Another frequently asked question that I will get a bunch of times in line, so I will answer now: I am working on the second Stormlight book. (applause) Tor thinks it’s coming out this fall; I’m hoping to meet their expectations. (laughter) If not, it will be the following spring. A sequel to Alloy of Law would be the next thing I would work on. (applause) Yeah, it’s funny how these things happen. One of my favorite stories about Robert Jordan and the series is, you know…I started reading these books in 1990, right? How many people picked it up in 1990, when Great Hunt wasn’t out yet? That’s…the few the proud, right? 23 years?
How many times did you reread it?
Yes, and you would reread it every time a new book would come out, right? That’s what I did. Until you…at one point, I reread the whole series, and by the time I got done, the next new book was out, and I’m like, “Whoa, this takes a long time!” (laughter) And…there’s a lot of questions I had as a fan that I have now been able to get answers to.
For instance, I went to Tom Doherty—Tom Doherty is the publisher at Tor; he started the company, and I don’t know if you guys know, Harriet was the first person he hired, as editorial director; she was in charge of editorial, and Harriet edited a lot of wonderful books. One of the books she edited is Ender’s Game , if you’re familiar with that. (applause) And she did also discover Robert Jordan, and then she married him. (laughter) I’ve always noted that’s a great way to make sure your editorial advice gets taken, right? (laughter)
And so I went to Tom, and I said, “Tom, really…how many books was it?” When you hear this talk of, “Oh, we expect it to be this long,” “We expect it to be this long…” And Tom sat me down and said, “Okay, let me tell you Brandon. Robert Jordan came in, and he had this pitch for me, and he gave me this big, long description of this awesome book. He said in the first book…the first book ends with our hero taking a sword that’s not a sword from a stone that’s not a stone. That’s where the first book ends. And from there, we have two more books; it’s a trilogy.” This is what Tom Doherty said, exactly. And then Tom said, “Jim,”—Robert Jordan’s real name was Jim Rigney—”Jim, I know how you are. Why don’t we sign you for six books?” (laughter) And Jim said, “Well, I don’t need six books. This is a trilogy.” And Tom said, “Well, if you think you don’t need that, we can do something else. You know, let’s just sign you for six books in the series.” Tom looked me right in the eyes, and he said, “Brandon, I thought I was so smart.” (laughter) “I thought I was buying that whole series for sure.” And here we are on book fourteen.
And so, yeah; this has been quite the experience; quite the ride, quite the journey of 23 years, and it’s been amazing to be part of it.
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