Memory of Light and Rex

Yesterday was a day of memories.  My book reading agenda was thrown into total disarray.  I was in the middle of the middle of three anthologies of Glen Cook’s Black Company series when I received the final volume of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series – A Memory of Light.

I am going to drop everything to read this fourteenth and final novel in the epic series.  Jordan has been a companion since the early 1990s with this series of books following the rise of Rand Al’Thor to almost mythic power in his building confrontation with the ultimate evil – the Dark One.  This book sees the final battle as the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance.

I’m a total geek when it comes to this type fiction where Jordan became the true inheritor of the Tolkien mantle.  Where so many other authors tried Jordan succeeded in creating an entire world and associated myths.  I also liked that he empowered the women in his stories without succumbing to a mind numbing exploration of “feelings” without completely ignoring them.

Jordan who real name was James Oliver Rigney, Jr., passed away in 2007 after a brave battle, which he shared with his readers, with a debilitating disease.  He knew the debt he owed to his fans and despite the ravages of his disease strove to lay down the outline for the conclusion of his epic series.  His devoted wife and editor, Harriet, hired Brandon Sanderson to complete the series which culminates in A Memory of Light. 

I’m a little hesitant to start because I know this will be my last visit to Andor, Camelyn, the border kingdoms, the magnificent Aiel fighters, the Aes Sedai, and so many more memories.  I felt like I lost a friend when Jordan passed away and I look at this book knowing that at the end I will have lost another.  I’m going to cherish reading this because I’ve got to know what happens to all the beloved characters and hated enemies, but it will be bitter sweet.  Yeah, I know I’m a complete geek – deal with it!

Speaking of losing old friends, yesterday Rex Trailer died.  This will mean absolutely nothing to anybody who wasn’t a kid in New England in the 1960s.  Those of you who were will know exactly what I’m talking about.  Trailer hosted a TV show on Saturday morning that became a huge deal to New England kids of the time.  He was a cowboy in Boston, of all places, but he made a generation of kids (mine) feel special.  He also went out of his way to support special needs kids when that simply wasn’t done in public and hadn’t become a cottage industry.  He was color blind and made a point to include children of all races in his audience – just a good man. It may have been the innocence of the time but the world without room for a show like Boomtown is a little diminished, as are we all with his passing.  Thanks Rex, for being an icon to a young kid and making a generation believe in some truly appropriate values.  In tribute to Rex - I've tried uploading my first video directly to this blog - we'll see how that goes.

On the home front the gang of Panamanian women took a break from their epic shopping forays yesterday and I had the entire posse to deal with last night when I got home from work. I had to keep the volume control of the TV in hand as I tried to watch a movie in a nearby room as the conversation waxed and waned in decibel level.

They joined me to watch a couple of movies as well.  They laughed and kind of enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom, which I loved for its quirky take on life.  A lot of the subtle humor went over their heads.  They roared at the next movie, Horrible Bosses, which pokes fun at really inept men.  This apparently struck a note with them because they did not stop laughing for the entire movie.  Maybe they’re trying to tell me something.

R.I.P. Rex and Thank You

My Wife (On Right) and Her Posse Last Night