Dragon*Con

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the USDragon*Con 2008 will be held Labor Day weekend (August 29 - September 1, 2008) in Atlanta, GA. Our host hotels are the Hyatt Regency, the Marriott Marquis, the Atlanta Hilton and the Sheraton. Rooms in the host hotels should be booked by now, but check the Dragon*Con website for information about overflow hotels.
The “Wheel of Time” track is sad to announce the death of our favorite author, Robert Jordan on September 17th, 2007. We will be marking this solemn occasion with special memorial panels and events.
Brandon Sanderson, the author tapped by Jordan’s family to complete the final “Wheel of Time” novel will be our guest this year. We will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of Dragonmount.com, the largest WoT fansite on the web and will feature a special presentation by the organizers of JordanCon, the first “Wheel of Time” fan convention.
Our tentative schedule has been posted. You can view it here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pxcLYQxiWbLxHTRAZDiwLKQ

As always, feedback is welcome. You can send it to wheeloftime@dragoncon.org or post it in the forums.

JordanCon

JordanCon is the first convention dedicated to exploring Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series and his rich, literary legacy. It will take place April 17-19th, 2009. Our host hotel is the Alpharetta Embassy Suites, in Alpharetta, GA.

Our Guest of Honor is Harriet McDougal, the late Robert Jordan’s wife and editor of his series. Our Fan Guest of Honor is Wilson Grooms. Wilson is a cousin of the late Jim “Robert Jordan” Rigney. He typically describes himself as the “fourth of three” Rigney brothers. Wilson is known to fans of the The Wheel of Time as “that guy that updated RJ’s blog when he couldn’t”.

Pre-registration is currently open. JordanCon membership covers all three days, all panels, events, demonstrations, concerts, performances, contests and a host of other activities. Workshops requiring a materials fee will be noted in the program.

Representatives from JordanCon will be at Sci Fi Summer, popular media convention held in Marrietta, Georgia. Sci Fi Summer bills itself as “The official start of summer sci fi s.e. fandom”. It will be held at the Crown Plaza Atlanta-Marietta from June 6-8. Sci Fi Summer membership is $30 at the door.

JordanCon is the first Wheel of Time fan convention. It will be held April 17th-19th at the Alpharetta Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, GA. Pre-registration is $50 until August 18th.

JordanCon
http://www.ageoflegends.net/

Sci Fi Summer
http://sfscon.tripod.com/

Pre-registration for JordanCon is now open. JordanCon is the first convention dedicated to exploring Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series and his rich, literary legacy. It will be held April 17-19, 2009 at the Alpharetta Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, Georgia. Our Guest of Honor is Harriet MacDougal, Robert Jordan’s wife and editor. Our Fan Guest of Honor is Wilson Grooms, Jordan’s cousin and frequent contributor to his blog on Dragonmount.

Convention member is currently priced at $50.

Information on registration can be found HERE.

Information about JordanCon can be found at http://www.ageoflegends.net/ or you can reach us at JordanCon@ageoflegends.net

Last year’s Wheel of Time track, hosted by Dragon*Con was featured in a recent documentary on Charleston writers. It also features some of the last film shot of Robert Jordan before his death. There is apparently another documentary in the works about Robert Jordan and his fans.

The entire thing is available online at Dragonmount.

Age of Legends, LLC is pleased to announce the guests for our inaugural JordanCon will include Harriet McDougal as Guest of Honor and Wilson Grooms as Fan Guest of Honor. JordanCon will be held at the Alpharetta Embassy Suites April 17-19th, 2009. Information about badges will be forthcoming.

Harriet McDougal is the wife of the late Jim Rigney, best known as “Robert Jordan” and the editor of her husband’s works. An accomplished poet, as well as editor, she has worked in publishing houses such as ACE and was the editor-in-chief at Tor Books. In late 2007, she hand picked Brandon Sanderson to complete the final volume in Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series.

There is arguably no bigger fan of Robert Jordan than Wilson Grooms. Wilson is a cousin of the late Jim Rigney. He typically describes himself as the “fourth of three” Rigney brothers. Wilson is known to fans of the The Wheel of Time as “that guy that updated RJ’s blog when he couldn’t”.

The Alpharetta Embassy Suites has been selected as the host hotel for JordanCon. Suites are available at the convention discount of $115 per night. Please be sure to ask for the JordanCon block when booking, otherwise you may be quoted a higher rate or told the hotel has sold out. Room codes for online booking will be available shortly.

JordanCon is the first fan convention dedicated to The Wheel of Time series and its fans. For more information, please see our website. http://www.ageoflegends.net

Brandon Sanderson to Attend Dragon*Con 2008.

Brandon Sanderson, the author chosen to complete A MEMORY OF LIGHT, is scheduled to attend Dragon*Con 2008.

Brandon’s current fantasy series is the Mistborn Trilogy, the final volume of which will be published in October 2008. His first novel, ELANTRIS, was picked by Barnes and Noble editors as the best fantasy or science fiction book of 2005, and is forthcoming in fourteen languages. He released his first children’s book, ALCATRAZ VERSUS THE EVIL LIBRARIANS, in 2007. Brandon lives in Provo, Utah, where he is hard at work on A MEMORY OF LIGHT, the twelfth and final book of the WHEEL OF TIME. He teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University.

Dragon*Con is the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US.
Dragon*Con 2008 will be held Labor Day weekend (August 29 - September 1, 2008) in Atlanta, GA.
This will be Brandon’s first appearance at Dragon*Con.

http://www.dragoncon.org/
http://www.ageoflegends.net/
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/

I was recently interviewed for the “Dragon in Georgia” podcast. This is a podcast that focuses on Dragon*Con news, tips, tricks and cheat codes. It’s done by our very own Steve Wright (Esteban on the forums). I talk about Dragon*Con and JordanCon both, as well as being a huge, huge nerd. If you’re interested in hearing my nasal stammering about books you’ve already read, here’s a link.

Dragon In Georgia

–Jennifer Liang
Track Director
ConChair
Stammerer

Dragonmount.com posted the following tonight:

FINAL ART HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR ROBERT JORDAN’S
WHEEL OF TIME® 2009 CALENDAR!

January28, 2008: Last spring, Robert Jordan announced a competition on his blog (www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan) where artists would have the opportunity to submit original artwork based on the Wheel of Time® for inclusion in a 2009 calendar.

He wrote, “I know there is some really professional quality work because I have seen it. Style doesn’t matter in this. Manga, hyper-realism, current cover-art. Whatever. Anything and everything is acceptable as a possibility. It will be the quality that counts, not the style. If you want to try it the way you think Rembrandt would have done it, go for it.”

The competition ran from Tuesday, May 22nd through Wednesday, August 15th, and the initial judging was conducted under the supervision of a panel of judges from several popular Wheel of Time® websites including:
www.dragonmount.com
www.wotmania.com
www.tarvalon.net
www.ageoflegends.net
www.encyclopaedia-wot.org

Robert Jordan personally conducted the final judging and selected the 12 images that will appear in the 2009 WHEEL OF TIME® calendar just a few days before he passed away on September 16th, 2007 from the rare blood disease, amyloidosis. Now, Tor Books is proud to announce the names of the artists whose pieces symbolize the devotion that readers have to Robert Jordan and to the rich world he created.

They are (in alphabetical order):
ARTIST ART WORK TITLE
Michael-James Anderson “Into the Ways”
Susan Frech-Sims “Aviendha in the Aiel Waste, Book 4”
James Keegan “Mordeth Revealed”
Jared Magneson “The Heart of the Stone”
Doug McCluer “Couladin Surprises Mat”
Paul Pederson “Night Stalkers”
Andrea Perurena “Rand in The Fires of Heaven”
Matthew Ryan “Child of the Light, Galad Damodred”
Kevin Ed Tinney “The Caemlyn Waygate”
Joseph B. Trimarchi “Battle at Whitebridge”
Joni Warden “Sedai, Among Us”
Tess Wrathall “A Lily in Winter”

Scheduled to come out in July 2008, ROBERT JORDAN’S THE WHEEL OF TIME® 2009 CALENDAR is a new way to experience favorite stories and characters, and will be a must-have for Robert Jordan’s millions of fans.

We’re very pleased to note Joe Trimarchi and Joni Warden among the winners. Joe has been a long time Dragon*Con staffer and featured on our fan art panels each year. Joni was responsible for designing the lovely “Wish you were here” poster that many of us signed in Atlanta. The poster was delivered to Robert Jordan by a friend of the family just before he died.

Congratulations to all the winners! I had the honor of being of the judges and it was ridiculously hard to choose between all of you.

–Jennifer Liang

Our first flyer is currently printed up and terrifying me in the living room of our house. We’ll be passing them out at Chattacon this weekend and the Atlanta Comics Expo Feb. 9th. Check us out!

JordanCon representatives will be at Chattacon 33 to promote the first JordanCon, scheduled to take place in April, 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. We’ll have a table in the Concourse area and we’ll be playing a rousing game of “Darkfriend Hunt” in the Consuite Saturday night. Feel free to stop by and say hello.

Chattacon will be held January 25-27, 2008 at the historic Chattanooga Choo-Choo Hotel in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

For information about ChattaCon
http://www.chattacon.org

For information about JordanCon:
http://www.ageoflegends.net/