This isn’t good news.
It looks pretty official to me.
Has he got a son? Daughter? Nephew? To whom he could tell the intended outline to finish incase he dies?
This is the primary problem with writing a series that has no discernible end.
It was a seven book story at the most, and he’s managed to make a dog’s breakfast of it now, hasn’t he?
It could go either way. Either he’ll get to the acceptance part of grieving and finally wrap up the series or he’ll get stuck in the denial part (or bargaining) and keep going with his 30 year plan to attempt to ward off death.
This is why I’m a bit worried about A Song of Fire and Ice since from the looks of things it’s going in a similiarly lengty direction to Wheel of Time and appears to be far from over.
Surely he had some something in mind about where he is going to? I would guess most writers already know how their book ends before they finish it.
He’s claimed that he’s had the final scene of the series in his mind from day one.
Somehow, this is not reassuring.
This may seem…mean, but is there any hope that this unfortunate event will get Jordan to PICK UP THE PACE and FINISH the bloody series before we ALL die of old age?
It reminds me of the Clan of the Cavebear series. Isn’t finished yet either. But that went downhill with every new book that Auel wrote… shame.
Eh, look at the guy. He seems like a good laugh-in-the-face-of-death candidate to me. He’ll finish. Of course he’ll finish. He’s got to, he’s just…
If I stuck it out through all of those awful books (except for the last one) just to have him die on me, I’ll be miffed.
But if his torchbearer is anything like what I’ve heard about Brian Herbert, I’d as soon leave the ending up in the air.
What the heck are you guys talking about? There’s only 3 WoT novels. Sure, the story leaves some major issues unresolved, but that’s where it ends nonetheless.
I’m not sure you know what you’re saying hereCoughBrianHerbertCough.
As sad as this news is, there’s a good chance the core story of Wheel of Time will be finished. To quote:
He just says books, not necessarily Wheel of Time books. From what I understand, although I can’t find a cite here at work, he’s got something like two more books to go, if that, for Wheel of Time. He’s got plenty of other stories in his head, probably many in the WoT setting, but the main story is close to done. I could be wrong and merely grasping at straws, but I hope not.
Considering that 13 is the number in WoT, I’m thinking (hoping) two more are left.
Makes you want to go and give Christopher Tolkien a big wet sloppy kiss, doesn’t he? Chris may have published his dad’s wastepaper basket, but at least he didn’t pimp the characters to Alan Dean Foster.
First, you’re not allowed to say that. I’ve invested enough time and energy into reading those books that if Martin dies before finishing them, I will personally dig him up and reanimate him.
But also, I don’t think it’s true. His new book is going to be out by the end of this year (that’s the one that’s spillover from the book he just published), then 2 more books and he’s done.
I’m not personally familiar with the WoT series, but speaking as a fan of a certain other epic (The Dark Tower), you might actually count yourselves lucky if your author decides not to (or, sadly, passes away before he can) finish his work. Really.
On the other hand, I really do want to smack Clive Barker around until he finishes the ‘Books of the Art.’ Go back in the closet if you must, Clive, but finish what you started!
Damn… for years now I’ve been saying “Oh great, and one of these days he’s going to drop dead before he finishes the series.” Fucker better not prove me right…
All kidding aside, my best wishes go out to Jordan, and I hope that he pulls through. I mean, in his last WoT book, things actually happened! We can’t stop now!
I hope he fights this thing, but I stopped caring about WoT after Path of Daggers pretty much failed to move anywhere at all.
Yet another reason for me to not even start reading WoT. I know enough frustrated fans of his already, and as a Frank Herbert fan I’ve already suffered enough.
Bite your tongue! Martin has stated that SoI&F will take 7 books, so we’re over the hump, and Book 5 is in the can already. 