To All,
2:58 pm (1458 hours, hooah!), 23 July 2007
I'm stealing a line from a friend and big WOT fan, "leave the imagination to RJ."
He's fine! Having one of those "rough patch" days today, but fine. In fact, he had a hearty breakfast of Sauerkraut and a Hamburger. You read that right. Yuck! Not to my liking, but gives you an idea of the cast iron nature of his stomach. I guess eating cold C rations in the rain and mud of Vietnam will cause you to think anything is good. In f
The following is an account of my experiences when I traveled to South Carolia for Robert Jordan's funeral. I was privileged to attend his services in Charleston, and to meet his family. My goal in attending the funeral was to represent as many of his fans as possible, and to document everything in order to share it with you. I hope what follows can help give you a sense of what it was like to be there. Even though you couldn’t attend, I promise you, whether you're reading this in the scho
The following was written by Will McDougal, who is Harriet's son and Robert Jordan's step-son. He was kind enough to share these experiences with us.
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Thank you for all your support. James Oliver Rigney was a remarkable man. I am proud to have known him, to have been raised by him and to know him as a father.
I wrote the following 2 days after he passed away. It seemed to me that some readers might like to know some of the following. Thanks again for your support.
The de
Since posting the report on Robert Jordan's funeral, I've come across some more items I'd like to share with you. (With permission from RJ's family of course).
First off, Tom Doherty and Wilson were kind enough to share the words they spoke at RJ's funeral with us. Tom is the president of Tor Books (who published the Wheel of Time), and has been a friend of RJ's for 30 years or more. Here's what he said at the eulogy:
Tom Doherty's Eulogy for James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (Robert Jor
I have photos of family around me in my office. They are a gentle reminder that we work to have a life, not the other way around. In one of those photos, Jim and I are shoulder-to-shoulder, our heads leaning in and touching at the temples. A private moment captured by my Janet. At the end of a busy day in mid-October, I was heading towards the door, glanced at the photo and thought, "I haven't called him in days. I need to do it on the way home..." Then it hit me. I can't call him. He won
Dear everyone,
Brandon Sanderson came to see me for a couple of days this week, and he is as terrific as he sounds in the interview. I am really glad that things have worked out so that he can, and will, complete A MEMORY OF LIGHT. He will do a job that Jim would approve, I believe. And I'll be working with him throughout the writing. And so will Alan Romanczuk and Maria Simons, who have worked Jim through a number of books, and who are both now completely available for Brandon's support.
On 8 March 2008, James Oliver Rigney, Jr. was inducted as the 47th member of the South Carolina Academy of Authors (SCAA) Hall of Fame. The setting was perfect, The Citadel, The Military College of S.C. The man most of you only knew by his nom de plume, Robert Jordan was a graduate of the Citadel and adored his alma mater. Jim would have loved the attention and been embarrassed by it. You see, he wrote not for acclaim. He wrote because that's what he loved to do. But every one of us likes
Family, friends and fans of fantasy gathered at The Citadel on Tuesday 8 April 2008 to dedicate a permanent memorial to my brother/cousin, James Oliver Rigney, Jr. This was a celebration of Jim’s life and his work. I would be lying were I to tell you I was looking forward to the event. We had assembled only a few weeks earlier at the Citadel to induct Jim into the South Carolina Author’s Hall of Fame. That evening had propelled me back to the awful moments in September when we lost Jim.
[Harriet asked us to post the following excerpt from the El Paso Times]
From the El Paso Times, 07/03/2008
VA DENIES HYPERTENSION CLAIMS LINKED TO HERBICIDES
by Chris Roberts
Copyright 2008
"...[Veterans Affairs Secretary] James Peake agreed to allow AL amyloidosis... as a service-connected illness related to herbicide exposure, Brown [Mark Brown, director of VA's Environmental Agents Service]said.
"...AL amyloidosis was added to the list [of service-connected illnesses] be
Writing as Robert Jordan, James Rigney made knowledge his stock in trade. In order to write effectively about men and non-men who fought with swords and lances, he hefted them, he swung them. He studied what life is like for a man who makes his meat and beer with a battle axe. He would hold a spear or sword and contemplate the use of it in combat. Some swords are better in small areas, whereas long swords are better suited for larger space. He'd use them to learn about things like that. Einstein
Greg, "The Armorer", Kitchens passed along some more photos of Robert Jordan's weapon collection. He writes:
Some have suggested a book of Jim’s collection. While this is a fun idea, I am afraid it is too late. The collection has already been taken down from the walls and distributed among the heirs, other than what we are auctioning now.
Please consider posting some of these pictures on the site if you feel it appropriate and in you get the time. They are pictures I took of the collec
On October 27, Book 12 of The Wheel of Time, THE GATHERING STORM, goes on sale nationally. Completed by Brandon Sanderson from notes and partials left by Robert Jordan, it is very good. I was its editor, as I was editor on ALL the Wheel books, and Maria Simons, Jordan's right hand for over 12 years, and Alan Romanczuk, Jordan's left hand (just because you can't have two right hands unless you are ... Shiva, is it?) have worked very closely with Brandon as well. We three -- Harriet, Maria, and
All,
Many of you became very familiar with an almost-member of our family, The Armorer, USMC Colonel Greg Kitchens. Though a reserve officer, Greg felt the calling to return to active service and did that in 2008. He was subsequently deployed in support of our missions in the Middle East. I asked specifics and he gave me the old "I can tell you but..." line. When a Marine weapons instructor says that, you stop asking. I thought you all (yes I am from Charleston and I didn't say y'all),
Hi everyone,
Jason here. I received an email over the weekend from Wilson. He actually posted a little news in reply to another blog post. He asked that I bump it up to an actual posting. Here's what he said, in reference to RJ and Harriet:
They're at the Mayo for the 1st 90 day check as I type this. The number is now 2.7. You'll have to get the rest from the big guy.
Wilson
Brother/Cousin
4th of 3
First off, thanks to NaClH2O and to Anonymous. I didn't know that Pentangle had gone on beyond their first two albums. I remember walking down the corridor in my hooch in Nam and hearing music coming from a doorway that made me duck in and ask who it was. The next time I could get by the Air Force PX, I picked up Pentangle, and later the second album. After that, I heard nothing, so I suppose I simply assumed they had vanished like so many other musicians. They're like writers, you know. I can't
I received some additional acknowledgments from the Mayo of people who have sent money in honor of James O. Rigney, so here goes. My deepest thanks to Mr. Michael Nemeth, Mr. Ryan Tibbetts, Mr. Steven Odden and Mr. Spencer Martin. I really can't say how much this means to me.
One thing I should point out is that won't receive an acknowledgement, and you won't get one either, not from me, if you send money in honor of Robert Jordan. Their patient is James O. Rigney, and they don't have a
I've received some further acknowledgements of donations to the Mayo Amyloidosis Research in my name, and I'd just like to thank Ms Joanna Stampfel, Ms Lelon White, Mr. Ryan Kelly, Gospodin Dzmitry Ludzik, Mr. Steven Rowell, and Ms. Krisztina Radnoti. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Also, many thanks to all of you who have posted about your own experiences with severe illness and chemo. Chemo treatments are all different, but I appreciate your posts. You are all fighters, or you
Hi everyone -- No, this is not Robert Jordan writing. I am invading his blog in order to upload some pictures that he asked me to pass along. I've not quite figured out a way to have him post this many pictures directly to his blog.
Here they are: the eagerly-awaited before and after pictures. Click each image to see the larger version.
The first batch of pictures he sent along were all of the "Before" pictures (with hair). In reference to those Before pics, RJ wrote the following:
I just got some mail from Brad Condray and "all the Maniacs at wotmania," pages and pages of get well messages. And never a troll in the lot of them. Thanks, guys. I can't tell you what it means. Thanks a lot.
RJ
PS Had my first chemo this morning, and though they say the side effects won't kick in for a few days, I have to say, so far, so good.
PPS I decided not to wait on my hair falling out in patches. First visit after leaving chemo was a barber shop where I told the m
A running commentary on the Mayo Clinic. I had intended to post before this, but it didn't work out. This began life as bits and pieces and notes I intended to use. It turned into something a little different. Sorry about that. I hope it's coherent.
The first week has been interesting. If you find needles interesting. There have been other sorts of tests – X-rays literally of every bone in my body; a pulmonary function test with me coughing all over the place and the tech sighing and s
First off, many, many thanks to all of you who have offered your prayers and/or good wishes. There are far too many of you, both here on the blog and elsewhere, for me to acknowledge you all individually, but believe me, you have my thanks.
I promised you some answers before I go off to Mayo, so I will give you some here. A few.
For Sidious, thanks very much for posting the overview of amyloidosis, but after conferring with my hematologist, I have to disagree with you on one point. Yo
Well, guys, the letter in Locus is indeed from me. I had hoped to be a little more focused with this and get a post up here before anything came out in Locus, or anywhere else public, so you would get it first, but I flat forgot that Charles has his on-line version of Locus now, too. Sorry about that.
Don't get too upset, guys. Worse comes to worst, I will finish A Memory of Light, so the main story arc, at least, will be completed. And frankly, as I said, I intend to beat this thing. A
Sorry about the long stretch without a post, guys, but things were a little hectic here for a time. That has a tendency to happen, especially around the Holidays.
I've noticed here and there that some of you have caught errors -- sometimes mine, sometimes printers' errors -- and commented on them. When you do that, would you please give the chapter where you found the error and also the edition -- American, British, hardcover, trade paperback etc -- as well as the title, and the printing if
Well, the appetite is beginning to slip, and last night was miserable. I wasn't sick, per se, but I felt as if I were about to become sick shortly and I couldn't sleep worth a damn. Oh, well. I'm still doing pretty well. I managed a good (if bland) supper last night and a decent breakfast this morning. I am beginning to look around for any possible sources of calories I can get down for the future. That does mean anything, dark chocolate bars, ice cream, peanut M&Ms, anything. I'm not
