The big news in the world of Fantasy literature is that Mr. Brandon Sanderson, author of The Mistborn Series and Elantris, has been chosen to finish the late Robert Jordan's masterwork, Wheel of Time Book 12: A Memory of Light.

In the interest of full disclosure, and because I like using important terms such as full disclosure, I will tell you that Brandon and I have struck up a casual e-mail friendship over the last few months. While I had no idea this was in the works, this didn't stop me from offering my services to him yesterday, just in case he needed a few jokes written for Rand, Mat, and Perrin.

As The Wheel of Time is not that known for it's off the wall comedy, I don't have much hope that he'll take me up on the offer.

I must also tell you, that I have not yet read any of Brandon's novels. As of today however, they are going to the top of my reading list, and I'll get to them immediately after I finish up Goodkind's Phantom (Yes, I finally broke down and forced myself through it).

While I am insanely, ridiculously pleased to know that WoT will be finished and not left in eternal limbo, there is a large feeling of trepidation that another other than Jordan will be wielding that mighty pen.

I remain confident however, because of a few points:


Harriet, Jordan's wife, will be editing Sanderson's work, as she did the last 11 books in the series. If there's one thing I know about writing, is that behind every writer, there is the person who pushes, who rereads, who critiques; for Jordan, that person was Harriet.
Harriet herself is the one who chose Sanderson, and I have a hard time believing that before Jordan's death, he did not make a shortlist of who he wanted to finish his series.
Sanderson will be working off of Jordan's notes, which according to Harriet, are rather extensive.
With that, I will retain hope that in the fall of 2009, with the hard work of Sanderson, Harriet and Jordan, we will get the epic conclusion to the Wheel of Time we can't wait to read.

The other little thing I wanted to mention this morning, was to give you an update on the Richard figurines: They're currently in production, and will be shipping out in January.