On-screen, stop-motion set pieces illustrated a science fiction fantasy of the destruction of the state apparatus and the abolition of private property mediated by alien invasion and natural disaster. The only sound in the room was the soft clicking of aluminum knitting needles, like a DIY Geiger counter monitoring our entropic half-lives.

Robert Jordan has been recognized as one of the most famous fantasy writers of his time. He passed away on September 16, 2007, before he was able to finish his magnum opus. Nevertheless, the Wheel of Time still turns. October 27, 2009 marked the publication of The Gathering Storm , the first of three posthumous novels planned to conclude the series.

The gates of Faerie are eroding—