
and Jim and Harriet invited me to visit them if I ever made it down to Charleston. oh, and a little about our own series as well. We talked about other writers, editors, publishers, all the stuff that writers always talk about. I had some great dinners with Jim and his wife Harriet there in Collinsville as well. While I was doing the intro, and claiming credit for all his books, he slowly entered, walked up silently behind me, and stood looming over me, glowering like Zeus. It was a gag that Jim himself had suggested in the Green Room beforehand. He was the convention Guest of Honor and I was the Toastmaster, and I introduced him by telling the audience that actually we were the same person. The last time I saw Jim was at an Archon in Collinsville, Illinois. I will always be grateful to him for that. My own ICE & FIRE series might never have found its audience without the cover quote that Jim was so kind as to provide, back when A GAME OF THRONES was first published. He was also unfailingly generous towards other fantasists, always ready to offer them support and encouragement. His huge, ambitious WHEEL OF TIME series helped to redefine the genre, and opened many doors for the writers who followed.

It’s his blog so he can write whatever he likes, but clearly he knows that a lot of people are only paying attention to it in.

Jim was a good and gracious man, a pleasure to share a platform or a pint with, and his contributions to modern fantasy were many. Posting on his Not a Blog must be strange for George R.R. He was so optimistic and determined that you had to think that if anyone could beat the disease, it would be him. Although he had been fighting amyloidosis for several years, the news of his death still came as a shock to many, including me. James Rigney, better known to fantasy readers as Robert Jordan, has passed away. GrrmThe world of high fantasy is poorer today.
