Theoryland of the Wheel of Time

Well friends, I've been [lurking] here for literally years, but never felt a reason to post until now. I assume that many of you would probably be wondering how the signing in Lexington, KY, at the honorable Joseph-Beth Booksellers went this evening.

I arrived a few minutes to 7pm, 30 minutes early...or so I thought. Turns out, it really started at 7pm and I found such a lovely place to stand in the very back of the crowd. No fear, for the speakers were loud enough to hear Jordan in the parking lot, much less the 50 feet from me he was.

Judging by the lettering on the signing slips, each had a letter starting with 'A' and the latest letter I saw being 'J', with 25 of each slip, leads me to believe there were maybe 200+ people in attendance. Quite a few more than at my last signing, nine years ago, at the same location.

At around 10 after the hour, I noticed a familiar bearded face exiting the coffee shop and being led to the podium. I believe that Harriet was with him, but I quickly lost her during the cheering as the Creator, may his light shine on us all, took the stage.

His opening remarks were remarkably similar to those given during the West Chester signing. Did I say remarkably? I commented to the gentleman next to me that I think he had memorized it. Well, no worries, it was definitely worth hearing in person. No tape recorder do I own, thus no .wav file for me to let you hear.

He did set aside a few moments to discuss questions that he would not answer. The first was, when is the next book out?

Second, if anyone asked him who killed Asmodean, he was going to punch them.

I considered asking this myself, just to be 'touched' by the hand of the light. Common sense reined in my desire to take home a 'souvenir' of the evening. A photo later would do instead. Besides, RJ looked as if he had been in a fight recently, having a nice black eye. Not sure if he got on Harriet's bad side (again), but I felt that honor was the better part of valor and did not pose that question when he was signing my book, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

asmodean

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silly questions

Where was I? Ah, yes, after the remarks, he opened the floor for questions.

Nothing new here as he answered the same questions we've all heard many times before. What is his motivation for writing? How did he come up with the idea for the series? How long did he think the series would originally be?

After about a dozen questions, he stopped and informed us that every person thus far to ask a question was male and he was tired of answering questions from guys. He knew that there had to be some woman there who read the series and wasn't there getting her lazy boyfriend's books signed because he wouldn't get off the couch.

It did take a few moments for a woman to speak up, but speak up she did.

fandom

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gender

A few feet behind me was a woman with a very different question, "Can you tell me why the place of most of the female power in the realm resides in a 'big, white tower'? (Paraphrased because I can't remember her exact quote, but obviously making a phallic reference.)

Laughter reigned for a time, but RJ, as always, was waiting for her. He proceeded to tell how he needed a literary device to show the strength of the women who would inhabit the tower; something that when seen from far off on the horizon would inspire awe. He thought about making the home of the Aes Sedai a large, black hole in the ground, but since that is something you would almost fall into as you walked up to it, it just did not have the same power as a tower.

Then he rhetorically asked her if she had actually read any of his books and seen the women in them. She explained that yes, she had and she used the term she did, since she was quoting from the prologue of Knife of Dreams. He said he knew the quote, he did write it after all, but again, had she actually read the books to see what power the women in the books did wield? Much laughter ensued at the good-natured banter between him and the audience.

This question was also asked by Kevin Dean and Jarrod, and the latter report seems to make it clear that RJ was referencing the map of Tar Valon.

tar valon

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white tower

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sexuality

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gender

A few more questions, and then it was time to sign books. Jordan did forget to mention the working title of book 12, so I did him a favor and passed it around as I spoke to others in the crowd. Since I had a pass with a B on it, I moved quickly to the line, behind the A group. Second in the B line, I was in the presence of the Creator quite soon.

He signed my two books and I asked about the lack of his distinctive Rand's hat and he explained to me as he did nine years ago when I met him at my first signing, that it was a replica of Mat's hat, but someone named Rand had made it. I laughed, telling him I remembered the story all too well but wanted to see it again. It was in the back, probably drying, because of all the rain with which we had been blessed this evening. The man behind me in line was kind enough to take a picture of myself with the Creator, and if you wish to see the two of us, feel free. I'm the younger, slightly less good looking and incredibly poorer one on the left!

Further thoughts on the Lexington Book Signing

A few additions have come to my attention that I feel need to be added to my original wrap-up of the signing.

One question asked was very interesting, if only because of its absurdity. An individual asked a question, in very slurred speech, asking if RJ had enjoyed his time working with the Shrub as the ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

RJ, and the audience, were quite confused by the question. I wondered if the guy was drunk, crazy or just at the wrong book signing. RJ asked him to repeat the question, and sure enough, the guy asked the same question again. RJ denied all knowledge of said events, that he was never an ambassador, that he had never been to Saudi Arabia and he knew nothing about a shrub. (For those of us up on our US politics, 'shrub' is the nickname for our illustrious president, W.)

rj on current events

Another question was regarding the swirling colors in Mat's, Perrin's and Rand's heads.

That got a big RAFO response. Not even any hesitation. However, this was the only RAFO answer given during the QA period. I guess that we Lexingtonians just do not ask tough questions.

ta'veren

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rand

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mat

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perrin

One question that I found interesting, although it slipped my mind last evening, if only for RJ's slick response. The question was about the differences between the Warder bond and the Asha'man bonding of an Aes Sedai.

Fomu

warders

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warder bond

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asha'man

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logain

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aes sedai