posted
No joke. Best wishes to him and his family.
23 March 2006: Letter to Locus (http://www.locusmag.com/2006/Features/03JordanLetter.html) 24 March 2006: His blog (http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?p=38) 25 March 2006: Publisher's website (http://www.tor.com/jordan/)
EDIT:
Last update from RJ until after treatment: Blog (http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?p=39)
[This message has been edited by pjp (edited April 03, 2006).]
posted
I hope he pulls through (and not just so he can finally finish WoT). It sounds like a miserable condition/disease. I wish him the best.
Posts: 836 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:I sat down and figured out how long it would take me to write all of the books I currently have in mind, without adding anything new and without trying rush anything. The figure I came up with was thirty years.
So, Robert Jordan is calculating he needs another thirty years to close out the Wheel of Time series?
With that issue aside, it's tough when a well-loved author faces severe health problems. I remember being horrified when Stephen King got hit by a van. My best to R. Jordan, and hopefully the Mayo clinic can help him out.
posted
Sounds like the series isn't going to get finished, to me.
I would be happy to hear that he had decided to drop the whole writing thing to concentrate on the important stuff instead. I'd hate to think he neglected other things because of some sense of loyalty to a readership who, the majority, seem to think that all the books after #3 are complete duds. See what I mean.
Guess it depends on what he thinks 'important'.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited March 29, 2006).]
posted
I think he's pretty clearly indicated that his priority is his health, but that he intends to live, and of course, write.
From his blog: "Don’t get too upset, guys. Worse comes to worst, I will finish A Memory of Light, so the main story arc, at least, will be completed. And frankly, as I said, I intend to beat this thing."
That, to me, suggests that he isn't far off from having it finished. His treatment will # in the weeks (6, if I remember what he wrote), so he'll still have time for getting on with life. I'm sure writing is a very important part of that.
As for the books after #3, I think sales determine how well the series is liked. I've yet to find a bad book through 10, though some parts were less interesting to me than others.
posted
I seem to recall that in an interview, Isaac Assimov was asked what he would do if he found out he was going to die. His answer, "Write faster."
posted
Wow. This is what happens when I discover a writer. They die early. I think Zelazny died at 58. I discovered Octavia Butler a year or two ago, and she just died this year. And now this. Worst news I've heard all day.
BTW, I'm about 130 pages into The Shadow Rising. So far I'm digging it, I don't get all the stop after book 3 warnings. Chapter 1 seems to hint that the Shire-- I mean the Two Rivers-- is going to be scoured.
I don't recommend that anyone stop after book three, just that you not expect the remaining books to provide any substantial closure. I certainly didn't stop after the third book, but part of enjoying the books after that is in understanding that they are in the nature of an ongoing tale.
I have to admire what Jordan has accomplished here, and I don't think it's an accident. After all, the man used to write Conan the Barbarian books. He knows that a character (and world) can continue to live and have new adventures long after the original author has died. And he's practically ensured that his characters and the world he created will do so.
Of course, I'm sure he'd rather set a longer benchmark...it makes his accomplishment all the greater if he lives to be a hundred. But there's a reason he's established a rule of rebirth for the major characters in his milieu. He wants them to live forever. And they probably will.
Still, it wouldn't hurt anybody to have a few more books by the man himself, eh?
posted
It is to be hoped that writing has a beneficial effect on his health. I haven't read his work but wish him the best.
Posts: 283 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
When I first read this, and then his blog and the letter, I was pretty bummed. Call me selfish, but I really hope he can finish WoT. If not for his own good health, but my sanity as well. I wish him good health, and the best of luck with his treatments.
I too, think that if he can continue to write, he may just beat this thing. I've heard it said, that the work keeps you young. In this case I hope it also keeps you healthy!
posted
Being in Book 4, I haven't encountered anything that would make me stop, yet. I'm just glad to encounter a series that won't end anytime soon-- too often series end too quickly, I get to like the good and evil characters so much that I don't want it to end. And when it ends, it takes some transition time to read something else, but I don't want to read anything else. Unless Book 5 is really that bad, I don't see myself stopping. It looks like many many happy moons are ahead of me reading wise.
Of course, I've been let down before. Zelazny let me down with the last Amber book, Farmer let me down with the last Riverworld book, Anthony let me down with the last Mode book, Card let me down with Crystal City and the last Shadow Book (talk about shallow, cardboard characters! Why was Fly Molo a viewpoint character?). So I guess it shouldn't suprise me if Jordan lost some steam also.
There was one chapter, a few chapters ago that threw me for a loop. I think it was called Decisions. I believe the first half was written in 3PO. Other than the initial paragraphs of each series about the Wheel of Time, not The Beginning but a Beginning, ect being in 3PO (I expect that in the opener), Jordan usually sticks to really good 3PL. Okay, he cheats for a line or two sometimes, when Rand is dreaming, then it shows him tossing and turning in bed, which as a viewpoint character he shouldn't see. Then again, maybe Rand does sense it somehow, being who he is. Anyway, to go to 3PL then to encounter a chapter of 3PO narritive summary was jarring. First it starts with Matt's narritive summary, then Perrin's narritive summary, then Egwenes, in time coming around to Rand.
posted
Jorden's books stay pretty engaging, there's always something interesting going on, and if you like the earlier books you won't hate the writing or characterization of the later ones. Really, I think that the characterization and depth of plotting is even greater in the later books.
But a lot of readers feel betrayed when they begin to suspect that Jordan isn't planning to bring the narrative to a close, and it is kind of a dirty trick to call the later books a continuation of the series. From the simple viewpoint of dramatic structure, the story he sets out to tell has minor resolutions at the end of the first and second books and the major resolution at the end of the third, a well constructed and dramatically integrated trilogy (unlike many other works where the second book is setup/filler for the final resolution in the third book).
I once said that Jordan is doing this to avoid being abducted by insane fans like that guy in Misery. I was half kidding, the other half is that Jordan almost certainly is one of those crazed fans himself. His estimate of thirty more books he wants to write is far too low.
posted
Last update from RJ until after treatment: Blog (http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?p=39)
Posts: 160 | Registered: Feb 2006
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