. I brought up the Podcast again, and convinced Patrick to sit down and record. So with one microphone and my apple earbuds, we recorded Episode 0. I think Patrick was genuinely surprised at how good we sounded, so we invested in a second microphone, and got to work.

E: When recording new episodes, do you have an idea of what you are going to say or does the conversation flow more organically?

S: We prepare independently for each episode, but the conversion is as organic as possible. We each choose quotes we want to talk about, and spend some time thinking about what to say. We actually try and avoid talking about the chapter before we record, to prevent us referencing conversation we had earlier, or forget to bring up a point with recording on. During editing I cut out silences and any speech disfluencies I can find. I also remove any half-finished sentences and logistical chatter. The finished product is often 15 to 30 min shorter than the recording time.

P:  Not really, no.  Although, at the beginning of each recording we have our friend Jessica introduce the show.  Then I read the chapter number, name, and the particular symbol in the chapter heading which always somehow hints at what's about to happen.  Then I read the introductory paragraph, sometimes the first two. 

During the meat of the episode we both have the text in the Discord server and the text of the actual chapter in front of us.  Like Seth said, we make highlights and notations in our separate books and don't discuss them before we press the record button.  The podcast is the conversation we have as we compare notes. 

There's usually an after-show as well, where we'll include one of our routine irrelevant tangents.  They often don't have anything to do with the series, or sometimes they're roughly inspired by what we just read.  In a recent episode I spent some time talking about my experiences walking across the Anza-Borrego, and Mojave desert during my thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. It was roughly a comparison to what living in the Three Fold Land might be like.  That's the sort of thing the after-show is made up of.

E: What sources, if any, do you use?

S: The Wheel of Time Novels, obviously!  I’m a big fan of the WOT FAQ, and consider it a huge inspiration for what I’m doing in the podcast. Because it has versions for each book it is a great tool for people who don’t want to be spoiled on later books, and it gives me a great snapshot into what was going on in the community at the time the book came out.

Encyclopeadia WOT is a fantastic reference tool. Using it as a reference, and having the ebooks on hand, I can find almost any scene I’m looking for in seconds.

The WOT Wiki is a great tool, but as with any Wiki I’m very careful when I use it as a source

And of course as the podcast has grown, the fans are the biggest source of feedback we get. Especially the fans that listen live who are able to correct us in real time. They are also constantly providing a stream of theories, ideas, and headcanon to tap into. Collectively they are some of the smartest, nicest fans out there.

P: The novels, wot.wikia.com, encyclopeadia-wot.org, the famous WOT FAQ, library.tarvalon.net, and our Patrons hanging out on the Discord server, who are often able to look up answers to whatever question we ask aloud to each other before we can ourselves. 

“The Chosen” by the way, are what we've taken to calling the group of awesome listeners who show up for our live recording every week, and volunteer their time to help us research and flesh out each chapter.  Timber, Seth's Pit-Bull mix, who is present at every recording as well has been named Nae'Blis by the Chosen themselves as the General of our legion of the Shadow.

E: What influenced your decision to included spoilers in your podcast, instead of making it “new reader friendly?”

S: I’ve read these books so often, I’m not sure I could make the discussions friendly to readers that want to avoid spoilers. I wanted to have an open, honest speculation session about every point of the books, with all the information available. I wanted a place for the fans that simply can’t get enough Wheel of Time, fans like myself.

P:  Not having spoilers in the podcast was never really on the table.  The pod was always meant to be the conversation that so many fans of the Wheel of Time were looking for but couldn't have, unless of course they had a friend who was also willing to read 15 700 +/- page novels – the conversations Seth and I were already having.  WOTSpoilers is for other die-hard fans like ourselves, not first time readers. We love that new people are finding the series every day, and people who have recently finished their first read-through find us all the time.  There are always new people joining the conversation.  It continues to surprise me, just how many fans there are out there.

E: Do you re-read each chapter prior to the podcast?

S: Yes. Usually in the hour before we record.

P:  Yes.  Almost always immediately before we start talking about it.  So, we typically prep for an hour or so before we actually start recording. That's just time spent re-reading the chapters, and usually reading a few character outlines on an obscure Aes Sedai, Darkfriend character or Item of Power for instance.

E: Why did you choose the podcast format for Wheel of Time Spoilers instead of another media outlet?

S:  Podcasts are intimate. We are inviting you into our living room, to join our conversation. Audio can be more casual than the written word, and is more easily produced than video. Plus it was a natural fit for the conversations we were already having.

P:    Couldn't have said it better myself.  We're just recording something that was more or less already happening. 

E: Along with doing a podcast, you use Discord to allow your fans to listen and comment in real time. How does this hinder or help your live recordings?

S: The feedback is massively helpful for getting details right. Our Chosen in Discord create a community atmosphere, and help me feel like I’m talking directly to them, rather than a nebulous fan base. They can occasionally be distracting, and it can sound odd when we reply directly to the Discord channel without reading the question, but I wouldn’t want to record without them.  I especially want to thank Aradia Farmer and Kelsey Maxwell who recently hosted two episodes, and have been at the forefront of the fan community.

P: This exactly.  I wouldn't want to make the podcast without the Chosen at this point.  The conversation in Discord gives us real time corrections and fact checking, live debates about theories, questions that we hadn't thought of answering or asking, and that's not to mention that some of these folks have been hanging out with us every Thursday and Sunday night for 6 months or more.  It feels much more like a group of friends meeting up for drinks than a gathering of strangers on the internet.  We've even hung out with a few of the Chosen in real life at this point.

E: Is there anyone in the fandom you’d like to interview?

S:  Well I know Brandon Sanderson is a huge WOT fan! I snagged Leigh Butler’s email from Jason Denzel, but haven’t had a chance to contact her yet. She did The Great Wheel of Time re-read from Tor.com, and I’m hoping she would be willing to join us for an episode.

P:  I'd of course have to second Brandon Sanderson. Everyone we've had on so far has been really delightful, I'd love to have Jason Denzel on again.  It would also be cool to talk to Rafe Judkins about the development of the show.  We're hoping to run into some of these folks at JordanCon, and who knows, maybe we'll even get some short interviews.

E: How long have you been fans of The Wheel of Time?

S: I first picked up The Eye of the World  in 1995 when I was thirteen, and read through to Crown of Swords. After that I had to wait for each book. Robert Jordan’s death was a major shock and I briefly lost interest, but I’m glad that the series was picked up by an avid fan and talented author in Brandon Sanderson.

P:  I was around the same age when I found the series.  So, I've been a fan for about 17 years give or take a few.

E: How many times have you read the series?

S: I would re-read the entire series as each novel was released, and often in between releases. It’s hard to get an exact count because I use the books as a reference, and often read a few chapters here and there. Of course I’ve read The Eye of the World many more time than A Memory of Light

In 2012, I started listening to the audiobooks. They are always on my phone, and I listen to them whenever I get the chance. The audiobooks have gotten me through many long shifts, nights, and commutes.

P: As far as pure re-reads cover to cover, I'd say around 4 times.  But I often go back to particular sections.  For instance, recently I re-read the Rand locked in a box sequence up until Dumai's Wells.  I've read the first three books much more than the rest with the exception of the final book and specifically the Last Battle, which is another sequence I’ve re-read MANY times. I honestly couldn't say how many. 

I'll put it this way.  If you're also a fan of Star Trek or The X–Files say, you've probably watched the thing end to end a few times.  But you likely have a few favorite episodes or season finales you've watched more than other parts.  It's just like that.

E: If you could have one character on your show to interview who would it be and what one question would you ask them?

S:  Loial. It wouldn’t matter what I asked, he could just ramble on about his books and I would love it.

P:  Can I pick two?  Ishamael, and Nakomi.  I want to know more about how the mechanics of this universe work.  I know Ishamael is at least partly insane and all, but I would bet he and Nakomi could lend us some very interesting insight into some questions that are really hard to answer.  Who is Nakomi, a Hero? A Dragon? Rand's Mother? One or several of those?  Who is the voice that speaks to Rand in all capital letters at the beginning and end of the series?  How much of certain plots and strategies were designed and orchestrated by Ishmael, and how much by the Dark One?  Ishamael, why don't you ever use the One Power, but always the True Power? How does the Horn work, and why were Ish and Rand fighting in the sky?  Which scenes are dream-shards, who pulled who into who's dream?  I Could go on forever.

But, if you've read this far, you're probably as big of fans of the series as we are, and in that case, the Wheel of Time Spoilers podcast is made for and by fans like yourself.  Join the conversation on Discord and help our little book club pull apart the mysteries of, what we think is the best high-fantasy series ever written.

Thanks to Seth and Patrick for taking the time to answer all our questions! And for those who will be visiting JordanCon 10 in a few days, Seth and Patrick will be in attendance.  Join them Sunday at 11:30AM in the DeKalb room.  Use this opportunity to ask them a few of your own questions.

If you want to check out more from Wheel of Time Spoilers, you can visit their website, Facebook page, Twitter, Discord channel, and support them on Patreon.

Exciting news!  The first official Wheel of Time coloring book, Patterns of the Wheel, is set to be released on October 25, 2016.  The volume is illustrated by Amy Romanczuk—the wife of Team Jordan’s Alan Romanczuk.  Here are the details from Tor Books!

Let the Dragon be drawn again on the winds of time.

 

Since its debut in 1990, The Wheel of Time ® by Robert Jordan has captivated millions of readers around the globe with its scope, originality, and compelling characters. Over the course of fifteen books and millions of words, the world that Jordan created grew in depth and complexity.

 

Now for the very first time, fans can explore one of epic fantasy's most beloved worlds through the relaxing activity of coloring. Patterns of the Wheel is an adult coloring book suitable for all ages featuring original art inspired by The Wheel of Time. Designed by officially-licensed Wheel of Time artist Amy Romanczuk, Patterns of the Wheel features 40 drawings inspired by pysanky, a traditional Ukrainian folk art, including freeform designs depicting familiar themes and scenes from the series, spoked wheel/mandalas, known symbols and magical items, stylistic renderings of Old Tongue script, and much more.

 

Each piece features a relevant Wheel of Time quote and is printed on high-quality paper, perfect for framing. Also included is a chart to identify some of the most common pysanky symbols/meanings used in the drawings.

Mrs. Romanczuk had a first edition of this book at JordanCon 8 earlier this year, however Tor Book’s official version has an additional twenty images, a black and white map of Randland, and quotes from the series that correspond with each picture! 

The book is now available for preorder.  You can find it on Amazon, here, or from Barnes & Noble, here.

Dragonmount is very pleased to be able to give away one free copy of Patterns of the Wheel to a reader!  If you would like to be entered into a drawing to receive the copy, comment below.  One winner will be selected on October 25, 2016!  You have from now until then to comment for a chance to win!  Unfortunately, only residents of the United States and Canada are eligible for this giveaway.

You can find more of Mrs. Romanczuk’s work on her website.

Exciting news from our friends at Ta'veren Tees!

Available today is the new Red Hand Dice Pouch at www.TaverenTees.com/redhandpouch, a genuine black leather dice pouch with a Red Hand stamped in foil on the front, as well as the phrase "It's time to toss the dice" featured in both English and Old Tongue script. The bag comes with four dice, each with the Red Hand in place of the single pip.

Also available is an 11"x14" art print called "Elements" by a new Ta'veren Tees guest artist, Vinny Romanelli. The piece is bright and bold and encompasses nearly every symbol from The Wheel of Time and features elements of most of the major characters. You can find it at www.TaverenTees.com/elements.

These and many more products are available at Ta'veren Tees, TheWheelofTimeStore.com!

We are happy to announce new Wheel of Time merchandise from our friends at Ta'veren Tees!
 

MANETHEREN BASEBALL HAT AVAILABLE FROM TA’VEREN TEES

 

"Carai an Ellisande! Al Ellisande! Mordero daghain pas duente cuebiyar! Al Ellisande!"

 

Declare your allegiance to Manetheren - the sword that could not be broken, the thorn in the Dark One's foot - by wearing this baseball hat now available from Ta'veren Tees, The Wheel of Time Store. You can grab it now on sale now at www.TaverenTees.com/tmhat.

 

This navy hat is 100% washed cotton for a soft fit, and is one size fits all with a buckle closure.

Harriet McDougal teased us all at the tail end of JordanCon with an announcement about an upcoming announcement.

We know now, thanks to Team Jordan's Google+ Page, that the rights for a The Wheel of Time feature/television show have been resolved and they are currently in the works with a major studio. Here is the quote from Harriet:

Update: Wanted to share with you exciting news about The Wheel of Time. Legal issues have been resolved. The Wheel of Time will become a cutting edge TV series! I couldn’t be more pleased. Look for the official announcement coming soon from a major studio —Harriet 

Members of Dragonmount,


It is with great regret that I must inform you, do to ever increasing cost of internet services, servers, networking equipment and electricity, Dragonmount now costs us more than ever to run.  The Administration and I have discussed a number of options and have decided that, to help cover the costs for running and upkeep of the site and forums, we will be switching to a downloadable content system wherein certain features will cost money (USD) for you to use.



We are hereby giving all our users a two week notice that, as of April 14^th, the following changes will be placed into effect.

• Users will be allowed to select one free avatar when they join the site, after that, each Avatar Change will cost $5.



• Users will be limited to 50 posts a day, after that you may pay $5 for an additional 50 posts. For those who wish, an unlimited number of posts may be purchased for $100 per month.

In addition to these changes, we are also implementing a few other new features

• New Signature Controls - Under the new system, you may have separate signatures for each board/group. Setting a signature for one group area will not set it for any other area. Multiple charges will be made for each area you wish to add a signature to. To facilitate this, your current signatures will be removed on the 14^th and will cost $10 per month to add to your profile for the selected board.



• Voice Chat - The old text based chatroom will remain free, however, a new chat system allowing for voice chat between members, will cost $10 per month to access.



• Video Chat - What's better than voice chat?  Video Chat!  For just $20 per month you will have access to video chat with other members.



• Group Swap - Are you tired of your old social group but not wanting to loose all the effort you put in raising your points and internal ranking? For $25 you can move to a new Social Group and migrate to the internal rank closest to your current one.

Obviously: April Fool's!

Introducing a new design from artist Paul Bielaczyc!

Ta’veren Tees is proud to have worked once more with officially licensed WoT artist Paul Bielaczyc on a new shirt, “Duty and Death,” now available for preorder at www.TaverenTees.com/dutyanddeath.
 

 
The 100% cotton tee can be preordered for a special price of $23 (regular $26) and will ship by March 7. All items ordered at the same time will be held and shipped with the new tee.

The art on the shirt shows a distant mountain – perhaps it is Shayol Ghul – with a heron marked blade in the foreground and a crane in flight, all framed by feathers. The concept alludes, of course, to the quote “Duty is heavier than a mountain, death lighter than a feather.” Though Rand takes up this mantra in the series, it is said to him by Lan Mandragoran and the sentiment fits both men’s stories, two journeys of burden and sacrifice.
 

 
Fact: In the real world, this phrase is very near one that is part of the first precept of the Imperial Rescript to Japanese Soldiers and Sailors.
 
To preorder your shirt, head over to www.TaverenTees.com/dutyanddeath now!

Are you interested in an officially licensed The Wheel of Time™ coloring book? If so, please read on and respond in the poll over at Amy Romanczuk's blog.

The poll is in the right sidebar. Your response will help determine how many coloring books to print. The more commitments to pre-order the sooner they'll be printed.

Details that will hopefully help to answer your questions:

•"Patterns of the Wheel" is an officially licensed book of coloring art based on The Wheel of Time™

•The book contains 20 designs by Amy Romanczuk

•Book dimensions are 8.5 x11 inches (21.2 x28 cm)

•Each drawing will be stand alone on a page of high quality paper (i.e. no bleed through to a drawing on the backside, or for easy removal should you want to display your art.)

•The drawings are all in my pysanky-inspired style. If you are not familiar with my art, you can visit www.czukart.com and check out some of my other works, including my first coloring book. (I will also post some thumbnails of in the comments.)

•I anticipate the pre-order price will be $20 (USD) plus shipping (my website will calculate USPS postage.)

•Preorders can alternatively be picked up at JordanCon, if that option is selected when ordering.

•A few books may be available for sale at JordanCon in the print shop and in the charity auction. The price will be the regular (TBD) price, not the preorder one.

•I am not able (my own reasons, not the Con's) to (wo)man a table in the dealer's hall, though I will have a display in the art show and some of the originals will be available there.

•Books will remain available on my website, after the pre-order time period is over, until all are gone. There are no plans for a second printing at this time.

•I can mail overseas (my site will calculate postage and include it in the purchase price.)

•Currently working with Ta' veren Tees so that some will be available through their shop/convention tables at other conventions.

•Poll results will be tallied in mid February and I will place the print order accordingly.

•You will still need to preorder when that option opens up. I will post in this thread and separately when that occurs.

If you could indicate the likelihood of your pre-ordering Patterns of the Wheel, a coloring book based on the WoT, please indicate so in the poll. There also are options for ordering multiple copies. At this point, there is no differentiation as to how you plan to receive your pre-order, but there will be on the website when the ordering opens up. Though this poll appears in several locations online, please only vote in one place.

Thank you all so much! Robert Jordan has the most wondrous fans! 

According to a new post on Team Jordan's Google+ page, Harriet McDougal—wife of the late Robert Jordan, and his editor—will be presented with the Jerry Zucker Lifetime Achievement Award. 

On the evening of November 20, Harriet will be awarded the 2015 Jerry Zucker Lifetime Achievement Award for her service to the Charleston community. 

 

In reference to the award, Charleston Magazine has featured an article on Harriet, written by Stephanie Hunt. Here is an excerpt from the article:

 

Through the James O. and Harriet P. Rigney Endowment at the Coastal Community Foundation, established in 1996 (11 years before Rigney died at age 58 from amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder), McDougal has championed local literacy initiatives, including support of Trident Literacy Association as well as Begin with Books, a pre-school reading program and the Charleston affiliate of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. In addition, McDougal serves on the boards of Friends of Addlestone Library (College of Charleston), Charleston Library Society, and South Carolina Academy of Authors and is a supporter of Lowcountry Initiative of the Literary Arts (LILA). “Literacy is essential,” McDougal believes. “All avenues are closed if you can’t read.”

 

The full article is available on their website.

 

Congratulations, Harriet!

Dragonmount, and I'm sure so many Wheel of Time fans, also wants to extend their congratulations to Mrs. McDougal on such a tremendous achievement!

Here's a overview of the first ever Wheel of Time Convention held in Australia.  It was written by Russell Dady.

The inaugural 2015 Land of Madmen con was small but almost perfectly formed. Although there were nearly as many organisers as there were guests, a great time was had by all and everyone is very much looking forward to next year.

Those of us on the organising committee arrived from across the country at 8am to set up. For those of you who, like me, had forgotten there is an eight o'clock in the morning, there is, and apparently it's possible to decorate a small venue adequately at that time in the morning.

And it was a great venue for a con of this size - a room about the size of a basketball court with an optional divider in the centre which we put across so we could run both panels and workshops at the same time. Of course, that divider also allowed us to put up posters:

We had the boys in the workshop and the girls in the panels, because it's the Wheel of Time and gender division is all the rage, so why not? In addition to those, however, we also had an awesome Banner of Light and Dragon Banner made by the incomparable Eleanor Chandler-Temple especially for the con:

Yes, those are individual scales and yes, they are hand-stitched. She's crazy. But then I'd know, I married her.

Doors opened just after nine and we got our first guests shortly thereafter. Panels and workshops started at 10. In our lack of experience we may have made a mistake in scheduling the two at the same time, but the group were happy to divide into two and those who were interested headed into what we termed the Seeker's Room for the panel. Plus, I got to play with the microphone.

Our first panel discussed leadership in the Wheel of Time, led by our guest of honour and WOT fandom superstar Linda Taglieri, with occasionally helpful assistance from myself. We discussed not only the examples of competent and incompetent leadership, but were able to examine in more detail those who were just meh in their leadership abilities. It was an interesting and amusing discussion conducted in a round table fashion by Linda (who for some reason did not want to use the microphone).

Meanwhile, the other half of the group headed into the Weaver's Room (great names, Eleanor!) for the Painting the Pattern session hosted by Nyn Blueajah, with her own artwork on display. By the way, thanks to the incomparable Ariel Burgess for providing the posters you can see above Nyn's art in the following shot - we had five in total and they really helped us look the part.

After a short break, we were back for more with Linda's panel on the character's biggest mistakes in the series and the first part of the chainmaille workshop led by Amanda Harper. At around this point, we also got out first walk-in guests, a couple who had come all the way from Melbourne after seeing an article on Tor. We were delighted to welcome them and everyone soon got stuck into what interested them.

By this point I was having far too much fun with the microphone so Linda let me be on the panel again on the condition that I switch it off. As we all know, some of the characters in the series make nothing but mistakes and so it was great to be able to go through and consider things from a new perspective: for instance, while we all know Elayne's never seen a trap she hasn't walked into, we also discussed the fact that the series' master villain, the Dark One himself, makes more than his share of mistakes leading to his imprisonment.

It was then time for lunch, so as much as I loved that microphone, I decided I also liked food and headed out with the group to Burwood for dinner. I was also tasked with finding something for Eleanor to eat as she was still in costume (did I mention there were costumes? I'll come to that in a bit).

It was then time for the final panel of the day, while the chainmaille makers continued making chainmaille. Including poor Brian, who had only been given permission to come if he came back with a bracelet. I don't think he quite finished it but Amanda was happy to sell him the tools to do so - lucky she had spares!

Our final panel was my personal favourite: we got to discuss the real world influences on the series, from mythology to X-Men comics (yes, X-Men comics. Ask me about my Logain=Wolverine theory sometime). We went into some real depth with this one, plucking the depths of Linda's considerable knowledge about the series, history, mythology, and everything in between. We even got into some comparative discussion with other fantasy works and how Jordan seems to draw on more sources than almost anyone else in the Wheel of Time.

We then had the costume parade, so those who had made the effort to come in cosplay lined up outside:

No, wait, those are Linda's dolls. It's difficult to tell sometimes. Ahem. As I was saying, those who had made the effort to dress up lined up outside - and then it started to rain, so they lined up back inside.

Linda and the rest of the organising committee judged the costumes. Despite my insistence that my wife's costume was clearly the best, she resisted the temptation to vote for herself and eventually it was decided that the most impressive cosplay was Gino Aintoquia as Rand al'Thor, complete with an excellent Callandor which he graciously passed around for everyone to examine.

Seriously, that is a nice sword. Well, technically it isn't (a sword).

Finally, we arrived at the climax of the event: the reading of an excerpt from the upcoming Wheel of Time Companion, graciously provided by Tor and Team Jordan. In actual fact, we had four excerpts: the entries on Linda and her husband Frank in their WOT guises as Lind and Frask Taglien, innkeepers of The Great Gathering at the Black Tower; the entry on the Land of Madmen (hey, that's us!); and finally the longest and most interesting entry, Tam al'Thor.

I'm not going to betray the confidence of Tor and Team Jordan by providing details on what was included in these entries, but it should suffice to say that secrets were revealed (I never would have believed that about Linda!) and I think the Companion will be an invaluable addition to any fan's Wheel of Time collection.

We rounded out the day at the venue proper by moving the trivia competition, once again devised by Amanda, up the schedule. Some of those questions were hard, but the inclusion of chocolate for clever or amusing answers was a well-regarded move. While Linda declined to participate (it would have been totally unfair, she's Linda Taglieri. 13th Depository's Linda Taglieri!) she did confess to me that she wouldn't have got 30 out of 30, which was a comfort to me as I only got 14 and a half.

We decided to hide in the venue until our booking ran out as it was raining quite heavily by this point. When we finally had cleaned up and got everything out, it was back into Burwood for dinner, which all but two of our guests and organisers were able to attend, at Cafe d'Or. The food was delicious and a good time was had by everyone. There was even a sa'sara demonstration by some professional dancers at the restaurant as the evening wore on!

The first Australian Wheel of Time convention may not have had the bustle of JordanCon or the profile of Worldcon, but it was a great way to get an event off to a start in a country that has more than its share of WOT fans. We will be back next year, and hopefully the year after that, bigger and better each time.

You can view more of the pictures at the Land of Madmen's photo gallery.

Want to vote for the greatest Wheel of Time character, and do a good deed at the same time?  To celebrate the release of The Wheel of Time Companion, Waygate Foundation is hosting a donation drive, encouraging donors to vote for their favorite character--Rand, Mat, Perrin, Egwene, or Nynaeve--each representing their own specific charity.  Here are the details.

First, we’d like to recognize everyone who’s partnered with us to bring you this drive!

• Bandersnatch and Team Jordan for giving us the privilege to run this campaign with their book release.
• Tor Books for helping us advertise the campaign and for generously offering to match all donations at 100%!
• Ariel Burgess, official Wheel of Time artist, for her gorgeous artwork, including an original Thom piece made just for this campaign.
• Ta’veren Tees for offering up some great perks for our donors.

Speaking of perks, we’ve got a bunch!

• The character that raises the most money by November 30 at midnight (EST) will get their face on a challenge coin to be released in 2016 by Ta’veren Tees.
• The top single donor across the campaign will get a full set of signed prints by Ariel Burgess- one of each character, plus Thom (6 pieces total, images depicted on this page).
• The top 5 donors for each team will get a signed print of that character by Ariel Burgess (images depicted on this page).
• Everyone who donates a minimum of $10 USD to the winning team will get a 10% off gift card for Ta’veren Tees, valid in 2016.
• All donations are eligible for tax deduction per IRS guidelines.
• And of course, all your donations will be matched by Tor. Double your impact!

Be sure to check back here or Facebook often to see how your favorite character is stacking up. The drive ends on November 30, so you’ve got plenty of time to make sure your favorite takes the crown…err…coin!

 

As stated, each character represents a specific charity.  Here's the lineup, featuring beautiful artwork by Ariel Burgess:

Visit Waygate's website for more details and to donate!

Tor Books announced today a book tour to promote the upcoming Wheel of Time Companion, as well as Jason Denzel's debut novel, Mystic.  Harriet McDougal, Alan Romanczuk, and Maria Simons will be on the tour for Team Jordan. 

Here are the dates and locations:

Nov 3 – Mount Pleasant, South Carolina / Barnes and Noble (Also joined by our friend Michael Livingston, promoting his book, The Shards of Heaven) , 7:00pm

Nov 4 – Seattle, Washington /University Bookstore (Held at University Temple), 7:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 5 – San Francisco, California / Borderlands, 6:00pm

Nov 6 – Petaluma, California / Copperfield’s, 7:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 7 – Los Angeles, California / Vroman's, 6:00pm

Nov 8 – San Diego, California / Mysterious Galaxy, 2:00pm (Ticketed event. See website for details)

Nov 9 – Las Vegas, Nevada / Las Vegas County Library, 7:00pm

Nov 10 – Santa Fe, New Mexico / Jean Cocteau Cinema (Hosted by George R.R. Martin)

Nov 11 – Houston, Texas /Murder by the Book, 7:00pm

Nov 12 – Chicago, Illinois / Anderson's Bookshop Naperville, 7:00pm

Nov 14 – Sacramento, California / Barnes and Noble (Natomas), 2:00pm (Jason Denzel only)

Nov 15 – Elk Grove, California / Trent's Bookshelf, Time TBD (Jason Denzel only)

Nov 21 – Raleigh, North Carolina / Quail Ridge Books & Music, 2:00pm (Harriet, Maria, Alan only)

Nov 28 – Davis, California / Avid Reader Bookshop, 7:30pm (Jason Denzel only)

We hope to see you come and attend the Last Book Tour for the Wheel of Time, and also help launch Jason's book!  For those of you who can't attend these locations, have no fear, you can always attend JordanCon and meet the same people each year.

Harriet McDougal had donated an advanced reading copy of The Eye of the World, signed by Robert Jordan, to an auction benefiting the College of Charleston School of the Arts.

The auction will take place at the Gaillard Performance Hall Grand Ballroom on October 10 at 7 pm. Tickets to attend are $150 and must be obtained in advance of the event. However, instead of attending in person and having to purchase a ticket, it will be possible to bid on this item online through the silent auction portion of the event.

Online bidders can place their bids by going to the following website:

www.biddingforgood.com/sota25

Bidding on this site will commence on October 1 and continue until the day of the event, October 10.

 

This is your opportunity to get a rare, pre-sale signed copy of the book that started the Wheel of Time series, at the same time contributing to a worthy cause.

You can find more information on Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Google+ Page.

It's with great pleasure that I get to write about the first ever official Wheel of Time Convention held in Australia—The Land of Madmen Convention.

This Convention will take place on September 26, 2015, at Fitzroy Hall in Burwood, Sydney.  Tickets are available at the discounted price of $32.79, until September 11, 2015.  After that, ticket prices will be $38.  They can be ordered online, or can be purchased at the event the day of.

This year's Guest of Honor will be Linda Taglieri, creator of the Wheel of Time fansite The Thirteeth Depository.

The Convention will host several events, including Wheel of Time discussions, trivia, costume contest, and workshops.  

For more information, you can check out The Land of Madmen's website, or their Facebook page.  You can even talk about the event on the Dragonmount forum here.

Ta'veren Tees is releasing a new shirt design--inspired by Alan Romanczuk, one of Robert Jordan's assistant, and member of Team Jordan.  The Trolloc themed shirt is available for preorder, with shipments going out on June 30th. Here's what Ta'veren Tees has to say:

Ta’veren Tees is excited to release the newest tee shirt in our line today for preorder. "Spirit Animal" is a unisex tee available at TaverenTees.com/spiritanimal

Now, we know technically the closest anyone comes in The Wheel of Time to a spirit animal is Perrin and the wolves. But who doesn't feel a little Trolloc-y sometimes? And, of course, there is a story behind the making of this shirt:

Alan Romanczuk, part of Team Jordan and assistant to Robert Jordan, has been working feverishly on the forthcoming The Wheel of Time Companion, due out this fall. For a while, he was spending a lot of his time compiling information on Trollocs. The team was under a lot of stress, and so Alan found his way to a masseuse with "shaman abilities"  (a woman unfamiliar with WoT) who often reads people's auras. As she looked at Alan, she said she could see around him strange, frightening creatures. Apparently, the Trollocs had followed him out of the office. Of course, once this story was relayed back to us at Ta'veren Tees, we felt it was only appropriate Alan had a shirt declaring his spirit animal is a Trolloc. His shirt went over well with Harriet and the crowd at JordanCon, and the rest is history.

(Photo: Kiley from Ta'veren Tees, with Alan of Team Jordan, whose experience spawned the idea for the shirt (bad lighting caused the grainy photo, apologies!) Photo courtesy Amy Romanczuk)

The "Spirit Animal" shirt is 100% preshrunk, lightweight cotton and available on an adult unisex tee. Preorders will ship as soon as it is ready by June 30th. All other items (except costumes, jewelry, and art of Paul Bielaczyc) ordered at the same time will be held and shipped at the same time as the preorder item.

In honor of Father’s Day, you can also use coupon code TAMLIN15 for 15% off your entire order at www.TaverenTees.com (www.TheWheelofTimeStore.com), good through June 21!

Various fans have alerted us to the fact that FX is airing a TV show tomorrow (Monday, Feb 9) called The Wheel of Time: Winter Dragon.

Lewis Therin returns home to his family after a 10-year war against an army of darkness; he is greeted by an unexpected guest.

Here's what we know: 

It is our understanding that The Wheel of Time movie and TV rights are currently owned by Red Eagle Entertainment. REE has had these rights for many years. During that time, they've been involved in several significant efforts to produce a feature film or TV show. We've reported on these efforts in the past, and have supported them at various times. (Full disclosure: I was a consultant for them on some of these efforts.)

We know that Red Eagle's rights expire after 7 years, beginning about a year after RJ died in 2007. Harriet has been very clear about that length of time in the past. (She's called it an "biblical" number of years.) Based on our math, it's our suspicion that the rights are about to expire. Possibly any day. Typically in contracts of this kind, the producers who own the rights need to produce a TV show or movie before the deadline, at which time they receive an extension.  So in order for Red Eagle to keep those rights, and extend the time period they have them, they would have to successfully produce a pilot before that deadline occurs. All they need to do is put out an episode with the name Wheel of Time on it, and use some familiar characters.

We don't know what this episode will look like. There has been no trailer, no advertising, and not even an IMDB entry that we can find. 

​

Other possibilities include that Red Eagle transferred the rights to somebody else, and this new group is producing the show.  We don't know how many episodes have been created. Our guess is that there's just one so far.

Harriet and Team Jordan are currently unable to speak about anything related to the TV or movie rights. 

So check your local listings to see when it will be on. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get more information on whether this becomes viewable elsewhere.

If we get more info about what's happening, we'll let you know.

Update: Harriet McDougal has issued the following statement regarding this TV show.

 

This morning brought startling news. A “pilot” for a Wheel of Time series, the "pilot" being called Winter Dragon, had appeared at 1:30 in the morning, East Coast time, on Fxx TV, a channel somewhere in the 700s (founded to concentrate on comedy, according to the Washington Post).

 

It was made without my knowledge or cooperation. I never saw the script. No one associated with Bandersnatch Group, the successor-in-interest to James O. Rigney, was aware of this.

 

Bandersnatch has an existing contract with Universal Pictures that grants television rights to them until this Wednesday, February 11 – at which point these rights revert to Bandersnatch.

 

I see no mention of Universal in the “pilot”. Nor, I repeat, was Bandersnatch, or Robert Jordan’s estate, informed of this in any way.

 

I am dumbfounded by this occurrence, and am taking steps to prevent its reoccurrence. 

 

Harriet P McDougal

President and CEO

Bandersnatch Group, Inc.

February 9, 2015

 

Enjoy the show!

The nomination period for the 2015 Hugo Awards has opened. This prestigious award recognizes the best in science fiction and fantasy each year and is voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Society. Many famous authors have been recognized with a Hugo, including Robert Heinlein, Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Brandon Sanderson and Issac Asimov. In 2014, Robert Jordan was nominated for the Wheel of Time series. 

If you were eligible to vote in the Hugos last year, you are eligible to nominate this year. If you were not, then you will need to become eligible by January 31st. This year's Hugo Awards are hosted and administered by the 73rd annual WorldCon, "Sasquan", held in Spokane, Washington August 19-23. Further information about the awards and how to nominate can be found on their website. Nominations are open until March 30th. 

Exciting news from Ta'veren Tees!  New items are available for preorder!

"Ta’veren Tees is extremely excited to announce the release of not one but TWO new products at www.TaverenTees.com: The Two Rivers Longbow Champion Tee and the 2015 The Wheel of Time Calendar.

Two Rivers Longbow Champion Tees:

We know that no one can beat Tam al'Thor in the Emond's Field archery competition. We have faith that you, however, can come close. 

In fact, becoming a Longbow Champ is easy. All you have to do is head to TaverenTees.com/longbow for the men's/unisex version and TaverenTees.com/longbowladies for the fitted women's style.

This tee is available for PREORDER. Preorders get 10% off the original price of $24 or $26! All preordered shirts will be shipped on November 18th when they are available. Other items purchased with this shirt will be held and shipped at the same time.

2015 The Wheel of Time Calendar:

There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time... but you should still grab the official Wheel of Time calendar before 2015 at TaverenTees.com/15calendar. 

This 2015 WoT calendar measures 12" x 12". It features thirteen memorable scenes from across the series (including A Memory of Light) drawn by officially licensed WoT artists Edsel Arnold, Paul Bielaczyc, Ariel Burgess, and Joe O'Hara. It runs from January 2015 through December 2015 and includes U.S. Holidays and significant WoT dates.

Orders of the 2015 calendar will receive a free 2014 calendar while supplies last (leftover 2014 calendars are very limited). 

To keep up with even more upcoming product notifications and holiday sales, make sure to watch our Facebook page and keep an eye on TaverenTees.com!"

Back in 1997, before George R.R. Martin's fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, had exploded into mainstream popularity, he had one very special fan:  Robert Jordan.  

Jordan had read--A GAME OF THRONES, the first book in Martin's series--end enjoyed it a great deal. He wrote a letter to Martin's publisher requesting a signed copy.  Here's a copy of this letter, as obtained by Terez. 

George Martin has been very open about his admiration and affection for Robert Jordan. In fact, Jordan went on to provide Martin with a quote that the publisher put on the cover of Martin's later books.

 

"Grabs hold and won't let go. It's brilliant." --Robert Jordan on A Game of Thrones.

Back in those years, Robert Jordan was a significantly bigger name in the fantasy genre than Martin, so his endorsement carried a lot of weight. 

Just a few weeks after Jordan sent the letter above, George Martin sent Robert Jordan a signed copy of his book. The letter accompanying the book was dated March 27, 1997. Here's a look at the inscription and signature. 

The inscription reads:

"For Robert Jordan, With appreciation and warm regards--May your winters all be short, and your summers bountiful." George R. R. Martin

Beautiful, right?

Tell us what you think in the comments.

Special thanks to Maria from Team Jordan for providing the photo.

Ta'veren Tees has released a new Blademaster shirt, and a Blademaster iron-on patch!

Have you mastered Boar Rushes Down the Mountain? Folding the Fan? Tell the world of your prowess with the blade with Ta'veren Tees' newest design: Blademaster.This shirt features a Heron-Marked sword on navy and is available up to 5XL! Find it now at www.TaverenTees.com/blademaster.FREE ITEM INCLUDED!Now through August 28th, when you order a Blademaster Tee you will get the new Blademaster Patch FREE. This patch is based on the heron-mark sword icon from the books, and comes with iron-on backing. You can also purchase patches separately, or add additional patches at www.TaverenTees.com/blademasterpatch.In addition to these new items, we have relaunched the "Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time®" shirt with an updated design and restocked it in both men's and women's shirts - men's to 5XL, women's to 3XL.You can find The Wheel of Time shirt at:Men's: www.TaverenTees.com/rjwotWomen's: www.TaverenTees.com/rjwotladies

The Hugo Award ceremony will be held this coming Sunday, August 17th, at 8 PM BST (which will be at 3PM EDT for viewers in North America).  The ceremony can be viewed live from your computer at the Hugo's UStream channel.

Want to watch it with other Wheel of Time fans?  Well, JordanCon is hosting a "Hugo Watching Party" in Atlanta, Georgia.  Details can be found on JordanCon's Facebook page. 

You can also join in the discussion on Dragonmount, in our Wheel of Time Book Discussion forum, or in our live chat room.

Good luck to our beloved series, and to Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson!