DRAGONMOUNT

Dragonmount is pleased to host fantasy author Saladin Ahmed for a week-long author Q&A session! Saladin Ahmed's debut novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon, released in February of this year, is gaining attention in the fantasy genre, particularly because of Mr. Ahmed's unique choice of setting. Last year, Saladin Ahmed was a guest podcaster on Brandon Sanderson's "Writing Excuses," Season 5 Episode 36. He has also been nominated for both the Nebula and Campbell awards.   Saladin Ahmed will visit Dragonmount July 22nd - 28th to answer questions from fans. Everyone is welcome to join in. The discussion will take place on the General Discussion board. I hope you will all come over and take part in this exciting event!

This weekend at San Diego Comic-Con, Brandon Sanderson did a reading from the first chapter of A Memory of Light. Luckily for those of us that can't be there, someone has put it on for us.  For those who prefer to read, our friends at Theoryland have kindly put a transcript online here.   If you are avoiding spoilers, Sanderson spoke for a few minutes at the beginning. He assured the audience that the book should be on time for the January 8th release date and would not be split. You can read a summary of what we know about the final Wheel of Time novel here and discuss it on our forums here.

It's time for another audiobook giveaway! Here are the rules again for those who aren't familiar with our giveaways:       This month, we will be giving away a copy of The Fires of Heaven. Click here for a clip from the audiobook.   This month's question is: How many times have you read the Wheel of Time series? You have until Wednesday, July 11th to answer in the comments section. Note that even though I will not be back here until a few days after the 11th, I still will only count comments that were posted either before or on that date when I do the drawing. Good luck!

First and foremost, I want to give you all a heads up about the next two weeks. Because I'll be gone during this time, we'll be having a hiatus from our regular blogs on the front page. I'm writing this week's roundup and Wednesday's audiobook giveaway in advance. However, there won't be a roundup for next week, and you won't see our regular blogs or the debut of the new writers until the week of July 15th. Don't fret, though, because there's still plenty of things in our forums that can occupy your time!   Here's a question that has been on many people's minds: What role will Padan Fain play in A Memory of Light? We're curious to hear your opinions, so head to our A Memory of Light Spoiler Discussion forum and let us know what you think. Remember, this forum has rules, so be sure to read them before posting.   Do you think pick up lines would be used in the Wheel of Time world? It's amusing to pretend they would be, like the Aiel Social Group is doing in this thread. They already have some creative ideas in there.   It looks like the Band of the Red Hand Social Group revived their Tune or No Tune Game. It's easy to play--just vote for whether you think the song is good enough to qualify as a tune, or bad enough to qualify as no tune. "Home" by Phillip Phillips is on the hot seat right now.   The topic for the Wolfkin Social Group's July discussion is trips. How do you prefer to travel? Where have you been? Where would you like to go? You can talk about all those things and more in the thread.   I've always liked seeing the different ways role players handle breaking someone's channeling block. One of those opportunities just came up in the role play Double Time. I wonder what innovative route to success they will take?   That's it for now!

This week, I continue my ham-handed but humble exploration of multi-panel Wheel of Time art. Here's a link to Part 1, in case you missed it.     1. Rhuidean by Toraneko Studios (Stephanie Chan)   Scene: The Shadow Rising, Chapter 24, "Rhuidean." Rand and Mat walk into Rhuidean, where Rand enters the circle of glass columns and gains the knowledge (and tattoos) that mark him as the Car'a'carn. Here, Mat debates following Rand into the glass columns.   With a Dragonmount gallery (woohoo!), a deviantART gallery, an independent website, and accounts on Tumblr and Fur Affinity, this Aussie art student is enviably entrenched in the Internet art community. It's also worth noting that she takes commissions (If you check out her gallery and like what you see, you can go here for details).       2. WT Comic Commish 1 by RoseMuse   RoseMuse isn't likely to produce much more Wheel of Time fan art, and she's currently closed for commissions. But that's okay, since I'm more than happy to dig through her old stuff. Here's the first part of a four-part comic she did of Moiraine and Siuan getting into trouble as novices in the White Tower (Story by Vorador2. If you're curious, here are parts two, three, and four).       3. Father of Lies webcomic No. 1. Story by Clytemnestra215, art by Sasha-Melrai.   This was going to be the first page of an unofficial webcomic based on the world of The Wheel of Time, but it doesn't look like the project took off. Still, I love the concept and it was executed beautifully.         4. Darkhounds--Storyboard by kaikonen (Thomas Kaikonen Pettersen)   Scene: The Fires of Heaven, Chapter 6, "Gateways." Rand is attacked by Darkhounds in Rhuidean.   This Norwegian artist isn't one to shy from an artistic challenge or settle into a routine. He's tackled portraits, landscapes, and interiors, as well as written and illustrated multiple pages of an unofficial graphic novel based on Chapter 33 of Winter's Heart ("Blue Carp Street"). Here's the storyboard he did for an animation of Rand channeling (click on the image or the title for the full-size version!).  

It's hard to believe it's the end of June already.  Yikes! The denizens of our General Wheel of Time Discussion forum would like to know the following:  How many times have you read The Wheel of Time?  I love how our forums cater to everyone, from those who have just discovered the series for the first time to those who have read the books fifteen times or more. One of my bosses (yes, Jennifer Liang, I'm looking at you) will probably be disappointed if I don't feature the following thread, so here I go.  If you have seen Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, please report to this thread in the Movies and Games Discussion forum and see if you agree with the review posted there.  I know opinions of this movie can be quite diverse. The Ogier Social Group would like to know which time periods interest you the most.  Whether you'd like to study them or live in them, I'm sure you have a favorite or two.  You can learn a lot about people from their responses to this question.   If you miss cage match season and want something to tide yourself over until next year, the White Tower & Warders Social Group is hosting a mini cage match featuring only Warder characters.  This thread will tell you everything you need to know. Here's something I've never seen before.  It's a role play from a Fade's point of view.  Read Awakening and see if you can handle seeing the world through the non-eyes of a Fade. Until next time, folks!

To preface, I know almost nothing about comic strips, comic books, storyboarding, and the difference between Japanese manga and the American graphic novel. If you're deeply passionate about the distinction between these unique and beautiful forms of storytelling-through-art, you may be appalled by my treatment of them over the next two weeks. Being the ignoramus that I am, I plan to just lump them all together to bring you the best of what I'm going to call "multi-panel" Wheel of Time art.   Each of the works featured today and next week either represents or reinterprets a scene from The Wheel of Time. Follow the links or click on the images for the full-size versions.     1. Maradon by liruichen   Scene: Towers of Midnight, Chapter 32, "A Storm of Light". Rand rescues the city of Maradon by singlehandedly destroying an army of Shadowspawn.   The artist submitted this for the "Badassery" contest hosted last summer by the Wheel of Time fan art group on deviantART. I have to say, it was one of my favorite submissions. This painting gives me more chills than the scene in the books did.       2. Apocalypse Perrin: Redux by johnplaystuba   Scene: Knife of Dreams, Chapter 30, "Outside the Gates," and Towers of Midnight, Chapter 47, "A Teaching Chamber." Perrin rescues Faile from Malden. Later, he recounts his adventures to Mat and Thom.   If you liked Perrin's story arc in the middle of the series (what the artist refers to as the "Plotline of Doom"), you may not want to read this hilarious reinterpretation of it. BE WARNED--his construal is probably not for diehard fans.       3. Page 100--The Shadow Rising by Kimiko (Nadia Attlee):   Scene: The Shadow Rising, Chapter 4, "Strings." Mat moans to Thom about being stuck in Tear.   Just a bit of well-executed cuteness.       4. Wheel of Time 10 page 2. Lines by Andy Tong, colors by Nicolas Chapuis (BoOoM)   Scene: The Eye of the World, Chapter 14, "The Stag and Lion." In one of the many dreams the three boys have of Ba'alzamon, he attempts to turn Rand to the Shadow by encouraging him to drink from a jeweled goblet.   A discussion of multi-panel adaptations of the Wheel of Time wouldn't be complete without including a page from the official Wheel of Time comic book adaptation by Dynamite Entertainment. This is my favorite of the pages posted online by the colorist before the text was added.  

We recently received the following exciting news from our friends at Ta'veren Tees:      

It's time for more wallpaper!  After a quiet month from them, Tor.com will now continue to post eBook wallpaper for each Wheel of Time book.  It's one of many ways in which they are celebrating the countdown to the final book. This week, the featured eBook wallpaper is for The Path of Daggers. The artwork is by Julie Bell. Here is the image:   Go here to download different sizes of the wallpaper and to read more about how this art was created. How do you like the art for this eBook?

Before we begin, I would like to express my gratitude to all the fathers out there.  Father's Day was yesterday here in the USA, so I hope the dads out there got a chance to relax and be spoiled.  I would also like to give a shout out to my father, who has been one of my biggest supporters and has instilled in me many of the values I hold most dear. Here's an interesting question from our General Wheel of Time Discussion forum:  What characters does Brandon Sanderson write the best?  We've heard more in the past from those who criticized his portrayal of some characters, so it's nice to see a more positive approach to this topic. The Black Tower Social Group has started a new monthly discussion series.  This month, they are talking about role playing.  This looks to be a very informative discussion. The Wolfkin Social Group is discussing camping this month.  Have you done much camping in your life?  If so, where?  Did you enjoy it? What would the Band of the Red Hand do with a scared potential recruit they found in the forest?  Find out in the role play A Boy and His Toys. Some of you may know that JordanCon will be hosting DeepSouthCon next year.  This year's DeepSouthCon was this weekend, so if you want to hear about the exploits of the JordanCon representatives who attended this year, check out the JordanCon Twitter account.