James Oliver Rigney, better known to the world by his Robert Jordan pseudonym, has passed away after a long illness. I didn't know him personally-- I met him very briefly once, at a signing-- but the Wheel of Time books were ridiculously important in my life. I met a great many friends through Robert Jordan fandom on Usenet, which helped keep me sane during graduate school. And Kate was among the people I met there, so I really owe him more than I can easily express.
Making Light has more, including links to a number of other tributes. Whatever you may think of the books (and this is neither the time nor the place to share that), he was apparently a good guy, and will be missed by many.
Condolences to his family and friends.
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It's a shame he passed away without finishing The Wheel of Time. Granted, I gave up reading it about three books ago, as the story appeared to be going nowhere. Still I was curious about how it would finally end.
Oh no! It's like Dune all over again!
That's very sad, though; I've heard that he was a very interesting man.
Crap. Reading fantasy is one of the great pleasures of my life and the two authors responsible for introducing me to this world were David Gemmell and Robert Jordan. Sadly both have now passed away, far too young. RJ will be greatly missed.
Sorry to hear that. I only recently heard he was sick.
Sorry to hear that. I only recently heard he was sick.
Never heard of him, so I have no opinion of his books.
I think he's the only Citadel grad other than Pat Conroy to make a living as a novelist.
I'd spoken with him at cons over the decades, and am sad that he is gone. He was, to use an unoriginal but valid phrase, a gentleman and a scholar.
I saw him as bringing his Physics degree into, not the content of his Fantasy, but into a logical, skeptical, world-building way, which put him head and shoulders above most fantasists.
I saw him several times explain subtle aspects of book contracts to other professionals. Not a lawyer, but a man who really understood book contracts. I speak here as son of someone who, as Editor, wrote most of his own contracts.
In these senses, James "Robert Jordan" Rigney was a "writer's writer" -- so remarkable, then, that he was a huge bestselling success as well. To bring joy and understanding to a gigantic audience and one's community of practitioners is rare. The blogosphere demonstrates that he is missed by many. But his did not miss the target with his writing, which endures.
Yes, it was sad to hear this. It's a shame that he didn't have the opportunity to finish his major work.
The final volume of "The Wheel of Time" is expected to be completed posthumously.
Below is a credible hypothesis:
http://www.wotmania.com/wotmessageboard2showmessage.asp?MessageID=68400
Rumors and Trolls
wotmania - 9/16/2007 8:19:59 PM
Beyond expressions of sadness at Jordan's passing, I have no doubt the most frequent question/concern will be, "What happens to WoT?"
I talked with Jason about this. He said that Jordan has been dictating outlines and plot lines and everything else related to the final book. He used the phrase "army of writers" to talk about the people that were converting those tapes into written form.
It would appear that the final book will still be published, I'm sure details regarding that will work themselves out. So please be patient (as challenging as that might be), and for now let's focus on Jordan's life, writing, and the joy he brought to us.
Yes, I'd heard that he'd left sufficient material for the final book to be finished. David Gemmell did something similar with the final novel of the Troy trilogy (he'd recently had a heart bypass although he didn't expect to die) and his wife Stella polished things off (with a little assistance from James Barclay). By all account it's been a considerable success. Hopefully the finale of the WoT will go the same way.