Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

I'm hoping that Hawk will report on the wonderful time The Usual Gang of Lunatics had last Saturday in Palo Alto, CA and thereabouts, starting with RJ's signing at Future Fantasy bookstore. So, I'll leave that to her.

There's rather less to report about Sunday's signing at the Barnes and Noble barn (er, store) in San Jose: I foolishly hadn't checked for scheduling updates, and found out at 2pm that it'd been shifted to 3:30—but there were already about 100 people in line, zig-zagging around the store's rope barriers from the signing area in Children's Books. By 3:30, there were maybe 600, lined up out the front door and down the block.

As usual, there was a two-book limit, one of which needed to be Path of Daggers. No personal inscriptions this time, just signature, and paperbacks were allowed (both in contrast to the Saturday signing). Harriet (Jordan's wife & editor, and a very winning person) wandered off to other parts of the store.

I'd missed most of Jordan's comments during the signing at Future Fantasy: arrived late for early remarks, too long in line for others. This time, I parked myself strategically within earshot, so I could catch everything in my Palm Pilot.

Guess what? 600 people over a two-hour period, and hardly anyone asked Jordan questions! Arrgh.

fandom

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harriet

He said the book-signing tour will run through November 22nd. He'll spend two days fishing in Canada, and then return home to Charleston for Thanksgiving. (He said he finds being on tour exhausting, and always spends the following several days doing nothing at all.) After Thanksgiving, he'll start in on the next volume.

Someone mentioned the Internet-based rumors about him suffering from heart attacks / other forms of poor health. I couldn't tell from his expression whether RJ was amused or annoyed: Probably both equally. He replied that he's in good health with a resting heart rate of 71 beats per minute and good cholesterol.

He told quite a few people that the series would be requiring a minimum of three more volumes, perhaps more—and pointed out that he'd had to find time to work on "New Spring" and the Guide, in addition to The Path of Daggers. He also pointed out that, so far, the books have always been published within a month of completion, which he called "instantaneous for the publishing world". He stressed that he wants to reach the end (the final scene that he worked out 15 years ago), and would like to be "as compact as possible". (He said "Don't laugh.")

how many more books?

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the last scene

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rj on writing

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rj on death

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rj on fishing

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rj the man

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rj on publishing

A reader asked when the term "Ajah" came to have the meaning it has in Rand's time.

He said that until at least 500 years after the Tower was founded, it meant a temporary association for a specific purpose, and was a lower-case noun. Its proper-noun sense arose afterwards, supplanting the earlier usage after the Trolloc Wars.

ajahs

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aes sedai

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white tower

Another reader asked how long he's been married to Harriet.

He said 18 years—and that he has to have Harriet remind him, since it seems like last month.

harriet

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rj the man

Somebody finally summoned the courage to asking him outright, "What happened to Mat?"

He replied, "He had a brick wall fall on him!"

mat

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the path of daggers