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.
Jordan was born in
Charleston, South Carolina and holds an undergraduate degree in
physics from
The Citadel, the military college of
South Carolina. He served two tours in
Vietnam 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. He is a history buff and enjoys hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting. He currently resides in
Charleston, South Carolina with his wife Harriet McDougal who works as a book editor (currently with
Tor Books).
[www.tor.com]On
March 23, 2006, Jordan disclosed in a statement
in a firm and optimistic tone that he has been diagnosed with primary
amyloidosis with
cardiomyopathy, and that, with treatment, his
median life expectancy is four years, though he says he intends to beat the statistics. In a firm and emotional statement, 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 the
Mayo Clinic in
Rochester, Minnesota in early April 2006
. As of June 12, 2006, Robert Jordan announced on his blog that his treatment is going well. On July 14, 2006, Jordan stated that although the results of his chemotherapy have not caused the remission he had hoped for, there has been no further damage to his heart since his preliminary visit to Mayo. Mr. Jordan is currently enrolled in a study using a drug just approved for
multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary
amyloidosis, and continues to have an optimistic view of his treatment.
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
[Robert Jordan's Official Blog, origin of his pen name] 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.
Fallon
(under the pen name
Reagan O'Neal)
The Fallon Legacy (
1981)
The Fallon Pride (
1982)
The Fallon Blood (
1995)
Jordan is one of several writers who has written
pastiches of the original
Conan the Barbarian stories.
#
Conan the Defender (
1982) #
Conan the Invincible (
1982) #
Conan the Triumphant (
1983) #
Conan the Unconquered (
1983) #
Conan the Destroyer (
1984) #
Conan the Magnificent (
1984) #
Conan the Victorious (
1984) #
Conan: King of Thieves (
1984)Although some bibliographies list it,
Conan: King of Thieves does not exist. It was the original title of the second Conan movie. Robert 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.
[WOT Encyclopaedia]They were packed into two separate volumes:
The Conan ChroniclesFurther Chronicles of ConanEleven 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
[Canon, Peter. CROSSROADS OF TWILIGHT (Book). Publishers Weekly; 12/23/2002, Vol. 249 Issue 51, p50.]. This slowing culminated in the tenth book
Crossroads of Twilight which covered only one day in the lives of the characters. 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."
[Robert Jordan's Official Blog October 2nd, 2005]You can find chapter summaries for the first eleven Wheel of Time books
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)
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 after finishing the main sequence
[www.dragonmount.com/news].
Final Volume
On
October 18, 2005, at a book signing at West Chester, 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 2000 page monster" because he has so many dangling plot threads to wrap up in a single volume. Jordan also said that he was already hard at work on the installment. He also mentioned the possibility of several 'outrigger' novels, which reversed his previously made comments that he would conclude his work on the world with prequels. However, 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, and it comes with its own library cart".
However, due to his health problems and hopeful treatment, Jordan isn't working at full force on the final installment. He hopes that once stabilising his health he will continue work. According to Tor, Jordan's publisher
[www.thebookstandard.com], with the end of the series finally in sight, Jordan's agent Nat Sobel says that he and the publisher are pressuring Jordan "in the nicest way possible" to try and complete Book 12.
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-like series about a man in his 30's who is shipwrecked in an unknown culture and world. The books will detail his adventures there, and will be titled
Infinity of Heaven [
1].
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.
Thus work on this saga isn't expected to begin before
2008 at best. 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)
*
Robert Jordan's blog (hosted by
Dragonmount)
*
Robert Jordan Discussion Forum*
Bibliography at the Fantastic Fiction website
*
SciFan's entry on the author*
Wotmania A fansite
*
Theoryland for the WoT A site dedicated to discussing the Wheel of Time series
