When is the next book coming out?
Knife of Dreams (Volume 11) was released on October 11, 2005. The final volume (tentatively titled A Memory of Light) will be completed by another author. It has been rumoured that Jordan was 50% complete, and had left many written and audio notes. The tentative release date is the fall of 2009.
Who will be finishing A Memory of Light?
Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to complete the final book in the Wheel of Time series. Read the Dragonmount.com interview for more information.
How many books will there be in the Wheel of Time series?
Twelve. Before his passing Jordan made it clear that there would be only one book left in the series, and that it could not be split into two volumes no matter its size.
Where is the research for Knife of Dreams?
Good question. Unfortunately, as I slogged my way through the book I discovered that my enthusiasm for Jordan's works had waned considerably. I just didn't find the book to be particularly interesting or compelling.The overall story had bogged down many books ago, and my faith that things would improve was finally broken when it became clear that events would continue to creep forward at a glacial pace. I'm hoping to give the book another go sometime this summer and try and get the research done.
What does "Seven Spokes" refer to?
The Wheel of Time contains seven spokes, each spoke representing one of the seven Ages. Each Age is a distinct period of time of no fixed length. Although the Ages are usually numbered by historians (the Wheel of Time novels are primarily set in the "Third Age"), there is no true end or beginning to the Ages, as there is no end or beginning to a wheel. This web site was previously known by the cumbersome and entirely unimaginative title "An Unofficial Wheel of Time Chronology." "Seven Spokes" is certainly a far more interesting and appropriate name.
Why does it take so long for corrections to be made to Seven Spokes, or for e-mails to be answered?
Originally, the chronology was kept in Adobe PageMaker and then exported to HTML. This was a cumbersome workflow, but it was my original intent to also offer the chronology in PDF format. I have since abandoned this workflow as it was too slow and inefficient. The chronology is now HTML only, so I can make updates and corrections much quicker. Another thing that slows down current research is Mr. Jordan's annoying habit in the past few books of making the beginning of one book overlap with the end of the previous book. It can take a lot of time trying to figure out exactly where events are supposed to take place.
Considering that each book is published in different formats and with a varying number of pages, why do you reference exact page numbers in the chronology section?
These numbers are primarily for my own purposes and match the particular edition of a Wheel of Time book that I have used for research purposes. This enables me to find the exact page that a reference was made on. This is much quicker than having to reread an entire chapter trying to find a particular reference source. Referencing by chapter would be consistent across all versions of a given book, but then I'd have to re-read an entire chapter just to find a particular reference.
Why are there so few details in the characters section?
The characters section of Seven Spokes is not intended to compete with other Wheel of Time sites that feature extensive character information. It is only intended to provide a basic "refresher" so that a reader can keep track of the hundreds of characters that have been introduced over the run of the series.
What happened to the map of The Two Rivers from the old (GeoCities era) site?
I was never very pleased with that particular map, and have decided to concentrate on the map of "Randland" for the time being. When redesigning the site the first task was to remove any content that was unnecessary, or that I thought needed more work. I'd love to do more map recreations, but the chronology is the core of the site and I have to spend an appropriate amount of time on research for that section.
Why did the chicken cross the road?
In the late 1950's the United States Army experimented with using chickens as frontline assault troops against the USSR in the event that hostilities broke out between the two superpowers. These chickens would need to operate deep within enemy territory, and they were taught a variety of skills including advanced tactical maneuvering and map-reading. A platoon of well-armed and highly trained chickens would be of little use if they could not navigate the streets of Russian cities and towns. The eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War has left these deadly weapons without a cause or purpose. Let loose on an unsuspecting world, these chickens continue to carry out their training, and can be found aimlessly crossing roads all across the United States. While stripped of their weapons, these killer chickens are still adept at beak-to-beak combat, and should be considered winged and dangerous.