Robert Jordan: A Pseudonym of Epic Proportions

I thought it would be wise to do an author review on Robert Jordan considering A Memory of Light came out not too long ago. Robert Jordan is a name that you will know if you have ever read any of The Wheel of Time series. Robert Jordan’s real name was James Oliver Rigney, Jr. He was born October 17th 1948 and unfortunately died September 16th 2007. His death was due to a rare blood disease called cardiac amyloidosis. Robert Jordan had published 11 of the 14 Wheel of Time books when he died. His wife then went on to find Brandon Sanderson to finish the series. There were only suppose to be 12 books, but Sanderson realised that A Memory of Light was going to be longer than 900 000 words. The publisher decided to split it into 3 parts, angry fans thought this was a ploy for the publisher to make more money.

Here are some things that you didn’t know about Robert Jordan. Or should I say James Oliver Rigney, Jr.

James taught himself to read at the age of 4 and was reading major pieces of literature at 5. Personally I don’t know how he did it, considering I have trouble with some classic literature.

When war broke out he served two tours in Vietnam as a helicopter gunner. He was given many awards for his service. These awards included the Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with “V” and oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm.

James had a degree in physics. He thought that physics and fantasy writing went hand in hand. “You can’t study quantum mechanics without a feel for fantasy.”

Some of James’s hobbies were hunting, sailing, collecting pipes, fishing and playing pool, chess and poker.

Pseudonyms that James wrote under were Robert Jordan, Reagan O’Neal, Jackson O’Reilly and Chang Lung.

A rumour of a new series he was going to write after The Wheel of Time series was another fantasy. Whether this is true or not I cannot say. This fantasy was going to be in a whole other universe than The Wheel of Time books. The rules in this universe was that anything that happens to wash up on shore becomes property, even people. The hero of this story is shipwrecked and washes ashore, becoming property of an empress.

Something interesting he said in an interview once upon time was “I thought, when I was going to be a writer, maybe I’d go live south of France and write in the mornings, and then in the afternoons I’d go down to the beach and have a blonde, a brunette and a redhead in string bikinis come down and slide scented oil all over me. Now I work 60 to 80 hours a week, and the only time I get near the beach is if my wife pokes me out of my study with a stick!”

Even though he is dead now, he has left a large mark on the world with his novels.