DRAGONMOUNT

The 4th Age podcast presents Episode 75, Knife of Dream recap for Chapters 18-21, one of our “catch-up” episodes that never got posted. We realize it is out of date now but want the series to be complete. Coming immediately – all The Gathering Storm read-trough episodes, plus new episodes on Towers of Midnight. Check out our host Dragonmount.com" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/book-tour-info-for-towers-of-midnight-r33">Dragonmount.com for forums and comments. We went out of number sequence here to get some time-sensitive episodes out to you all before the release date for ToM. Never fear – all of the podcasts in between WILL be posted now that the podcast page and the new Dragonmount server are playing nicely together. ATTENTION! THERE ARE SPOILERS! No Towers of Midnight  spoilers, but information from ALL the other books are VERY likely! There will be spoilers, just none for ToM! If you haven’t read all the way through the Wheel of Time, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS of all previous books! Maybe of other series, too…. we will try to give warning. Hosts: Virginia and Andrew G Editor: Spencer Music by: Josh Needleman His website is at www.joshneedleman.net" rel="external nofollow">http://www.joshneedleman.net/">www.joshneedleman.net and he has the music available to hear on his MySpace page at www.myspace.com/joshneedleman." rel="external nofollow">http://www.myspace.com/joshneedleman">www.myspace.com/joshneedleman. It’s title is Floodgate. Thanks, Josh! Download" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/Podcast/Media/dm-4thAge-075.mp3">Download this Episode nowhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/4thAge/~4/NVJEuFGnPrs" height="1" width="1"/>

Let me tell you about my day on Thursday November 4. It was, in a word, awful. To begin, my alarm didn't go off, causing me to be late for work. Work, as a result, was slightly on the miserable side. In addition, it was cold and drizzling, and the traffic was a mess. Suffice it to say, I spent the better part of the bloody day in a fairly foul flaming mood.     Why am I telling you all this? Because when I say that the Towers of Midnight book signing was awesome enough for me to consider the day an amazing success, I want you to fully grasp my meaning. After a rough day at work, I headed straight into Dallas to help set up for the signing. There, I found my fellow Tower Guards already hard at work getting things ready and entertaining the small crowd that had already assembled with trivia questions. By the time the tables had turned and members of the crowd were offering up their own obscure trivia, I couldn't help but be in good spirits, and I think it was the same for everyone present. Being surrounded by people who are as geeky as you are (and I mean that in the best was possible!) and love this series as much as you do, and seeing the laughter in their eyes and the anticipation on their smiling faces... well, I defy anyone to be in any kind of a bad mood at that point.     Now let's move on to the good stuff. Most of you reading this were not privy to the conversation we in the Guard shared with Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal over dinner. Lucky you, I'm in a sharing mood, so I'll give you a brief rundown of what we said. Why brief? I understand that this is supposed to be spoiler free, so I don't want to give too much away. I feel though that I can at least share the main points, as long as I'm vague enough on plot points.   We all sat down for dinner, asking Harriet and Brandon about their travels this week. They informed us that it had been rough despite what sleep they had gotten, yet I was struck by how cheerful they both seemed. Both wore warm smiles and seemed fairly relaxed for all that they had been traveling across the country so much recently. Harriett informed us with a laugh that “life on tour is like being a Fed-Ex package”: Just tell her where to go and send her off. Fed-Exed or not, her eyes grew wide at the sight of a pizza laden with olives, while Brandon stated stoutly that he didn't like “green things” on his pizza as he reached for another slice of pepperoni.   Once we were settled to eat, we got to ask them any questions that were burning in our hearts. Again, I will avoid spoilers, and many of our questions were R.A.F.Oed (Read And Find Out!) but what we gleaned was quite interesting. We asked Brandon about his time working on the story, such as his greatest surprise from the last book, Gathering Storm. No one was surprised to hear that it was a certain scene involving Verin of the Brown Ajah, and while I won't go any further than that, I will add that he stated the scene in question was written entirely by Jordan before his passing.   We learned that Brandon's favorite scenes of the series turned out to be Rand at Rhuidean in Shadow Rising, followed closely by the climactic events in the Two Rivers in that same book. You know the ones I mean, and if you don't, go read! We learned that what Brandon liked about the magic system, and magic systems in general, is what the magic can't do. Think of the limitations on Traveling, and you'll understand.   Most interesting, in my opinion, we learned more about Brandon's thoughts on writing the series in general. He told us that most important was staying true to Jordan's notes and his vision. He wanted the characters to stay the same, so that if you liked Perrin (the girls all sighed at this point) or hated Cadsuane, you would continue to do so for the same reasons, until such time as the story might bring about any changes. Some things would change as he wrote, but Brandon's conscience would not let him deviate from Jordan's true vision of the story.   We wrapped up our private Q&A, got Brandon, Harriet and Bob Kluttz to sign all our books, then it was on to face the crowds of adoring fans.   Brandon and Harriet were met with a round of applause, which they accepted with gracious smiles and a friendly wave. It seemed obvious that they were as excited and pleased to be there as the rest of us. The crowd had swelled considerably; a buzz of excited conversation and a spark of anticipation filled the air. Wasting no time, the guests of honor took their seats at the head table and dove right in.   Brandon started the ball rolling, announcing that Harriet would do a brief reading, one that had been requested at the previous signing. He passed the microphone to Harriet, who, with a mischievous smile, claimed she was going to “chew the scenery.” She did not disappoint. She began to read from the prologue, specifically the excerpt from Padan Fain's point of view. Bad Guys can be fun to read, and Harriet seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself, narrating the twisted villain's vile exploits. Even in the middle of the reading, when our recording device (a phone) began to make several loud ringing sounds, she merely picked it up, passed it to Brandon with a wry smile (he passed it to us, looking bemused), and told the crowd, to peals of laughter, “This is not the Droid you're looking for!” before diving right back into her fun.   Harriet finished to tumultuous applause, and Brandon reclaimed the microphone for the Q&A. What follows is a transcript of the audience's questions and Brandon's and Harriet's responses. For space, I cannot put every single word, but I will write out the responses as fully as possible. (Anything in parentheses is my own.) For more details, look for the film footage, which should hopefully be posted here as well.   Q: I heard that Great Hunt was written first, before Eye of the World. Is this rumor or truth?   Harriet: It's rumor, not truth. He (Jordan, obviously) worked on The Eye of the World first; they came in order. He did work on The Eye of the World for four years before he ever gave me any of it. And, while he was writing The Great Hunt, he and I went out to lunch in the neighborhood deli, and he asked me what I thought the child-rearing practices of this desert people he had in mind, what they would be like. And if you remember, we just saw the first Aiel in a cage. But he was already working on how would Rand be brought up, you see, so he worked very far ahead in his thinking. But the way he wrote them was the way they were published.   Q: Verin—   Brandon: Let's avoid spoilers. (A lot of people hadn't read Gathering Storm yet, it seemed.) Can you talk around it?   Q: There's a certain character of the Brown Ajah—   Brandon: Now that's too much! Ask us in the line.   Q: Is there a scene planned with one of the Aiel Wise Ones as a damane?   Brandon: That will be a R.A.F.O., I'm afraid! But excellent question, nonetheless.   Q: Do you write the scenes in order?   Brandon: For very large epic fantasies, such as Towers of Midnight and Way of Kings, I actually approach it by viewpoint grouping, meaning I take all the characters who are together in the same location, or who are kind of together emotionally or things like that, and I will write them straight through until they run into people from other sequences. At that point, I'll usually stop and do the next one straight through, or I'll just skip those chapters and go on, depending on what's going on. I do it by group, and the reason for that is: juggling all of these characters in your head, and making sure I'm keeping every character true to themselves, it's kind of like I have to upload a bunch of stuff into my brain, and then wipe it clean and upload a bunch of other stuff for another sequence. So for instance, for this book, Perrin and Faile and everyone around them would have been written straight through, and then I jumped back and would've done Mat, and so forth.   Q: How are decisions made about breaking up the chapters?   Brandon: Usually, that's Harriet. I break the scenes, she decides what gets grouped together into a chapter, and she will often move the chapters around. She does quite a bit of that, tweaking it to try and figure out where the best balance is. I don't generally give her an initial (order) with a bunch of them. Well, she'll get them in viewpoint chunks first, and she'll be doing edits on those while I'm writing other viewpoint chunks, and then I'll stick them together in an initial, and she'll through and say, “No, this one needs to be here, and this one needs to be here, these three need to be one chapter.” That sort of thing.   Harriet: And if Brandon says, “No, I just can't get behind this one,” he wins! (Laughter from the crowd)   Brandon: There were a couple that I really like. There's a really, really great cliffhanger at the end of the first Mat chapter and I'm like, “Oh, that's such a great place to break a chapter; it'll make everyone turn to the next page!”   Q: Who is Bela really working for?   Brandon: Harriet?   Harriet: (with a wicked grin on her face) Would you believe Bela is the Dark One? (much laughter followed that statement!)   Q: Have you finished the Mistborn novella?   Brandon: The Mistborn short story, that became a novella that became a short novel is 60,000 words long and is really looking like 70,000 words, which is about a third the length of one of my other novels. It's slow going while I'm on tour, but it will be done fairly soon. (He had a few other details about this, but I'll let you watch the recording for the specifics. Also, read Mistborn if you haven't yet!) If you weren't aware, between books, I generally take a few months off and just write something random, whatever strikes me. I can't have a contract for it. It has to be something completely unexpected to keep instincts sharp and my writing ability sharp. I'm starting on Memory of Light on January 1, but I've got these three months to do whatever occurs to me. Two months ago, I wrote a story about a pizza delivery man who turns into a necromancer. It was called Death by Pizza. (lots of laughter; although I hope he publishes this!) He was a good pizza delivery man, with good pizza, he was just a necromancer.   Q: Are there any characters in particular you find hard to write?   Brandon: There are several that I've had more trouble with than others, and in that case, I generally work on them quite a long time. Aviendha, when I first started writing her, was probably the most difficult to get the voice right. There are characters that I write that are more difficult to write than others for different reasons. For instance, Gawyn is kind of... frustrated with himself, and when you step into a character's viewpoint, you start to feel and think like them; that's the goal. And so, him being frustrated with himself and his purpose in life makes it hard to write his scenes, because you feel frustrated and things like that, and Harriet has a great story about that.   Harriet: One of the things that happens with a writer, which certainly happened with Jim (Jordan's real name, FYI), was he was often asked “what was his favorite character?” and he said, “whoever I'm writing today.” Because he understood that villains don't think they're villains. They are doing what the world or the devil or something outside has forced them to do. So they think of themselves as gallant victims, generally, while they're slitting somebody's throat. But I could tell when he'd been writing somebody awful. He'd come in the kitchen door at supper time and he'd slink around the walls! I said, “You've been writing Padan Fain today, haven't you?” “How did you know?!”   Q: Who's your favorite villain to write?   Brandon: It depends on the book. The scene that Harriet just read was a huge amount of fun to write, because Fain is just completely bonkers at this point. And so in this book I'd say that was, of the villain viewpoints, my favorite one to write.   Q: Can you do a Forsaken “Mwa-ha-ha”?   Brandon: MWA ha ha ha HA HA HAH HA HA HA!!!   Brandon's evil laugh brought a huge round of applause, and then it was time for the book signing to truly begin. Everyone lined up eagerly, awaiting his or her chance to talk with the people responsible for our favorite series.   Talking with the crowds, listening to them as they came up to speak with Brandon and Harriett, I began to get a feel for the assembled fans. They were diverse. They liked The Wheel of Time for different reasons. Some were old hands, some recent converts. Some were just getting the book for friends and family.     One person from Dallas who had been reading for ten years expounded on her love of the fashion and the spark of imagination they gave. Another pair of girls from Edgewood and Coppell, Texas told me about how the different story-lines sucked them in and they were never bored with any of them.   One person from Houston, a history student in college, described his love of the depth of the story and the world. Another college student explained that he was working on his doctorate and that Wheel of Time was the only pleasure reading he allowed himself. Yet another person in line told me he'd written his thesis on the series and had exchanged a wealth of correspondence with Jordan, seeking details to help write his paper.   One couple from Ft. Smith, Arkansas, fans from the beginning, had brought their three-week-old child last year, and another couple, fans for but a short time, informed us they had named their first son Lan.   One person said these books had gotten him to turn off the TV and to start reading. Another person told Sanderson that he made her want to write, and they discussed NaNoWriMo. Some people asked about his magic systems; some asked about playing Magic: the Gathering. Some people asked for pictures, to which Harriet and Brandon happily obliged.   Some were young, and had only read Sanderson's Alcatraz series; some were older and claimed a need to read the last three books six times through as they had done the previous stories.   A pair of ladies, dressed as Aiel Maidens, were just happy to be there.   Young and old, male and female, old fans and new, they came, and each person in line was as unique as the one before and after. And yet several things bound these people together. Each and every person offered Brandon and Harriet their thanks. They thanked them for continuing the series after Robert Jordan's death, and for keeping the books as good as they had ever been. They told Brandon and Harriet it was an honor to meet them. They treated the writer and editor with class, offering smiling faces and small stories of their love of the series, and received the same in turn from the pair. It was an experience such as you can only get when you are surrounded by those who share the same loves that you yourself hold so dear.   Several hours later, the signing was done, and a few hundred fans rushed home to begin reading their new books, despite the late hour and having work and school the next day. Don't deny it; you know you did. With a last group photo with their Texas Tower Guards, Brandon and Harriet departed, off to the next signing in Baltimore.   As I'm writing this, several thoughts come to mind. I know it gets said time and time again, but it really was an honor to get to meet with Brandon and Harriet, and I want to add my thanks. I think I speak for everyone reading this when I say that we all appreciate everything they have done for us, the fans. I think they were happy to meet with us and sign well over a thousand books, despite how stressful such tours can undoubtedly be. It shows a level of dedication to their readers, and I think we all owe them a huge amount of gratitude for the efforts and the sacrifices that they make, in addition to those of all their assistants, whom I have never had the pleasure of meeting. It is clear to me that this is a series written by fantasy fans and for fantasy fans, and the level of dedication that has been shown for The Wheel of Time is nothing shy of remarkable.   I began reading the series in high school, when my best friend handed me Eye of the World and said, “Dude, read this.” I have been hooked ever since. Now, ten years later, I have gotten to be a very small part of making the series happen. That is, to coin the phrase, frickin' awesome. But it's not about one person; it's about all of us, and the book signing was a place for us all to be connected to these books. For those of us who were present, all united by our common love of what I consider to be the greatest fantasy series of our time, it was an amazing experience.   Thirteen books down, and one to go. Many people said they were eagerly anticipating A Memory of Light, book fourteen, next year, but would be sad to see the series end. Brandon said it was a bittersweet feeling gaining the chance to write the series but losing the chance to read it, for which we all must be grateful to him. In the same way, it will be very bittersweet for all of us to see the series come to an end.   But, as we all know, there are neither beginnings nor endings to The Wheel of Time, so I think it'll be just fine.       -from Dallas, Texas Chris Treco   Steve Godecke, owner of PortalStones.com and Stormblessed.com was also at the signing and provided us with video links. Thanks Steve!   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEDFZnCoaXI?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEDFZnCoaXI?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQWIMxOpWV8?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQWIMxOpWV8?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">

The day begins much like the previous twenty-four hours have passed by, with an oppressive blanket of steel grey clouds and constant rain making the already brisk November air seem that much colder. But today is different; today is the book signing in Hanover for the release of Towers of Midnight, and as if by the blessing of the Light, when I set out at midday the sun has finally broken through the overcast skies to shine brightly on my journey south and west towards my fellow Tower Guard. I carefully dodge Darkfriends in black cars, Aes Sedai of every Ajah driving green SUVs, blue four-doors, or yellow minivans, and Asha’man in their sleek sports cars. As a Tower Guard it is my duty to brave such lonesome odds, so I continue on unabated, happy to drive the two hours it will take to reach my destination.   When I arrive there is already a crowd of people waiting to make petitions to the Amyrlin and her Keeper of the Chronicles, but there is a while yet before they will arrive and so I do my best to see that everyone is kept happy along with the other Tower Guard. During my talks with some, I find that they have come from cities as far away as Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and in the case of one gentleman, London, England. They are all excited to be here, however, and are as pleased as I was to make the journey if it meant getting the opportunity to have an audience with Harriet and Brandon. After a short delay -- planes will simply never be as reliable as Traveling -- the two arrived to much applause and got right down to business.   The evening started with a reading by Harriet from the prologue of Towers of Midnight. We were given the choice of hearing a section from Lan’s point of view or Padan Fain’s, though it wasn’t much of a competition when it came time to raise our hands and vote. For the next quarter hour we listened as Harriet read about Fain’s trek north into the Blight, sometimes laughing and sometimes nodding our heads thoughtfully as she read the passage with a slight southern drawl. Once Harriet was finished, Brandon stepped up to the podium and proceeded to answer questions posed by those in the audience for another twenty minutes, covering topics ranging from the Mistborn series to future works within the Wheel of Time universe after A Memory of Light is complete.   The hour is already growing late, however, and we must move quickly if we are to get all the books signed before Tarmon Gai’don arrives. My duty is to prepare the thick tomes by making sure dust jackets and post-it notes are in their proper place, while others of the Tower Guard perform their assigned tasks. Melody is taking professional photos to document the event; Cassy, ever ebullient, stays nearby to assist Harriet and take pictures for people on their personal cameras; David, Maureen, and Gavin stroll through the crowd waiting in line and play trivia games to win a bookmark or conduct interviews about who their favorite characters and moments are from the Wheel of Time. Eric, our leader, is stalwart by Harriet and Brandon’s table, ready to marshal the other Tower Guard into action when needed.   All things considered, in short order the last person made their way through the line, and by eleven o’clock there were only a handful of people left roaming about the Tower. I was able to absorb a lot in that brief window of time, due in most part to Brandon and Harriet’s unflagging dedication to their fans. Over and over Brandon made sure to ask each person if they had any questions, not just about the Wheel of Time but about any of the projects he is involved in, and more than a few people were brave enough to ask the occasional question of Harriet or tell her how Robert Jordan’s work has changed their life. I felt almost like a Brown, quietly sitting back to listen and make mental notes to jot down once I returned home. If I can take away anything from that experience to pass on and share with the rest of you, it would only be to say that we truly are blessed to have Robert’s life’s work left in such capable, enthusiastic hands.   All too soon I’m on my way home, after a few precious moments getting to talk one on one with Harriet and Brandon about the books they’ve been a part of writing. I asked a single question each of the duo, receiving a RAFO response from Brandon when I asked if we ever get to see Shara, and finally solving the mystery of how, exactly, to pronounce Cairhien from Harriet. A group wolf howl and several goodbyes later, I find myself driving back down Route 50, and this late at night I am the only car on the road. I have left the other Tower Guard to go our separate directions, forging a lone path of light through the darkness as I travel east and north to await the Last Battle. Until then, my friends, may you always find water and shade.   - Renee, Tower Guard 11/05/2010   Damn. That was awesome.   It seemed that our event was going to be plagued with transportation issues. From traffic for the Tower Guard to the tarmac for Harriet and Brandon, the world was just running late. (Oh, who are we kidding? It's the DC-Baltimore metro area on a Friday. That is the Lord of Chaos' time to shine!) But Brandon and Harriet stuck it out, and Books-a-Million allowed people to stay waaaay past their closing time. And just like many years ago with Robert Jordan, Brandon and Harriet inquired and responded to every fan so everyone felt like they had a personal moment. Everyone that wanted to wait had the opportunity to get signatures and to have a small amount of time with Brandon and Harriet. It seems like the word for the signing was "gracious." Thanks, Books-a-Million! Thanks, Harriet and Brandon!   But gracious did not just apply to the people responsible for the event, it also describes the people that got to enjoy the event: the fans. At 11:00, while putting personalizations on post-its, people were still smiling and laughing, sharing their WoT experiences and theories, having a good time despite some having waited for as long as four hours. I got to meet many cool fans, from Bobby and Tammy to Karina, Christoph and Aviendha to Aryn, the birthday girl -- everyone had a WoT story. I will remember Dawn, although I never met her, and her stoic (but unnamed) friend. Dawn, I hope that somewhere you know that there is a Towers of Midnight book dedicated to your memory by Brandon. And some of the theories were fantastic; Paul and Sandy were discussing Rhuidean and the possibility that your sanity passing through the ter'angreal depended on your lineage. Waaaaaay cool, Sandy! It was great that people were excited about the crossword puzzle (even if I did make a few mistakes -- thanks for not lynching me, guys!), and it was more wonderful seeing people reading in line, because before I had WoT friends to go to signings with, that's what I was doing. It's been many years, but this was the first time I got to be on the other side.   Damn. That was awesome.   - Maureen, Tower Guard 11/05/2010   The book signing was so much fun! My role was basically helping out with the fans, talking to everyone, and handing out numbers and stickers (red for -No Spoilers!- and green for -Spoiler Alert!-) so people would know who had finished Towers of Midnight and who you had to watch what you say around. It was amazing seeing everyone there, hanging out and talking about Wheel of Time. Thanks to Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz series, there were some kids who came out to see him. Brandon and Harriet were running late due to plane issues, but they were all smiles when they arrived. Both of them made sure to give each and every fan their attention, thanking them for waiting, asking if anyone had questions and signing many, many books. And in the end, even after spending the day on a plane and signing books until 11:00pm, they made sure to spend a little bit of time with the Tower Guard. Harriet told me a story about Robert Jordan and even howled with "Perrin" -- a fan who stayed around until the very end. All in all, this experience was so much fun, and being a bigger part of this event meant so much to me. I've made some great friends, saw some people from last year, and was able to talk to people who are as big a fan of Robert Jordan's work as I am.   - Cassy, Tower Guard 11/05/2010   Fun Facts: -- Most difficult trivia question: What gifts does Mat give Tuon while courting her during Crossroads of Twilight and Knife of Dreams? Answer: Jewelry, Silk Rosebuds, and a Razor (rare breed of horse).   -- Most popular character: Matrim Cauthon by a landslide; 17 votes. Egwene took second place; 4 votes. Verin took third place; 3 votes. There were 19 characters total mentioned by members of the audience.   -- Favorite Moment from WoT: A tie between when Rand cleanses the Taint and when he travels to Rhuidean; 4 votes each. Second place was a three way tie between Rand’s battle with himself/Lews Therin on top Dragonmount, when Aviendha and Elayne become first sisters, and the battle at Dumai’s Wells; 3 votes each. Third place was another three way tie between when Rand and Aviendha took shelter in the igloo in Seanchan, when Egwene solidifies her authority with the rebel Aes Sedai, and the romance between Mat and Tuon; 2 votes each.   -- Best answer why ________ is your favorite character: “Thom, [because any] old man who can do back flips has my heart.” - Karina   -- Best answer how you found the Wheel of Time: “A friend named Michelle [introduced me to the series] but died before she graduated. [i am on a] mission to get people to read [the books] in her honor.” - Christoph   -- There were two children present who were named after the books: Perrin and Aviendha.   Perrin   Aviendha This post has been promoted to an article   This post has been promoted to an article

Hello my fellow WoT maniacs!   Sorry this is so late, a full three days after the event. Hopefully I can make it up to you with punch and pie. Well no, I don't have any of that. I do have this reports and some pictures though. Almost as good, right?   All pictures for the event can be found at: http://www.dragonmou...amento-signing/   And for those that haven't finished the book yet, don't worry. This is a No Spoiler Zone.     It was a warm day in Sacramento, highs in the 80's which is a little warm for November even in Northern California. And where was I? Having an awesome time stuck inside a rather warm and increasingly stuffy Barnes & Noble. And I wouldn't trade a minute of it. The Tower Guards started to gather around 4 pm to survey the lay of the land, organize duties, get our equipment set up, and write on the floor. Yep, I spent at least 20 minutes wandering around B&N writing Wheel of Time phrases on arrows of bright pink tape on the floor to show people the direction of the line. Easy enough you'd think, but apparently writer's block is possible even in those situations. Thanks to the fans there that helped give me ideas when my brain locked.   Who would have thought setting up would require weaponry?     Yes, that is a sword.   The signing was supposed to start at 7 pm. At 4 pm there were already people in the store waiting. At 5:45 pm they started to give out numbers and move people into line. That was when we realized just how big this event was going to be. Some of us had felt a little pessimistic about turnout because there hadn't been much advertising. We scoffed at the estimate Tor had given the store of 400 – 500 people. However at 6 pm we had over 60 people in line already, and still an hour to go until the signing started. We started to realize that this could well be long night. Brandon, Harriet, and Jason Denzel of Dragonmount arrived around 6 pm. Brandon and Harriet sat down with a couple of people for interviews, including one with Tower Guard Virginia for the 4th Age podcast. Meanwhile Jason helped us Tower Guards with getting things set up. Then at 6:30 pm the Tower Guards, Jason, Harriet, and Brandon got to sit down to a nice pizza dinner and talk. One of my favorite parts was talking with Harriet personally about how we both loved Terry Pratchet's “Discworld” series, and how she and RJ used to share reading them, passing the books back and forth as they got them read. I also loved to listen as Brandon talked about writing and the best ways to get going when you're having troubles.     Brandon's main piece of advice was to write, no matter what, just find something and write about it. If you're stuck in the middle of writing a scene and feel like you can't finish, have some ninjas attack. Write something, and don't be afraid to throw it out. The important thing is that you're writing. He also said not to look back. Don't keep rereading and changing what you've already written. That is the path that leads to never finishing anything. Finish first, then go back and polish. Even if you end up rewriting half your work, at least you finished. Interestingly enough this was actually a really popular question through the night. Yes we got Wheel of Time questions like the usual “Who killed Asmodean?” or “What happens if a person gets balefired in the World of Dreams?” However we also got a lot of aspiring writers there looking for advice on how to get going. Brandon was always happy to answer any question, even if it was with the dreaded RAFO card. But the questions about advice on how to get writing seemed to really resonate with him, as fans of his Writing Excuses podcast would probably tell you is not surprising.   After dinner Brandon and Harriet both got up on a ladder to see out over the bookshelves and addressed the crowd. They thanked everyone for coming of course, and Harriet made sure to let people know how much it meant to her to see us all out there supporting her husband's work. They announced the rules for the signing, i.e. what Brandon and Harriet would and wouldn't sign. And Harriet told us about the great vest she was wearing that was made from her husband's old ties. RJ had great taste in neckware.     Once the announcements were finished, Brandon, Harriet, and Jason settled in for a very long night of signing. For the most part things went pretty smoothly. We kept the line running well, everybody seemed to be behaving themselves, and despite the night lasting until almost midnight people seemed to keep in pretty good spirits. Sadly Harriet had to leave around 9 pm as she'd had a very long day already considering she'd had to fly all the way across the country from Charlotte to Sacramento. It was a sad moment for many though as Harriet got up to say goodbye to everyone. I know we not only missed our chance at getting her autograph, but just having her there was a connection to RJ that I think everyone wished to experience. People were eager to talk to her and say goodbye, but eventually she had to say farewell.     One of the most common things I heard people say to Brandon was how grateful they were to him for picking up the series and carrying it on for us. I know many people, myself included, despaired about the fate of the Wheel of Time books after RJ's passing. It was clear that people felt an intense gratitude for seeing someone who obviously loves the series be able to continue it and see it to the end. And it was also clear just how grateful and humbled Brandon felt each time he heard those comments. More even then how well he writes, the way he handles the responsibility of carrying RJ's legacy on shows that he was the right man for the job.   The signing lasted well into the night. After Harriet left I got to join Brandon at the table and assist him in making sure we got every copy of Towers of Midnight numbered. With the long day and the rush of trying to get to everyone I had to catch a couple here and there. It might not have been the most glamorous job, but it was a lot of fun. Getting to sit there and listen as everyone came up, and getting to interact with Brandon and Jason was great. I even got to be there for a question that stumped Brandon. Someone wanted to know why Verin was able to feel that the one Ogier had no soul when she visited the Stedding with the boys during tGH. Brandon, if you're reading this, the part of the Wheel of Time FAQ I was talking about is http://wotfaq.dragonmount.com/node/88 The whole time the signing was going on, we were stopping people as they left and had them sign large poster-board version of the Towers of Midnight cover, minus the text, as a thank you to Harriet and Brandon. Tower Guard David felt like they were going to spend all night signing things for us, so we should sign something for them to say thank-you.     Slowly the night went by, but eventually we started to make headway against the line. At one point some time after 10 pm we were told that the last person was in line and we were in the home stretch. As time went by I kept looking over at the line to the side where it wrapped through the bookshelves. I kept hoping for some sign that we were nearing the end. Finally I saw it, the end of the line. My girlfriend was at home watching us on ustream and sent me a text wondering why we were all suddenly looking behind us. It was amusing how everything stopped or that one moment as we all realized the end was in sight. At the same time though was a touch of sadness at knowing that this great night was coming to an end. Finally shortly before midnight, almost five hours after the official start of the signing, the last person in line stepped up to the table, greeted by a round of applause. We got our stuff packed up, and the Tower Guard finally got to get their books signed. Brandon tried to skip numbering mine as a test, but I caught it one last time.     We took some final pictures and said our goodbyes. It was a long night, but it was a great experience. It was easily one of the most fun I've had stuck for eight hours in a bookstore. A good time was hopefully had by all, and hopefully Sacramento gets another visit next year.   Thank you to everyone who came out.   Yours Truly,   Sacramento Tower Guards  

Cincinnati Book Signing -     As Tower Guards our book signing began much sooner than the general attendees. As fans we felt a strong desire to do right by the community to which we are a part of and love. As such, we had planned for a night of fun and camaraderie with prizes and games in order to celebrate the release of Towers of Midnight. Arriving at the bookstore at 4pm I proceeded to contact the store event manager a lady by the name of Barb. Unfortunately the Tower Guards for whatever reason were viewed at this point as somewhat of a nuisance by the bookstore. As Tower Guards we recognized that in effect we were simply volunteers extremely honored to be granted this chance. To Joseph-Beth, they had a well-trained staff ready to do what was needed for the book signing to be successful. That and a gentleman by the name of Brian who is probably one of the most well-read fantasy/science fiction people I have ever met and a friend of Brandon Sanderson's. Brian was extremely pleasant to deal with but due to the lack of a final authority for the Tower Guards we were required to wait until Brandon Arrived in order to do anything.       The Tower Guards had agreed to meet before the signing at the Rusty Bucket near the bookstore and after meeting with the bookstore I headed over there to meet my fellow tower guards. Upon arrival I passed out our shirts and sat down. We ordered drinks and began by introducing ourselves and what we knew of each other. Skipping the details of our planning we began to discuss the books themselves. Only two of us, myself included had finished Towers of Midnight so we had to be careful with our discussion lest we ruin it all. Where nerds gather the conversation is bound to get animated and we discussed many things over good drinks and some homemade brownies that one of our Tower Guards provided. Yum, mint.   We talked for almost two hours before we needed to be at the bookstore to meet Brandon at six. Around 5:45 we paid our tabs and moved over to the bookstore to meet with the staff again. Since the question of our duties during the signing were still up in the air we were herded into the upstairs break-room. We made ourselves at home and discussed our impending meet with Brandon and Harriet. Unfortunately, Brandon's flight due to the time difference going from the West to East coast was due in at 6pm as opposed to the 2:45PM the bookstore staff expected. Brandon and Harriet themselves arrived straight from the airport at 6:30ish and proceeded once freshening up to being signing pre-release copies for those attendees who wanted a signed copy but could not stay.   During this time we got to chat a bit and ask a few questions. One of our Tower Guards, Lynn asked Harriet which Aes Sedai had Jim used Harriet as a pattern for. She replied that they Jim had a bit of her, Harriet in many of them, including some of the Forsaken like Moghedien. That bit with a bit of laughter and a follow-up did Jim get to sleep on the couch after that revelation. (No) Despite their willingness to answer questions both Brandon and Harriet were pressed for time having arrived less then 30mins before the signing. Joseph-Beth had a couple of Nacho tray's sent up so Brandon could get something to eat before going in. Tor was supposed to have provided meals but those were not present so the Joseph Beth staff reacted quickly so Brandon would not go out on an empty stomach to sign books for almost 4hours.   For the Tower Guards the arrival of Brandon finally dispelled any worries over our duties as we were able to take our positions before the event started. For the actual signing what follows is a bit of creative blogging by one of our Tower Guards, Mark for the event: --   CINCINNATI - Evidence of a startling reality is readily apparent at the Joseph-Beth Bookseller in Norwood tonight (November 3rd): the WOT virus has spread more rapidly than originally projected. Hundreds of the afflicted are present here to engage two of the leading experts in the field of WOT, Brandon Sanderson and Harriet McDougal. Drs. Sanderson and McDougal emerge from the second floor and nervous anticipation fills the air (along with the WOT virus, which is airborne) as Sanderson introduces McDougal to read from the latest book on the subject, Towers of Midnight, in which he co-wrote with the most prominent WOT researcher, the late Dr. Robert Jordan. Dr. McDougal reads the first section of the Prologue, holding her audience in rapt attention.   Please note that as of now, there has been no cure found for the WOT virus, but it is treatable and people with the virus are able to lead normal and productive lives. However, occasional flare-ups of RLDS (Real Life Deficiency Syndrome) do occur, and it is during these times that the virus is so dangerous to those afflicted. Symptoms include uncontrollable reading, a lack of sleep, dementia, mania (mainly laughing hysterically over things that only people with the virus find funny), depression (mainly weeping over things that only people with the virus find sad), and an inability to care about responsibilities such as work, school, or household chores.   Generally, with the release of a new book by Dr. Sanderson, an RLDS flare-up wanes once the afflicted person finishes the book, and within weeks usually reverts back to only being WOT-positive. Also, attacks usually go away quicker if other WOT-positive people or RLDS sufferers are there to coax the patient into speaking about his or her affliction, and this is done mainly on websites attributed to information about the disease or those afflicted, such as Tor.com or Dragonmount.com, to name a few.   However, this has brought hundreds of those suffering from RLDS or that are WOT-positive into interaction with each other on a more personal basis. And even though those of us that are unaffected by the WOT virus may not understand the nonsense they discuss, play or wear, that does not make them any less worthy of our thoughts and/or prayers (if so inclined).   For instance, two men are arguing whether a Role-Playing Game that they invented should use a D20, or another type of die. Men dressed as “Asha’man” and women dressed as “Aes Sedai” are in attendance. When one woman dressed as an “Aes Sedai” is asked about her costume, she exclaims that she is not “full Aes Sedai, only Accepted,” whatever that means. Another group of afflicted people are playing a game called “Stones,” which may offer them some level of comfort, but does not seem to have any sort of point.   Clearly, these people are tormented with a significant level of dementia. Among the most common nonsense questions that RLDS sufferers are asking the researchers, who are here to sign the most recent book written by Drs. Jordan and Sanderson: “Who killed Asmodean?,” “Who is Demandred?,” and “Who is Mesaana?” But others, seemingly more thought-out, and therefore indicating an even deeper level of dementia, are: “Is Shara just a red herring?,” [to Dr. Sanderson] “Did you find yourself disagreeing with anything in Robert Jordan’s notes?”, [to Dr. McDougal] “What Aes Sedai are you most like?”, “What is the Book of Translation?,” and finally, “Why was the female Choedan Kal sa’angreal destroyed during the cleansing of saidin, and not the male?”   Drs. Sanderson and McDougal are very generous with their time and Brandon is a lesson in humility, especially when people thank him for writing the books. The hope is evident on their faces; it is clear that they believe Dr. Sanderson may be able to deliver them from RLDS and possibly even the WOT-virus itself, which has now spread since its first discovery 20 years ago.   Let us hope this most recent book, Towers of Midnight, and the last book co-written by Drs. Jordan and Sanderson, A Memory of Light (to be released in 2012), will help them to reach the finally reach the goal of being WOT-free. Because I have been breathing the air in here for so long, and I just picked up a book called The Eye of the World, and it is very interesting, but I am starting to feel a little strange myself…   [Marvin Knorr, Lynn McDonald, Kathy Eisen, Andrew Gelos, Leah Jent and Rosie Kraftick contributed to this report.]   The signing itself went on for almost 4 hours. Brandon and Harriet were very much troopers for the event handling themselves with grace and kindness for a seemingly endless horde of fans. We were honored to be able to represent the Cincinnati crew for the signing despite our limited time with Brandon and Harriet, that was just more time for the fans. We were happy to see several fans dressed up as well as play some trivia for swag for the estimated 400 attendees.   See you guys for AMoL!     Here is the link to our gallery! http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/gallery/album/15021/43-cincinnati-towers-of-midnight-signing/

The folks from Tor Books have posted this press release:   When: Monday November 8, 2010 from 1:30 PM — 2:30 PM (EST)   On his last day on tour for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT, Brandon Sanderson (@brandonsandrson) will be stopping by Twitter for an hour to discuss all things #WoT, #TofM, #WoK, and maybe even #aMoL! Join Brandon and the rest of us by following the #portalstone hashtag…but be forewarned if you haven’t read, spoilers may be discussed!   We'll also have another member of "Team Jordan" on-hand: the cagey Maria Simons(@MariaLSimons), Robert Jordan's literary assistant for 12 years, whose famed poker face could face a sore testing in the twitterverse. Special guests @Theoryland (Matt Hatch of Theoryland.com), @zemaille (Linda Taglieri of the 13th Depository WoT blog), @portalstones (Steve Godecke of Portalstones.com), and maybe even @dragonmount, if someone can drag Jason and Jennifer from their day jobs. So brush up those theories and watch out for RAFO cards, I hear Brandon’s getting quite the throwing arm…   If you’re new to Twitter and would like join us, Twitter 101 does a nice job explaining the basics. After you sign-up, search or click the #portalstone hashtag to follow along. To direct a question or comment, mention the specific user(s) by username, preceded by the @sign.   If you have any questions or problems, your friends here at Tor (@torbooks) and Tor.com (@tordotcom) will be on hand to help. And possibly, maybe just maybe…give some cool stuff away.   Hope you can join us!   Best,   Justin (@jgolenbo)

First off, why are you reading this when you could be reading your new copy of ToM?   Second, thanks for reading this!   Third, this post will be updated on occasion as more TGs send me their reports. For now, you get to read my report (jemron) of the Event! Be warned: IT IS LONG! Like Loial, I don’t know the meaning of the word “brief.”   Fourth, I’m still a bit bleary-eyed from the release party, and it was a day and a half ago. Some of the details are crisp in my mind, and some are very fuzzy. I’ll do my best to recall the Event as I remember it. Pictures also help. There will shortly be LOTS of pictures posted in the gallery of the event. I’ll also try and break this overly long report up with some cool pictures that I and other Tower Guards took of the Event.   Fifth, enough lists, let’s get to it!   jemron's report:   The day came too quickly. It didn’t come fast enough. I awoke early, anxious to be on my way and out the door so that I could help setup at the BYU Bookstore.   I gathered together a TON of equipment (too much, and, of course, not enough) that I had agreed to bring to help with the live video feed, including my computer, a bunch of various cables, an iPad, cameras, and other things you don’t care about.   I finally arrived at the bookstore at around 10:30am, where I got to meet some of the other awesome Tower Guards, including Matt Hatch (Tamyrlin of Theoryland), Mark (Kaldric from readandfindout.com), and Spencer (of the 4th Age Podcast). Later I met Andy (the tall one) and his brother Chris (the unofficial Tower Guard). These guys came in from Paige, AZ and were very friendly and helpful the whole time, willing to do anything and everything they were asked to do.   I also met Casey (aka Beast, aka Rodrigo, aka Big Scary Guy Who Was Super Super Nice—Please don’t eat me ), and Riley (A Shatayan/CFO from TarValon.net). Riley also brought a friend who was very helpful whose name has escaped me for the moment (sorry!). Christie or Krissy maybe? (Please correct me in the comments). Anyway, she was representing TarValon.net as well, and was also an unofficial Tower Guard. And, of course, Jennifer Liang. I don’t think I need to explain who she is. She was really cool too (actually, a lot like I imagined her).     It was really great to also have people representing pretty much every major fan site, including Theoryland.com, Readandfindout.com, TarValon.net, and Dragonmount. Did I leave any out?   Though some arrived later than others, we all got along really well, and everyone was super helpful and friendly. This is what I love about the Wheel of Time community! We come from all walks of life (and different fan sites), and yet we all treat each other like long-lost friends. We have something great in common. We are HCFFs (Hard Core Fan Freaks) who love what Robert Jordan, Harriet Rigney, and Brandon Sanderson have created. Everyone who was there that night, and all of you who are reading this, are HCFFs too.   I also met some really cool people at the front of the line, including a guy who flew in all the way from Sweden! Some of these people had been camped out since the Thursday afternoon before. One guy told us he was out here on a “family vacation” from Australia, but that he secretly planned the whole thing without telling his wife that the real reason for coming here was the Midnight Release party! How cool is that?!     The giddiness/excitement for the Event was palpable from the start. I immediately got sidetracked from my “duties” and started talking to people in line about theories, the WoT movies, and other WoT related stuff. I just kept getting pulled into conversations, though I should’ve been helping setup. And even though I also love discussing on-line via chat and/or forums, there’s just nothing better than discussing the books with real people. I love this about these events. This is why we should all plan on going to JordonCon next year (and Jennifer didn’t even pay me to say that).   Anyhoo, fast-forward to later in the day, after our introductions and after setting up some stuff; some of us find ourselves in a Best Buy in a city north of Provo, looking for a piece of equipment we needed for the live feed. A random guy in the store sees Andy’s Tower Guard t-shirt and says, “Hey guys! I’ll be there tonight!” So cool. So geeky.   Fast-forward even farther, and the Tower Guards are all sitting around in the bookstore chatting about the series, anxiously awaiting news about Brandon’s arrival, and then a palette of books appears:     This is when I suddenly realized; I was going to be reading ToM in a matter of hours! Years and years of waiting, and it came down to just a few hours. I almost peed myself. Okay, maybe I did… a little.   When that first box opened, we all held the books in reverence, careful with each and every one. Then, 500-600 books later, we just were treating it like an assembly line. We had to setup the books so that Brandon could quickly open each one, number it, and sign it.   About an hour of prepping, and the crowd outside was getting bigger. Brandon shows up at 8pm, and then the fun really began.   Brandon is just so chill. He’s one of us. A fan, a nerd, a human being. It was so cool to be able to talk with him as he signed all the books. Each signature was important to him. If the table was bumped, or if he made the tiniest mistake, he did whatever he could to make it right. He cares about the fans and it really shows through with how he treats everything he does.     We asked him all sorts of questions but few were actually related to spoilers/teasers.   One of the questions that I asked him was, “Do you think it is fair to you, as a prolific author, to be asked by the rest of “Team Jordan” to write the prequels and/or outriggers?” I asked because as a BWS fan and as a WoT fan, I’m torn between wanting to let Brandon get on with his other work (he still has 9 Stormlight books to write, 6 Mistborn books, an Elantris sequel, a Warbreaker sequel or two, AND another 10 book series called “Dragonsteel” to write!), and wanting to see more WoT after the main series ends. I told him this, and he was very open about it. He said, honestly, it probably wouldn’t happen. But, he said, if Harriet does want them written (which he seemed to indicate that she probably wouldn’t at this point) he says he would want to be the only choice to write them. He said he feels like he more of a right to it than any other author, though he can’t call it his work/world, it is a part of him now, and he wouldn’t want anybody else writing those other books.   Anyway, Tamyrlin will be posting a much more in-depth write-up of the questions and answers from that night, so I won’t write any of that here. Brandon had also brought just 3 things with him (that I could tell). An ARC (advanced reader copy) of The Way of Kings which was to be given out to a lucky winner as a prize and two of his special decks of Magic: The Gathering cards that he hoped to be able to use in a game or two before the event.   We also had several other cool prizes donated by various people, including Tor (thanks for the bumper stickers and goodies!!), Inkwing.com (those t-shirts ROCKED, thanks guys for this!—checkout their site for awesome BWS paraphernalia), Theoryland, and the BYU Bookstore (thank you guys too).     All the prizes were lying out on a table and, sadly, someone stole the ARC of the Way of Kings right off of the prize table!! The one thing that Brandon himself brought to give away to a lucky fan, and it was stolen. I was saddened that someone who likely calls him/herself a “fan” did that! I felt for a moment that whoever did that made all of us, as fans look bad. Then I decided that that thief is not a true fan anyway, so it doesn’t affect me. I’m still angry about it though and I could tell Brandon was disappointed too when he found out. I hope it will be returned!   The rest of the night, after the doors were opened, and the sheep were led in to wander around for hours before midnight, is a bit of a blur to me. I was so tired at this point, and a lot of cool stuff happened, but I can only share the things I remember.   I was given the task of “polling” people in the crowd about the WoT. I asked people if they thought Rand would die during the series, and whether or not they thought he would return. I asked them who they thought Mesanna was hiding as in the Tower, and I asked if they thought Moiraine would come back able to channel (if she comes back at all). It was a good set of questions that Matt came up with that got people talking/excited about ToM. I ran around asking various people and discussing some crazy theories with them. I couldn’t convince anybody that Laras is Mesanna though .   At around 10:30 or 11, Brandon did a reading from Chapter 2 of ToM. It was a nice reading, but I had already listened to it from the free audio version that Tor provided a few weeks ago. No offense to Brandon, but Michael Kramer does a bit better job at reading the books than Brandon does . At least Brandon does a good job of writing them!   After that was a Q&A where Brandon took many questions from the audience. I was running around for a lot of it, and so I didn’t get to hear much of them. Hopefully Matt’s write-up will include some or all of these at Theoryland.com.     Just before midnight, there was some panic from the bookstore because they thought they might actually have over sold too many books (more than they had). Luckily it all worked out, but I think there were only a very few left by the end of the night (like 10-12 copies maybe). There were a LOT of people from all over the place, and many people bought more than 1 copy.   In the chaos of the last half hour, we attempted to herd the sheep in a somewhat orderly fashion back into the line so that they could receive their books. With everyone lined up, they did a countdown to the release (I think they did it 5 minutes early) and soon Brandon was personalizing books.     That took about 3.5 hours. Brandon was kind to everyone, and took the time to answer questions and to talk to each person in the line. It was worth the wait for everyone, I think. A lot of people left after they received their signed copies, expecting to have their books personalized another time, when they didn’t have to wait in line for 3 hours.   Eventually, the line got smaller and smaller, and soon it was just us tired, worn-out Tower Guards remaining. Though Brandon had just spent the last 7 or so hours talking to fans, signing, and answering questions, he was gracious to us as TGs and took the time to personalize each of our books, get pictures, and answer even more questions. What a stud!     At or around 3:30am we were packing up all my equipment, and leaving. Spencer and I were the last two Tower Guards remaining. The bookstore employees had mostly disappeared as well. Just as we were getting ready to leave we noticed that there was a very small group of fans (from the 17thshard.com—Brandon’s official fan site) that were waiting patiently outside in the cold for Brandon to play a game of Magic: The Gathering with them.   Even at 3:30am, Brandon was kind and alert, and he agreed to play “just one” game with them. I’ve never played, but I could tell that it was 5 on 1. Brandon creamed them all. Muahahahahaha!! It was cool to see that. At about 4am, he said his good-byes, and walked away.     What an Event! I had a blast. I met a lot of really great people, met Brandon (though I had “met” him before, after that night, I felt like I knew him), and, most importantly, I got my book!! Brandon wrote this in my book, “To Jemron, you stood at your post bravely Tower Guard.”   Thanks everybody who participated.   Now… where’s my book?  

We're here live at the Sacramento Book signing. Here's the video stream. Enjoy!     http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/1790400?v3=1"/>http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/1790400?v3=1"/>   You can chat with us live by going to bit.ly/4thlive

Towers of Midnight, the thirteenth book in the Wheel of Time series, has arrived! Here's a round-up of news and reviews.   Book Tour Info Click" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/book-tour-info-for-towers-of-midnight-r33">Click here for full information about the book tour that Brandon and Harriet will be on. THe tour begins TODAY in Sacramento, California, Dragonmount's home town! Here are all the tour dates:   Tuesday, November 2nd - Midnight BYU Bookstore Wilkinson Student Center (WSC) / University Hill Provo, Utah 84602   Tuesday, November 2nd – 7:00 PM Barnes & Noble Booksellers 1725 Arden Way Sacramento, CA 95815 *With special guests Harriet McDougal and Jason Denzel (founder, Dragonmount.com)   Wednesday, November 3rd - 7:00 PM Joseph-Beth Booksellers 2692 Madison Rd Cincinnati, OH 45208 *With special guest Harriet McDougal   Thursday, November 4th - 7:00 PM Borders 10720 Preston Road, Suite 1018 Dallas, TX 75230 *With special guest Harriet McDougal   Friday, November 5th – 7:00 PM Books A Million 7000 Arundel Mills Cir Hanover, MD 21076-1282 *With special guest Harriet McDougal   Saturday, November 6th – 2:00 PM Borders 5871 Crossroads Center Way Baileys Crossroads, VA 22041 *With special guest Harriet McDougal   Sunday, November 7th - 3:00 PM The Harvard Coop 1400 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 *With special guest Harriet McDougal   Monday, November 8th - 7:30 PM Barnes & Noble Booksellers – Lincoln Triangle 1972 Broadway New York, NY 10023 *With special guests Harriet McDougal, Maria Simons and Alan Romanczuk ("Team Jordan")   Reviews Jason" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/i-have-read-towers-of-midnight-r36">Jason Denzel Matt" rel="external nofollow">http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4217">Matt Hatch Leigh" rel="external nofollow">http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/09/the-wheel-of-time-towers-of-midnight-advance-review">Leigh Butler (non-spoiler) Leigh" rel="external nofollow">http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/11/the-wheel-of-time-towers-of-midnight-spoiler-review">Leigh Butler (Spoilers!!) Terez" rel="external nofollow">http://www.theoryland.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=4270">Terez Pat" s rel="external nofollow">http://fantasyhotlist.blogspot.com/2010/10/towers-of-midnight-update.html">Pat's Fantasy Hotlist (mild spoilers) 4th" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/podcast/4th-age-podcast-towers-of-midnight-teaser-r47">4th Age Podcast with Leigh Butler, Jennifer Liang and Jason Denzel Linda" rel="external nofollow">http://13depository.blogspot.com/2010/11/my-review-of-towers-of-midnight.html">Linda (Thirteenth Depository) Nethspace" rel="external nofollow">http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2010/11/review-towers-of-midnight-by-robert.html">Nethspace Fantasy" rel="external nofollow">http://fantasybookcritic.blogspot.com/2010/11/towers-of-midnight-by-robert-jordan-and.html">Fantasy Book Critic Fantasy" rel="external nofollow">http://www.fantasyliterature.com/jordanrobert.html#towers">Fantasy Literature   Need to Get Caught Up? WoT" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/website/wheel-of-time-faq-updated-r44">WoT FAQ WoT" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/the-wheel-of-time-recap-r49">WoT Recap (Downloadable PDF) Leigh" s rel="external nofollow">http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/10/wheel-of-time-on-torcom#re-read">Leigh's Re-Read Thirteenth" rel="external nofollow">http://13depository.blogspot.com/">Thirteenth Depository   Fun Stuff Towers" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/Books/Towers_of_Midnight/trailer.php">Towers of Midnight Trailer Towers" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/towers-of-midnight-book-trailer-behind-the-scenes-r41">Towers of Midnight Trailer Behind the Scenes Recording" rel="external nofollow">http://outta-this-world.com/2010/09/21/tom-prologue/">Recording of Brandon Sanderson Reading at Dragon*Con Sample" rel="external nofollow">http://www.tor.com/blogs/2009/10/wheel-of-time-on-torcom#ToM">Sample Chapters Posted of Tor.com Dragonmount" s rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/tom/brandonsanderson/my-interview-with-brandon-sanderson-r45">Dragonmount's Interview with Brandon Sanderson Tor" s rel="external nofollow">http://view.mail.macmillan.com/?j=fe6f16757464027f7514&m=feee1c737d6c02&ls=fde6127872660d7973117473&l=fe6515757462067c7112&s=fdf615747262017871107575&jb=ffcf14&ju=fe2016787d630c7d711d71&r=0">Tor's Wheel of Time Special Edition Newsletter Robert" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php/News/book-news/about-robert-jordans-signature-r46">Robert Jordan's Signature (An Update from Wilson Grooms) SciFi" rel="external nofollow">http://www.scifinow.co.uk/interviews/interview-brandon-sanderson/">SciFi Now Interview with Brandon Sanderson 10" rel="external nofollow">http://www.sfx.co.uk/2010/10/26/robert-jordan-wheel-of-time/">10 Reasons the Wheel of Time is a Masterpiece Tor" s rel="external nofollow">http://torforge.wordpress.com/2010/10/28/wottheoryriot/">Tor's Wheel of Time Theory Riot (with prizes!)   Warning: Others have advised (and we agree) that you should not read the glossary at the back of the book until you have read the entire book. Don't say we didn't warn you, and don't go rushing back there because we said this!   Discuss the book Dragonmount" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/forum/278-towers-of-midnight-non-spoiler-discussion/">Dragonmount Speculation Forum Dragonmount" rel="external nofollow">http://www.dragonmount.com/forums/forum/350-towers-of-midnight-spoiler-discussion/">Dragonmount Spoiler Forum Theoryland.com" rel="external nofollow">http://www.theoryland.com/">Theoryland.com TarValon.net " rel="external nofollow">http://www.tarvalon.net/">TarValon.net   Order Towers of Midnight and support Dragonmount? Amazon.com" rel="external nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765325942?ie=UTF8&tag=dragonmount&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765325942">Amazon.com - This link helps support Dragonmount Amazon.co.uk" rel="external nofollow">http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/184149867X?tag=dragonmount-21&camp=1406&creative=6394&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=184149867X&adid=0NW45FP5BV0BQ4VMJHF3&">Amazon.co.uk - This link helps support Dragonmount Amazon.ca" rel="external nofollow">http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0765325942?ie=UTF8&tag=dragonmount-20&linkCode=as2&camp=15121&creative=330641&creativeASIN=0765325942">Amazon.ca - This link helps support Dragonmount Indiebound.org" rel="external nofollow">http://www.indiebound.org/book/0765325942">Indiebound.org - Find local independent sellers Barnes" rel="external nofollow">http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?EAN=0765325942&afsrc=1&lkid=J25297035&pubid=K170413&byo=1">Barnes & Noble.com Borders.com http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=0765325942">Borders.com href="http://store.tor.com/book/9780765325945">Directly from Tor.com http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=dragonmount&o=1&p=8&l=as1&m=amazon&f=ifr&md=10FE9736YVPPT7A0FBG2&asins=0765325942" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"> http://rcm-uk.amazon.co.uk/e/cm?t=dragonmount-21&o=2&p=8&l=as1&asins=184149867X&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"> http://rcm-ca.amazon.ca/e/cm?t=dragonmount-20&o=15&p=8&l=as1&asins=0765325942&fc1=000000&IS2=1<1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0">   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJJ0NzOXEg?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJJ0NzOXEg?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">

Hi everyone, this is Jennifer Liang over at the Midnight Release party for TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT in Provo, Utah with author Brandon Sanderson.   We're streaming live video from the event all night. You can watch us right here:   http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/1790400?v3=1"/>http://www.ustream.tv/flash/live/1/1790400?v3=1"/>   You can chat with us live by going to bit.ly/4thlive   We'll have a full report from our Tower Guard volunteers posted on Dragonmount very soon. And Brandon and Harriet will both be signing in Sacramento tomorow. You can see the full tour schedule here. And you can see all our TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT coverage in our round up.   And because we like Jason, here's the TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT trailer again.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJJ0NzOXEg?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apJJ0NzOXEg?fs=1&hl=en_US&color1=0x234900&color2=0x4e9e00">