On Monday night Trevor and I went to the midnight release of the next Wheel of Time book called Towers of Midnight, down at the BYU Bookstore. It was kind of insane. We didn't pre-order, which was a huge mistake. We got put at the end of the line HUMUNGO, after like 900 people who did pre-order. They started letting the rest of us losers in after all the numbered people got in the bookstore, but right as we got to the front door, they shut the doors! The people right in front of us got in, but not us :(
So we waited an extra 15-20 minutes or so, and some official word came out that they weren't sure they would have enough books, so they weren't letting us in yet. Which was totally lame, because Brandon Sanderson was doing a reading from the book, and a Q&A session before the release. By the time they decided to just let us in to wander and try our chances at getting a book after everyone else, we totally missed the reading, and barely caught the Q&A because it was packed. We literally only saw the author's head for like 1 second when he stood on his chair at the end.
Luckily he lives in Utah and favors our state for releases and signings, so we met him a few months ago for the release of The Way of Kings. And he's coming back in a month or two for some more regular signings. So we'll see him again.
While we were watching the pre-order people get their books after it hit midnight (seriously, there was a count down and everything, like on New Years... ), we ran into the artist who does all the map-work and symbol-work for a few of Brandon Sanderson's other books. We met him at the other signing we went to. His name is Isaac Stewart. Trevor recognized him, and he said he thought he recognized us... probably not, but it was nice :) We like the way he does maps and stuff. He talked to us for a few minutes, which was really cool! He had a pre-order #, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to have to wait in the line. Sure wish I was a big author's friend :D
The security guy (who they call "tower guards" like from the books) spoke with the head-hancho ladies and they told us that because we were so patient and took the bad news so well when we were shut out of the store, he would get us in the front of the line when it was time to try our luck at getting a left-over book. So he took us clear across the store to the line, where the rest of the people had already started lining up. Maybe 100? The people at the front of the line were ALMOST going to have a heart attack when he stuck us in the front. Once they got their explanation though, they were somewhat appeased.
While we were waiting, we saw people open up their new books and READ THE END! What??! Lame. What a waste.
There were a LOT of people in costumes. And a lot of weirdos. Although, I have to hand it to out-of-step people; they aren't afraid to be who they really are and love something that is considered pretty nerdy by the public. I don't really see why it is considered that though. The covers suck, yes. But once you actually read fantasy/sci-fi books, they really don't feel that geeky. They're awesome! And just in case any of you were wondering--not all fantasy books have dragons ;)
So finally they said they had extra books and they let us go get ours, and about 900 goober-people, 4 hours, 3 lines, 1 WoT crossword, and 20 pieces of halloween candy later, we actually had our copy in hand! The books were pre-signed by the author earlier that day, but we had the option to wait in another line to have the author personalize it, and to talk to him. But we figured since it was already like 1am, we'd just go to another less-chaotic signing later.
Needless to say, we both went in to work late the next day. It was kind of fun to have something DIFFERENT to do. I like having something I'm interested in enough to go to at midnight :)
So right now I'm finishing my re-read of the previous book, then I'll start it. Really, we didn't need to go to the signing. We could have picked it up the next day at Barnes & Noble, and just gotten it signed later. We didn't even start reading it that night. But it was fun to just be a part of the scene, hear the author's Q&A, and support the cause.
