They were forced to move the release date of the prologue after a snafu at Google Books Canada which released it too early. The material was also available for online search there so after minimal hesitation Tor decided to release it.

It's really more the release of chapter 1 so early after that which is fishy.... except releasing the prologue on Oct. 2 was way off the past schedule in the first place (I smell a rat, namely that they have moved up the release date but don't want to torpedoe the sales of the prologue as ebook, so they're keeping the announcement off for one more week or two).

I guess it might be a bigger challenge for Orbit to cope if Tor advances its release date, but we'll see.



Normally Jason doesn't receive ARCs, he receives a printed copy of the manuscript before the galley phase. He's part of a small group of people Harriet and co. haved used as beta-readers for TGS and TOM. It's more again a question of timing.. the fact Jason was allowed to release his "review" so early also speaks of the marketing machine being in full gear, and of an earlier release soon to be announced.

Harriet has asked Tor to forgo ARCs for these books, she fears too much a spoiler fiesta. They're sending final copies a little in advance to very few reviewers (mostly pros) they trust to respect the embargo, and they're sent fairly late in the game. The rest is sent on the eve of the release (which is what I got when I was at the 13th depository. Tor representants did try to get WOT fansites a copy earlier, but the boss said no).