With Robert Jordan's death yesterday, fans of his lengthy fantasy series are left wondering about the future of their beloved franchise. Jordan had been working on the twelfth and final book of his Wheel of Time series when he was diagnosed with a rare and terminal condition last year. He knew his time was likely short and so prepared story notes, explaining the order of events and their importance, charging his wife and the president with the task of finishing his book if the worst were to occur.

So, fans of the series may get some consolation.

For my own part, on the recommendation of a girl a vaguely liked at the time, I had read the first three books of the series - each one a sizable investment of time due to the sheer volume of words in each book. I found the story interesting but the writing trite. It was cheap fiction and so I was able to persevere. In the end, I quit the series ninety pages into the fourth book, unable to justify the investment of time the series would demand of me. Jordan had released his eighth book at the time I began the first.

As someone who never planned to finish the series, I feel no personal loss at being robbed of the ending of the story. Still, I understand the torment real fans must be feeling now. It would be hard to know which to mourn more: the death of a stranger or the robbery of the narrative consummation of so great an investment of time and heart. The reason I understand so well the loss of the series' fans is that during particular series that I had been following, one of my greatest fears was that the author would die without completion of his work.

While Scholastic is now releasing Jeff Smith's Bone in nine, coloured, hardbound volumes and Cartoon Books offers a single-volume, black-and-white edition, I originally followed the tale in its thirty-page chapter installments - much as someone might have followed the works of Dickens. I put years into carefullly following the series and as the final chapters began to trickle in at a rate of one chapter every four months or so, I began to wonder how I would feel if somehow Smith were prevented from finishing his astounding work.

I would be crushed.

Even if it were revealed that he had written full scripts and his wife, Vijaya, would be editing them and they had found an artist capable of mimicking perfectly Smith's visual technique, I'd still feel crushed. Of course I'd mourn Smith's death, but since my only knowledge of him came from what he showed me - and the world, really - of himself through his creations, it seems fair that I mourn their loss as greatly. This is what its like for Jordan's fans right now. And while I can imagine, I cannot imagine.

What about you? Are there any works in progress that you would be devasted to see uncomplete by reason of a creator's death?

I mentioned how Bone's cancellation would have killed me. I know Harry Potter fans would be beside themselves if Rowling had died in a car accident immediately after publishing Book 6. Currently, I'm following and hotly anticipating the finale to Y: The Last Man; I think it's too close to completion for me to worry about Brian K. Vaughn's chances of survival - so I breathe a sigh of relief. I just have to hope I live long enough to see it.

What else? I would love to live to see the end of the Naruto books. Other books like Eric Shanower's Age of Bronze, which could take another ten years to finish, or Jason Lutes' Berlin, which has the slowest release schedule of any series I've ever read (even slower than Age of Bronze) - these are books that I'm dying to finish.

So what about you? What series currently has you by the throat? If Matthew Fox and Josh Holloway died in a knife fight in Mexico, would you cry because Lost couldn't continue? If Christopher Paolini grows up, will you hold vigil (as a grown up, there's no possible way Paolini would continue his embarrassment of a series, Eragon)?

Labels: death, literature

2 fruitless beatings