Every few weeks, I check to see what my favorite authors are up to. Terry Goodkind's novel is coming out on Nov. 13th, Neil Gaiman has made Beowulf, etc. And lastly, I almost always come to Robert Jordan. I've been following his blog. For those who don't know Robert Jordan has been writing one of the most epic fantasy fiction series in our time, The Wheel of Time. He has also been battling a blood disease since 2005. I learned today that he died on the 16th of this month.
I started to read Robert Jordan (aka, James "Jim" Rigney) when I was in grade 9. I would have been 15. I was so enraptured by his writing, it inspired me to write some of my own stuff. He has been a major muse to me; you can find on the right a link to a website where I started writing my own fan fiction with some of the people that have also come to know and love his work.
He was a Dragon in the truest sense, noble, larger than life and ferocious figure on the literary horizon. I wish my deepest condolences to his family. There is a space in my head and my heart that those books have filled, and now, it will never be complete.
Another blogger has written more eloquently how I feel about it:
"There was sadness, of course, and shock, because we had just received good news in the previous blog entry, but there was also … what? Disappointment? It would be a lie to say that I wasn’t heartsick at the thought that RJ wouldn’t be finishing the final volume in The Wheel of Time. Most of you I’m sure, felt it too. Just as he was honest with us until the end, so I will be honest here. I think we’re all sad, and at least a tiny bit frustrated, by not having A Memory of Light completed in the way we wanted and hoped for.
Before you think poorly of me, hear me out. Obviously, we can’t blame RJ for that. To do so is to show a lack of understanding of the way he worked and the way he fought this disease. Amyloidosis is a brutal disease and nobody could fight as hard as Jim Rigney. His blog is a testament to his fight and his dedication. He proved to us, right here, that he was Aiel to the core: “Till shade is gone, till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder’s eye on the Last Day.” I don’t think there could be a stronger statement that defined RJ’s fight with the disease. When I say I was frustrated, it lasted only a fraction a second. It is, in part, our ability to overcome our negative emotions that makes us human to begin with. I took that frustration and fed it to the flame, and let the void surround me."
Amen to that.
There is a Room Upstairs, where a man with a great bushy beard and wide brimmed hat, and a twinkle in his eye, tells a long, rip-roaring yarn. He tells it, pipe in hand, next to a crackling fire, to other bards, who nod and learn forward with the hearing of the tale. He tells it in the company of Lewis, and Tolkien, and Homer.
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