ROBERT JORDAN

'Robert Jordan' is the pen name of 'James Oliver Rigney, Jr.' (born October 17, 1948), under which he is best known as the author of the bestselling ''The Wheel of Time'' fantasy series. He also writes under the name Reagan O'Neal.

Contents

Biography

Illness

Origins of the pen name

Bibliography

Fallon

Final volume

Infinity of Heaven

Other works

Quotes

Footnotes

External links

Biography

Jordan was born and still resides in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968-70) with the U.S. Army where he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended the The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the US Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977. He is a history buff and enjoys hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting. He currently lives in a house built in 1797 with his wife Harriet McDougal who works as a book editor (currently with Tor Books). ^[1]

Illness

On March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed in a statement^[2] in a firm and optimistic tone that he has been diagnosed with primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (cardiac amyloidosis), and that, with treatment, his median life expectancy is four years, though he says he intends to beat the statistics. He later posted on his Dragonmount blog to encourage his fans not to worry about him and that he intends to have a long and fully creative life, working for another 30 years.
He began chemotherapy treatment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in early April 2006.^[3] Jordan is currently enrolled in a study using the drug Revlimid just approved for multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary amyloidosis.
On January 22, 2007, Jordan's blog announced that the Lambda light chain levels had dropped to a rating of 2.70.^[4] This reduction was sustained throughout another break in Jordan's use of Revlimid, which he briefly came off again due to side effects attributed to the drug. It should be noted that for the first time since his diagnosis in March 2006 Jordan's Lambda light chains are within the normal limits.

Origins of the pen name

It has been speculated that the pen name is from the main character of Ernest Hemingway's novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', but Robert Jordan has since clarified on his blog ^[5] that his pen names have all been chosen from three lists of names using his real initials, and that one of his pen names managed to contain all three of his initials in both the first name and the surname.

Bibliography

Fallon

(under the pen name ''Reagan O'Neal'')

★ ''The Fallon Blood'' (1980)

★ ''The Fallon Legacy'' (1981)

★ ''The Fallon Pride'' (1982)
===Conan the Barbarian===
Jordan is one of several writers who have written new Conan the Barbarian stories.
#''Conan the Invincible'' (1982)
#''Conan the Defender'' (1982)
#''Conan the Unconquered'' (1983)
#''Conan the Triumphant'' (1983)
#''Conan the Magnificent'' (1984)
#''Conan the Destroyer'' (1984)
#''Conan the Victorious'' (1984)
Some bibliographies also include ''Conan: King of Thieves''; this however, was actually the working title of the second Conan movie, ''Conan the Destroyer'', and hence Jordan's novelization. Jordan had already been hired to do the novelization and Tor had already applied for an ISBN when the title was changed to ''Conan the Destroyer''. ^[6]
They were packed into two separate volumes:

★ ''The Conan Chronicles''

★ ''Further Chronicles of Conan''
Jordan also compiled a well-known Conan Chronology.
===The Wheel of Time===
Eleven books of a projected twelve total comprising the main sequence have been published thus far. Reviewers and fans of the earlier books have noted a slowing of the pace of events in the last few installments due to the expansion of scale of the series as a whole.^[7] This slowing culminated in the tenth book ''Crossroads of Twilight'' which started on the same day for all the plot threads of the book. Jordan has since said that:
:"The only thing that I wish I hadn't done was use the structure that I did for CoT, with major sections beginning on the same day. Mind, I still think the book works as it is, but I believe it would have been better had I taken a more linear approach. When you try something different, sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't." ^[8]
Chapter summaries for the first eleven Wheel of Time books can be found here.
# ''The Eye of the World'' (15 January 1990)
# ''The Great Hunt'' (15 November 1990)
# ''The Dragon Reborn'' (15 October 1991)
# ''The Shadow Rising'' (15 September 1992)
# ''The Fires of Heaven'' (15 October 1993)
# ''Lord of Chaos'' (15 October 1994)
# ''A Crown of Swords'' (15 May 1996)
# ''The Path of Daggers'' (20 October 1998)
# ''Winter's Heart'' (9 November 2000)
# ''Crossroads of Twilight'' (7 January 2003)
# ''Knife of Dreams'' (11 October 2005)
# ''A Memory of Light'' (working title) (2009)
In addition to the main sequence, Robert Jordan has also written some accessory works:

★ ''The World of Robert Jordan's the Wheel of Time'' (13 November 1998, reference book, written in collaboration with Teresa Patterson)

★
★ This reference book includes "The Strike at Shayol Ghul", a short story published online in 1996 which was republished in print as part of this reference book

★ ''New Spring'' (February 2000, novella, published in volume three of Tor's ''Legends'' anthology, edited by Robert Silverberg)

★
★ ''New Spring'' (January 2004, novel, an expanded work superseding the earlier novella)

★ ''From The Two Rivers'', a repackaging of the first half of ''The Eye Of The World'' for a younger market, includes an additional prologue titled ''Ravens''.

★ ''To the Blight'', a repackaging of the second half of ''The Eye of the World'' for a younger market.
Jordan also has spoken of plans to write two other prequels and several outtrigger novels after finishing the main sequences, which reversed his previously-made comments that he would conclude his work on the world with prequels.^[9]

Final volume

On October 18, 2005, at a book signing in West Chester, PA, Jordan gave the working title of the 12th book as ''A Memory of Light''. As one of the attendees told Dragonmount.com, Jordan also warned that the final volume of the saga "could be a 1500-page monster" because he has so many dangling plot threads to wrap up in a single volume. He maintains that ''A Memory of Light'' will 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". However, due to his health problems, Jordan is not working at full force on the final installment, though blog entries confirm that he continues work on it when he is able.^[10]

Infinity of Heaven

Jordan has mentioned several times that he plans another fantasy series set in a different kind of world. He has said that it will be a Shogun-esque series about a man in his 30s who is shipwrecked in an unknown culture and world. The books will detail his adventures there, and will be titled Infinity of Heaven.^[11]
He has said that he will begin writing these after he finishes his work on the twelfth and final main sequence book of The Wheel of Time. Jordan said, "Infinity of Heaven almost certainly will be written before the prequels, though I might do them between the Infinity books." Also according to Dragonmount.com, Jordan plans to write some side-story novels, before completely abandoning his decades-long work. Jordan has particularly stressed that this series will be significantly shorter than the ''Wheel of Time'' saga (about 6 books long and essentially two trilogies), despite the resulting irony in the series title.

Other works

★ ''Cheyenne Raiders'' (1982, under the pseudonym ''Jackson O'Reilly'')

Quotes

★ "Death is lighter than a feather, duty heavier than a mountain,"   — ''The Great Hunt''

★ "That mountain can grow awfully heavy sometimes," [Rand] sighed, taking a spear and buckler from Rhuarc. "When do you find a chance to put it down awhile?"
:"When you die," Lan said simply.   — ''The Shadow Rising''

★ "Who would sup with the mighty must climb the path of daggers,"   — ''The Path of Daggers''

★ "He found what he was looking for but not at all what he wanted to find." --''The Wheel of Time'' series

★ "If you must mount the gallows, give a jest to the crowd, a coin to the hangman, and make the drop with a smile on your lips" --''The Fires of Heaven''

★ "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was ''a'' beginning." ''The Wheel of Time'' series

★ "Blood and bloody ashes!" ''The Wheel of Time'' series

★ "Mother's milk in a cup!" -- Elayne

Footnotes

1. Robert Jordan biography at Tor Books website (www.tor.com)
2. Statement from Robert Jordan about his health in Locus Magazine
3. Important note from Robert Jordan at Tor Books website – March 25, 2006
4. Statement on Jordan's blog
5. Robert Jordan's Official Blog – origin of his pen name
6. WOT Encyclopaedia
7. Canon, Peter. CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT (Book). Publishers Weekly; 12/23/2002, Vol. 249 Issue 51, p.50
8. Robert Jordan's Official Blog – October 2nd, 2005
9. Dragonmount.com News (www.dragonmount.com/news)
10. Robert Jordan's Official Blog
11. Tarvalon.net News

External links

★ Robert Jordan's Official Blog (hosted by dragonmount.com)

★ Robert Jordan Discussion Forum

★ Robert Jordan Bibliography at Fantastic Fiction

★ Interview at SFFWorld.com

★ Robert Jordan at SciFan

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