DRAGONMOUNT

Dragonmount is proud to announce that the Towers of Midnight book trailer has won three Telly Awards, including the prestigious Silver Award for Cinematography.   http://dragonmount.com/Books/Towers_of_Midnight/trailer.php"> src="/forums/ccs_files/book_images/Towers_of_Midnight/tofm_telly_lg.png" border="1" width="90%" alt="Telly Award" />   Awards Received - "Internet / Online Commercial" category Silver Award - Videography / Cinematography (highest honor) Bronze Award - Visual Effects Bronze Award - Sound / Sound Design   In this episode of the Wheel of Time Video News, our hostess Kristen Nedopak talks with the filmmakers who received these awards.   http://www.youtube.com/embed/JNiNqC6UjJk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>   The Towers of Midnight Book Trailer http://www.youtube.com/embed/apJJ0NzOXEg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>   This episode of the Wheel of Time Video News is sponsored by TaverenTees.com -- the official location for WoT t-shirts. "Wear a piece of the Pattern."   View our full Behind-the-Scenes look at the making of this book trailer.   For information about the Telly Awards, visit www.tellyawards.com." rel="external nofollow">http://www.tellyawards.com">www.tellyawards.com.

Welcome back to Fan Art Friday! Last week on Twitter we asked for some suggestions for future articles. One of the most popular suggestions was "Landscapes" or illustrations of the places described inthe books. Since I had a computer issues and a tight deadline for school and didn't get this done in time to run last week, this edition will be a little longer than usual. And if you have suggestions for what you'd like to see in this space, be sure to email me: jennifer@dragonmount.com   Probably one of the most popular things to illustrate is the city of Tar Valon. It's such a central place to the series, the heart of the Aes Sedai power and the most beautiful city in the world. I think it's natural that artists would want to depict it.     This sketch by rayblasdel also includes some of the White Tower. I like his concept of the Tower being topped with glass, even if it's not accurate to the books. It's a cool visual and it seems like the Aes Sedai would have something wondrous like that in their home.     Here's another view of Tar Valon from Gala-maia. One of the interesting features of Tar Valon are the sky bridges. They don't get mentioned much, but it's nice to see them here.     Another very popular place in fan art is the Stone of Tear. Here's a great 3D render of the Heart of Stone where Callandor was kept by Lahooligante. I really like the lighting on this one.     My friend Art Guy Joedid this 3D model of Caemlyn several years ago. Caemlyn is often considered the second most beautiful city in the world. I think this image really gets across that sense of scale and grandeur you'd expect.     I'd be remiss if I didn't show an image of our namesake. Here's Dragonmount by UidinDragonmount is supposed to be a mountain taller than Everest, that juts out of a rolling plain near Tar Valon. I think this piece really captures that alien feeling, that Dragonmount isn't a truly natural feature of the landscape.   And that's all for today. Feel free to post your favorites in the comments below.

Since 2007 the fan community at TarValon.net has offered a scholarship in memory of Robert Jordan for Wheel of Time fans earning their first degree. You do not need to be a member of TarValon.net to be eligible to apply.   The amount of the scholarship is $500 USD and applications are due by July 31.   You can find out more here.

Yesterday on Facebook and Twitter I asked for suggestions for future Fan Art Fridays. I got lots great ideas (and some ridiculous) that I'll be using in the future. One suggestion I saw repeated several times was seeing depictions of some of the locations described in the books.     First up is this digital painting by Shenku-Netsou This is Rand's dream of Tar Valon from near the beginning of The Eye of the World. (Is anyone else amused that most of the plot of the first book was "Let's go to Tar Valon!" and Rand doesn't make it there until Towers of Midnight? Just me? Okay.) Tar Valon is always described as a very beautiful, very clean city.     Richard Boyetook his inspiration for this pencil sketch of the White Tower from the Vatican. Which makes sense, because the medieval Church was one of the inspirations Robert Jordan used when creating the Aes Sedai and their culture.

While we normally focus on Wheel of Time news, we did want to bring to everyone's attention a few items of interest concerning Brandon Sanderson's other books, as well as other fun things happening.   First up, Brandon Sanderson recently won a Gemmel award for his novel The Way of Kings, which was published last year. Towers of Midnight was also nominated. Brandon talks about it on his blog. Incidentally, instead of a trophy, he will be receiving an engraved battle axe. Pics or it didn't happen.   Speaking of awards, Writing Excuses, the podcast Brandon does with several other fantastic writers was recently nominated for a Hugo award. This is the second time a podcast has been nominated for this prestigious award. The Hugos will be awarded at this year's WorldCon, nicknamed "Renovation", which will be held in Reno, Nevada. For information about attending WorldCon or how you can vote on the Hugos, please see their website.   WorldCon will also have at least one Wheel of Time panel this year. Blogger Linda Taglieri and Jennifer Liang (That's me!) are confirmed Program Participants, along with Brandon and other writers, artists and fans. If you are planning to attend, make sure to stop by our forums and let us know.   In other Sanderson news, his new release Mistborn:" rel="external nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Alloy-Law-Mistborn-Novel/dp/0765330423?ie=UTF8&tag=norths0b-20&link_code=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969">Mistborn: The Alloy of Lawhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=dragonmount&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0765330423" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important; padding: 0px !important" /> is due this fall. If you've been following Brandon on Twitter, you know this book was originally a short story he was toying with while taking a break between Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light. The story grew a bit bigger than he expected and is now being released as a short novel. The book is set about 300 years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy and follows new characters. Tor is releasing sample chapters on Tor.com so if you're curious, you can check it out.   Speaking of conventions, Dragon*Con is coming up! This is the eleventh year of Wheel of Time programming at this very large, annual convention in Atlanta, Georgia the first weekend of September. Maria Simons from Team Jordan is attending, as well as blogger Linda Taglieri and a host of other fan panelists. You can find out more about Wheel of Time programming at Dragon*Con here. If you are planning to attend, make sure you post about it in our forums.   Finally, NPR is doing a poll to determine what the best science fiction or fantasy novels are. You can nominate up to five books or series. It's all just for fun, but clearly if you are at Dragonmount, you probably think the Wheel of Time is pretty good. So do us a favor and take a moment to register and nominate your favorite series.

Well here we are again with another ediotion of "Fan Art Friday". There's been requests for Shawdowspawn artwork this week, so that's what we'll do. Remember, if you have requests or want to point me at something to use, just email me: Jennifer@dragonmount.com   First up is this great action shot of Rand filching the Horn of Valere from the trolloc camp in The Great Hunt.     Liruichen has done a great job of depicting the trollocs with animal faces, but human eyes. They look scary. (And really, when was the last time we were scared when our heroes encountered trollocs?) It's a great picture.     Behold the true terror that is Chibi Myrddraal!And those aren't eyes, those are eyebrows according the artist, Jonmkl.     Here's an actually scary one from Qoo42 I picture them as not quite so ghostly, but I'm not going to quibble.     Here's a fantastically creepy digital render of a Draghkar attacking a woman by karibous-boutique That's hella creepy.     And I don't know if he really counts as shadowpawn, but here's Padan Fain. Apparently Mandersen did this on an iPod Touch. I had no idea that was even a thing you could do. This version of Fain is suitably creepy though.   And that's it from me this week. Feel free to share your own favorites in the comments.

In this week's "Wheel of Time Video News" our host Kristen Nedopak takes a look at some award winning Wheel of Time art and talks about how you can get featured in our Fan Art Friday blog.   http://www.youtube.com/embed/lDdmukHUBi4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>   For the complete list of Chesley Award finalists, visit Tor.com. The awards ceremony will take place at WorldCon 69, "Renovation" in Reno, NV. For more information about the Chesley's, visit the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists.   Darrell K. Sweet's website can be found here. And Sam Weber's can be found here.   For more information about the Hugo Awards, you can check out WorldCon's website.   And you can see all our Fan Art Friday articles here.   This episode of the Wheel of Time Video News is sponsored by TaverenTees.com -- the official location for WoT t-shirts. "Wear a piece of the Pattern."

Welcome to another edition of Fan Art Friday! We've spent a lot of time on the heroes of the series recently, so let's take a look at the villains. Since there's so many of them, there will be some extra images this week. Shall we begin?   Check out Seamus Gallagher's incredibly creepy Aginor. Aginor is the "mad scientist" Forsaken and was trapped near the surface of the Bore. He was one of first to emerge and one of the first to be destroyed by Team Lightside at the Eye of the World. He is later revived by the Dark One in a new, less rotted body and named "Osan'gar".     This portrait of Lanfear was done by Mandersen. I think of all the Forsaken, Lanfear is probably the one that spends the most time thinking of her image. Unless she's in disguise (and sometimes even then), you never see her without her trademark lunar themed jewelry. I'm saying this girl primps a lot.     Here's a really striking group portrait of of Ishmael, Mesaana and Demandred from Gala-maia. I really like the bold colors in this one. Demandred looks just as snotty as I pictured him. That's a punchable face if I ever saw one. Mesaana's outfit is a little fancier than what I imagined, but maybe she's tired of slumming it by masquerading as an Aes Sedai?     This is a great pencil sketch of Sammael by googooliniI love the scar. It's just perfect. Also his eyes really do seem to burn with frustrated evil, don't they?     Here's a really fantastic Graendal by Ruben de Vela. Now, not all the details are correct. Her hair isn't curly and I don't think she's curvy enough. But check out that throne she's lounging on. Yup, she's sitting on a pile of naked, oiled thralls. None of the other Graendal portraits I looked at had that detail.   And that's it for this week! If you want to suggest artwork or themes, please email me at Jennifer@dragonmount.com.

As we reported earlier, Brandon Sanderson is on tour in Europe this month. One of our staff members, Thomas C., was able to attend the signing and give us this official report from Saturday's signing at Forbidden Planet bookstore in London. Brandon's next official stop is Paris, France.   Finally! After over seven years of being a member of Dragonmount, I finally got a perk! And that perk was being sat next to Brandon Sanderson at his recent book signing at the Forbidden Planet Megastore in London on Saturday 4th June 2011. And this I believe was his first book signing in the country – and hopefully it won’t be the last!     Arriving at the store about half an hour before the schedule 1pm start, my girlfriend (a member of the forums that goes by the username North Star) and I were taken backstage to meet the team involved with the book signing. There we saw Brandon Sanderson updating his Twitter status to say that he was finally in the UK! My girlfriend was cheeky and got one of her copies of the Mistborn books signed, as well as one for a friend.   It was at this point that we got an understanding of the plan for the day. Brandon Sanderson wanted to start the book signing with a reading that seemed to have caught the store’s staff off guard as they hadn’t planned for it! What was meant to be a reading of about 5 minutes was nearer to ten, but I am sure the fans wouldn’t complain, even if they had to stand! And I think the store were surprised at the number of fans who turned up – at the start, it was probably around the 75 mark, and was definitely a lot more by the end of the book signing.   Brandon Sanderson decided to read some unpublished material from his forthcoming book The Alloy of Law, a fourth book for the Mistborn trilogy. And before you jump up and down about a trilogy only having three books, this is a Mistborn novel, and is set 300 years after the end of the trilogy. Brandon Sanderson said that while the magic was the same, he wanted to take it into an industrial age. He did point out that it would not be steampunk, but would have that feel to it. At some stage in the future, he would like to do a sci-fi series based in the Mistborn world.   Spoilers for Mistborn: The Alloy of Law   Brandon Sanderson read from chapter 1 of the book, which focuses on the character Waxillium Ladrian. The passage focused on Waxillium getting an unexpected meeting from someone related to an incident that happened six months ago. He was back in the city, having put his guns down and focusing on trade. And that incident was a tragedy when chasing a psychopath in a Wild Wild West environment that affected Waxillium on the inside. It sounded intriguing, and I am sure Mistborn fans can’t wait!   End of spoilers.   After the reading, Sanderson went to the floor for an open question and answer session before the book signing session. The question and answer session covered both the Wheel of Time and Brandon Sanderson’s books, and had a total of 12 questions. From these questions, I will pick the highlights from this.   The second question focused on the release date of A Memory of Light, the final book in the series. Sanderson answered that it would in 2012, probably between March and November, but more likely to be towards the end of the year. The reason for this is because Harriet had requested more time to edit the book as she felt the previous books were rushed, hence the typos. During the book signing stage, Sanderson also revealed that his re-read of the Wheel of Time was another reason.   Questions also focused on Sanderson’s books, so I will have to put some of those in. Sadly, I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet, but I have heard nothing but good reviews. I will get their eventually! I made a start by buying the first two parts of the first book of the Mistborn trilogy! Fans wanted to know when the next book in the Way of Kings series would be out. Sanderson confirmed this would be after the last Wheel of Time book was published.   At this stage, I must point out that I am extremely impressed in the way that Sanderson juggles so many different series at the same time. And this leads nicely to the answer to question eight, which wanted to know how Sanderson kept track of all his series! He admitted he has a scatterbrain approach at times, which meant he constantly lost things, for example, keys. However, he never forgot stories, and has some stored in his brain from over a decade ago. He also pointed out that he works to the policy of having one book being revision, one being written and one at the planning stage.   The sixth question was a good one. The questioner wanted to know Sanderson’s view on working to deadlines and meeting publisher’s demands. Basically, the question looked at quality versus timing. Sanderson made it clear that he never comprised on the writing. If there were to be any shortcuts, it was more likely to be in the proofreading stage.     As pointed out earlier, I hadn’t read any of Sanderson’s work outside of the Wheel of Time. But question nine got me really interested. They wanted to know if there was a connection between all of Sanderson’s books (excluding the Wheel of Time). Sanderson confirmed there was a link between the different universes, and that there was a character that appeared in them all. So basically, he suggested his readers keep an eye out for this and more details will be revealed...   The twelfth and final question returned to the Wheel of Time and wanted to know if there were any plans for prequels and outriggers. From the point of view as a fan, Sanderson said “yes”, he would love there to be something like this. But from the point of view of the person in charge of Robert Jordan’s legacy, it was a “no”. It felt as if they would be capitalising on Jordan’s name. When the question was raised during the book signing, Sanderson rated it at about a 5% chance of happening. So probably very unlikely one then. From my own view, I think this is fair. The series needs to be completed before anything like this is considered – and this is an opinion that Sanderson expressed as well. But don’t rule it out – just look at Terry Goodkind. I am pretty certain Goodkind said he wouldn’t write in his Sword of Truth world once Confessor was finished. But a new book, The Omen Machine, is coming out shortly and is set in the world of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell. Only time will tell...   It was time to move onto the book signing, and because of the numbers, which continued to swell, Sanderson said he was happy to stay until about 3:30pm to 4pm. It was at this point that Sanderson stated that he would personalise a couple of books (this definitely got ignored!). He also had a small dig at the likes of Amazon, which reduced the price of books, but didn’t allow for book signings – something that gives book stores an advantage.   The event then moved onto the book signing itself. I really wished I had kept a count of how many people turned up. Overall, I would say it was well over 100, if not nearer 150. It might have been many more! So, a great success. British fans came from all over the country, with Ipswich and Norwich to the East, York and Durham to the north, Wales to the west and of course London and the south. Europe was also represented, with fans coming from the Netherlands (where I gather there was an impromptu meet when Sanderson got delayed with his flights) and Sweden. I can’t see Sanderson dodging Scandinavia again, as I got the impression the Oslo signing was a huge success. Special mention must go to the American fans that turned up as well.     A whole range of books appeared to be signed, coming from Sanderson’s series and the books he has written in the Wheel of Time series. The most surprising book to appear was an advance reading copy (ARC) of The Way of Kings. Sanderson advised the owner of this book to look after it well, considering that some ARC can fetch a small fortune!   Sanderson invited those getting books signed to ask any questions they had. I made loads of notes relating to these, but I will focus more on some, and then summarise the rest. Otherwise, this report would be massive!   Sanderson has sold the film rights for the Mistborn trilogy. I believe this is common knowledge. What I believe is not common knowledge is that Sanderson has read the screenplay and is extremely pleased with it. All that is needed is a studio... Also, the series should appear as three films.   Question of the day went to the guy who asked Sanderson if he could be a soup, what kind of soup he would be! Sanderson confirmed he would be a potato chowder but without the clams! Sanderson said he now had an answer to the question that asked him what was the strangest question he had ever been asked! It was definitely a curveball of a question, and got everyone laughing!   Sanderson talked about his plans while in London. His wife was currently in London trying to find tickets for a show tonight and early next week. He had asked his fans via Twitter what he should see. On the Sunday, he planned to visit some of London’s free museums. I also got the impression he was off to Guildford for another book signing down there, and a few fans admitted they would see him again! To which Sanderson said he would find a new passage to read!   A few questions covered the Wheel of Time being turned into a movie. Universal have the rights to the turn the first book, The Eye of the World, into a film. One fan asked if Sanderson would like a cameo role in the film. Sanderson said he would love a role, even if he was getting eaten by a Trolloc. I hope Universal take note of this!   Sanderson confirmed that there would an update for the companion book, The World of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, lovingly known as the Big White Book. This would be in the form of an encyclopaedia, and contain much more information. A proposed date for this release would be about one year after A Memory of Light.   One fan asked what Sanderson felt was the main difference in the writing style between himself and Jordan. Sanderson felt Jordan was a better prose craftsman, which I agree with. The other difference was in the action scenes. Jordan had lived through battles as he was a Vietnam veteran, whereas Sanderson went more for a cinematic approach. I will look out for this on my next re-read!   Several fans wanted to know how Sanderson felt about picking up the baton and continuing the Wheel of Time series. He felt daunted to begin with, mainly over the fear of not doing a good enough job. He knows it isn’t perfect (like how Jordan would have written it), but he has loved the challenged – and I am sure us fans do like what he has done. He was initially surprised at the hardcore nature of Wheel of Time fans. He jokingly viewed himself as a stepfather to the fans! I got the impression that Sanderson was blown away by the level of detail and research Jordan undertook for the mythologies etc behind the books. He said there were shelves and shelves of textbooks on the mythology, and Harriet was able to pick the necessary books should he need to do some background or further reading.   Sanderson had an interesting discussion with one fan (I gathered he was a keen writer) over the merits of e-publishing. I didn’t even know such a concept existed! Sanderson felt this worked well for those who wrote quickly and also wrote shorter series. For those who wrote longer series, these people were better off with a publisher. Sanderson gave a good plan for someone who wanted to use e-publishing with regards to selling a short trilogy. He said that the first book should be about $0.99 with a good blog to get people interested. Then, the two remaining books should be sold for about $2.99. And if you could over 20,000 copies electronically, he felt a publisher would give you serious consideration.   One fan happened to have the same t-shirt on as Sanderson. It was a grey t-shirt, with dovie'andi se tovya sagain (“it's time to toss the dice”) and a red hand on it. As Social Group Leader of the Band of the Red Hand, I felt extremely jealous. I think I am now on the lookout for one! [Editor's note: Those shirts are for sale from Ta'veren Tees, an officially licensed t-shirt production company.]   After the sad and untimely death in 2006 of David Gemmell, a bestselling British fantasy author, a series of awards were set up in his name as a legacy in 2008 – the David Gemell Legend Awards. The top award for this is the Legend Award for the Best Fantasy novel. Brandon Sanderson is nominated in this award category twice – once for The Way of Kings, and secondly for the Towers of Midnight with Robert Jordan. The announcement of the winner is on 17th June 2011, and Brandon was disappointed not be in Europe at the time of the award. But I am sure we all wish him the best of luck in the category!   Now, after those lengthy detailed insight into questions, time now for some summaries of other key points raised...   - Bela survives! - Sanderson admitted he was one of four people who knew the ending that Jordan had written for the Wheel of Time. And I think I can put money on who the other three are... - One fan got Sanderson to do his signature on their iPad, which led to the representative from Forbidden Planet getting a picture of this! Sanderson was extremely impressed with how his signature turned out! - Sanderson confirmed he would be appearing at Supernova in Australia in February 2012 (but not which city) as well as SwanCon in Perth in April 2012 - Sanderson revealed some of his favourite scenes from the Wheel of Time – Rand at Rhuidean; Nynaeve and Lan when she overcame her block; and Perrin and the Siege of the Two Rivers - Sanderson admitted that there were landscapes/settings that he moved around his universes until he was sure that they fitted properly. - There were definitely a lot of questions relating to detailed parts of Sanderson’s non-Wheel of Time work. While I did make notes, my lack of knowledge of these works would mean I would probably make mistakes. So apologies for not covering that in greater detail.   Sadly, no-one dressed up. Sanderson did get a few gifts. A fan from Wales had brought along a Dalek keyring. One fan had written his name down on a piece of paper, gave it to his sister who gave it to Sanderson to hopefully use in a future book. One had written a letter to Sanderson, which he would read later.   Once all fans had been and gone, a few hung back. While getting his books signed, one fan, Matt, had bought his Magic: The Gathering cards along with him and mentioned this to Brandon Sanderson, who admitted that they might play at the end of the signing if time allowed. Matt returned, and both Sanderson and Matt played a quick game in the store. From what I gathered (as I don’t know much about the game), Matt seemed to make a good start, then Sanderson pulled out an ace card and Matt lost in three moves! Matt didn’t seem to mind – I think the experience of playing a game with Sanderson was far more important!   At the end of the signing, the staff from Forbidden Planet felt it had been one of their more successful book signings. Personally, I agree with that. I put that down to the fact that this was Sanderson’s first time in the UK, and I don’t there had ever been a Wheel of Time related event like this here either. I do hope those involved in the Wheel of Time series and Sanderson’s team take note of this – there is a huge fan base over here in Europe just waiting for you! The Towers of Midnight tour was a huge success in North America – there is no reason why something similar for A Memory of Light wouldn’t work in Europe!   And finally, I would like to thank Jennifer for giving myself and my girlfriend the chance to attend and for our special access. And I would also like to thank all the fans that took the time to come to the signing – without you, it wouldn’t have been a success!   There is a gallery of pictures relating to the day under the gallery section of the website. I apologise to Matt - I do have the picture of you playing Magic: The Gathering with Brandon Sanderson, but the picture is too big to upload. If you do drop by the site, drop me a message and I will send it over to you!

Sorry about last week everyone. It was one of those perfect storms of obligation, plus another round of illness. The last month and half or so for me has been pretty busy and last week was the culmination of quite a few things. But enough of that. You don't care about me. You just want some sweet, sweet fan art.   Faile seems to be one of those love/hate characters. She's pretty young, even compared to the other protagonists who are in their late teens and twenties, and she's not a big of the direct, open, honest communication thing. Her marriage to Perrin isn't always hugs and puppies and a good portion of that comes from her stubborn refusal to just tell Perrin why she's upset.   But despite those flaws, Faile truly loves her husband. She's brave, intelligent and cunning. She is fiercely protective of her people and feels a great responsibility to them. Perrin may have earned his lordship through brave deeds, but Faile that teaches him what that means and how to perform the role.     This fantastic watercolor by Seeshi_suin captures some of that strong character. Faile is never described as "beautiful" or even "pretty". But even with that, she would be someone you'd still look at and pay attention to. You can see her strong nose and slightly tilted eyes. The pose the artist gave her, especially that little head tilt, indicates a strong personality. I think this really captures her well.     This version of Faile by anti-ignoramus also includes her totem animal, the falcon. "Faile" means falcon in the Old Tongue and it's the nickname her father used for her and everyone always says it suits her better than her given name. I like the detailing on her dress. It seems like a very Faile kind of outfit. Rich, without being elaborate or impractical. She is a woman of action.     aiconx's version of Faile is dressed a little sexier than I imagined, but I think still does her justice. I like the inclusion of the fans. It almost looks like she was interrupted in the middle of dancing the sa'sara.   Before I close this up, one thing I've had questions on lately is "How do I get featured on Fan Art Friday"? There's really no process. I just take an hour or two each week and Google like crazy until I have three or four pieces I like for whatever theme I'm going for. If you've got something you want to make sure I see, either upload it to the Dragonmount Gallery. I always check there first. Or, if you have it somewhere else, email me a link. My email address is Jennifer@dragonmount.com. If I can fit it into a theme, I'll use it. I also appreciate suggestions for themes you'd like to see. I've also been known to post things I like, but decide not to use on Tor.com's official Wheel of Time Facebook portal, which I am the host of. So either way, it'll be seen by a lot of fans.