Dev Imperium

Some bad news from Slashdot:

“James Oliver Rigney Jr, author of the long-running fantasy series The Wheel of Time and better known to millions of fans by the pen name Robert Jordan, died on 16 Sept 2007 from cardiac amyloidosis. Jordan announced he had been diagnosed with the disease in March 2006 and vowed to beat the odds, but determination and gumption sometimes just aren’t enough in the face of a disease with a median survival time of just over two years. Jordan was in the process of writing the twelfth and final book in the Wheel of Time series, A Memory of Light, but the book was not slated for release until 2009 and is still incomplete. While there is hope that the book will still be finished from Jordan’s notes, this is devastating news to all of us who have been reading the series since 1990.”

I have enjoyed The Wheel of Time — even though I think it became a bit too involved with too many plot threads — and I hope that the final book can be written according to Rigney’s plan and in a manner that would approve of. Authors like Rigney that can create entirely new worlds composed with such rich detail are a treasure. I have spent many hours exploring their worlds not only through their writing but imagining visiting them personally. James, thank you for the new worlds you have contributed to the universe.