It was with a heavy heart and with much sadness that earlier this year, we discovered the loss of one of the 20th and 21st century’s greatest authors. On September the 16th of this year, James Oliver Rigney Jr., aka, Robert Jordan, passed away after a courageous battle with the rare blood disease amyloidosis.
Author of the phenomenally successful Wheel of Time books, Robert Jordan was an author beloved by millions. His books sold more than 30 million worldwide, and represent one of the premiere series in fantasy literature.
On October the 18th, 2005, Jordan announced at a book signing in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that the twelfth and final book in the WoT series would be entitled A Memory of Light. But due to his disease, Jordan was well aware that he might not live to see it through.
According to Jordan, the conclusion to his epic saga "could be a 1500-page monster” and that it would remain one volume, "whether it is 1500 pages long, Tor has to invent a new binding system, or it comes with its own library cart.”
Over the last two years of his life, Jordan worked on the book, and reports tell that he worked on it to his last days. Sadly though, he was never again at full writing capability, and his courageous and relentless battle with his illness came to an end, before the book did.
Nevertheless, in a true testament to his courage, and his love of writing, the plot and direction of the story was made known to his family, so that it could be continued. His entire series of books have been edited by his wife, Harriet Popham Rigney.
Thus it was Harriet who announced on Monday that Brandon Sanderson has been chosen to complete the last book of the Wheel of Time series.
The 32-year-old Nebraskan native is the author of the popular Elantris series of books, as well as the Mistborn series. In response to the news, Sanderson had the following to say about the challenge ahead of him;
“I’m both extremely excited and daunted by this opportunity. There is only one man who could have done this book the way it deserved to be written, and we lost him in September. However, I promise to do my very best to remain true to Mr. Jordan’s vision and produce the book we have all been waiting to read.”
Sanderson will work closely with Jordan’s wife, to maintain the tone and consistency that has been the trademark of Jordan’s writing. In more ways than one, this will not be a book by Sanderson, but a posthumous work by Jordan. Copious amounts of notes, drafts and even completed chapters, in addition to audio recordings, were left behind.
So though the 2009 fall release of A Memory of Light seems that little bit closer now with news of Sanderson’s appointment, the loss that we all feel does not diminish. I think though, that Sanderson said it best in a blog post on his blog at the time of Jordan’s death.
“Personally, I feel indebted to you. You showed me what it was to have vision and scope in a fantasy series–you showed me what could be done. I still believe that without your success, many younger authors like myself would never have had a chance at publishing their dreams. You go quietly, but leave us trembling.”
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
