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Bay Area Signing (Palo Alto)

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gru...@violet.berkeley.edu

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Oct 27, 1994, 2:14:55 AM10/27/94
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I just got back from the RJ signing at Future Fantasy in Palo Alto. I'm
not one of the regular net Darkfriends but I've enjoyed other people's
summaries of the RJ signings, so I thought I'd add my own to the collection.

I can't vouch for all of the precise details below, but I'm sure I've
captured the spirit of his remarks.

Someone asked RJ, "Why the pseudonym?" He replied, "What makes you think
it's a pseudonym?" which the questioner followed with, "Well, I've that it
is from a number of people." RJ finished with, "Well, yeah, I've heard *all*
sorts of things from all sorts of people."

Someone asked him if he was from North or South Carolina (in my experience,
most people from these states *hate* having their state confused with the
other). RJ replied, "If this were a more civilized time, I'd invite you to
North Carolina for pistols for two and coffee for one."

My girlfriend asked him about the "trolloc" horn on his cane. He said it was
a ram's horn.

About the time the line was getting fairly long and the people a little
restless, someone told RJ that he'd love to have a new WoT book out in
February, then another in March, then another in April... RJ asked the
crowd (aka "the lynch mob") to turn on this guy.

RJ gave a little height information that slightly contradicts some previous
info supposedly gleaned from a signings encounter. Rand is, of course, about
6'6". Moiraine, however, is actually as tall as 5'3", and Egwene and Nynaeve
are both about 5'5". Oh, and he said Moiraine "was" 5'3", if anyone wants to
read anything into that. RJ also said that if anyone asked him how much
anybody weighed, he'd throw up his hands in exasperation. I definitely got
the impression that he cares nothing for the detailed heights and such, but
instead goes completely from the mental pictures he's got in his head.

I couldn't resist telling him that I really dislike the cover to LoC because
I've had three people who nothing about WoT see me reading the book think
I'm reading a cheesy romance novel because of that terrible picture of
Rand. RJ replied that they probably thought I was reading soft porn, and that
some of those cheesy romance novels I was talking about are some of the best
soft porn he knows of. Later someone asked to have his picture taken with
RJ and he replied, "What kind of picture are we talking about? I'll only do
it if I get to keep my clothes on." Oh, and RJ said that the woman on the
cover of LoC is an Aes Sedai of the Red Ajah, but he doesn't know which Aes
Sedai because it was changed a number of times.

I also asked RJ what Tor thought about the length of his series in terms of
the number of books in it. RJ said that Tor has told him to write as many
books as he wants/needs to, and that Tor has never asked him to "stretch" the
series out into more (money-making) books. He also said that even if Tor
pressured him, he wouldn't do it.

RJ also told someone that about 25% of what had been figured out on the net
was correct, about 25% was on the right track, and the rest was wrong. I had
trouble hearing these figures, so maybe someone can correct me if I've made
any small errors with them. I wonder how RJ would come up with such figures,
anyway? No doubt most of the "looney theories" are wrong, but I have
trouble believing that the FAQ (which we pretty much know RJ has read) is
50% wrong. Then again, the FAQ does give bunch of "reasons for" and "reasons
against" for certain ideas--maybe that's what he means! Who knows?

Finally, I got a signed poster-map of Randland. Cool.

Well, that's all I can remember now. Maybe someone else will add a few
things.

Greg


Keith Edward Casner

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Oct 27, 1994, 11:15:54 PM10/27/94
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Well, I went to the Concord signing today. There were about fifty people
in line, and it moved very quickly. He was done by 2:45 I'd guess, then
started signing 500 stock copies that Tower had lying around. On my
turn, I asked him if he listened to music while he wrote. He said yes,
classical. I told him Asmodean was my favorite character, and he said
:Oh, I would have thought Semirhage." Yow! The Creator takes me for an
inhumanly cruel guy on first sight - I need to change my image.

He signed my copy of tFoH To: Keith E. Casner, Nae'blis, Robert Jordan,
so I won't be taking anymore backtalk from you lesser Chosen out there.

One guy got a picture with him, and RJ said, "As long as it doesn't
involve any full frontal nudity - unless I'm holding the camera.

Nobody showed up for the alleged Social afterwards. Perhaps some folk
have forgoten their new Vows...

That's all I have. Pretty boring signing, really. Oh, I talked briefly
about the Net with him, told him that we get more traffic than the main
group. He asked if I thought Bela was a Darkfriend, I said no, but
ta'veren for sure. He explained all these references to the Tower lady
sitting with him, but his wife didn't seem to be about.

Keith E. Casner, Officially Designated Nae'blis, So There

--
Keith E. Casner diom...@uclink.berkeley.edu

Don HARLOW

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Oct 29, 1994, 7:52:45 PM10/29/94
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diom...@uclink.berkeley.edu (Keith Edward Casner) skribis en lastatempa afisxo <38pqda$e...@agate.berkeley.edu>:

>Well, I went to the Concord signing today. There were about fifty people
>in line, and it moved very quickly. He was done by 2:45 I'd guess, then
>started signing 500 stock copies that Tower had lying around. On my
>turn, I asked him if he listened to music while he wrote. He said yes,
>classical. I told him Asmodean was my favorite character, and he said
>:Oh, I would have thought Semirhage." Yow! The Creator takes me for an
>inhumanly cruel guy on first sight - I need to change my image.
>

Not necessarily on first sight. Maybe he has been reading your postings.

;-)

--
Don HARLOW do...@netcom.com
Esperanto League for N.A. el...@netcom.com (800) 828-5944
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/elna/elna.html Esperanto
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/donh/donh.html

Michael Allen

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Oct 30, 1994, 1:48:41 AM10/30/94
to
In article <38nggv$c...@agate.berkeley.edu>,

<gru...@violet.berkeley.edu> wrote:
>Someone asked RJ, "Why the pseudonym?" He replied, "What makes you think
>it's a pseudonym?" which the questioner followed with, "Well, I've that it
>is from a number of people." RJ finished with, "Well, yeah, I've heard *all*
>sorts of things from all sorts of people."

I was the one who asked the question, so I guess I get to put
my 2 cents in here. I did indeed ask "Why the pseudnym," but I had no
answer for his snappy retort. He kind of assumed that I heard about
it from the net, because he went on to say that, although he was not
on the Net, someone had sent him a copy of the FAQ, and the 25% of the
speculation was right, 25% was near-right, and the rest was just plain
wrong.

After my turn in the wheel of signings, I joined a bunch of
other Net fiends in the corner, whispering about this or that. I asked
their opinions on why the Hundred Companions were all men, when the
greatest works were always accomplished by men and women together.
Another person (Dana, I believe) suggested that it might be because
when one part of a link failed, the whole thing failed, and that in
a combat situation it would be impossible to maintain a proper circle.
None of us knew if that was true or not, so someone brought it to RJ's
attention. His response was what you probably predicted: "You want me
to give a clue like that away for nothing?" Feeling brash, I then said,
"OK, just why were the Hundred companions all men?" He merely grumbled
and shook his head as he signed the next book.

He left the signing in a big white Cadillac, in case anyone
cares.

Mike Allen
(who never posts :)

Dana Crom

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Oct 30, 1994, 10:36:13 PM10/30/94
to
In article <38vc3p$8...@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>,
Michael Allen <mal...@cse.ucsc.edu> wrote:
...

> After my turn in the wheel of signings, I joined a bunch of
>other Net fiends in the corner, whispering about this or that. I asked
>their opinions on why the Hundred Companions were all men, when the
>greatest works were always accomplished by men and women together.
>Another person (Dana, I believe) suggested that it might be because
>when one part of a link failed, the whole thing failed, and that in
>a combat situation it would be impossible to maintain a proper circle.
>None of us knew if that was true or not, so someone brought it to RJ's
>attention. His response was what you probably predicted: "You want me
>to give a clue like that away for nothing?" Feeling brash, I then said,
>"OK, just why were the Hundred companions all men?" He merely grumbled
>and shook his head as he signed the next book.

Mike, I'm impressed that you remember - it was my wild-ass idea. I'm not
sure that I really believe it, though it might make some tactical sense.
I was trying to come up with a rational reason, however slight, for the
100 Companions to be exclusively male.

Assuming that LTT was *not* just blindly chauvenistic, I speculated that:

1) Since men, on the average, have strength in the One Power stronger than
the average woman, and that men tend to have their greatest strength in
Earth and Fire, the flows most useful for combat, it would make sense that
the *majority* of the "Hundred strongest (combat) channellers) would be
male.

2) In combat, the chances of at least 1 of a circle of 13 being wounded are
pretty high. What happens with a circle when one of the members collapses?
If the "circuit" is broken, and the circle has to be reformed less one
member, this could be disastrous. Much better to have a bunch of strong,
independent channellers who can respond rapidly and have to be eliminated
one by one. (If the rest of the circle continues without the unconcious
or dead member, you can disregard this)

3) The sealing strike can be considered a commando raid, demanding both
strength in the One Power and combat prowess (as possible evidence
consider Rand's obsessive physical training). Again, more men than
women are likely to qualify.

As I said, I am not sure if I totally believe them, though if the 100
Companions had been 80 men and 20 women I would be able to swallow that
easily - in Jordan's world, we *know* that men average stronger in the
One Power's most combat-useful flows.
*Possible (Slight) spoiler warning*



Circling back on point one, at a slight tangent - consider the Seanchan -
they have been training their leashed ones for combat for some time. How
are they going to react to meeting the Black Tower troops - stronger in the
combat flows, faster-moving, capable of independent action, and (possibly)
trained by one for the Forsaken. Even if the damane can fight, they will
probably be outclassed. But if the Asha'man or the Two Rivers archers figure
out that all they need to do is take out the leashholders, I can see it
turning into a massacre - remember how easily the Seanchan wiped out the
attack at the end of _The Great Hunt_, and the Asha'man vs the Shaido at
Dumei Wells?
--
-----------------------+------------------------+------------------------------
Dana Crom DoD #0679 | Silicon Graphics, Inc. | Smile - let them *WONDER*
da...@morc.mfg.sgi.com | (415) 390-1449 | what you've been up to . . .

Mark G. Hazen

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Nov 4, 1994, 9:02:18 PM11/4/94
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In article <39bppf$2...@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>
mal...@cse.ucsc.edu (Michael Allen) writes:
>
> Hmmmm. Somehow, I always thought that the "Final Strike" or whatever
> they called it of the Hundred Companions did not involve much direct
> combat. I was formumating my suppositions on the idea that the
> Companions acted exclusively to seal the Bore, and the Forsaken inside
> it, and that this was at the end of the War of Power, when most of the
> other Dreadlords had been dealt with. Thus, there would seem to be no

There is a line in LoC where one of the Forsaken is talking about the
AoL
and insinuates that everything was going in their favour until the
Final
Strike. This leads me to believe that there were lots of DreadLord
types
out there. However, for some reason the Forsaken had been all recalled
to the Bore and were there when LTT swooped in and did the resealing
thing.
One would expect some resistance to this by the Forsaken!

Mark G. Hazen | In the Dark Ages, Dragons were REAL.
| NOT a Fantasy!

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