For those of you who have not seen it yet, final draft of the cover for Towers of Midnight (Wheel of Time book 13) is out. Adam from The Wertzone posted it on his blog few weeks ago. I just encountered it on my long overdue fantasy news hunt.

The cover holds the style of previous Wheel of Time covers which is not necessarily a complement, but it's not as bad as it could have been, so I guess I can't complain. I'm really curious how the UK cover will look like, since European covers have a tendency to blow US covers out of the water.

As for the book itself, here is what Adam had to say:
The book is currently due for publication in late October in the UK and US, assuming Brandon Sanderson can complete the final draft by mid-August.

You can pre-order the book today on Amazon.com .

Tarmon Gai'don, the Last Battle, looms. And mankind is not ready.
Two years after Robert Jordan's untimely passing his amazing series, The Wheel of Time, is coming to an end. First of the three final tomes of the grand saga has just been published. Brandon Sanderson, New York Times bestselling author of the Mistborn books, was chosen by Jordan himself to finish the work of his life.

The Gathering Storm is the first part of the three part ending (read more about the split). Brandon Sanderson already announced the names of following books: Towers of Midnight and A Memory of Light, the last one being the title Jordan himself wanted for the last book of the series.

According to pre-release reviews of the book Sanderson did a great job continuing Jordan's work. Even though he's not following Jordan's writing style to the letter he managed to tell the story with passion and consistency required from the book putting an end to a very long saga. Wheel of Time fans comment that The Gathering Storm could easily rank it up in the top 4 books in the series along with The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, and The Great Hunt.

You can order the book today on Amazon.com.

Wheel of Time is making its final turns, Brandon Sanderson, the author chosen to finish the series after Robert Jordan's death is writing the last two books of this epic saga. Not too long ago Tor announced the titles for last two WOT books. Second part of the finale is going to be called "Towers of Midnight", a reference to a thirteen-towered fortress in the city of Imfaral in Seanchan. Very nice touch if you ask me.

The last-last book of the series is going to bear the title Robert Jordan chose for his last book (which got split into three volumes, read about it here), "A Memory of Light". I can't think of a title more fitting for it.

In the meantime, the first tome of Brandon Sanderson's ending to Wheel of Time, "The Gathering Storm", is going to be released on October 27th.

With all the excitement around Wheel of Time lately (The Gathering Storm coming out next month) I decided to post some images from the Wheel of Time graphic novel. The art was created and posted on his blog by Seamas Gallagher, artist, who has been involved in creating the WOT comics.

Seamas posted his images for most of the big characters in the series. He covered Rand, Perrin, Mat, Egwene, Nynaeve, Moirane, Lan, Min, Thom as well as the bad guys, Sammael, Graendal, Fain, Balthamel, Moghedien, Ishamel, Rahvin and many more. My favorites so far are Perrin, Nynaeve and the one I like best: Logain!

For those of you interested in Seamas' work, here are links to his blog and website.

Tor.com, in preparation for release of the next book in the Wheel of Time series decided to post its first chapter. The Gathering Storm, written by Brandon Sanderson with direction from late Robert Jordan is going to be released on October 27th. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com, just click here.

To read this exclusive sneak peek go to Tor website. You will have to register to read it though.

Tor Books has pushed up its release date for The Gathering Storm, Book 12 in the Wheel of Time series. The book will be published a week earlier than previously announced (Nov 3rd), the new date is October 27th.

I'd like to use this opportunity to recommend a post on one of the SFF blogs I follow: Speculative Horizons. James writes about the future of Wheel of Time series, how it can turn from the series Robert Jordan could be proud of into a money making machine. Even Brandon Sanderson, the author chosen to write the ending to the series says that he would prefer not to continue WOT beyond the boundaries set by "A Memory of Light". (Part of the value of a great work of art is, in my opinion, the ending. An ending loses power if it isn?t allowed to be?well, the END.) What will happen though is not up to him...

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Update: The Gathering Storm released!

WoTMania posted detailed write up on Brandon Sanderson appearance (signing/Q&A) on WorldCon. Brandon talked about Way of Kings and of course The Gathering Storm. He also told a long story about the journey Wheel of Time went from being a trilogy to a massive series it is today.

There were no huge revelations, but few interesting things were mentioned or implied. If you want to find out more about the next book in the Wheel of Time series, read some facts and speculations, go on to the WoTMania website.

Jason from the DragonMount.com had the first chance to read and review first of the books that will create the end to Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. This is the first time anyone had a chance to read the book and write about it, so if you're a big WOT fan, head to DragonMount now and read the review!

For those of you who prefer the short story or just want to avoid spoilers (there are spoilers there! you have been warned!) here is the important bit: the book is good. It's intense, it's exciting and Jason would rank it up there in the top 4 in the series along with The Shadow Rising, The Fires of Heaven, and The Great Hunt.

This is definitely a good news for all the anxious fans!

Why Memory of Light is going to be split into three books? This question has been asked by many fans of the Wheel of Time series after Tor confirmed that the last book is actually more than one tome. Brandon Sanderson took the time to explain on his website various reasons and the history behind the final decision to have A Memory of Light split. If you're interested in the whole story take a look here.

If you don't have time to read through the impressive wall of text, here is the summary:
First agreement signed by Brandon covered one book no shorter than 200k words. That was before anyone was able to even grasp the scope of the ending of the series. When Brandon re-read the entire WOT he realized that even if he was to produce a 400k word book he would have to forget about a lot of lesser characters and move from climax to climax with the major ones. When he actually started writing it became clear that even 800k words would be pushing it. The publishers didn't want to hear about one book longer than 350k words, so there you have it. Three books.

But at least it should be an ending the Wheel of Time the readers deserve. It would be a shame to finish it jumping from one foot to another just to squeeze more and more into one book. All I can say is, good luck Brandon!

DragonMount.com just posted the images for the covers of the Eye of the World graphic novel developed by Dabel Brothers. The images were created by two artists, Seamas Gallagher and Jeremy Salbia and they look absolutely amazing!

Tor will publish the first Eye of the World graphic novel in July 2010. This graphic novel will collect the first 6 issues of the Eye of the World comic book and will feature similar bonus material and added content from the Dabels, as well as striking new cover art. Future graphic novel collections will be released on a regular basis, approximately every nine months.

Dabel Brothers has released a preview of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time: Eye of the World #1, adapted by Chuck Dixon and Chase Conley. If you're eager to see the new graphic novel head to Newsarama website and check out the first 7 pages of the first book: Eye of the World.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Strangers have come to the village of Emond's Field, located in Two Rivers, during the Bel Tine holiday. With theses strangers come stories of the outside world: tales of war and of a man who claims to be the Dragon Reborn, the one prophesized to save the world, and also to destroy it in his madness. For it is known that no man can channel the One Power without going horribly insane.

The first book of the series is going to be available for sale on June 24th.

Dave Brendon from Dave Brendon's Fantasy & Sci-Fi Weblog managed to get an interview with Brandon Sanderson, the author of Mistborn and writer chosen by Robert Jordan to finish his epic fantasy series: Wheel of Time.

If you want to find out how Brandon started his adventure with reading and writing fantasy, how he first found Wheel of Time and how his work on the ending of the series is going, head to Dave Brendon's Fantasy & Sci-Fi Weblog now!

Not too long ago we reported on a terrible cover for the next Wheel of Time book, The Gathering Storm. The publisher announced that this cover "was not approved by anyone and should not have left Tor". In the meantime we saw the cover for the UK edition of the book (which was excellent, take a look here).

Unfortunately it seems that the initial draft of the cover that leaked to the Internet was not that far from truth. Tor just released The Gathering Storm cover for US edition and while it looks a bit better, it's still awful in my opinion. Especially after seeing the cover for the UK edition.

Orbit UK released the image of the cover for the next Wheel of Time book, scheduled for release later this year. The unapproved version of Gathering Storm cover leaked to the Internet some time ago and caused a major discussion because, well, it sucked. Read more about it here. The new cover looks amazing and not only in comparison. It features dark clouds in the background and golden Wheel of Time symbol in the foreground.

Famous graphic novel publishers, Dabel Brothers are preparing for the release of their first Wheel of Time comic. Robert Jordan?s The Wheel of Time #0: Dragonmount is to be published on May 13th. Dabel Brothers decided to give readers a sneak-peak at the good stuff and published images from the upcoming graphic novel. They are awesome, take a look below!

Thanks for the tip Dave! :)

This is hardly a news this time of year, but maybe someone still wants to get this: Wheel of Time calendar . Here is a bit of news you might want to know about the calendar:
If you're considering buying this calendar please keep this in mind. Tom Doherty Associates is donating a portion of the proceeds, and Robert Jordan's estate is donating 100% of the royalties, to the Mayo Clinic for research on amyloidosis. Robert Jordan personally selected the images just a few weeks before he passed away. If nothing else, you'll be donating to a good cause and you'll get a sample of Robert Jordan's taste in art!

The Gathering Storm, book 12 of Wheel of Time has been officially confirmed by Tor in the press release. It's all true, the Memory of Light will be divided into three parts, bringing the series to total of 14 books. The book cover that circled the Internet and caused a wave of furious comments was not approved by anyone and should not have left Tor.

You can read the full press release below.

Along with the news that the last book of Wheel of Time series will be split into two or three parts we got the information on the release date of the first volume (November 2009) and the cover.

The cover art seems incomplete and contains some incorrect information as pointed out by Brandon Sanderson on his blog, however guys on The American Book Center Blog maintain that the info is genuine. The cover has also raised a heated discussion on the Internet. Take a look at the Speculative Horizons blog to get a glimpse of what other readers think about this.

There have been some disturbing news floating around the Internet. Supposedly the last book of the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan is going to be split into two or even three volumes. The first part called "The Gathering Storm" will be released in November 2009. Brandon Sanderson, the author chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series, commented this news on his blog.

Read more about it on The American Book Center Blog.

Dabel Brothers have just released the preview of their Eye of the World graphic novel. The series is being adapted to comics by Chuck Dixon. The Wheel of Time saga begins here with the "Fall of the Dragon" and the "Breaking of the World" in this prelude issue to the ongoing series.

To see the preview pages see below or visit Dabel Brothers website.

With coming of the last part of the Wheel of Time series Tor Books (US publisher of Wheel of Time) decided to launch a blog that would help WoT fans old and new get reaquainted with this epic saga. Let us remind you, The Wheel of Time series currently counts 11 books with A Memory of Light being the 12th. Many fans of Jordan's saga voiced their concern that although the love the series they would need to re-read them in order to fully appreciate the ending and due to the enormous amount of reading it would require (over 6000 pages!) the would not be reaching for the book.

The fall of 2009 will be exciting! It looks like A Dance with Dragons will be finally out and now another highly anticipated fantasy book is about to be published. I'm talking here about the ending to incredible Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan: A Memory of Light. There is no official announcement from Tor Books (US publisher of Wheel of Time), however Tor released A Memory of Light counter and we all know what that means.

Despite the lack of actual official announcement we can be relatively certain that the date has been set. If it's going to hold is another thing, we've seen dates pushed before, however, for the time being it looks like November 3, 2009 is going to be THE day.

Click here to see the counter.

Babel Brothers are working hard on graphic novel adaptations of Wheel of Time series. Here's their latest update, featuring plans for the Eye of the World novel which should see the light as early as July 2010!

Read the full press release:

Dabel Brothers released two images for their Wheel of Time Comic books, one featuring Rand walking through a forest with a bow and the other with Myrdraal sitting on a horse. The images were created by two different artists. This image of Rand was done by Seamas Gallagher, while Myrdraal was done by Jeremy Saliba.

Take a look at the covers below:

JordanCon is the first convention dedicated to exploring the late Robert Jordan?s The Wheel of Time series and his rich, literary legacy. The convention will take place in The Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, Georgia on April 17-19th, 2009.

JordanCon will feature appearances this spring by Harriet McDougal, Jordan?s wife and editor of his novels, as well as Brandon Sanderson, the New York Times bestselling author chosen to complete the final novel in Jordan?s epic saga.

Read more on the convention website: AgeOfLegends.net .