Con Review: “JordanCon 2009″ keeps the wheels turning

Have you ever heard of the Wheel of Time? If you haven’t, it’s a very popular fantasy book series, wonderfully written by the world building master, Robert Jordan. If you haven’t read the book series, I am sure that most have at least heard of it, and if not, get out there and learn about it. You won’t regret it. This weekend, one member of the gaijINside team who is a huge fan of the series, infiltrated the Con, to see what it was all about.

On April 17^th-19^th 2009, JordanCon took place in the Alpharetta Embassy Suites in Alpharetta, GA. It was the first year of the convention, so people were wondering how it was going to turn out. I myself did not find out about the convention until nearly two weeks before it happened, so I was unable to pre-register for a badge. Therefore, I had to do a walk-in badge. Upon entering the Suites, there was just a small table informing everyone ‘Welcome to JordanCon!” I registered, and with registration got a free copy of Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson, the man who was handpicked to finish the last book of the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light. Sanderson was going to be attending the convention, to talk about the final book, along with the rest of Team Jordan, which consisted of Tom Doherty, the founder of Tor Fantasy Publications, Harriet Rigney, the wife of the late author Robert Jordan, or as his real name was, James Rigney Jr.

Upon receiving my convention schedule and book, I began to flip through the panels that were planned for the weekend, and it was action packed. Opening ceremonies followed by four hours of discussion panels of different topics inside of the Wheel of Time series, ranging from discussion of the history of the land, The One Power and the (mis)abuse of it, and rampant theories and speculation on what would be happening in the final book, which is due out this November. For the most part, panels were spaced enough that you wouldn’t miss a panel if you didn’t want to, but some did overlap, quite honestly though, I had a hard time choosing between which panels to go to when a choice came up. I didn’t want to find myself missing out on one panel over another, so I resorted to flipping a coin to see what panel I ended up going to, and on an occasion or two, still found myself going against what the coin had decided for me to do, Ta’veren be damned.

Upon sitting in on the panels that had to do with talks of the final book in the series, A Memory of Light, we learned that the final book will be split into three separate book, because the story is too massive to contain in one novel. Harriet Rigney and Brandon Sanderson ended up breaking the news, but felt that releasing it this way would get the readers the book faster than getting it together all on one novel, which would end up being some 2,000 pages in length. After that announcement, they gave all the con-goers a very special treat, a concept reading of the prologue of the final book, as read by Robert Jordan himself.

Aside from the great guests and excellent panels, the actual convention attendees were amazing people as well. I do not think I’ve ever met such a dedicated group of people to one thing. The Harry Potter fan base has always been a bit rabid to me, and the Anime conventions that I have attended have very snobby people that no person would want to deal with, but the people who attended JordanCon? They were simply fantastic people. I met a woman my age that came from the Netherlands just for this convention, as well as an elderly fellow from Sweden, another elderly gentlemen that came from Germany, and a couple of guys from Great Britain. People also flew in from all over the country from New York to San Diego, just to attend this convention, if that’s dedication, I don’t know what is. I also found myself able to jump into any conversation with anyone at any given time, and was accepted in without pause. I sat in one panel, and had a discussion with a husband and wife about various aspects of a Nynaeve, one of the main characters from the books. I also came to talking to author Brandon Sanderson for a while, about writing techniques, origins for things in his books, and tips on how to be a better writer. He’s a very down to earth guy, and great to be around.

This I can honestly say was one of the best conventions that I have ever been to, and I have been to a lot on my day. If you aren’t a fan of the series, there isn’t much for you to do here, but if you are a hardcore fan like me, this is definitely the place for you. Pick up the books and take a read, if you like fantasy novels, this is one for you, and the convention was massive fun on many scales. I’m glad I was able to attend. It hasn’t been a week, and I’m already looking forward to JordanCon 2010.