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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.
Biography Rigney 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). Illness 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. 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. Mr. Jordan is currently enrolled in a study using a drug just approved for multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary amyloidosis. On September 15, 2006, he added a post to his blog noting incredibly good news concerning his condition (though he has not yet gone into remission) On October 25, 2006, the purveyor of Robert Jordan's blog (who goes by the handle "Wilson") on Dragonmount.com posted in the comments section of the most recent entry entitled "Some More Thank Yous". His statement revealed that, while still in double digits, Mr. Jordan's Lambda light chain levels are dramatically down. This indicates that his treatment at Mayo is in fact producing observably improved results. A blog entry from Mr. Jordan is expected soon. 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 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) Conan the Barbarian Jordan is one of several writers who has written pastiches of the original Conan the Barbarian stories. 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. They were packed into two separate volumes: 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. 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." You can find chapter summaries for the first eleven Wheel of Time books here. In addition to the main sequence, Robert Jordan has also written some accessory works: Jordan also has spoken of plans to write two other prequels after finishing the main sequence. 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 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, though blog entries confirm that he is doing some work. 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. 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 Quotes "When you die," Lan said simply. — The Shadow Rising Footnotes | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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