Did he give a reason for the Mandate scenes being removed?

I missed Eskeles in TGO, and him appearing so emmaciated without anything prior seemed a bit...off? And he changed from Thanteus Eskeles to Teüs in TUC.

They would have been awesome additions to TGO and TUC.

He had to trim things down, and he decided that those scenes didn't do enough to serve the story. (I see his point and think he could have done with cutting a little more of Agongorea, but those particular scenes really pulled their weight).

Teus is just a short form of Thanteus, though that is a strange thing to do for a family name.

The event matched my wildest expectations. But next year we riot if the bar doesn't have limes.

Bakker was nonplussed by the name Crabbicus, and he seemed almost offended that we've starting calling the first book of TNG The Crabiqiad.

He still seemed surprised at the idea of Baby Kellhus and that people read so much into it.

Cnaiur's possession by Ajokli, stumbling blind into the Whirlwind, has been in the plan for decades.

Bakker was genuinely upset when we showed him all the typos in TUC as proof that Overlook is doing a poor job.

That's right, and I could hardly be more hyped for it! 
Just meeting people who have actually read Bakker would be awesome enough, but with the man himself coming, and the fact that TUC is finally out ... it's the perfect storm of an event.

After a couple years obsessing over the series, it seems time to join the real discussion. Occasional lurker, first time poster.

I've been an occasional presence at /r/bakker (I'm the one who narrated The False Sun), but analysis never seems to run very deep over there, nor do the threads last very long.