Robert Jordan biography
Robert Jordan was born on the 17th of October 1948 in Charleston, South Carolina. In 2006 he was diagnosed with the rare blood disease amyloidosis and died on September the 16th, 2007. Jordan will be best remembered for his best-selling fantasy series, The Wheel of Time, with 14 million copies having been sold in North America alone.
Robert Jordan (real name James Oliver Rigney Junior) found books and reading at any early age. He had (with the help of his older brother) taught himself to read by the age of four and was reading Mark Twain and Jules Verne by five. It was at this time that he realised that he intended to be a full time writer.
A military career as a helicopter gunner in the United States Army followed. His service included two tours of Vietnam where he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses. Jordan was educated at The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina where he gained bachelors in mathematics and physics. A career as a nuclear engineer in the United States Navy followed and it was during this time, in 1977, that Robert Jordan began writing.
Jordan chose the fantasy genre for his The Wheel of Time (the name of which comes from Hindu mythology) series because his believed that it allowed him to explore good and evil, right and wrong, honour and duty without having to having to conform the mainstream belief that these were but two sides to the same coin.
Right now I have fame, whatever you want to call it, but I'm not going to keep writing the same thing. I like fantasy, and I will write fantasy, but it's not all going to be 'The Wheel of Time'. I intend to change universe, rules, worlds, cultures, characters, everything, with the books I do when I finish 'The Wheel of Time'. 
The Wheel of Time series for which Robert Jordan is best known was to consist of twelve books. Eleven books had been published at the time of his death and Jordan’s widow, Harriet McDougal, has chosen Brandon Sanderson to write the twelfth book and thereby complete the series. All the important plot details had been shared with his family before his death.
Robert Jordan books
The Wheel of Time series
- The Eye of the World (1990)
- The Great Hunt (1990)
- The Dragon Reborn (1991)
- The Shadow Rising (1992)
- The Fires of Heaven (1993)
- Lord of Chaos (1994)
- A Crown of Swords (1996)
- The Path of Daggers (1998)
- Winter’s Heart (2000)
- Crossroads of Twilight (2003)
- Knife of Dreams (2005)
- A Memory of Light (2009)
Latest news: Robert Jordan
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A big thumb up for The Gathering Storm
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January 2009 issue of Locus Magazine now available
The January 2009 issue of Locus Magazine features:
Interviews with Frederik Pohl and Daryl Gregory
An obituary and appreciations of Forrest J Ackerman
News coverage of the publishing industry's Black Wednesday
A new column by Cory Doctorow, "Writing in the Age of Distraction"
Short ficti [...]
Red Eagle Entertainment to make Wheel of Time video games
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Wheel of Time Goes Hollywood
Universal Pictures bought The Wheel of Time fantasy series by the late James O. Rigney, Variety reports. Rigney's series has sold more than 44 million copies. Rigney, who wrote under the pen name Robert Jordan, died last year at the age of 58 while he was in the process of writing the 12th instalmen [...]
Universal option the film rights to The Wheel of Time fantasy series
Universal Pictures have obtained the film rights to the late Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time fantasy series. In a reported seven-figure deal, Red Eagle Entertainment (who has already adapted the novels into graphic novels) will produce the films, beginning with The Eye of the World.
Robert Jord [...]
Robert Jordan interviews
Robert Jordan interviewed by SFF World in November 2001 in which he talks about why he choose to write fantasy books and the disciplines required to be a full time writer.
A two page interview in which Robert Jordan talks about The Wheel of Time series and the inspirations behind it.
Excerpts taken from Locus Magazine in March 2000
Robert Jordan chats about his "Wheel of Time" series on CNN.com
Book of the Month
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
On the Letherii continent the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen. The fate awaiting the Bonehunters is one no soldier can prepare for, and one no mortal soul can withstand - the foe is uncertainty and the only weapon worth wielding is stubborn courage.
Latest interviews
Interviews plus question and answer sessions with authors, narrators and publishers.
Must-reads
The following reviews are of books that begin the very best fantasy series available.
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