My Author, My Life (Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series)

Forbes ^ | December 1, 2006 | Hannah Clark

[2ndDivisionVet]

There are readers, and then there are fans. Readers offer condolences when a favorite author falls ill. Fans offer bone marrow.

Robert Jordan, author of the best-selling Wheel of Time series, has fans. And if you want to understand them, take a look at his blog. Since last spring, when he announced he had a rare blood disease called amyloidosis, Jordan, 58, has been chronicling his life-and-death struggle online. Whenever he's well enough to write, he thanks the fans who sent care packages, and those who donated to the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minn., where he is being treated. Then there's this: "For Jaime Platt and her sister, your offer touches me deeply. They were able to harvest enough of my own bone marrow stem cells that I don't need marrow donation from elsewhere, but thank you very much. That was a kind and generous offer."

And you thought Harry Potter fans were enthusiastic?

Jordan's readers are offering help because they've developed a close connection with him through his books. They're also desperately hoping he lives to finish the series. Wheel of Time is like Lord of the Rings on steroids. Since Jordan launched the series in 1990, he's added another ten books, and more than 14 million copies have sold. Fans are patiently waiting for book No. 12, A Memory of Light, which Jordan promises will be the last, even if it reaches 2,000 pages. "I've told people you might need a forklift to get it out the door," says Jordan, speaking by phone from his home in South Carolina.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Robert Jordan is the pen name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (born October 17, 1948), under which he is best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also writes under the name Reagan O'Neal. Rigney was born and still resides in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968-70) with the U.S. Army where he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended the The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the US Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan

[ikka]

Are the books any good?

[2ndDivisionVet]

I have re-read them several times, and each is as thick as a Kansas City phonebook! The only other ones that I like as much are the Corps/Brotherhood of War/Men at War and Honorbound series by W.E.B. Griffin.

[quidnunc]

For later reference

[WoofDog123]

haven't read them, almost certainly won't, despite looking for new authors with a 1000-page a week habit when I am in Florida. have read amazon reviews on most out the wheel of time books of curiousity recently...first few very popular, by the 9th or tenth you have page after page of 1-star reviews of fans screaming about unending clothing descriptions, books where no major plot events take place, etc. I don't mean a few angry reviews, but more like a majority on books with hundreds of reviews.

like this one, which got 1 and a half stars!

http://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Twilight-Wheel-Time-Book/dp/B000FFJRI6/sr=8-7/qid=1172559881/ref=pd_bbs_sr_7/102-2969324-1944143?ie=UTF8&s=books

He must be selling a lot of books to get that many reviews, though.

At some point in the last 10 years or so the publishing business (at least for sci-fi/fantasy) changed and authors who had previously submitted 3-400 page standalone or series books started putting out 600+ page unending series. I guess the economics must work at that end for them but at a quality level some authors who used to produce some original stories are putting out thousand+ pages of filler and redundant descriptions a year. The sad thing is the probably make a lot more than they would with actual stories that begin and end in a single book. jordan's wheel of time is often referred to as the archetype of this practice.

[johnmark7]

I read a couple to find out why they were so popular and why fantasy had grown so huge.

I found his world highly imaginative with a great many good ideas, but the characters become an endless soap opera of bad dialog, with the conflict constantly ratcheting up into newer dimensions.

Just when you think the rules for the universe are laid out, they change into something else.

The melodrama is quite bad whereas what I recall of his narrative ability and description are pretty good except for what I mentioned above.

[USMCWife6869]

I have really been considering reading these books. My friend swears by them. She loves the series. It has seemed quite daunting to me in the past, but maybe now would be the time for me.

[Desron13]

Oh man! Don't be telling me this. It's like one of my worst nightmares coming true. I've said to many a friend that I was afraid he would pass before finishing this series that I have been following from the start in 1991. I had always planed to buy the entire series in hard cover and reread it straight through once he finished it. This is truly an epic story on par with Lord of the Rings trilogy and I wish him restored health soon.

[Desron13]

"by the 9th or tenth you have page after page of 1-star reviews of fans screaming about unending clothing descriptions, books where no major plot events take place, etc.

This is true up until the last book where he finally got back to moving the plot along and tying up many of the story threads. Even so, it's worth the pain IMHO.

[tanuki]

Being an organizer of sci fi/fantasy/media conventions in my area (SF Bay Area), I had the chance to meet Robert Jordan. A finer man is hard to imagine. An antebellum gentleman if ever there was, as well as a great talent.

I am incredibly sad to hear of his problems and offer my sincerest prayers and hopes for him.

[wafflehouse]

these books are truly great books.. i have them all and have read the whole series (with the exception of the most recent) at least twice.. the series is up to 9685 pages (per wikipedia) it is true that some of the later books seem to be rather like stretching the story, and not as good as the first part of the series but over all, they are great books, and a very big story. once the last book is out i will read the whole series again from start to finish.

[liliesgrandpa]

Most of the series is on audio at audible.com and is well read and very enjoyable.

[ElCid89]

I was very interested thru the first 6 or 7, then it started to go downhill. Haven't read the last one. I'll have to pick it up now, and hope that he can finish the series. That's good news; I was feeling that it would never ever end.

Hopefully he's able to make a recovery from this disease.

[The Game Hen]

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.

http://www.charleston.net/news/2007/sep/17/robert_jordan_dies_at_age16247/

[Billthedrill]

RIP. “Jordan” said from the very beginning that the last chapter of this magisterial series had already been written. The full assembly of his final volume may await another pen. Those of us who enjoyed the Wheel of Time, even those of us who grew impatient at the author’s tarrying in a world he might have felt reluctant to depart, must be grateful for the gift of his imagination.

[wafflehouse]

very sad to lose such a great author.. thanks for ping

[ElCid89]

Thanks for the ping. Sad news about such a talented author and American hero.