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

[douglas]

Getting it in three parts at one year intervals starting this year is better than getting it all at once in three years, yes, but it seems like Brandon may be finished entirely within one year from now.

Delaying portions of it because it's not finished is annoying but perfectly understandable.  Delaying those same portions for purely marketing reasons would make me angry.

[Publius]

I don't believe it's going to be split into 3 books. I think that when Tor makes their announcement there going to say that the book will be split and will have a different name other than A Memory of Light.  That's it, maybe they'll give a release date for the other half of the book maybe not. 

Consider where all this information came from; a Swedish website, so I'm assuming it's a Swedish publisher too.  I researched how the Swedish economy has been doing recently and I found this article about 4-weeks old.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a3664322-04c5-11de-8166-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Here's a little blurb in case you find economics boring.

“Today’s national accounts confirmed the Swedish economy is falling off a cliff,” said Nicola Mai, economist at JP Morgan, in a research note. “The report confirms Sweden is in the midst of a very deep recession.”

I don't live in Sweden so I don't know how accurate that article is, but I'll take it at face value and say their economy is struggling.

I think it's the Swedish publishers who are planning on a paperback release, and splitting the book in three.  If their economy is doing that bad then there may not be a market for an expensive hardcover fantasy novel.  That's why they want to make it as cheap as possible.

Overall, I think in the US we'll get the hardcover and the novel split once.  Also regarding the  artwork, I'm not sure if "The Gathering Storm" is going to be the title for the next book.  That could be a generic name used for a trial cover.

[Loud_G]

Do you really want this??

Actually... I TOTALLY want that

No kidding. It would be awesome

THough, I'm willing to have it split, I really hope to have the single volume one day

[Comfortable Madness]

  That would be awesome! Place it on a podium, opened half way, in front of a stained glass window, like some ancient tome. Very cool indeed....


douglas,

Getting it in three parts at one year intervals starting this year is better than getting it all at once in three years, yes, but it seems like Brandon may be finished entirely within one year from now.

Delaying portions of it because it's not finished is annoying but perfectly understandable.  Delaying those same portions for purely marketing reasons would make me angry.

Exactly.

[Rrikor]

My only issue with splitting the books would be the timeline between the releases.  If they release them together and just have the split to make production easier that is fine with me. However, when they are releases separately you have to add an ending to the first one in order to release the book.  When it was designed to be one story, how is that ending going to turn out.  It  also makes edits a little harder.  Maybe you are almost done with the second one but a section requires you to edit something in the first book you can no longer do that.  You are stuck with what has been written and that lowers your flexibility some.

[readerMom]

I have a book that big, $2 at a garage sale.  It has aluminum rods through the binding to strengthen it and one is broken so we can't use the totally awesome unabridged dictionary.  I do not want something that big to read for real though, unless the lectern came with it. And maybe a nice chain to connect the two.

[Alatar]

I have a book that big, $2 at a garage sale.  It has aluminum rods through the binding to strengthen it and one is broken so we can't use the totally awesome unabridged dictionary.  I do not want something that big to read for real though, unless the lectern came with it. And maybe a nice chain to connect the two.

Buy the "A memory of light" collector's edition.
1800 pages, carved rustic hardcovers, oak lectern and silver chain, and your own monks garments and candles.
Cristal expositor and chorus incoming in the Deluxe Edition.
  

EDIT: I just checked some of the books we have on the shelves right now (we can see it now we are moving and have packaged 42 boxes full of books). The count of Montecristo is around 1460 pages, 1st edition 2004 3rd edition 2006, in perfect shape (my wife is fan of Montecristo, I tell you it is not there for exposition). And Johnatan Strange and Mrs. Norrel (never read, I'm naming on memory alone) is about 900 pages but with thick paper, almost the size of Montecristo.
So, yeah, these kind of books are done, but, you know, I have 6 points worth stitches in my back and doctor said I shouldn't lift weights, so they will be staying there till they are packaged 

[jamhaw]

A lot of people have been saying that the image is to small and that they have trouble seeing it http://www.abc.nl/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/the_gathering_12.jpg  here is a link which should take one to a very large version of the cover.  I have to say it appears rather unfinished especially Adviendha or whoever the woman is.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Clearly a mockup using vector text on top of an extremely low-res preview image.

[Casco]

Yepp, that cover is false. Brandon did say so in his blogg.

[Miyabi]

Yepp, that cover is false. Brandon did say so in his blogg.

No he didn't.  He said neither he nor Harriet knew for sure.

[Casco]

Thats true, but he did say:
"This was before Harriet saw the link on Dragonmount itself, showing the thumbnail of the artwork. The fact that she hadn't yet seen the real cover art makes this all seem even more fishy to me. Looking closely, that posted art really lacks detail. After getting some internal emails from Tor, I'm really thinking that my conclusion last night was true. This is not the cover, but a rough mock-up done quickly by production to have something to show at meetings. It was never supposed to go outside of Tor, and is NOT the final cover, not even close to it. I'll bet this is just a sketch Mr. Sweet did showing potential cover ideas. It might not even be him doing the art--it's too small to tell."
For me that answer is pretty clear Or... Brandon CAN use "the game of houses" but i dont think so

[melbatoast]

Who cares, the covers are all pretty ugly anyway. 

[Madjius]

A Memory of Light has been split 'maybe' into three books (i.e. it will be split in three but Tor are trying to appease the fanbase by saying it could still be two), the first of which will be called The Gathering Storm and released in November 2009. And yes, you'll have to wait 12 months for the next one. And 12 months for the one after. Although Sanderson expects to have the whole thing finished by the end of the year at the latest.

In addition, that is really quite a hideous cover. It's even worse than Knife of Dreams. Rand breakdancing in front of a haunted house? Okay...

From the site that broke the news:

We’ve just had news from the publisher of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series that the last installment will be split into two or possibly three parts. Tentative plans are to publish book 12 in November this year, with two more volumes following in 2010 and 2011.

Robert Jordan passed away in September 2007 while he was still writing what was planned to be the last installment in the series. It was announced that Brandon Sanderson would take up Jordan’s pen and complete the last book, to be entitled A Memory of Light. A publication date of November 2009 was scheduled.

Wheel of Time fans have been eagerly anticipating the last book and the series and will be pelased to learn that they will still get a new book, as promised, in 2009 - The Gathering Storm will be published this coming November in a large format paperback. (I.e., lots cheaper than a hardcover!) The price is currently EUR 21.99, though this may change (we’re trying to make it cheaper, obviously!)

So no hardcover release either. Apparently.

Hi Brandon. Warthead
This one above me speaks the truth!

[VegasDev]

This cover rocks! I'll probably print it and tape it over the real cover after I edit myself into it, just like the rest of my book and video collections. Would anyone care to be the dwarf woman?