Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Hi, I'm James, and I'm the First Among Equals for the Seattle A Memory of Light signing! The event itself was pretty huge, and we each had some pretty unique experiences, so I figure that the best way to give a run-down of the event is for each of the Memory Keepers to come in and make a post about their own experience at the event.

I got to the bookstore a little before 4pm, and Eric and Jeff S. were already there chatting it up about The Wheel of Time (because what else would we talk about?). I had my friend Melody with me, who would later prove instrumental in getting things done at the event.

Jeff S. had already spoken with someone at the bookstore, and they said to just chill out in the cafe, and they'd come and get us when they needed us, so we sat down and just chatted for a little while. One by one the other Memory Keepers showed up, with the exception of one, unfortunately.

Duane and Eileen from the bookstore came down and said that they needed a couple of people to help carry stock over to the site, which was just across the street, so a couple Memory Keepers went over there and helped with that while the rest of us kind of made our way over on our own.

After arriving at the site, we helped set up the books, as well as rearranged some other furniture for the ticket table and the signing table. We had to drag a couple others over from the other room to put the swag on. Alice had brought over some cool stuff from previous signings, and they were definitely a big hit.

At about 5:30pm or so, we realized that the other Memory Keeper wasn't going to make an appearance, so my friend Melody stepped in and took over for him. Although the shirt was a couple of sizes too large for her, she still had a great time.

At around 6:15pm, Brandon and Harriet showed up, and we led them to the back room where they would be signing some stock and answering our questions. A few of us got R.A.F.O. cards, which was great, and we got some answers to questions (which I think Alice will have transcribed from her recorder) that we'd been wanting to ask since A Memory of Light came out.

Brandon was great to hang out with, and Harriet was just a great southern lady, and on top of that a great person as well. We even got to hear the possible names for the second Stormlight Archive book, and then have Harriet suggest an all-new one, since she didn't like any of the suggestions, and it was great. After we took a group picture and everything, we led them out to the main area.

After a decent Q&A and a short reading from Harriet (which Emilie has a video of), we started the signing. I'd estimate that there were about 400 people there, but that's a fairly conservative estimate, I think. Brandon didn't want personalizations done on the first go-through, just so Harriet would be able to get back to the hotel at a decent time.

I was in charge of grabbing people's phones and cameras and taking pictures of them with Brandon and Harriet, and Alice was in charge of flipping the books to the page where Harriet would sign. As such, we got to hear some great questions and some great answers. After a little while, we rotated out, because things were going pretty long, and I sat down and chatted with a couple of people for a little while, and things had definitely wound down by then. It was just people getting personalizations in line and asking super-geeky questions of Brandon.

After most people had left, the Memory Keepers and a couple of other fans that decided to stay, as well as Duane from the bookstore, all sat around and asked Brandon some questions. We got to know some really awesome stuff (again, which I think Alice will transcribe), and overall it was a great event.