RIP Robert Jordan

http://www.wotmania.com/

Sad, sad news.

 

??

 

Wheel of Time Larry. Dunno if you were a fan. I know Sly is. Some others on here too.

He'd been battling through and seemed to be getting better. This took me completely by surprise.

 

What is going to happen to the Wheel of Time series now? I could not get through the last book anyway but still that sucks if it goes unfinished.

 

Read the link on the fan site. "Army of Writers".

It's kind of touching. Inspiring, really. He loved his fans as much as they loved him. He wanted to see it finished in case he didn't make it.

 

Sad news. I started reading these when I was still in the military about 15 years ago. The series got bumpy there but seemed to be getting back on track a bit with the last one.

I hope GRRM doesn't pass away before he is finished with Ice & Fire because he is on record saying that if he dies before his series is finished it dies with him.

 

His site and news sites are getting hammered, so here's the blog post:

Charleston Post-Courier

 

Robert Jordan dies at age 58
By Bill Thompson (Contact)
The Post and Courier
Monday, September 17, 2007



Charleston novelist James Oliver Rigney Jr., 58, known to millions of readers by the pen name Robert Jordan, the best-selling author of "The Wheel of Time" fantasy series, died Sunday after a fight with the rare blood disease amyloidosis, a progressive disorder first diagnosed in December 2005 at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Rigney, who also wrote novels under the nom de plume Reagan O'Neal, succumbed to complications from primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy.

In an open letter to the science fiction magazine Locus in April of 2006, Rigney said he had been diagnosed with a disorder that affects only eight people out of one million each year.

The most popular fantasy author since J.R.R. Tolkien, Rigney was born in 1948 in Charleston. A graduate of The Citadel who earned a degree in physics, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, winning a Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry. A lifelong history buff and voracious reader, he also wrote dance and theater criticism. He had been writing full time since 1977.

His "Wheel of Time" series was among the best-selling in the history of fantasy publishing, with thousands of Web sites devoted in whole or in part to his writing. He also wrote many of the popular "Conan the Barbarian" books, picking up from series creator Robert E. Howard.

A note published on his blog, www.dragonmount.com, announcing his death continued to fill up with comments from fans from across the globe Sunday night as word spread.

At the time of his death, Rigney was one of the leading lights of the Lowcountry literary community. Along with outdoor activities, he liked playing poker and chess and collecting hats and pipes.

He is survived by his wife, Harriet McDougal Rigney.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later this week.

 

Actually that is about the only Fantasy series that I never read a single book of....too many people complaining about the later installments for me to start it.

I know Jordan has a legion of fans though and it is sad that the series won't be finished by the person who started it.

 

The first few books are pretty good but it got hard for me to read it when it got later in the series. I probably would not have started reading it if I had known it would go down hill and last forever. There were only about two books out when I started the series though.