Jordan: references found elsewhere
Michael Macchione
When I was shocked to find PA mentioning Robert Jordan. First a little
background. In Feb. '89 PA was contacted by a 12 yr old girl's mother,
who said that Jenny had been the victim of a drunk driving accident and
was in a coma. Since Jenny was a big fan, her mother hoped a letter from
PA might help bring it out of the coma. It did help and PA started to
write once a week to Jenny about this, that and the other thing. _Letters
to Jenny_ is a compilation of the letters that he wrote in the first year.
PA mentions RJ in two separate letters as being a worthwhile author.
After finishing the book, I cannot remember any other author that he
mentions that he is not currently working with.
Here are the relevant parts of the two letters, which might interest people:
(p 169) September 22,1989
{talking about Hurricane Hugo}
...crashing into land...at Charlotte, South Carolina. That was a
secondary target; I know an editor at TOR BOOKS who livers there, Harriet
MacDougal, former senior editor. Her husband is Robert Jordan, author of
several Tarzan novels, but don't judge him by that; he's about to get into
major fantasy, and will be one of the leading figures in the genre. I
know. {...} I read his first huge fantasy epic in manuscript; it hasn't
been published yet. {continues on how Harriet helped him publish a book}
**Tarzan--Conan: What's the difference? They are both big muscular men who
run around in loinclothes.
(p 213) Convention---November 10,1989
{PA had flown to meet a still paralyzed Jenny at a Sci-Fi convention.
...As it was, I read myself to sleep on _Conan_the_Defiant_ by Steve
Perry; {...} They say that Robert Jordan is the best Conan writer, but I
liked this Perry Conan better than the Jordan Conan I read. Which is not
to disparage Jordan; I am highly impressed by his major fantasy.
**Having read the whole book, I consider this high praise. When he wrote
these two passages to Jenny, he did not plan on compiling them into a
novel. Hence he would only be praising RJ to Jenny, not as a plug but as
a good author. He recommends no one else to Jenny in this fashion.
Mike
Sir MPS
Judith Ellen Ghirardelli
Michael Macchione <ghe...@chopin.udel.edu> wrote:
>Last night, I was reading the book _Letters to Jenny_ by Piers Anthony.
>When I was shocked to find PA mentioning Robert Jordan. First a little
>background. In Feb. '89 PA was contacted by a 12 yr old girl's mother,
>who said that Jenny had been the victim of a drunk driving accident and
>was in a coma. Since Jenny was a big fan, her mother hoped a letter from
>PA might help bring it out of the coma. It did help and PA started to
>write once a week to Jenny about this, that and the other thing. _Letters
>to Jenny_ is a compilation of the letters that he wrote in the first year.
>
>PA mentions RJ in two separate letters as being a worthwhile author.
>After finishing the book, I cannot remember any other author that he
>mentions that he is not currently working with.
>
>Here are the relevant parts of the two letters, which might interest people:
>
>(p 169) September 22,1989
>{talking about Hurricane Hugo}
>...crashing into land...at Charlotte, South Carolina. That was a
ARRGG. I hope this is a mistype by you MPS, and that this was not
really printed in a book. Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, SC, then
tracked inland and hit Charlotte, NC. I know - I was living in Charlotte,
NC, and the chimney on the apartment above us blew over, collapsing the
apartment above us at 5:30 in the morning. That was Friday; they
told us to get out on Monday after inspecting. We moved Tuesday. The
true eye of the world went over us too...
Anyhow, when living in Charlotte, much was made about the "ch" effect -
people not being able to distinguish Charlotte from Charleston, and
Charleston SC from the same name in WV, so I am a little sensitive.
That is why I hope that the Charlotte SC reference was your mistake
Mike, and not PA's. I can excuse you, since you live in Del, but
I would hope that something like a book would get it right.
Sorry to be venting...
Judy G.
--
Judy Ghirardelli || Love is Always , Me is Life
ghir...@bunyip.gsfc.nasa.gov || Forever is just another Smile
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"It's hard to be brave when you're a Very Small Animal." - Piglet
Michael Macchione
Judith Ellen Ghirardelli <ghir...@wam.umd.edu> wrote:
>In article <2k3ikl$l...@chopin.udel.edu>,
>Michael Macchione <ghe...@chopin.udel.edu> wrote:
>>(p 169) September 22,1989
>>{talking about Hurricane Hugo}
>>...crashing into land...at Charlotte, South Carolina. That was a
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>ARRGG. I hope this is a mistype by you MPS, and that this was not
>really printed in a book. Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, SC, then
>tracked inland and hit Charlotte, NC. I know - I was living in Charlotte,
>NC,
>That is why I hope that the Charlotte SC reference was your mistake
>Mike, and not PA's. I can excuse you, since you live in Del, but
>I would hope that something like a book would get it right.
I just ran to get the book and I'm sorry, but it was PA's error. (This is
in the same chapter as the Tarzan reference.) Remember, these letters
were written free hand and were not proofread, as most books would be. They
copied these letters into the book, and edited for style not content.
And what is so bad about living in Delaware? Besides the fact that it is
small, flat, has no concept of what a 'real' city is...
In response to someone's email message, (I forgot whose, senility is
setting in :) Yes, Piers Anthony is donating a portion of the proceeds of
the book to help pay for Jenny's hospitalization (I believe it is 1% of the
cover price).
Mike
Sir MPS