[ChrisW]

copy/paste from dragonmount.com


Dragonmount, along with wotmania.com is proud to have been selected by Simon & Schuster's Scribner as one of the Wheel of Time websites to announce the upcoming release of "Glimmers", the Prologue to Crossroads of Twilight.
Simon & Schuster has been working closely with Dragonmount and wotmania as a way to make sure this is something for the fans and by the fans - Dragonmount and wotmania are the first two sites to publish this Glimmers news.


Click here to download the official Announcement (745 K, PDF format)
Basic Info
Glimmers will be available through this website on July 22, 2002. On that day, you'll be able to purchase and download the eBook from our link to Amazon, and start reading right away.

Inside of the eBook, we'll get:

The 122-page prologue
A "special message" from Robert Jordan that will not be published in the printed version of the book
A interview with Robert Jordan that contains questions that came from this website, and wotmania.com
Links to online Wheel of Time resources
In addition, you can enter a contest to win an autographed copy of Crossroads of Twilight. More details on that contest will be available here at DM in the near future.

How much does it cost?
It will cost $3.50. For those who remember when "Snow", the prologue to Winter's Heart was published, it cost $5.00. Also, Snow was published about only six weeks before the release of the actual book. This time, the eBook is coming out 5 months before-hand, has more stuff inside it, and is a dollar-fifty cheaper. I don't know about you, but it seems pretty clear to me that the publishers listened to their fan feedback from last time. :)

What will the story be about?
We're not sure. :) At this time we have not seen the chapter, and even if we had, they probably wouldn't let us tell you. Not that we would want to spoil your surprise anyway, right?

But don't worry about not remembering who's who and which character did what. Inside of the eBook are links back to Dragonmount's Character Database that will help you remember minor details like that.

How do I read it?
For a Free Palm Reader for Palm handhelds, Visors, Sony Clie and any other Palm OS PDA (they also have a Reader for Pocket PC devices) go to:
http://www.palm.com/ebooks

For a Free Microsoft Reader which works on PC desktops, laptops and all Pocket PC 2002 handhelds OR For a Free Adobe Acrobat EBOOK Reader (the regular Acrobat Reader won't work for this eBook) which works on Mac and PC desktops and laptops go to:
www.SimonSaysShop.com

This is the URL for the SimonSaysShop link above (it goes to a comparision chart of the two desktop readers above that we put together on our website):
http://store.simonsaysshop.com/dr/v2/ec_dynamic.main?sp=1&pn=16&sid=36256

end copy/paste from Dragonmount.com

Yipee!!!

I can't wait!

:D :D :D

[CrazyReader]

The prologue is 122 pages?!? OMG And I thought the 80 page prologue in Winters Heart was long!! WOW. But I'm not paying extra $$$ I'll wait till November.

[Mithfânion]

Now, let me see if I get this straight. This man, who has already built himself a reputation of being one of the most long-winded authors in the Fantays genre, a man who has already extended his series to 9 books, with at least three more coming, a man who has sold millions of copies of all those nine books, this man is going to charge you lot to read his prologue? A prologue that will be in the 10th book anyway?

If the man had any courtesy whatsoever he'd offer this little prologue on a website. This is the epitome of greed. I remember how some reacted when something similar was done with the prologue of Winter's heart.

It makes me think that Christopher Tolkien should have charged us for a small prologue of vol. 10, Morgoth's Ring :)

Could the Wheel of Time be compared to the History of Middle-earth? Or perhaps, is it like waiting to find out what happens to Frodo, Sam and the Ring for twelve books? :)

[ChrisW]

Umm if you can point out a bestselling author that publishes 122 pages of there next book on the web for free please let me know.

As you said the prologue will be in the 10th book when it's published so if people don't wan't to pay to read a little bit of the next book months before it's published then they don't have to.

I for one am quite happy to pay the money and i'm sure there are thousands of other people willing to do so.

[Mithfânion]

I know you are Cal, and I'm sure there are loads of others. I just don't think it's necessary for him to try and make money off that too. Everyone knows he'll sell big time with Crossroads, perhaps the bestseller of the year. It would be a nice gesture to his fans don't you think?

[Alle]

I have mixed feelings on this. When 'Snow' became available for $5, I thought that was tacky and just wrong. Of course, I got to read it for free, too, so I quickly forgot about it. Now, with this new offering I feel both elated at the thought of finally reading new WoT and ripped off since we'll be charged for the priviledge. However, at least with this $3.50 offering, there is more then just the prologue. I may even pay this time, who knows?

It still seems a bit overly commercial, and I kind of wish RJ and his publishers didn't do it, since it makes RJ look even more like he's milking the series to the last dime.

Alle

[jfclark]

No offense, but I think it's somewhat silly to complain about being given a chance to pay a **very small** amount of money to preview *five months early* a product you've been awaiting for a long time.

Again, no offense, but I think that this *is* a nice gesture to Jordan's fans. Otherwise, they'd have to wait five additional months. Would you rather there be no published prologue at all? $3.50 amounts to less than 15% of the probable retail price of the full book; it's nothing to be offended by.

Don't get me wrong--I agree that Jordan seems to be spinning WoT into a money-making franchise. Why else would he extend the series to 12 or 13 volumes, with at least 4 novellas thrown in as well (not to mention the illustrated guide, RPG, etc.)? But Jordan won't exactly be making a mint by selling prologues at $3.50 apiece; it will probably do little more than cover costs.

[Mithfânion]

JF

$3.50 is, of course, not a lot of money. I'm not actually complaining about this because frankly I don't give a toss about the Wheel of Time, which means I'm not interested in this prologue either.

It seems to me that it would be possible to put this prologue on a website as well and then it wouldn't cost his millions of fans anything, an it would be much much cheaper for Jordan Inc. as well. But perhaps the prologue is too long for that.


The whole impression that people have been entertaining for years now about Jordan is just confirmed over and over again, this is just one minor aspect of it. Maybe I'm just plain wrong and this is a move motivated by altruism :)

[Alle]

My memory may be very faulty here, so correct me if I am wrong....but I seem to recall that past prologues for WoT books were made available for free. It was not 5 months earlier, of course, but it was prior to publication. Maybe I am dreaming? And of course, the past prologues weren't 122 pages either! *l*

Anyway, I'll prolly get it when its available in July, for what that is worth.

Alle

[fortytwo]

Surely this is just a plain greedy cynical abuse of RJ cashing in on the fans wish to read the next book of the series.Would any publisher/author try this scam, on say, a new author presenting a first book? I don't think so.
Hey,we've got a hit here!How can we milk this for every penny we can.I know! We'll charge them for the prologue!If they fall for it we'll charge them for chapter 1 then...