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Fantasy Author Robert Jordan Passes Away

willith writes "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."

15 of 571 comments (clear)

  1. Death took him. by JeanPaulBob · · Score: 4, Funny

    And I'm pretty sure it wasn't Moridin.

  2. What really happened by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    God finally finished Book 11, said "Are you fucking kidding me?", and whipped out the Smite Stick.

  3. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by stoolpigeon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Card? It must really have gotten pretty bad.

    --
    It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
  4. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by Rei · · Score: 5, Funny

    "In the spirit of the man, friends and family of the deceased have requested that his eulogy be tedious and poorly written."

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    Then the winter came, and the Grasshopper died. And the Octopus ate all his acorns. Also, he got a racecar.
  5. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by Drawkcab · · Score: 4, Funny

    If Card took the helm, 60% of the final book would involve Olver as the protagonist, and Rand would become a thinly veiled allegory of Joseph Smith.

  6. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

    There are thousands of people who have hung on for 17 years to reach the end of the tale

    The curse of buying from a supplier with a single-source. If you're smart enough to buy a plain beige box made of parts from 30 low-bidders, that can run a variety of operating systems, you should be smart enough to buy novels written the same way. That way, if once of the writers dies, any number of other low-bidders can just pick up where he/she left off

    Honestly, buying a novel from a series written by a single writer is like buying a Mac. Sure, the writing might be a little better than if it were written as a collaboration, but it's TOTAL VENDOR LOCK-IN!

    Never buy a book from a series unless it has at least 3 authors!

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    Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  7. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by Xiaran · · Score: 4, Funny

    I agree with you. I just cant decide if that would be better or worse :)

  8. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by NerveGas · · Score: 2, Funny

    And there's be naked boys wrestling in a steamy shower.

    --
    Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
  9. Ten years ago, I said... by the+grace+of+R'hllor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ten years ago, I said that if he were to die before he finishes the series, I'd kill him. Suddenly, I am seeing logistical difficulties.

    My thoughts go out to those who have lost more than a good author.

  10. Re:heh by TheRaven64 · · Score: 2, Funny

    To be fair, Slashdot has reported Stephen King's death almost as often as it's reported BSD's death.

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    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  11. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by vondo · · Score: 3, Funny

    These books were kind of like the literary version of Zeno's Paradox. In every book, less happened than in the previous book. And extra plot lines were introduced all the time. At that rate it would have never finished. Things started to pick up a bit later, but I too stopped reading. And when I heard he was sick I vowed I wouldn't read anything else until he was done with it.

  12. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by Psmylie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rule #1 of reading Tolkien: Skip the poetry.

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    psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo

  13. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by spiderbitendeath · · Score: 2, Funny

    Robert Jordan being a monopoly? bah, Piers Anthony maintains a much higher market share with 27 books in the Xanth trilogy. That's a monopoly if I've ever seen one. That series needs to be broken into three different series, so as to provide competition in the literary world.

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    Sometimes when I'm working on projects things disappear, I suspect gremlins.
  14. Re:Kevin J Anderson and Brian Herbert by spun · · Score: 3, Funny

    Obviously, in Robert Jordan's case, you do NOT need to wrap it up. You can keep stringing people along until you pass away. You've got more stamina than I do, I stopped reading by book seven. It's not even the interminable and unchanging plots, it's his amateur command of the English language. I read one too many sentences describing a woman smoothing the front of her damn dress, flipped out, through book seven against a wall and haven't looked back.

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    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  15. Re:a blessing on readers of Wheel of time by DarrenBaker · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hey, dammit! I've only read up to page 193 of Book 9! Thanks for spoiling page 194 for me.

    Please, people, consider the spoiler content of your posts!