D.C. Signing
John Nowacki
Not much to report. He started off with the usual intro about
pronunciations, picture taking, the last scene, and so on. Repeated
that Olver isn't Gaidal Cain and what's already been mentioned here
about someone figuring out who killed Asmodean using material from "up
through Winter's Heart . . . I think." Also the bit about enjoying
watching some of us try to figure it out.
I asked a couple of questions, one of them from Zeynep's list.
How much time elapsed between the last chapter of COT and the
epilogue? He thought for a second before giving an RAFO and adding it
was not that much, certainly not months.
Without the TP to contrast it with, did people in the AOL refer to the
One Power and True Source, or simply the Power and the Source? The
names would have been the same, he said, since "One Power" was meant
to signify that saidin and saidar are two halves of the same thing and
not different things entirely.
Some kid asked him something about material on the Internet, and he
mentioned Wotmania, Dragonmount.com, TarValon.net, and something else.
If he said anything about rasfwrj, I didn't hear it.
Someone asked for a little more description about the sa'sara -- as in
how does he envision one doing it -- which he thought was hilarious.
He said she was the first person who'd asked him about it and apart
from saying it would be like something a non-tourist might see in
Cairo or Istanbul, he said it wouldn't be "boring" like a stripper act
in the U.S. He seemed to really get a kick out of this question.
Someone else said something about his health and got a lengthy
recitation of Jordan's blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and so on.
I didn't stay for the whole thing but caught most of it. I may be at
tonight's signing in Bailey's Crossroads (someone who's out of town
asked me to take her books in and I didn't have time get them all
signed this afternoon), and if so, I'll post something about it later
this evening.
---
John Nowacki
jano...@hotmail.com
Chris Mullins
> Regarding this afternoon's signing at Olsson's in D.C.:
>
I'm curious - has there been much in the way of "This book really stinks"
sentiment at any of the book signings, or have things generally been pretty
positive?
--
Chris Mullins
Michael Owellen
A lot of the people I spoke to at the DC signing this afternoon hadn't read
CoT yet. I didn't hear any anti-CoT opinions among the others, but then I
didn't really ask.
I don't think most people would have the guts to trash the book to his face
anyway. He kept his walking stick in hand the whole time, which may have been
for that very reason.
--
Mike
Michael Owellen
says...
> Regarding this afternoon's signing at Olsson's in D.C.:
>
> Not much to report. He started off with the usual intro about
> pronunciations, picture taking, the last scene, and so on. Repeated
> that Olver isn't Gaidal Cain and what's already been mentioned here
> about someone figuring out who killed Asmodean using material from "up
> through Winter's Heart . . . I think." Also the bit about enjoying
> watching some of us try to figure it out.
<rest of report snipped>
He also asked that the men keep their clothes on during the signing. I wasn't
really sure what to make of that, but I reluctantly complied.
I asked him if Mat is still linked to the Horn despite having died and lived
again, and he said yes. Then he changed his answer to RAFO.
Somebody asked him about the weather in Charleston, which he discussed at great
length. He seems to be fascinated by weather. And bugs; he went on and on
about palmetto bugs and cockroaches.
I didn't catch much beyond that. It didn't seem as though many people were
asking him specific WoT-related questions.
--
Mike
Robert Oliver
> I asked him if Mat is still linked to the Horn despite having died and
lived
> again, and he said yes. Then he changed his answer to RAFO.
Ah, you caught him off guard!
OK, people, every person at every signing must ask him about Asmodean. He's
bound to slip up one of these days :)
> Somebody asked him about the weather in Charleston, which he discussed at
great
> length. He seems to be fascinated by weather. And bugs; he went on and
on
> about palmetto bugs and cockroaches.
Weevils?
Jim Mansfield
news:MPG.189a44962...@news.cis.dfn.de:
> In article <ojn03vkn3ecc15f7p...@4ax.com>,
> jano...@hotmail.com says...
[snip]
> I asked him if Mat is still linked to the Horn despite having died
> and lived again, and he said yes. Then he changed his answer to
> RAFO.
That one is interesting. I wonder if he gave us some information he
did not want us to know or whether he he made a mstake and
corrected it.
> Somebody asked him about the weather in Charleston, which he
> discussed at great length. He seems to be fascinated by weather.
> And bugs; he went on and on about palmetto bugs and cockroaches.
Which is strange considering all the effort he went through to
describe "winnowing out" weevils from grain, something that would
never work.
-Jim
Tessy
wrote:
Ok, so every one has to ask him to name a WoT character who DIDN'T kill
Asmo. 100 people in each signing, 2000 characters, that's, er . . . 20
signings - how many do we have left on the current tour?
--
Tessy @ nospam.com
Sean O'Hara
>
> I don't think most people would have the guts to trash the book to his face
> anyway. He kept his walking stick in hand the whole time, which may have been
> for that very reason.
>
stick," or "Criticize me and I'll cane yo' ass, mofo!"
--
Sean O'Hara
Donnie: Why do you wear that stupid rabbit suit?
Frank: Why do you wear that stupid man suit?
--Richard Kelly, "Donnie Darko"
Michael Owellen
darkerthenightth...@myrealbox.com says...
> Michael Owellen wrote:
> >
> > I don't think most people would have the guts to trash the book to his face
> > anyway. He kept his walking stick in hand the whole time, which may have
> > been for that very reason.
> >
> As in "Please don't criticize the poor man who needs a walking
> stick," or "Criticize me and I'll cane yo' ass, mofo!"
The second one. It's a mean looking stick.
--
Mike
John Nowacki
<mDELETEow...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>In article <dOZX9.1509$Z5.282@fe01>, cmul...@yahoo.com says...
>> "John Nowacki" <jano...@hotmail.com> wrote
>> > Regarding this afternoon's signing at Olsson's in D.C.:
>> >
>> > [Snip]
>>
>> I'm curious - has there been much in the way of "This book really stinks"
>> sentiment at any of the book signings, or have things generally been pretty
>> positive?
>
>A lot of the people I spoke to at the DC signing this afternoon hadn't read
>CoT yet. I didn't hear any anti-CoT opinions among the others, but then I
>didn't really ask.
Same here. No one I spoke with had finished it, and most hadn't
started it yet.
Edwin Fell
>
> Ok, so every one has to ask him to name a WoT character who DIDN'T
> kill Asmo. 100 people in each signing, 2000 characters, that's, er
> . . . 20 signings - how many do we have left on the current tour?
Heh.
2000 copies of "Well, Tuon didn't!"
David Holman
> Regarding this afternoon's signing at Olsson's in D.C.:
>
>
> How much time elapsed between the last chapter of COT and the
> epilogue? He thought for a second before giving an RAFO and adding it
> was not that much, certainly not months.
Well, it's not like I was expecting him to really answer this one
conclusively, but I'd held out a little hope. There goes the last
chance of preventing on again, off again debate on who exactly Rand's
meeting with in Ebou Dar. I suppose it'll help make up for the coming
dearth of Demandred identity theories.
--
Dave Holman
erikrr
>
> <rest of report snipped>
>
> He also asked that the men keep their clothes on during the signing. I wasn't
> really sure what to make of that, but I reluctantly complied.
>
> I asked him if Mat is still linked to the Horn despite having died and lived
> again, and he said yes. Then he changed his answer to RAFO.
>
> Somebody asked him about the weather in Charleston, which he discussed at great
> length. He seems to be fascinated by weather. And bugs; he went on and on
> about palmetto bugs and cockroaches.
>
> I didn't catch much beyond that. It didn't seem as though many people were
> asking him specific WoT-related questions.
Yeah, I couldn't think of much I wanted to know, nor wanted to put
time into noodling out a non-RAFO question. So I just asked him who
he liked in the Super Bowl, to which he responded "I couldn't care
less." But he laughed, was pretty cool about it, and went on to tell
a story about a Knicks-Lakers game he went to years ago. He said a
friend gave him some "ring-side" seats, that it was an exciting game
with lots of lead changes late. Then there was a time-out with 1
minute left, during which he convinced his friends to leave and beat
traffic. I told him that was terrible, like not reading the last
chapter of his book, he just laughed (I probably should have added
something about his book not having many "lead changes", though, so
maybe it's a poor analogy).
I heard the end of an answer he was giving to someone ahead of me,
about which character was most like him, he said Lan personified his
ideals, that he was like Perrin when he was younger, but back then he
did a lot of things Mat would have done. He also said his wife says
he IS Loial (which he pronounced "loyal," whereas I'd always thought
"Lowel," as in Christopher the bald-bearded-beau interior design guy),
though he denied having any books in his pockets. I enjoyed the
signing, and RJ seemed like a good guy. I couldn't pick out if his
wife was there or not (I have no clue what she looks like).
Erik Rasmussen
Tessy
[...]
>I heard the end of an answer he was giving to someone ahead of me,
>about which character was most like him, he said Lan personified his
>ideals, that he was like Perrin when he was younger, but back then he
>did a lot of things Mat would have done. He also said his wife says
>he IS Loial (which he pronounced "loyal," whereas I'd always thought
>"Lowel," as in Christopher the bald-bearded-beau interior design guy),
>though he denied having any books in his pockets.
As in, "Is that a book in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?"?
So, what was his excuse?
> I enjoyed the
>signing, and RJ seemed like a good guy. I couldn't pick out if his
>wife was there or not (I have no clue what she looks like).
--
Tessy @ nospam.com
John Nowacki
>Michael Owellen <mDELETEow...@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:
>
>>
>> <rest of report snipped>
>>
>> He also asked that the men keep their clothes on during the signing. I wasn't
>> really sure what to make of that, but I reluctantly complied.
>>
>> I asked him if Mat is still linked to the Horn despite having died and lived
>> again, and he said yes. Then he changed his answer to RAFO.
>>
>> Somebody asked him about the weather in Charleston, which he discussed at great
>> length. He seems to be fascinated by weather. And bugs; he went on and on
>> about palmetto bugs and cockroaches.
>>
>> I didn't catch much beyond that. It didn't seem as though many people were
>> asking him specific WoT-related questions.
>
>Yeah, I couldn't think of much I wanted to know, nor wanted to put
>time into noodling out a non-RAFO question.
It wasn't a book that raised questions about things that happened.
Just questions about why things that should have happened didn't.
So I just asked him who
>he liked in the Super Bowl, to which he responded "I couldn't care
>less." But he laughed, was pretty cool about it, and went on to tell
>a story about a Knicks-Lakers game he went to years ago. He said a
>friend gave him some "ring-side" seats, that it was an exciting game
>with lots of lead changes late. Then there was a time-out with 1
>minute left, during which he convinced his friends to leave and beat
>traffic. I told him that was terrible, like not reading the last
>chapter of his book, he just laughed (I probably should have added
>something about his book not having many "lead changes", though, so
>maybe it's a poor analogy).
Yeah, I remember hearing you ask that. I was off to the side with a
couple of other people, listening to see if he said anything
significant.
>I couldn't pick out if his
>wife was there or not (I have no clue what she looks like).
She was browsing through the shelves off to his left.
---
John Nowacki
jano...@hotmail.com
Zeynep Dilli / 'Morwen'
This is a good place to put in my own report, I guess. Sorry for
the delay.
I was there around 11:30 for the signing that was supposed to
start around 12:30. There were about 15 people in the bookstore's
cafe by then; but by the time 12:30 rolled around there was a
sizable line, which stayed full until the end. There were about 50
people in the line almost constantly from 12:30 to 13:30.
I situated myself behind the table and didn't get in the
line; John Nowacki and his friends graciously accepted to get my
books signed for their second time in the line. Thanks again.
As soon as he came in, he answered some "FAQs" in a loud voice
down the line: He gave the correct pronounciations for Nynaeve,
Egwene, Seanchan etc.; touched the Question That Won't Die as
"someone figured it out correctly using evidence prior to Winter's
Heart"; said "There will be at least _two_ more books. I hope two.
I apologize for that" and repeated the usual "I knew the last scene
since..."; said that the next book would be coming out as soon as
possible after he finishes writing it, and laid down the ground rule
for picture-taking: "Men must keep their clothes on. I never try to
tell women what to do, but men must keep their clothes on."
Here's a compilation of questions asked, some of which were from
RASFWR-J through me or John.
On Thu, 23 Jan 2003, John Nowacki declared:
> How much time elapsed between the last chapter of COT and the
> epilogue? He thought for a second before giving an RAFO and adding it
> was not that much, certainly not months.
What he said.
> Without the TP to contrast it with, did people in the AOL refer to the
> One Power and True Source, or simply the Power and the Source? The
> names would have been the same, he said, since "One Power" was meant
> to signify that saidin and saidar are two halves of the same thing and
> not different things entirely.
What he said.
> Some kid asked him something about material on the Internet, and he
> mentioned Wotmania, Dragonmount.com, TarValon.net, and something else.
> If he said anything about rasfwrj, I didn't hear it.
He didn't, and I paused and decided against mentioning the FAQ
there. He mentioned tarvalon.net because the people from the site
were next in line to the kid and they called out.
> Someone asked for a little more description about the sa'sara -- as in
> how does he envision one doing it -- which he thought was hilarious.
> He said she was the first person who'd asked him about it and apart
> from saying it would be like something a non-tourist might see in
> Cairo or Istanbul, he said it wouldn't be "boring" like a stripper act
> in the U.S. He seemed to really get a kick out of this question.
What he said. That was fun.
> Someone else said something about his health and got a lengthy
> recitation of Jordan's blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and so on.
At his last physical: cholestrol 197, his doctor not worried about
his triglodytes (sp?), blood pressure 105/62, resting pulse 68, and
he performed exceedingly well in the stress test. He was a little
irritated at the question, I think. Can't guess why. Someone else
asked if people ever sent him vitamins etc. Nope.
--Someone asked him how "knuckling [one's] forehead" was done.
He described as a way of touching your cap, as it were, same with
"tugging [one's] forelocks"---the way he lifted his head to
demonstrate both movements, thumb down and palm slightly down and
out, a person's knuckles do naturally touch the forehead. "It's how
you greet(ed) a superior in military."
--"Was Rand and Ishamael physically in the sky at Falme?" "No,
but they could be _seen there_, like a mirage. They could be seen
in other places as well [other false Dragons' falls]." He didn't
say _where_ they were, T'A'R or some other plane. Wherever, as far
as I'm concerned.
--Yes, he's got e-mail. No, he isn't giving it out.
--His favourite character? First he gave the standard answer of
"whoever I'm writing at the moment"; then the conversation moved to
his esteem for the characters, however, and that gave interesting
things away. "Lan embodies the ideal I aspired to be. Perrin.. was
me while I was growing up, but I also behaved a lot like
Mat. Harriet says I'm like Loial."
(Slightly after that, Harriet, who'd been browsing the bookstore,
came to stand beside me and we struck up a conversation. She is a
wonderful lady. While on the subject of how unpleasant it is to be
dragged from city to city and hotel to hotel rather than being snug
in your own home, she did repeat the Loial comment about her
husband, independently.)
--Someone asked what he felt about the Superbowl. The answer,
essentially, was "I don't care."
--A WoT movie? "I don't know. If you know Peter Jackson or
Spielberg, you can always ask them to give me a call..." No
objections to a movie as long as the people coming to him with an
offer have _both_ the means and the knowledge to pull it off. That
might be a tougher preposition than even LotR, in my opinion, due to
sheer length and number of characters involved.
--Ever had threats from fans? Not really, but at one signing a
biker gang showed up, mentioned rumors about his "failing" health,
and threatened to desecrate his grave if he died before finishing
the series. Heh.
--Will he do a European tour? I guess his answer applies to a
possible Canadian signing as well: If the publisher in $COUNTRY
invites him and pays for the journey. The person who asked the
question specifically inquired after Belgium. He hasn't had any
leads that way from France or Belgium yet, but he mentioned a
Hungarian tour is coming up since the publisher there contacted him.
On a slightly related note, and I guess I'm the one that cares
most, a Turkish publisher has finally contacted him for a
translation. Fantasy translation is a new thing in Turkey, although
sci-fi have been translated for years----we got LotR in Turkish only
in 1998, forex---and we'll see how good the translation will turn
out to be.
--I asked about the Seanchan divorce ceremony, wondering if it was
anything like the old Islamic ceremony---i.e. just declaring that
you are divorced. He answered that it's more intricate than
that. He went into the details about why the marriage ceremony is
as it is (as Egeanin explains it in CoT, nothing new), and said that
the divorce required more than just declaring it.
--I also asked about what sorts of music he hears in his mind's
ear, as it were, while he's writing about the different musical
styles in Randland. Forex, the Tinker music is (obviously) gypsy
music, tziganes and similar. Thom chanting the tales is quite like
troubadour music of the Middle Ages in continental Europe. As for
others---dance music, general folk---he mentioned Irish folk music
(gigs and reels, I guess, and ballads), Appalacchian Hill music, and
bluegrass.
I don't quite know where that last comes from, but oh well.
Overall, it was fun.
--
Zeynep Dilli
GE/MU/S/L d--(+) s: a24 C++ US+ P L+>++ E-- W++>$ N++ K++ w>-- !O M- V?
PS+ PE(-) Y+ !PGP t- !5 !X R+ tv-- b+++>++++ DI+ D G e++$>+++ h* x?
Therese
> At his last physical: cholestrol 197, his doctor not worried about
> his triglodytes (sp?),
Triglycerides, I think. Plain ol' fat transported by the blood.
> On a slightly related note, and I guess I'm the one that cares
> most, a Turkish publisher has finally contacted him for a
> translation. Fantasy translation is a new thing in Turkey, although
> sci-fi have been translated for years----we got LotR in Turkish only
> in 1998, forex---and we'll see how good the translation will turn
> out to be.
Interesting! Fantasy sells big in Sweden, while sf is hardly translated
at all. (No Bujold, for example.) Most sf translations have been fannish
projects on low budgets. (Which says very little about the quality, as
some of the best translators are fans.)
--
Therese Wikström