Harriet McDougal

McDougal is most known for her work on several best-selling fantasy and science fiction books and series, including The Wheel of Time (written by her husband Robert Jordan), The Black Company, and Ender's Game.

When William was made acting Commandant of the Charleston Naval Shipyard after the war, the family lived at the Yard briefly; but they soon returned to the downtown home, where Harriet spent the rest of her childhood.

[5][6] She was honored with the Headmistress' Award upon graduation in 1956, given to "that member of the senior class who has made the greatest contribution to the spirit and general welfare of Ashley Hall and best represents the ideal of the school.

[10][11] She has served on the Board of Trustees for Ashley Hall, and to this day she meets with a group of schoolmates who call themselves the "First Graders", as they all began first grade together in Charleston.

[12][13] When McDougal finished college in 1960, she worked for a year as the assistant archivist at the South Carolina Historical Society, making $42.50 a week.

[16] Doherty's and McDougal's success with Tempo eventually led to the 1976 purchase of Charter Communications and its science fiction imprint Ace Books, by Grosset & Dunlap.

Despite a promotion at Ace to vice president, she decided to resign and return to Charleston to raise her son and assume responsibility for the family home.

[23][24] Eventually she edited and published The Fallon Blood, written by Jordan as Reagan O'Neal, for Popham Press in 1980; when they finished touring for the book, they began dating, and soon they became engaged.

At that time, Jordan published Cheyenne Raiders (as Jackson O'Reilly) through another editor, "because I thought, 'Hang on...I just asked a woman to marry me, and she is my source of income!'

[26][17] After their marriage, she kept McDougal as her professional name, and she continued to edit for Tor, working on projects such as Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and The Black Company series by Glen Cook.

In her words: "By the last of the Wheel of Time books, my role was primarily that of wife: keeping him fed and cared for—because after 20 plus years I had taught him everything I knew about storytelling and prose, and he had really become the wonderful writer that he was.

[30][31][32][33] But around the time of his diagnosis (before the news was made public), he began to reassure his fans, saying "My comments about arrangements in case of my death (burning the notes, doing triple Guttman wipes on the hard drives, etc.)

"Following Jordan's death, McDougal became the owner of the Wheel of Time copyright, the highest authority for decisions concerning its future, and the surrogate 'mother' of the series in the eyes of fans.