New cover
I’ve gotten a copy of the cover for the Gallery Seven Books anthology, Legends & Fables, which will feature my story “Tapewyrm.” It’s a good looking cover, and I can’t wait to get my hands on this one:
There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel…
But there has been an ending.
Robert Jordan, author of the epic Wheel of Time series, has succumbed to his battle with a heart condition known as amyloidosis. He died Sunday.
RJ’s blog at www.Dragonmount.com has been so busy practically no one can get to it. Here’s the text from the latest entry, made by his brother:
Sometimes even when you’ve fought your best….
Posted by Wilson on September 16th, 2007 in the Robert Jordan’s Blog category
It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain. In the years he had fought this, he taught me much about living and about facing death. He never waivered in his faith, nor questioned our God’s timing. I could not possibly be more proud of anyone. I am eternally grateful for the time that I had with him on this earth and look forward to our reunion, though as I told him this afternoon, not yet. I love you bubba.
Our beloved Harriet was at his side through the entire fight and to the end. The last words from his mouth were to tell her that he loved her.
Thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support through this ordeal. He knew you were there. Harriet reminded him today that she was very proud of the many lives he had touched through his work. We’ve all felt the love that you’ve been sending my brother/cousin. Please keep it coming as our Harriet could use the support.
Jason will be posting funeral arrangements.
My sincerest thanks.
Peace and Light be with each of you,
Wilson
Brother/Cousin
4th of 3
To Catalyst: Never, never loose faith. RJ did not. Harriet hasn’t. I haven’t. Going through what we have, our faith is only strengthened. Besides, if God didn’t exist, we would have never had Jim. We did. God does. Remember my Brother/Cousin, my friend, think of him fondly and glorify God’s name.
Editor’s Note:
The entire staff of Dragonmount.com would like to extend its most deepest sympathies to Robert Jordan’s family. He touched all of our lives in some way and we wish him the rest and peace he deserves. We will be posting information in the near future about where you can send condolences. Please check the News Section for these updates.
Robert Jordan (his real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr.) is one of the major reasons I’m such a fan of the fantasy genre. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up a copy of The Eye of the World in my high school library lo those many years ago, but I was instantly hooked and I’ve stayed that way for more than a decade and a half.
To be sure, I’m dissappointed that he was so close to the end of the series (which was to end with the next volume, Book 12, A Memory of Light), but I’m even more saddened at his death in the face of staunch determination. RJ refused to give up. The twelfth book will likely be finished by his family, but the man himself is gone.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.
Seven strange things…
I wasn’t sure I was going to do this, but then I got tagged by both Ian Rogers and Mike Stone to share seven weird things about myself. I told Ian I wasn’t sure I’d be able to come up with seven, but here it goes:
- I chew on plastic. Most people who know me “IRL” know this already, but I’ve usually got a pen or something in my mouth. Sometimes I’ll break pieces off to limit it to something besides a full sized pen. I haven’t a clue where this particular quirk came from.
- I hate bugs. This might not seem all that weird by itself, but it goes beyond mere dislike or even loathing. I’m actually scared of nearly anything with more than four legs. I’m not just talking about things like bees and wasps, although if it buzzes and/or has a stinger, I freeze. Moths, grasshoppers, you name it — if it lands on me, I swipe at it hard enough to bruise myself just to make sure it’s gone. Of course, my wife thinks this is funny and likes to throw grasshoppers at me.
- I really dislike swimming in anything that isn’t a pool — not so much because I’m scared of snakes, snapping turtles or sharks (in the ocean), but because I can’t stand the feel of aquatic plants on my legs and feet. They’re slimy and nasty.
- Even though I took classes like creative writing, archery and fencing in college, my favorite course was History of the English Language.
- I also enjoyed Advanced Grammer.
- I’m still kind of scared of the dark. Not in the screaming-if-my-nightlight-isn’t-on manner of my daughter, but I do tend to hurry across darkened rooms and make sure everything is covered by at least a sheet when I go to bed. (If you’ve read Jennings Grove, a lot of that stems from impression I got of the dark while sleeping at my grandmother’s house when I was a kid.)
- Despite my handle, I’ve never actually seen or held a hamster. I’ve been around mice, guinea pigs, flying squirrels, chinchillas and gerbils, but never a hamster.
Sadly, I know very few people online yet, so if you’re one of the few reading this thing, consider yourself dinged. What’s weird about you?
My first review…
I ran a Google search for Triangulation: End of Time just to see what’s out there, and found what I believe to be the first review over at Son and Foe. Jeremiah Sturgill noted that “That Ain’t a Mosey” sticks quite close to the typical zombie trope, which he described as “a bit more ‘typical’ than I would prefer” — the only negative for the story, if you really want to call it that.
Then again, why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to? Fans of zombie stories will likely get a kick out of this one, and I have an inordinate fondness for the line from which the story’s name is pulled. Call me crazy, but I think it’s just plain good writing.
Sturgill seemed to like the anthology overall, saying its only real weakness is the range of stories, which go from my Old West tale to alternate universes.
But then, that’s not so much a design flaw as it is a conscious trade off, and one that is not a bad choice for an anthology to make. The stories collected in Triangulation: End of Time will help expand your reading horizons, and they will help scratch your very particular, hard-to-reach, highly personal speculative fiction itch. Not bad for $12.
The Waiting Game…
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I hate waiting. I’ve got a dozen submissions sitting out there waiting for responses, ranging from a week to nearly a year. I don’t mind the ones that are a month or so, but after about two months I start wondering if they ever got it in the first place, especially the ones that don’t have any kind of response.
Of course, it’s not all bad. “A Time to Die,” to date my only non-speculative story, earned a hold request from How’d They Do That? A hold isn’t an acceptance, and it could easily still be rejected, but I’ve got a roughly 50-50 chance (based on the number of “holds” they expect versus the number of slots available). One of my other holds is also one of my longest waits — seven months for “Like Father Like Daughter” in Courting Morpheus. I don’t have a clue about this one. Part of the story is similar to “First Night in Jennings Grove,” which the editor has seen and enjoyed, but that doesn’t mean a whole lot if there’s better submissions. The anthology will be split between open submissions (such as mine) and invited authors.
Jennings Grove continues to eat up a lot of my time and I haven’t had a chance to write anything new lately. Unfortunately, work is eating up even more time and I haven’t had a chance to write as much as I should on Jennings Grove. I’ve got about 20,000 words done, enough to get me through the first part of October. I should have a great deal more written by then, but then again, I should have a great deal more written now.
Caveat Lector 