A: I certainly will not, I haven't told anybody. Not even my wife and that's very difficult. I could have written that scene more than fifteen years ago. That's how well I know it, exactly how this all ends.

A: I didn't know I was going to to take you along. All I knew was I was going to write some stories and it helps when people would read them. And the rest of it, I don't really think I take any blame for that.

A: I'm going to do quite a bit, I hope. Don't expect me to give you any details, that's for certain. Details and you'll read the next book and say, "Oh, I know that, I know that one, I knew that one, I knew that one. Damn he's getting boring. I think I'll go out and read somebody else". So no, I'm not going to tell you what's going to happen.

A: The trifle problems, yes it takes longer to write it than to read it. As I said, at least three more books. If I can finish it in three, I will. I'm not promising. I simply know it's going to be I cannot do it in fewer than three. And as for how long till the next book, I hope to finish it by next May and the way as things have been going, well my English publisher and my American publisher have both been having books out within two months after I've handed in the manuscript. They pay a lot of overtime.

A: The whole damn thing surprises me. I just set out to write some stories and I hoped I'd get some people to read them. I never really had any thought that as many people would start reading them as have. I never gave any thought to the possibility of all the fan clubs or web sites, none of that. Sorry to be boring, but I just set out to write some stories.

A: I'd like to point out, you know. Boy, spoilers here. A certain thing happened to Mat in the previous book. If you've read it you know what I'm talking about. Something very subtle and very surprising and remember the thought, "what the hell happened to my luck", or something like that. This book starts before that occurs. Now think about what happened to him and you might realize why he might want to rest up somewhere and have a few beers and just sit this one out.

A: No. I'm waiting for some contracts to catch up with me which are an option by NBC to do a mini series based on The Eye of the World with the screen writer of NBC's Merlin. Now that's an option. It might happen, it might not happen. That's the only movie or TV activity going on. As far as the Age of Legends is concerned and going back to them, when I reach the last scene of this book I would have told the story that I wanted to tell in this world. I would have said what I wanted to say to you folks. And my intention at that point is to go onto a different universe, a different world, a different set of rules, different cultures. I've been thinking about it for about five or six years now.No, definitely not. If I've done it, why do it again? That's the trap that sometimes you guys push the writer into. You say, "You know, I really liked what you done before. Do it again." And he does. And pretty soon he's doing the same thing over and over again. Now I'll hope you'll stick with me because I've done this. When I finish it I will have done it and I will try to go on something else that is not exactly the same. I hope you'll like it.

A: Not in particular. Not to any greater degree than this is.

A: It was fun, in the beginning at least. By the end Conan is an unusual hero in that he changes. Robert Howard wrote stories in which Conan was a pre-teen boy. He wrote stories in which Conan was a white haired old man. It's not usual for that sort of hero. That's when a hero's supposed to stay the same age and stay unchanged forever. I was able to pick a period that there wasn't much said about him and do a little development, and it was fun. And then after a while it was just working in somebody else's universe and I really wanted to get out of it and go on with my own stuff.

A: Oh yeah. Look, when I was caught with one of those books in school it was confiscated as trash and I was sent to the principal's office. It was not the sort of thing I was supposed to bring to school. I could've brought softcore pornography and it wouldn't have been any worse. I could've brought hardcore pornography and it would've been much worse. So yeah, I have a lot of fun with those books.

A: Ahh, yeah. And I admit to making lists. I read fairly widely and newspapers, foreign newspapers, foreign to me, to the States. The Economist and other magazines that have stories about other countries news stories. And I'll see a name that isn't the name that I want but I realize if I twist it and turn it inside out and tie it into a knot, it's a name that sounds very nice. It's the name I want. The same way names out of myth and legend that in some cases are twisted or turned or changed and others aren't. I figured most of you are far enough along that you read, that you know Rand al'Thor, al'Thor, yes he is an Arthur analog. He is also a Thor analog. Some of you might not have picked that one up yet. And Artur Hawkwing is also an Arthur analog. Because what I've tried to do is not give you any sort of retelling of myths or legends but to reverse engineer every one of them so that I can give you some version of what might might have happened and then have been changed by telling and retelling and retelling and retelling into the myths and legends we have today.

A: I started thinking about what would turn into The Wheel of Time more than 15 years ago, and the first thing that I thought of that was really solid was the last scene of hte last book. I could have written that 15 years ago, and if I had, it would differ form what I would write today only in the words. What happens would be exactly the same. So, I've known where I'm going from the start.

A: I have gone into this in some depth in other places, but basically after the breaking, the primary language was still what is called the Old Tongue. In the period between the Breaking and the Trollic wars, what would become the language spoken today began to develop as a common or vulgar tongue. During the period between the Trollic wars and the war of the 100 years, that vulgar tongue supplanted the Old Tongue as the usual or everyday mode of speech, and the Old Tongue regressed to being more and more something of scholars. At the time of Artur Hawkwing, anyone who was educated, whether noble or commoner, could speak and write the Old Tongue, but in everyday life, most people used something very much like what is spoken today. And it was the simple swamp.

A: Not at this time, I do not. I have plans for another set of books, but not in the same universe. If a really terrific notion occurs to me for a set of stories that I would like to write, then I would go back to the Universe of The Wheel of Time, but otherwise, I won't.

A: I think they do, but I am a simple scrivener. I go where I am sent. I am told, "Go thou, and sign!" and I Go thou and sign!

A: Well, I think it has too many levels of importance to go into all of them here, but the one that is very clear to me is the human need for myth. We have tried to scrape away, carve away, all the myths in our lives, but we do have that need. It can be demonstrated as simply as by looking at the rise of Urban Legends. Humans have a deep need for myth, and fantasy literature helps to provide that, I think. Or at least to provide an outlet for that need.

A: The answer is, it will be in the stores tomorrow! I don't really know whether another short story is possible. New Spring took longer than I thought it would to write, and was more difficult to do, in part because I had to leave out a few things I wanted to put in. It was beginning to turn into a 100,000 word short story. If I do write another novella or short, I don't know what area I might look at.

A: I'm afraid that was purely a marketing decision. Tor Books felt that there were stores and outlets that would not accept a fantasy cover. And they seemed to have been right.

A: I know what is supposed to happen with these people, and I'm sorry I can't tell you more. I'll have to say Read And Find Out.

A: No, I very seldom see any of the speculation. Occasionally, someone will send me printouts f things that have been posted on the websites. The last time I saw anything lik that was about a year ago. I think three times I've been sent a copy of the FAQ, and while the comments in the FAQ have changed, at least in some places, I still have the same comment myself about a third of the speculation there is right, about a third is almost right it's sort of in the right direction, but they're not quite going in the direction I am, and the remaining third is totally blue sky. but I won't tell anybody which third is which. Read and find out I know where it's going, and I really just don't take the time to get into the websites.