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Interview #917: AMOL Signing Report - Freelancer, Entry #1
Freelancer
Tai’shar Dragonmount!
Herein is the Memory Keeper report from the San Diego visit on the A Memory of Light book-signing tour, 6 February, 2013.
Faithfully submitted by Freelancer.
Before getting to the event itself, a little bit about the location.
Mysterious Galaxy is a wonderful independent bookstore in the heart of San Diego, focusing on Sci-fi, Fantasy, Mystery and Horror literature, run by a dedicated and knowledgeable staff of fantasy fans. The store manager, Patrick Heffernan, coordinates author signing events each and every week, as many popular authors wouldn’t consider a promotional tour complete without a visit there. You can learn more at http://www.mystgalaxy.com/ .
As for the Memory Keepers, there were eight selected by the Dragonmount staff, but unfortunately one, Eric, was transferred by his military command prior to the event. There rest of us included Justin, our “First Among Equals”, Alexei, Chris, Christopher, Lindsey, Manuel, and Tim. All were able to be on hand early and assist the store with rearranging bookshelves, setting chairs, and whatever other setup needs the store required.
Fans began arriving as much as an hour and a half prior to the scheduled start time of 7PM, and not long after 6PM all of the chairs were occupied. The mingling crowd wasted no time in chatting each other up about the series, speculating on what questions would and would not be asked or answered. At that time we began passing out copies of a fan-created Wheel of Time crossword puzzle (thank you, Wetlandernw!), and a logic puzzle designed by Memory Keeper Justin. Attendees dove right into these while waiting, and in spite of our best attempts to keep folks “honest”, many smart phones and tablets were put into action hunting answers from numerous Wheel of Time resource sites.
Brandon and Harriet arrived around 6:15 and went directly to work signing store stock books for almost twenty minutes. Brandon then broke away and pulled the Memory Keepers outside of the store while Harriet continued. He greeted us all, thanked us for volunteering and offered his congratulations on being selected. He then explained that Harriet’s travel schedule still had her on Eastern Time, and she wouldn’t be able to remain for the entire event, so the sequence would have to be adjusted, and the usual sit-down time with the Memory Keepers would unfortunately fall victim, but that Harriet would spend some time with us on site before leaving. Next he asked if we had all finished A Memory of Light , and with seven nodding heads, said that we were free to ask any questions, even A Memory of Light spoilers, before going back in with the crowd. The non-spoiler questions will be included at the end of this report.
After we re-entered the store, Harriet turned around while in the midst of signing books, and got the crowd’s attention. She pointed out a photo of Robert Jordan which has hung on the wall of the store for as long as I’ve known of the place(and is the feature photo on his Wikipedia page), and said that it was taken in this very store during the 2005 tour for Knife of Dreams , his last book release tour. She asked if anybody there might know who took the photo, for she had always treasured it. Lo and behold, two hands shot up, belonging to people known to the tor.com re-read as BaboKathy and insectoid. A close family friend had taken the photo, and they were there as well at that time. Harriet then produced a DVD of photos from that day’s event, and asked if they would get it to the woman who had taken the photo. It was a very lovely gesture, and a moving moment.
A bit after this, a few moments of getting people and things settled, and Christine, one of the store employees, delivered a formal introduction for Brandon and Harriet. Harriet expressed her thanks for the great support of the fandom, and then began stating numbers:
23—Years since the publication of The Eye of the World . Brandon broke in on this and asked how many others began reading the series in 1990 as he had. Still a fanboy after all these years! There were more than a handful, and more on that later.
9,995—Pages in the first edition hardcovers of the series proper (excludes New Spring )
14—Volumes in the main series
Brandon spoke briefly about finishing the series, and then began the Q & A session.
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