A sad day indeed.
As a fan, I definitely mourn for the series and the setting. The WoT had me hooked from the very first book. I happened upon
Eye of the World at a small market in my hometown. I was there to hit on the cute girl behind the counter, and saw the paperback and went for it. I've bought every other book, religiously, ever since. I have most of the collection in hardcover, and will definitely pick up whatever the publisher puts out to tie up the series. Even if it's just the notes.
I had the pleasure of meeting RJ when he was on a book signing tour years ago, and he was a very fun guy. The WoT was headed for publication as a RPG world in the "D20" system for D&D. I asked a few questions about his involvement, and how close it would be to the world he wrote about. He gave me time for a few follow up questions and was very excited about it going to RPG print. The guy behind me tried to pry secrets ("Is Moiraine dead?" etc.) and RJ's only answer was "Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston did it!" to every single fanboi question.
Which gave him +10000 points in my book.
Of all the fantasy novel series launched in my lifetime, the WoT has been the single most loved one by me; and I'm truly thankful that he had the ability to write so many books about the setting through the story.
LINK
(Grimwell) Re:Wheel of time author dies
