Jordan plans to live another 30 years—long enough, he says to finish all the books that are in his head right now. That will require a large dose of luck, and so far, his luck has been mixed. The new drug he’s taking seems to be working well. Still, he can write for two hours a day at most, compared with eight or nine hours in healthier times. At this rate, he’ll submit the final book in 2008 for publication in 2009, says Tom Doherty, president of Tor Books, Jordan’s publisher.
If he gets better, he’ll write faster. No one wants to talk about the alternative. If he dies, could someone else finish the series? Authors like V.C. Andrews and Mario Puzo have posthumously passed along their series to other writers. Still, some fans worry that another author, even Harriet, wouldn’t be true to Jordan’s voice. Jordan, however, is open to the idea.
“I’m getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish A Memory of Light and have it end the way I want it to end,” he says. “But I hope to be around to actually finish it myself.”
The decision, Jordan says, will be left to Harriet and Doherty, who has been a close friend and colleague for years. But Doherty isn’t ready to address that possibility.
“I’m not prepared to concede that that’s going to happen,” Doherty says. “I’m working on the belief that he’s going to beat this thing. Who else can tell this story?”
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