Timewaster's Guide Archive

I'm one of the least artistic people on the planet (5 year olds can draw better than me) so it'd be impossible for me to do any fan art or make a mistcloak or anything along those lines.  I also can't write, so fan fiction is out as well.

However, I can cook. 

I've always been fascinated by Mistborn and the bay wraps featured in the 1st book always stuck out. 

Several skaa women of various ages worked in the shop's kitchen, preparing baywraps -- rolls of thin, flat bread stuffed with boiled barley and vegetables.

After a lot of planning and research I finally decided on my recipe and made my first batch tonight.  They came out delicious.  Here is the final result.  I pretty much took the general idea, then thought about how to take that to make it taste good. 

For the flat bread, I wanted something that was more than just holding it all together.  This is where I probably deviated a little.  The easiest thing would be a tortilla style wrap, but too me that was too thin and didn't have the right texture.  I could also use something like pita bread but that would be too thick and dry.  I wanted something that would really add to them.  Thus, I went with some naan(the bread you get at Indian restaurants, that pic was before I got the cooking down, some are over/under done on one side).  I don't do a lot of baking so this was a bit of a challenge.  In the end (once I got the cooking temp/time down on the grill) I ended up with a delicious bread that had just the most subtle sweetness to them, with additional flavor coming from some garlic butter they were brushed with.  They also came out with the perfect texture, of having a bit of soft spongyness to them.  It really goes well with the...

Boiled barley - This was based of an Alton Brown recipe.  I've never had barley before (except in beer of course) and had no idea what to expect.  I ended up just cooking some pearled barley with water and then adding it to some orange juice, olive oil and tossed it with some bacon (of course), fennel and mizithra cheese, which is a softer goat cheese from Greece with a ton of flavor.  This stuff is great, I could eat spoonfuls.

Finally was the vegetables.  This took some thought.  I wanted vegetables that I could grill.  In the end, I went with asparagus, eggplant and artichoke hearts that I tossed in a dressing made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, apple cider vinegar and some dijon mustard.  The goal here was to get a bit of acidic flavor to match the subtle citrus flavor in the barley.  These came out good and paired perfectly.

After that, it was just a matter of spreading some of the barley on the naan, adding the veggies, to get this and then rolling them up.

They were great.  This was just an experiment batch though, I already have some improvements.  For the artichokes I'm going to get full artichokes and just cut out the hearts.  I tried to save money/time by getting just the hearts but they way they prepare them didn't work on the grill.  I'll cook the hearts sous vide with some tricks to get a really intense flavor then grill them with a olive oil/garlic baste just enough to get some intense grill marks on them.  I think I'm going to try some lemon flavor for the asparagus and I still want to figure out something for the eggplant.

I had a lot of fun working with this (and am not even done yet, it will probably take 2-3 more batches until I've settled my mind).  I think as I go through other books I'm going to take notes of what the characters are eating and do the same thing.  I seem to remember some interesting feast descriptions in Way of Kings....

Does anyone (Peter?) know if there's marketing plans for any of the Stormlight archive artwork?  It looks gorgeous. 

I know I would pay for prints of the sketches from the book.  I'd probably even bid quite a bit on at auction (however unlikely that would be) if any originals were for sale.   Same goes for anything that was drawn up but not included (if there were any)

I know merchandising is somewhat of a divisive topic, since some people look down upon it, but I really want to hang up some stuff in my room or throw things on my bookcase from the series. 

The same goes with other books as well.  Does anyone know if there was any progress made on a Nightblood replica, etc?

If anyone has been following the Suvudu Cage Match it's down to the final two putting Rand Al'Thor vs Jaime Lannister.   I was really hoping that Kvothe beat out Jaime but he just couldn't quite do it.

George R. R. Martin proposed an interesting idea on his blog.  He said the fight should be "Trial of Seven" from Westeros Tradition, where the heroes will fight along side 6 of their pals each.  He suggested he could take any six from his works and stories, and Rand be given a choice of 6 allies from the group of Jordan's and Brandon's works.   Kind of a fun idea.

That being said, which 6 would you pair up with Rand?

This would be my choice:

Sazed - Post HoA Sazed has to be a force to reckon with IMO
Vin - If she can be the same as the last time we saw her (end of HoA) then she could probably almost do this fight herself
Lord Ruler - This guy didn't survive so long because he was easy to kill
Vasher - With his collect of Breath's and his sword of course
Alcatraz - Chances are GRRM's picks would rely on a couple 'unbreakable' magical artifacts.
Matt - Can't lose with the dark one's own luck

I had a couple that almost made my list.  They were:

Lews Therin - Might as well have him and Rand.  All Rand's abilities and potential but he knows how to use 'em
Lightsong - I really don't think this fight would be in the bag and all 6 wouldn't be needed, might as well bring along some comic relief to make the fight more fun to watch.

I know people on the forum like this kind of thing, so who would you pick?

I wanted to buy several books shipped to different locations for presents this year.  Is there an easy way to do this through the store (i.e. someone I could just email and set it all up through then pay xxx in paypal?)

When Brandon mentioned these I jumped on it and preordered one.  Yesterday I got an email from the company saying:

"I regret to inform you that 'The Gathering Storm' was removed from our website this morning because the publisher delivery date is not available. With that said, you will not be able to re-submit an order with us for this title. When the book is available, it will be placed on the website again."

Did anyone else get the same?  Does anyone know anything about this?  I was really looking forward to it.

There has been a LOT of MB3 speculation and debate over the past few weeks, and it's only a matter of time until those questions are answered.  Thus, I thought as a fun game, we'd compile a list of questions that we hope are answered.  We can then make a post with all those questions, and everyone can give (the briefest possible) answers to each of them.  Then, once the book is out, we can compare scores and see who predicted the most (as well as hopefully get answers from Brandon on what wasn't answered).

So, I'll start with some questions I can think of, but please add ones you can.  Try and word your questions in a way that they can be easily answered with just a few words or a sentence at the most.  Maybe after a week or so we can compile them all and then have people 'vote'.

1) Who is the Hero of Ages?
2) Do inquisitors use allomancy?
3) Who is the Mist spirit?
4) What is the Deepness?
5) Why does the Mist kill?
6) What role do the Ashmounts play?
7) Is Reen's voice actually Ruin?
What was in the Well of Ascension?
9) Which character's die?
10) What are Koloss?
11) What are Kandra?
12) Where did Kell get the 11th metal?
13) Why can Vin draw upon the mist?
14) Why can Vin pierce copper clouds?
15) Where will the final battle take place?

That's all I can think of now, but I'm sure there are plenty.  Please add your own, or if any of those aren't worthy point them out as well.  I'll try and keep this post edited with a concrete list of questions people post.

On Amazon there is cover art for the next Alcatraz book.   It looks interesting, kind of sci-fi-ish.

I hope there is a high res image somewhere so we can start speculating.

I really like some of the discussions that have been ongoing in the other "theory" threads, so thought I'd start one on a topic that I find really interesting.  Snapping.

This is an interesting topic, because it is mentioned in the first two books, but there isn't a ton of emphasis placed on it (at least not in the first two books).  I think there are many interesting questions that come from the topic.

* Why does one need to Snap before they can use their powers?
* Do you gain your powers when you Snap, or do you always have them and Snapping just brings them out?
* What is the important part in the process of Snapping?  Is it physical trauma?  Emotional trauma?
* How traumatic does the Snapping have to be?

I know there are a few others I've had as well.  I'll post them when I think of them.

I think the second one is the most interesting.  Such as with Kell, was he always going to be a Mistborn if he Snapped? Or was it decided when he Snapped that he would be a Mistborn.   For instance, if he Snapped at an earlier time, would he of been something else, or maybe nothing at all. 

Also related to that, does how traumatic your Snap is determine what powers you have?  The only snapping stories we really know are Vin's and Kells.  They both had very traumatic experiences, and both became Mistborn.

That brings up another question with Kell as well.   He was a theif.  I also believe at least part of his younger life was spent on the streets.  We know he was a really really good theif, but I doubt he was perfect for as long as he was doing it.  It seems like at some point in his life he would of been beaten or caught or had something happen to him on the streets that would of Snapped him.

It doesn't seem like what Snaps you has to be all that traumatic, since we know that several noblemen are msitings/mistborn, and I can't imagine their lives were all that traumatic.

I look forward to reading other people's theories on this topic.