Via Making Light: Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney) 1948-2007. I will leave the memorializing for those who knew him and his work better and merely say that he and his work meant a lot to a lot of people in our community and I know that he will be deeply missed both as a writer and perhaps even more as a person. I don't know anyone who ever met him who didn't speak very highly of him. Though I knew him not at all I am saddened by his fall.
Because it wanted out:
A mighty writer was the man
Read the thousands in his van
Though I knew him not at all
I am saddened by his fall
Finding tears when ere I blink
So I cannot help but think
With tales unfinished, words unwritten
Reader's hopes by death smitten
How much worse fans and friends will feel
At this sad turning of time's wheel
Ave Atque Vale.
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6 comments:
It may not be poetry, but it rhymes and I find it somehow cathartic.
Hey, whatever it is, it helps.
Ow. The news felt like a sucker punch when I first read it, and I'm still feeling it.
Yes. Despite the fact that I've never read a word of the Wheel of Time I find his loss surprisingly painful. Maybe that's because it brings back echoes of John Ford's death, or because it reminds me of the other giants we've lost in the last few years. Or maybe it's just the idea of leaving the story unfinished. Whatever the reason I feel diminished by his passing.
Story unfinished is what really got me. I'm no fan of this particular opus, but opus it was and is, and the tapestry's still unwoven at one end of the cloth, strings of a world unravelled too soon.
Some of it is the fact that an almost direct path from the WoT led to one of my stronger friendships.
Now that I got the gloom out, I realise there's an irony in that his about the author description mentioned that he would keep "writing until they nailed shut his grave".
And he did. :)
I'm a fan of the Wheel of Time series. One could say that reading it gave me the final push to become serious about my writing. Of course I knew he was seriously ill, and being in the medical profession, knew things didn't bode well for him. I'm so sorry that he has passed.
Re: the unfinished story: over on dragonmount.com RJ kept a blog. As of late, it was usually his cousin or wife posting to it. A few weeks ago his cousin posted an update and he mentioned that RJ had talked about the story and the last book for a few hours, basically telling him and RJ's wife exactly how it would end and what would happen, etc. I got chills when I read that, because it sounded like a "Last Will and Testament" of sorts. You know, "I won't be around to finish this but here's how I want it to be done." I believe his wife is his editor; I wouldn't be surprised if Tor has her finish the last book.
Thanks for posting, Y.
Very eloquent, Sean.
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