The Wheel of Time Book 13 ~ Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
As Matt would say, Dovie’andi se tovya sagain. It’s time to toss the dice.
Our previous posts on Wheel of Time, Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson here.
Book 13 is out today!!
The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight.
The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age.
Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in Tel’aran’rhiod and find a way–at long last–to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever.
Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways–the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn–have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost.
This penultimate novel of Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling series–the second of three based on materials he left behind when he died in 2007–brings dramatic and compelling developments to many threads in the Pattern. The end draws near…
WoT: Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson WoT/TOR Twitter giveaway…
TOR/Forge are giving away 3 WoT bumperstickers
get your Tweets on!
We are giving away one set of all three of these WoT bumpter stickers on Twitter:
To enter, post the following to Twitter:
“The Gathering Storm! Tuesday! Woot! @torbooks”
Dragon*Con 2009: Wheel of Time: Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson’s ‘The Gathering Storm’ Chapter One released – WoT Artwork…
Happy Dance!!
The below announcements were made live at DragonCon in Atlanta on Friday, Sept. 4th, at 9:30 pm, at a special Wheel of Time track Opening
*********
WoT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
- CHAPTER ONE of The Gathering Storm NOW AVAILABLE to read on Tor.com! Tor.com Registration (free) required, and excerpt remains on the site through end of October. An audio version is also available via the same link.
- DragonCon attendees at the live announcement received a limited edition broad sheet of Chapter One.
- THE PROLOGUE to The Gathering Storm will be available as eBook purchase for $2.99, beginning Sept. 17th, from all major online vendors.
- EBOOKS of the ENTIRE Wheel of Time series will release from Tor, beginning with The Eye of the World on Oct. 27th. Subsequent books in the series to be released on a monthly basis after that. The text has been optimized for the ebook reading experience and retain all illustrations and maps from the physical books.
This marks the first time eBooks will be released from the Wheel of Time.
- ORIGINAL ARTWORK – new “cover art” by different award-winning artists – has been commissioned by Tor for each of the forthcoming WoT eBooks. Yes, each eBook will contain brand new art. Details on the artists of the first four books (go read more at the TOR link!!)
- STORM LEADERS – Dragonmount, the largest Wheel of Time fan site, announced an exciting never-before-offered program for WoT fans in conjunction with The Gathering Storm national tour: http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=641
Created by SinisterDeath18
More after the break:
WoT: TOR Announces ‘The Gathering Storm’, Book 12 of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time Series!!! 11/3 Release Date for Volume One…yes ‘A Memory of Light’ has been split!!
WOOHOO!!!! See our previous post on WoT here
Tor Books is proud to announce the November 3rd, 2009 on-sale date for The Gathering Storm, Book Twelve of The Wheel of Time and the first of three volumes that will make up A Memory of Light, the stunning conclusion to Robert Jordan’s beloved and bestselling fantasy series. A Memory of Light, partially written by Jordan and completed by Brandon Sanderson, will be released over a two-year period.
Robert Jordan, one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, passed away in 2007 after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis. Brandon Sanderson, the New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan’s editor—his wife, Harriet McDougal—to complete the final book.
-snip-
Harriet McDougal said on the process behind A Memory of Light: “The scope and size of the novel was such that it could not be contained in a single volume. It was a piece of marvelous good fortune that Brandon Sanderson undertook the work. He is a great pleasure to work with, as well as a wonderful writer.”
President and Publisher of Tor Books, Tom Doherty, also expressed his happiness with A Memory of Light, saying: “It is a magnificent closure to a great American epic fantasy whose journey began almost twenty years ago. There is no way Robert Jordan would have squeezed it to a single volume, and somehow it seems fitting that what began as a trilogy will also end as one.”
AND A FILM, word to the cranky Legend of the Seeker commenter, I suggest you dont go see it OR read these final books, and yes I HAVE read them all, several times, and I have even met Robert Jordan, God Bless Him, and I am STILL going to read these books AND see the films AND enjoy them for what they are not what I want them to be..AND when I do see the film I will be aware of the BUDGET they have in film that TV and thus Seeker does not, so there! /fantasy rant off – LOL!!
This year will also see major publications of Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time comic books and graphic novels with the launch of The Eye of the World comics in May and the New Spring graphic novel with bonus material in November. The Dabel Brothers will be releasing the comic book series, which will then be collected and published as graphic novels by Tor Books.
Universal Pictures acquired the movie rights to The Wheel of Time in August 2008, and currently plan to adapt The Eye of the World as the first movie.
Wheel of Time Roundup: JordanCon April 17th-19th…Countdown to Robert Jordan’s WoT: A Memory of Light release November 2009…
It’s coming!!! NOVEMBER 2009 !!!!!
Counting Down to A Memory of Light release date with TOR books:
Setup your own countdown clock from TOR Books here
A Memory of Light is one of the most anticipated fantasy books right now. Unfortunately there is no official date of the release for the last book of Wheel of Time series, however sources on DragonMount.com claim that “manuscript for A Memory of Light is expected to be completed by December, 2008. From there it will undergo further editing and preparation. It is currently expected to be published in the Fall of 2009.”
God Bless Robert Jordan, we at MiM were lucky enough to meet him in San Diego at a book signing many moons ago
"The Wheel of Time turns and ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow. Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time…”
NY Book Times:
Tor Books announced today that novelist Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to finish the final novel in Robert Jordan’s bestselling Wheel of Time fantasy series. Robert Jordan, one of the greatest storytellers of the 20th and early 21st centuries, died September 16th after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis.
The new novel, A MEMORY OF LIGHT, will be the twelfth and final book in the beloved fantasy series which has sold over 14 million copies in North America and over 30 million copies worldwide. The last four books in the series were all #1 New York Times bestsellers, and for over a decade fans have been eagerly awaiting the final novel that would bring the epic story to its conclusion…..
…It is the perfect match for Sanderson, who gratefully acknowledges the role Jordan played as an inspiration to him as a writer. In the tribute piece “Goodbye Mr. Jordan,” posted on his blog, Sanderson writes to Jordan: “Personally, I feel indebted to you. You showed me what it was to have vision and scope in a fantasy series–you showed me what could be done. I still believe that without your success, many younger authors like myself would never have had a chance at publishing their dreams. You go quietly, but leave us trembling.”
Jordan has also often been referred to as Tolkien’s heir and in an article about The Wheel of Time series, The New York Times lauded Jordan for his extraordinary story-telling ability: “The books’ battle scenes have the breathless urgency of firsthand experience, and the ambiguities in these novels—the evil laced into the forces of good, the dangers latent in any promised salvation, the sense of the unavoidable onslaught of unpredictable events—bear the marks of American national experience during the last three decades, just as the experience of the First World War and its aftermath gave its imprint to Tolkien’s work.” John Clute said of Jordan’s magnum opus, “when complete, the sequence will almost certainly constitute one of the major epic narratives of modern fantasy.”
Film rights to WoT update from Aint It Cool via Variety:
Universal Pictures has acquired film rights to the late Robert Jordan’s bestselling “The Wheel of Time” novel series in a seven-figure deal.Adaptations of the fantasy tomes will begin with the first book in the cycle, “The Eye of the World.”
Rick Selvage and Larry Mondragon will produce for Red Eagle Entertainment, which published graphic novel adaptations of Jordan’s books.
“The Wheel of Time” follows, among its dozens of characters, Rand al’Thor, the latest incarnation of a force for good called “The Dragon.” Rand is born to fight an evil character called Shai’tan.
JordanCon Update from TOR Twitter feed:
Tom Doherty, the founder of Tor Books, the publisher of The Wheel of Time series, will be attending JordanCon. Doherty formed Tor Books in 1980, after a stint as publisher at the venerable Ace Books publishing house. Since 1988, Tor has been selected by Locus Magazine readers as “Best Science Fiction Publisher”. Tor authors include the late Robert Jordan, Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin, Terry Goodkind, Orson Scott Card, Mercedes Lackey and many other notables. Doherty will be appearing on panels regarding the upcoming publication of A Memory of Light, the final book in The Wheel of Time series and on the future of fantasy publishing in general.
JordanCon is the first convention dedicated to exploring the literary legacy of Robert Jordan and his ground breaking The Wheel of Time series. JordanCon takes place April 17-19, 2009 at the Alpharetta Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Pre registration is currently $60. Other guests include Harriet McDougal, Wilson Grooms, The Lost Boys, Big City Burlesque, Jendaiyi Belly Dance of Atlanta and Brandon Sanderson. For more information, please see our website at http://www.ageoflegends.net
Complete Bibilography of the Wheel of Time Novels from TarValon.net here
WoT Happenings:
TarValon.net announced Wheel of Time Charity Drive on their website:
The Robert Jordan estate, Brandon Sanderson and the Wheel of Time community are pleased to announce a fandom wide fundraiser to assist Heifer International, a charity that provides farm animals and training to the worlds poorest populations.
MiM meets Brandon Sanderson plus the Suvudu Cage Match of the multiverse…
MiM met Brandon Sanderson at his book signing for The Gathering Storm..
Warbreaker is out in paperback, and Alcatraz Book 3 was awesome according to MiM Jr..the Wheel of Time collaborative work is a sad but satisfying read as we await the final two volumes of Memory of Light..
Check it out -Best thing I’ve read today (I can haz in gamer format please?!) from Brandon’s Amazon Blog – Suvudu Cage Match:
So, from what I’ve heard, Rand won the Suvudu cage match.
This leaves me with mixed feelings. On one hand, I am pleased and proud. On the other hand, George R. R. Martin’s write-up of how he thought things would go was simply epic. In his version, the fight went as it should have in many ways, particularly near the end. Rand and Jamie, sword to sword, man to man. A win without a kill, respect given on both sides.
Robert Jordan is smiling somewhere, Mr. Martin.
If we take an infinite multiverse view of things (as is suggested in the Wheel of Time world) then what Mr. Martin wrote did indeed happen. And it didn’t. And everything in between happened as well.
However, in the version imagined by Brandon Sanderson, here’s how the fight goes down.
Mr. Martin’s narrative is more or less dead on until the end. Rand and Jamie struggle and fight, and it comes down to man against man. However, neither man can gain advantage over the other.
Then something flickers in Rand’s vision. Perhaps it’s a trick of the light. Perhaps it’s an assassin’s bolt, dipped in the poison of an asp and fired toward Rand in a moment of weakness. Perhaps it’s Rand’s madness asserting itself. Regardless of the cause, he thinks he’s being attacked by someone other than Jamie and his allies. Treachery, a violation of the trial of seven.
It may be real. It may not be.
Rand, in desperation, somehow forms weaves of power. Reckless weaves, fueled by anger, perhaps delusion (or perhaps when the One Power pool surrounding King’s Landing was used up, some started trickling in from surrounding areas through One Power drainage ditches and has just come close enough for Rand to tap). He creates a gateway through which to escape, but also lets loose a brilliant bolt of balefire, firing it at shadows moving on the other side of that gateway.
A column of liquid light springs forth, passes through the gateway, and hits Suvudu itself.
Now, it’s hard to say what effect this should have. Balefire, for those unaware, has the power to burn threads from the pattern and rework time itself. Kill someone with balefire, and things they did prior to being killed will be reversed.
Perhaps this should mean that the battle never happened. Perhaps it should wipe the entire experience from our minds. But balefire is an odd thing, as is a contest such as this one. And so, Rand’s actions remove the previous fights from existence, but don’t change what is happening between him and Jamie.
Through accident, Rand’s balefire brings back each and every fighter who participated in this tournament. Everyone appears on the battlefield at once.
Rand and Jamie stare in wonder at the chaos that follows.
Aragorn, Garet, and Hiro have a conversation about who is really the greatest swordsman in the world. It involves much stabbing, some pizza, and very little coding.
Kahlan exclaims that she was never part of a “fantasy” novel in the first place, and so disappears in a puff of hypocrisy.
Arthur Dent says, “Oh no, not again.”
Dumbledore tries to send Lyra on a quest to find some random magical object that is going to save the world, really, and is terribly important. So important that he can’t go himself. Honestly.
Roland ponders for twenty-two years before telling you what he does.
Harry Dresden decides this is really all too much work, and wanders off to get himself something to drink. He gets beaten up seventeen times on his way, but saves two orphanages.
Ender writes a poem about the Shrike, entitled “It Might Be a Demonic, Sadistic, Terrible Monster Made of Blades, Thorns, and Terror—but It’s Really Just Misunderstood.”
Kvothe flies in, riding Temeraire, Hermione at his side, and— (I’ve written the second two thirds of this sentence, but I’m not giving them to you yet.)
The Wee Free Men start chatting about this interesting fellow they met WHO SPEAKS IN ALL CAPS and wonders if this is all going to create a great big paradoxical mess he will have to fix.
Edward broods.
Ged, Vlad, and Conan give Eragon a wedgie.
Polgara throws something breakable at somebody, then goes to find Belgarath, who is most likely drinking with Mat, Tyrion, and Harry at this point.
Haplo and Raistlin get into an argument about how to pronounce Drizzt’s name.
Elric tries to decide just who among these people he likes the most, so that he can be forced to feed them to Stormbringer at a terribly dramatic moment, causing much personal angst.
Anita takes out Edward for good measure.
Gandalf and Aslan eye everyone mysteriously, then have a discussion over tea about whose resurrection was more meaningful.
Locke steals Gandalf’s staff and sells it on eBay as an authentic prop from the film trilogy. He then does the same thing with Hermione’s wand.
And at that point, the great Cthulhu himself awakens, and his terrible, alien nature drives everyone irrevocably insane.
Rand wins by default, since he was already insane, and Cthulhu showing up doesn’t really change him at all.
Ladies and gentlemen, we just got Cthulhu’d.
Best,
Brandon
More Blog Posts at Brandonsanderson.com
This is syndicated from Brandon Sanderson Blog.
Update: E-Book price wars: Amazon defends Kindle readers, refuses to raise customer prices for Macmillan e-books…
Update 2: Shxt, they are reporting AMZN has caved. Is this a double fake? Is AMZN really happy to charge us higher prices (recall AMZN was losing money on titles to promote the sale of Kindle).
I am pixxed! Why the hexx should I pay $14.99 for an ebook (when I cannot lend it), when I could buy the hardcopy? I guess that is what publishers figure, win/win. ARRRRGLE!!! They are stopping what was going so well! I mean yeah it SUCKED that TOR (Macmillan imprint) delayed the e-book of the Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson WoT , (it was FINALLY released on e-book like a week ago, more than 2 months after the hardcover came out) but I was okay with that cuz frankly I still buy hardcover for my ginormous fantasy series (hell I collect the first editions of those! lol!!) and it is my choice to pay more or wait, but now they are really pixxing off the readers here.
We had a good thing going and Apple has done gone and frakked the whole thing up!! For a device that the Apple fans dont even like! frakkers.
Amazon.com says it will give in to publishing giant Macmillan and agree to sell electronic versions of its books even at prices it considers too high.
…Amazon wants to keep prices low as competitors such as Barnes & Noble Inc., Sony Corp. and Apple Inc. line up to challenge its dominant position in the rapidly expanding market. But Macmillan and other publishers have criticized Amazon for charging just $9.99 for best-selling e-books on its Kindle e-reader, saying the price is too low and could hurt sales of higher-priced hardcovers.
…Amazon said in a posting on its online Kindle Forum Sunday that it “expressed our strong disagreement” with Macmillan’s determination to charge higher prices. Under Macmillan’s model, to be put in place in March, e-books will be priced from $12.99 to $14.99 when first released and prices will change over time.”We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books,” Amazon said in the posting…
Update: Macmillan CEO statement includes the following new pricing model they want to impose on Amazon and ALL DISTRIBUTORS, thanks a lot Apple you tools!! And YES the typos are theirs!:
…Under the agency model, we will sell the digital editions of our books to consumers through our retailers. Our retailers will act as our agents and will take a 30% commission (the standard split today for many digtal media businesses). The price will be set for each book individually. Our plan is to price the digital edition of most adult trade books in a price range from $14.99 to $5.99. At first release, concurrent with a hardcover, most titles will be priced between $14.99 and $12.99. E books will almost always appear day on date with the physical edition. Pricing will be dynamic over time….
amazon ceo jeff bezos
Go Jeff go!! Apple really tried to screw we e-book readers with their deal with the publishers for the iPAD, and those publishers are pushing Amazon to raise Kindle e-book customer prices as a result.
Jeff said, uhm no. Yay Jeff! Why should the publisher have control over what price the storeowner sets on the ebook?! They cut their deal with Amazon already, and we Kindle owners made our deal with Amazon on how much we would have to pay for new releases of e-books. Thus our high dollar investment in the Kindle ($400 for my first gen model, now down to $259 , still quite an investment and one I think is made by those who spend a substantial amount( a % of which goes to these publishers, guaranteeing them a revenue stream to these dying publishers in an electronic world) . Also please consider most of we Kindle users read at least 3 books a week, some of us considerably more. We are no flash in the pan purchasers.
I am already pixxed at publishers DELAYING new releases from Kindle! Some titles have been hitting shelves and not Kindle, fine for a week or two, but for months?! Well frak them, I am waiting until it is available on my Kindle!Jeff has kindly made the classics that are in the public domain available for free on the Kindle to tide us over. (This has always been available, but I used to go to ProjectGutenberg and email my classics in .txt format to my Kindle account and then get them converted. Now they are listed in the Kindle e-books for purchase for free and already formatted for us 🙂
Not a good strategy for the publishers, pixxing off we voracious readers. We WILL support Amazon’s call on this and we WILL wait you out publishers. Do they think some Apple iPhone techno-lovers in the future can possibly make up for the sales to Kindle readers??! HA HA!
I am going to go send Jeff Bezos a lovely email on Amazon thanking him for DEFENDING THE READERS!
With my Kindle I can carry around my library with me. I love it and will support Amazon in this fight against the publishers
Amazon.com Inc. has removed all e-book titles published by Macmillan from Amazon and its Kindle e-reader site in a battle over pricing, according to a statement issued by Macmillan late Saturday.
The move follows this week’s launch of Apple Inc.’s new iPad device, which is expected to shake up the publishing industry by competing directly with Amazon’s Kindle reader and by enabling publishers to set their own retail prices on their books.
Yeah I call SHENANIGANS!! Why the hell should the publisher set the retail price of an ebook! Apple set the price of an iTune right? Not the studio. frakkers.
Macmillan CEO John Sargent said he visited Amazon on Thursday in Seattle to discuss “new terms of sales for e-books” and that by the time he returned to New York, he’d been informed that Macmillan’s e-books would only be for sale on Amazon.com “through third parties,” according to the statement, which appeared as an advertisement on publishing industry Web site PublishersMarketplace.com.
…Publishers have agreed to a new pricing model with Apple, under which they will set their own e-book prices, with Apple taking 30% of the revenue. They are expected to price many e-book titles at $12.99 and $14.99, with fewer carrying the $9.99 price that Amazon currently charges on most best-sellers.
It is expected that publishers will now seek to do business with Amazon and other e-book retailers on the same terms as with Apple. By setting their own prices, publishers would be able to eliminate discounting on Amazon and elsewhere that they believe threatens the long-term business model of publishing.
See if someone had done this shxt when iTunes was starting none of us would be able to buy a song for .99 now. And the music industry would still be dying on the vine. Frakkers.
And the publishers are shooting themselves in the foot here, I have no more frakking room for hardcopies of books! I will not move to a backlit reading device like the iPAD! (no one who reads 4 books or more a week can read on a backlit device without hurting their eyes, thus the JOY of e-ink on the Kindle display) I want my damn Kindle, they have been making money and now want to gouge us. Frak them! These books are FREE at libraries!
Go back to the agreed upon price model or face the readers wrath Macmillan!!!!
Moderate in the Middle 