Robert Jordan has died.

[XemaSab]

http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan

[semillama]

1. This is really depressing news.

I had thought that he was doing pretty good in his fight against amyloidosis. I'm glad to hear he had enough written with an outline to finish off the last book in the Wheel of Time, but still, I was looking forward to seeing what he could come up with next.

I wonder if he had a lot of context material written about the world of TWOT that he used for reference, that might see publication a la Christopher Tolkien's history of Middle-Earth series. There's a lot of things I'd love to know about that world, it's history and cultures.

[TZ]

2. I'm sad too but maybe..

we can see someone else take up the reins and write more than just the final book in the series (he also had started that "pre-quel" trilogy remember?) the way Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have taken up the reins of the Dune series and finished it off (I am in the process of re-reading my Dune books in anticipation of reading the final two novels based on Frank Herberts outline...)
WOT though was my favorite fantasy series so I am very very sad.....:cry:

[semillama]

3. Some people on the cinescape forums were talking about authors they'd like to see finish the series

and there were some pretty horrible suggestions.

Terry Goodkind? Please! the dude totally ripped off Jordan for his series, plus he's a hack.

Terry Pratchett? what are they smoking?

If they were to bring in another author (which they probably won't do - see below), I'd want someone like Tad Williams or Robin Cook to do it - you need someone who can write to that type of character.

Anyway, according to the 9/9 blog post on Dragonmount.com, Jordan had outlined the entire book and spent 2 1/2 hours telling the story to his wife and cousin one night, and had copious notes on it. So for the matter of the last book, we will see it, but it will probably be a few years until it appears.

Still, he was a really good story teller, and it seems like he was a pretty strong character himself. It's sad to see him go.

[semillama]

4. so, what - only three people who are in the fantasy literature group have anything to say?

Little disappointed in that, when one of the giants of modern fantasy lit passes away...

[LWolf]

5. We don't all pop in here regularly.

It's been at least a month since my last visit.

I'm sorry to hear this, for his and his fans' sakes.

I'm not one of his readers, so it's not quite as personal to me.

Vonnegut's death hit me harder last spring, as did Madeleine L'Engle's death death earlier this month. I've been a Vonnegut reader since my teen years, and a L'Engle fan since I was a school librarian 20 years ago.