NYC Signing: Science Fiction, Mysteries, & More
Delemin
one of us to attend the signing at Science Fiction, Mysteries, and More
on Thursday, I feel obliged to report what Jordan said there, and my
impressions.
Robert Jordan was stockier, shorter, and better cushioned than I expected.
He wore a wide brimmed hat and walked with a cane with a rams horn like
handle. Generally he was open and friendly. When he came in late he
explained that it was because Princess Di was in New York to meet Bill
Clinton to discuss Vince Foster's suicide.
However he made repeated references to being worn out and overworked by
LoC. "If I work that hard on this one I'll die." he commented several
times. Apparently he worked 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. In August
(he usually finishes in May) the folks at Tor sequestered him in a hotel
in New York City, where he finished the books in two weeks. He said he
would try to get the book out on time but he figured we would rather have
him finish a book late than finish his life early.
When a latecomer asked when he intended to "pop out next one", Jordan
responded by telling him that he once sat at a table with G. Gordon Liddy,
who explained how to kill someone with chopsticks. Having found this
fascinating dinner conversation, Jordan was willing to bet he could
reproduce the effect with a pen.
Not only did he decline to set the number of future WoT books, but he
denied ever setting a number and says he never planned it to be only a
trilogy. But he seemed to indicate he was planning 9-10 Books total.
When faced with the prospect of about 12 books, his wife threatened to
divorce him and his editor began to make jokes about the Irish Mafia.
(Apparently they don't break your kneecaps, they take out your anklebones,
"It must be a cultural thing" said Jordan.)
He kept open the possibility of doing a book set in the Fourth Age after
the events of WoT had become myth, but refused to do a prequel or sequel.
When asked about doing a series on the AoL, he said that before the bore
the AoL was too dull, and by the end of WoT we will know enough about the
AoL after the bore that a book about it would have nothing new.
After WoT, Jordan will work on a book tentatively called "Shipwreck". As
mentioned by previous posters, it is about people from a mix of
Elizabethan England and Renaissance Italy, coming to a "Seanchanlike"
land. At the signing he expanding on this, saying the homeland had no
countries larger than England, but a unified Church with a Father, a
Mother, and a Daughter and intercessor for humanity. Heretics from the
South, who claim the Daughter had a human parent, are tolerated. In
"Pseudo-Seanchan" there are several large empires but the religion is
fragmented. (This sounds like a scene from David Eddings' Tamuli"
series, where one character notes that the West has one Church and many
countries, but the east has one country and many churches. That plus
"Heretics from the South". Hmm.)
Jordan discussed several spin-offs from the books. He mentioned an
"Illustrated Guide the Wheel of Time" (like the one they did for Pern).
When asked about Role Playing Games he said he was in contact with Wizards
of the Coast (makers of the popular Magic card game. Are we in for Daes
Dae'mar : the Deckmaster Game of Games), and he was approached with an
offer for an AD&D module (this raises interesting questions. The term
"module" has been replaced by "adventure" and "supplement". Did Jordan
dabble in RPGs ten years ago and preserve obsolete terms, or was he
approached by an old time TSR rep who lapsed into the "old tongue". Also,
was the word used to mean an adventure (the most common use of module) or
a full world like Darksun or Forgotten Realms.
Jordan said he didn't give Randland a name because he always found it
unrealistic for a fantasy world to have a name. After all, we don't have
a real name for our world. He also said he always left something
unresolved at the end of each book. he says we never have everything
wrapped up in our lives, so why should his characters? He considered
leaving a hook at the end of the last book and never resolving it. : - <
> (screaming in anguish)
He Expressed several views about various translations of WoT. He heard
the Swedish translation was very good, and the Dutch translators had an
extensive correspondence with him. He said the only translation he read
was the beginning of the German translation, but he hated the covers, he
mentioned one as featuring a rear view woman, wearing only a strand of
pearls, raising her hand to stop a band of armored horsemen. His favorite
covers were on the Spanish editions.
Jordan also mentioned a few things about himself. He planned to go to
West Point and have a military career, but his eyesight wasn't good
enough, so he went to the Citadel and served a single term in the
military.
When he started writing he imagined living on the French River, working
2-3 hours in the morning, and spending the day on the beach with _a
blond, a brunette, and a redhead. _ Sound familiar?
He sees some correlation between Randland's "magic" (a term he frowns on)
and quantum physics, but he says it is not deliberate. He disbelieves
95-99 % of modern physics but says it will be 50 years before it is put in
the same file as phlogiston.
He writes on a PC but has some files on an Apple III.
He writes Elizabethan sonnets to his wife but will not publish them.
Someone in the audience supported him in this quoting Heinlan that "a poet
who reads his work in public may have other nasty habits." Jordan said he
never reads any of his work.
He encouraged young writers to write and send out things continuously,
not to be discouraged by rejections, and to change something only when
three editors suggest it.
All this is from memory, I can make no guaranties of the accuracy of this
stuff.
TISB
Joe Uno Shaw
> ... the signing at Science Fiction, Mysteries, and More
> However he made repeated references to being worn out and overworked by
> LoC. "If I work that hard on this one I'll die." he commented several
> times. Apparently he worked 12-14 hours a day, 7 days a week. In August
> (he usually finishes in May) the folks at Tor sequestered him in a hotel
> in New York City, where he finished the books in two weeks.
This explains alot.
I would rather wait for a good book than have a bad book on time.
(I was going to add "Bad move, Tor", but then I realized that
wasn't really fair. Several of the major things I didn't like
about LoC would not have changed, I expect.)
- Joe
--
The TOR Books gopher (with Robert Jordan Tour info.): gopher.panix.com
rasfwrj FAQ: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/sf/robert-jordan-faq
The Wheel of Time archive (with the Wheel of Time FAQ), WWW and anon. ftp:
http://faser.cs.olemiss.edu/jordan/jordan.html [ISRI/NtF-NtF]
Delemin
aber...@minerva.cis.yale.edu (Aaron Bergman) writes:
>An Apple ///? I didn't know any of those still existed :)
>(Probably Apple ][?)
No, this was definately an Apple III. Thats Three not a typo.
TISB
Aaron Bergman
:He writes on a PC but has some files on an Apple III.
Major munch.
An Apple ///? I didn't know any of those still existed :)
(Probably Apple ][?)
Aaron
Carolyn Fusinato
>Jordan discussed several spin-offs from the books. He mentioned an
>"Illustrated Guide the Wheel of Time" (like the one they did for Pern).
I'm sorry, but if Sweet is doing this, I can't imagine who'd buy it.
If anything I buy WoT books despite their cover. Robin Wood would
be good, if she can be gotten. I love the _People of Pern._ While
I have the Dragonlover's guide, I'm not overly enthusiastic about it and
I got it at a half price bookstore. Moiraine
-Carolyn Fusinato: Editor of the WoT Club newsletter, _The Chronicles_.
E-mail your postal address to me at c.fus...@mail.utexas.edu for a
free sample. Submissions are always welcome. E-mail for more information.
Ask about WoT Club stuff in the ftp site, too!
alden stradling
|> In article <389ivl$p...@newsbf01.news.aol.com>, del...@aol.com
(Delemin) says:
|> >Jordan discussed several spin-offs from the books. He mentioned an
|> >"Illustrated Guide the Wheel of Time" (like the one they did for
Pern).
|>
|> I'm sorry, but if Sweet is doing this, I can't imagine who'd buy it.
|> If anything I buy WoT books despite their cover. Robin Wood would
|> be good, if she can be gotten. I love the _People of Pern._ While
|> I have the Dragonlover's guide, I'm not overly enthusiastic about it
and
|> I got it at a half price bookstore. Moiraine
requisitioned, I would be thrilled.
Alden
Rimesh Patel
> Anybody ever read _Dinotopia_? If the guy who drew that could be
> requisitioned, I would be thrilled.
>
> Alden
>
The artwork in that is fantastic. I saw it at the bookstore and
couldn't resist looking through it. Are the stories and good at all?
Rimesh Patel rp...@columbia.edu
==============================================================
"What are we going to do tomorrow night, Brain?"
"The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over
the world!"