Outrigger novels

[Llewin]

Ok, so I have a few questions. The last thing I remember RJ having said about other books is that he had a totally different series with oriental influences that he was planning to write... When did he mention these outrigger novels?

 

Also... Has anyone thought about whether Harriett will let the universe be expanded on by other authors? There seems to be a growing theme in the fantasy world now-adays of authors writing in other authors' universes... I just saw one at half price books the other day that was a 3rd party author writing in the mists of avalon world...

 

Would it be a good thing or a bad thing? Which authors do you think would do it justice?

[Dashiva]

The other series Robert Jordan was going to do was called Infinity of Heaven. Sounds tight huh? Well anyways he described it as a high fantasy shogun series. There was no relation between that and WoT.

 

The outrigger novels were with Mat and Tuon post Tarmon Gaidon. Also a couple more New Spring novels.

 

Personally, I dont think anyone should be in RJ's world. After AMOL it should be done and live on with the fans. Yea it would be nice to have other novels about some of the histories, wars, and other characters but i think it would be disrespectful. Cause all it takes is a book to be horrible and it will stain WoT.    Thats just my opinion though. hope that helps.

[Llewin]

Now that you mention the name, I remember Infinity of Heaven and the description as well. I also knew about the other two prequels, but does someone have a link to the conversation where RJ mentioned the Mat/Tuon outriggers?

[Celdiruen]

Don't have a link but I'm gonna throw in my 2 cents about 3rd party authors.

 

It's a weird situation, and it all depends on how you look at it and weigh each side.

 

On one hand, like Dashiva said, all it takes is one bad or mediocre novel and the WoT series will be "stained" or considered worse/lesser.

 

On the other hand, fans, especially hardcore fans, usually don't want the story to end even though they know it has to, and would always love more stories and adventures about their favourite characters or worlds.

 

On the last hand (yes.. the third hand), some people do not want other novels after the completion of the series simply because they want the rest to be left to the fans and their respective imaginations. The author has written the story, let us be emerged in it, given us a base if you will, and the fans build from there.

 

 

[Llewin]

The last (yes third) hand lends itself most readily to allowing fans to roleplay in the universe without having to change the details of the main story as well...

[Mr Ares]

Here's a reference to the outriggers from the blog:

A few people seem confused over what I mean by saying that I need thirty years to complete the books in my head. That entails a lot more than The Wheel of Time. There is A Memory of Light, of course, the last main sequence novel of WoT, plus two more short prequel novels. Then there are, possibly, three “outrigger” novels set in the WoT universe. There are the two trilogies of Infinity of Heaven, set in quite another universe. Plus there are several other novels and a handful of novellas that are set in neither universe. A few of them are actually set in our own universe, though not always without a twist. So there are a fair number, even to spread out over 30 years.

 

Also, as to what the outriggers will contain, I recall one mention of a story with Mat and Tuon 10 years after TG. Saying that that means all the outriggers will be about those 2 is a tad inaccurate. Unless my memory is playing me false.

[RAND AL THOR]

My opinion: AMOL and then lets be done with it.

[leo]

Two things:

 

1.  If there were notes for the prequels and outriggers have someone write them and run them through Harriet.

 

2.  If they do let people write more, everything should go through the same people it went through when RJ was writing to keep characters from being changed.

 

If these things can't be done, then I agree that the WoT should be left alone.

[Thorum]

A short overview of RJ's intentions, so we're all speaking about the same things:

 

• The Battle at Shayol Ghul about how LTT sealed up the Bore - available online, just type the title in Google
  
• 2 encyclopedias:
  
  • The World of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time written halfway the series by someone else, based on very rough notes by RJ, and thus quite unreliable as a source
    
  • an encyclopaedia by Harriet (RJ's wife and editor) with a (large, please, Harriet  ;) ) part of the unpublished notes of RJ - unpublished
    

  [*]3 WoT prequels:

  • New Spring about the search of Moiraine for the Dragon Reborn
    
  • a part about Tam (how he got in Illian, how he met Kari, how he found Rand) - unpublished
    
  • a part about Moiraine finding Rand - unpublished
    

  [*]12 WoT books:

  • the eleven books that are published
    
  • A Memory of Light - unpublished
    

  [*]3 outrigger novels - all unpublished:

  • two of which we do not know the content yet
    
  • one about Mat and Tuon a couple of years after Tarmon Gai'don (RJ was so enthousiastic about it he told us)
    

   

  [*]A new series which was already a concept under the working title "Infinity of Heaven" - unpublished

 

My two cents?

- AMoL will be published by Brandon Sanderson, but, in 'good' tradition, a couple of months too late.

- Harriet will publish her encyclopedia (if she lives long enough). It's probably a good way to keep oneselves busy as a widow.

- Infinity of Heaven will never by published. I don't think it is developed enough on paper to be fleshed up by another writer.

- The outrigger novels (the three last ones) will probably be published by BS, if AMoL sells enough. The Mat-Tuon one will probably be the first, seeing how excited RJ was about it.

- The two remaining prequel novels will probably be done by another author, if ever.

 

The books I would still like to see after AMoL are the two prequels and Harriet's encyclopedia. The outriggers won't add much anymore I fear and would be too much of a disappointment. Also, if you give a writer a fingernail, he walks away with your entire arm. Which writer was gonna make a fantasy series starting with the Eye of the World and not being able to find a publisher at first for it being too long at 3 to 4 books? That was about 15 years ago.