Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

No spoilers here ... I think.

I caught part of the last five minutes of the Jordan signing at Tower Books in Mountain View. They provided him with a very nice signing area—WoT backdrop and everything. The crowd (assuming there was one) had pretty much died out by then. I heard later that about 75 people had shown up.

Jordan got to Future Fantasy at 5 p.m. instead of 5:30 p.m., which was a good thing because there was already a line and it didn't peter out until about 20 minutes of seven, after which RJ spent his time signing store books and books for the very occasional latecomer. At one point, the line extended from his table in the back of the store out the front-side door. I did not attempt to count the house, but would guess that 50-100 people showed up. Some were carrying sacks of books, and several had boxes. RJ kept up a smile and a running flow of patter through the entire event.

Not much new. A couple of points:

Don Harlow

RJ had his infamous Mat Hat, but was not wearing it. One of the net. people there—I forget who; would he care to stand up and take credit?—sneaked over and took a peek at the tag inside, and then reported to us that it came from (I think I have this right) "Rand's Custom Hattery" in Billings, MT. Well, at least we now know what the Dragon Reborn does for a hobby...

I too am looking for a "The Wheel Weaves as the Wheel Wills" bumper sticker. After hearing RJ's answers to various questions, I would also like one that reads "Be Patient. Read the Books."

About sixteen or seventeen people eventually showed up at the DFS, which lasted for a little more than an hour and a half and was quite vigorous. I believe that Ken Kofman is going to post a fuller report here. Let me only say that when Ken insisted that we take the Darkfriend Oath (from the Social in The Great Hunt), Esther Harlow was the only person with the courage (?) to stand up and actually repeat it. Her unregenerate father, on the other hand, at the point where Ken had read "The Great Lord of the Dark is my master, and most heartily do I serve him..." piped in with "That's not an oath, that's a recipe!" (with thanks to Damon Knight for the inspiration).

My wife reports that the signing at Tower Books in Concord this afternoon was well attended. Regrettably, both my spies in Sacramento are doing other things this evening... My wife took pictures at Concord, and when she gets them developed, I'll scan them in and post them, preferably at Ole' Miss (Viren? You listening?)