Robert Jordan died Sunday

I just found out that Robert Jordan (a.k.a. James Rigney), author of the Wheel of Time fantasy series, died yesterday.

As I was taking a hot bath, Michael suddenly said from the office, "Robert Jordan died." He'd read the news on George R.R. Martin's blog. After my bath, I did a quick search and found an article on Yahoo! announcing his passing.

I also found Robert Jordan's official blog, which has a post that was written yesterday by his brother. Just two or three posts previous, Robert Jordan himself had posted to reassure fans he was still alive. That was nearly a month ago. Reading those posts after his death, almost a month after he had written them, was erie and saddening.

Just a month or two ago ago, an old friend had told me that Robert Jordan had been pretty sick for a while. I hadn't known, but then, I don't always follow that kind of thing. This friend -- my very first boyfriend, actually -- had introduced me to the Wheel of Time series in high school. I read The Eye of the World back then, but didn't care much for it. About three years later, though, I reread it -- and all five or six of the other books that were out at the time.

I haven't followed the more recent books, more's the pity. I don't think I've read past book six, actually. I've been meaning to, but just haven't made the time. Robert Jordan wasn't finished writing the series when he died, but I am going to have to catch up and read the rest anyway.

I can't say Robert Jordan was the biggest influence on me as a writer, or anything momentous like that. He was, however, a talented and prolific writer, not to mention one that I took for granted and assumed would always be there.