Breaking news on A Memory of Light: three volumes (maybe) & cover art

[Rrikor]

Trademarking has indeed become over abundant. As seen from apple suing anyone who use the letters P O D in any from.  Still with books you want to be careful not to duplicate titles.  Especially in the same genre.  If a person is unsure of an authors name and goes to the book store or library and looks up a title, there should not be 10 books to chose from.  This has stopped me from buying a book before because I had to go home to figure out who the author was so I bought the right book.

[Bookstore Guy]

The problem I might have with it is the issue of passivity.  Rigney's titles fallow a pattern that describes the beginning, plateau, climax and if it had ended with AMOL falling off point.  The book titles help you know where you are in the concise novel The Wheel of Time.  A Gathering Storm has less punch than Knife of Dreams where it should have had more and lead seamlessly into Tarmon Gaiden, a good title.

I disagree completely. The Gathering Storm, imo,  is meant to signify the upcoming battle, and i think it sets the tone for the final 3 books better than The Knife of Dreams ever did. The Knife of Dreams is a neat title, but it is only mentioned in the little block of text before the start of the novel. It actually doesn't really do anything. Once again, remember that Nyneave has been talking about this approaching storm for several novels in between incessant braid-pulling. This is a fitting title that is not passive in the least - it's the foreboding that accompanies the doom you know is coming, and is precisely where the series is at now. It implies the final lead-in to the storm that is Tarmon Gai'Don. I think you are worrying about the wrong title. It is the second one that needs to be the perfect transition.

also the whole trademarking thing isn't a big deal. when you type in a title in a bookstore's system, you get so many books of the same title already. people choose similar titles all the time.

[Renoard]

 talking about This Approaching Storm ...

See now that should have been the title.  Maybe you should still be a book-store guy...

[Bookstore Guy]

 talking about this approaching storm ...

See now that should have been the title.  Maybe you should still be a book-store guy...

dont i know it. if bookstores actually paid well i would be. i was supposed to be working corporate level in Borders, but they treated me poorly. at the very least i should be be in a publisher's marketing department.

[Renoard]

Maybe Baen needs someone...

[Rrikor]

... Once again, remember that Nyneave has been talking about this approaching storm for several novels in between incessant braid-pulling. ...

I think this is a good reason not to call it The Gathering Storm.  From her point of view the storm has been gathering for a long long time.  It is first referenced in book 2 from my recollection.  Why would the book 13 be the gathering storm then when we have seen the storm building for 11 books already. 

[Shard]

Maybe Baen needs someone...

Who?

[Renoard]

I was just picking a name out of a hat, Baen Books.

[Bookstore Guy]

... Once again, remember that Nyneave has been talking about this approaching storm for several novels in between incessant braid-pulling. ...

I think this is a good reason not to call it The Gathering Storm.  From her point of view the storm has been gathering for a long long time.  It is first referenced in book 2 from my recollection.  Why would the book 13 be the gathering storm then when we have seen the storm building for 11 books already. 

because everything is done slowly?

actually, following your line of thought, now is the best time to reinforce that the storm is indeed upon the world. it has been a slow gathering (a really slow gathering) over the course of the series, but now the time table has sped up. it's about everyone and everything recognizing that the storm is gathering/approaching at a fast pace.

like i said, this title is fine, it's the next one that is crucial.

[Renoard]

I still think your inadvertent suggestion of This Approaching Storm has a better ring, a more charged tone and fits far better in the succession.

I agree it would have been better if the knife of dreams theme had been integrated into more of the book and possibly previous volumes as well.  Why I feel it is charged is not that it is well used but because knife is not an overused term or item in SF&F.  It has more emotional tension than sword for that reason and Mat's obsession with short blades has made it an important theme in the series.

Of course the 20 copycat novels that come out in 2010, all using main characters who are knife wielders will blunt the impact... }-P

[Rrikor]

And all the knives will be made of obsidian rather then metal. 

[Bookstore Guy]

i prefer my title too. everyone should. all the cool kids are. and they have knives.

[yakumo fujii]

The problem I might have with it is the issue of passivity.  Rigney's titles fallow a pattern that describes the beginning, plateau, climax and if it had ended with AMOL falling off point.  The book titles help you know where you are in the concise novel The Wheel of Time.  A Gathering Storm has less punch than Knife of Dreams where it should have had more and lead seamlessly into Tarmon Gaiden, a good title.

I disagree completely. The Gathering Storm, imo,  is meant to signify the upcoming battle, and i think it sets the tone for the final 3 books better than The Knife of Dreams ever did. The Knife of Dreams is a neat title, but it is only mentioned in the little block of text before the start of the novel. It actually doesn't really do anything. Once again, remember that Nyneave has been talking about this approaching storm for several novels in between incessant braid-pulling. This is a fitting title that is not passive in the least - it's the foreboding that accompanies the doom you know is coming, and is precisely where the series is at now. It implies the final lead-in to the storm that is Tarmon Gai'Don. I think you are worrying about the wrong title. It is the second one that needs to be the perfect transition.

A Knife of Dreams represents a lot of different things though. It represents the Aiel belief that life is but a dream that one must wake from. It represents the Ayamar who are also descended from the original Aiel and took the belief  to the extreme committing mass suicide. It represents the fog of war that Mat uses to confuse the Seanchan. And it represents the fraying of reality as time wavers and the shades of the ghosts become ever more present as the Dark One comes closer and closer to breaking free.

I would have chosen the titles for these books from the lines of the Karaethon Cycle.

These would be great titles for the three books that are coming.

Dread Fires Born Again.
The Dark Hunt Rides / or Rent in Blood and Fire (from an Elaida foretelling)
The Pain of Salvation.

If it has to do with storms, "Storm clouds gather" and "Rider of the Storm" is in the prophecies. I like that last one, makes me think of the Doors.