http://www.dragonmount.com/RobertJordan/?p=90

Unfortunately, it's real this time. The Dragonmount site with his blog is down at the moment, probably under gigantic amounts of visitors... but both the Making Light blog and Locus Online have made statements, also.

Since it's not likely to be back up soon as the news spreads, I've posted the entries here:

And as far I know, he wasn't ill just after book 8, it was much later, though untrue rumors had persisted for years, as happens with many authors with an extended series.

Wilson stated on the Dragonmount blog just a few days ago that RJ had been working on the book right up til the end, and had recently "played Gleeman" and told him and Harrient everything- the rest of the story. He was determined to see it through, and I'm sure WIlson and Harriet will make sure that happens, not through greed, but because of his desire not to let it pass unfinished.
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from his blog, from Wilson, dated 2:45 pm yesterday Sept. 15, 2007
(Edited to add, I grabbed this from my Bloglines... the Dragonmount site is down at the moment, probably absolutely overwhelmed... which is why I've given other references that are up)

Sometimes even when you’ve fought your best….

By Wilson on Robert Jordan's Blog

It is with great sadness that I tell you that the Dragon is gone. RJ left us today at 2:45 PM. He fought a valiant fight against this most horrid disease. In the end, he left peacefully and in no pain. In the years he had fought this, he taught me much about living and about facing death. He never waivered in his faith, nor questioned our God’s timing. I could not possibly be more proud of anyone. I am eternally grateful for the time that I had with him on this earth and look forward to our reunion, though as I told him this afternoon, not yet. I love you bubba.

Our beloved Harriet was at his side through the entire fight and to the end. The last words from his mouth were to tell her that he loved her.

Thank each and everyone of you for your prayers and support through this ordeal. He knew you were there. Harriet reminded him today that she was very proud of the many lives he had touched through his work. We’ve all felt the love that you’ve been sending my brother/cousin. Please keep it coming as our Harriet could use the support.

Jason will be posting funeral arrangements.

My sincerest thanks.

Peace and Light be with each of you,

Wilson
Brother/Cousin
4th of 3

To Catalyst: Never, never loose faith. RJ did not. Harriet hasn’t. I haven’t. Going through what we have, our faith is only strengthened. Besides, if God didn’t exist, we would have never had Jim. We did. God does. Remember my Brother/Cousin, my friend, think of him fondly and glorify God’s name.

Editor’s Note:
The entire staff of Dragonmount.com would like to extend its most deepest sympathies to Robert Jordan’s family. He touched all of our lives in some way and we wish him the rest and peace he deserves. We will be posting information in the near future about where you can send condolences. Please check the News Section for these updates.
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and from the Making Light blog last night:

Robert Jordan (James Oliver Rigney), 1948-2007
Posted by Patrick at 10:42 PM * 70 comments

He was a good guy. He and Mike Ford considered one another “blood brothers,” and he spoke at Mike’s memorial in Minneapolis last fall, even though the effort of simply standing up was obviously a strain. He was a doer of quiet kindnesses, which counts for a very great deal.

Our thoughts are with his wife Harriet McDougal, the rest of the family, and everyone else who loved him.
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From Locus online, dated Sept. 16th, 2007:

Death: Robert Jordan

Fantasy writer Robert Jordan, born 1948, died today, September 16, 2007, at the age of 58. Jordan was the pen-name of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. He was author of the bestselling Wheel of Time series that began in 1990 with The Eye of the World and continued 11 volumes through Knife of Dreams in 2005, plus prequel volume New Spring (2004). A twelfth volume, A Memory of Light, remains uncomplete. Before that series Jordan wrote the Michael Fallon historical romance trilogy and seven Conan novels, from Conan the Invincible (1982) through Conan the Victorious (1984).

i was so shocked to read this on yahoo this morning because i just bought one of his books - "crossroads of twighlight" from the dollar tree and i just can not get into it!  i don't know if i need to start at the beginning or what.

I always recommend starting a series with book one.

Vanita, you really need to start this series at the beginning!  It's huge, complicated, and the story is progressive.  Book 10 (Crossroads of Twilight) is a catch-up and set-up for what were intended to be the last 2 books of the series.  Just reading that would be like reading/watching the middle of The Return of the King without knowing anything about the rest of LOTR. 

I heard about his death yesterday, and it's so sad! 

I hope he changed his mind and left permission for at least an outline of the last book to become available.  It feels a bit mercenary of me, but that was one of the first things I thought of, besides being sad for him and his family. 

I just finished Eye of the World, and started on The Great Hunt.  I was sad to see that he had died on Sunday.  Since he knew he was ill he probably did have an outline made so hopefully the book will be published.  How sad for his friends and family.

Yeah, the first thing I felt besides shock was "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, he's not finished".I hope he allows his family to finish from here.Maybe not anyone else, but at least keep his editors,who know his style,and I am sure his family could do it.I am just so sad that there were so many more stories in that mind of his, and we will never get to read them.

Krissaean,

i might give it another try - from the beginning this time. although i must say i have found other books and could not put it down which lead me to find out more about the author and their works to then find out it was part of a series which made me WANT to start from the very beginning. it just did not happen with this book for some reason. 

Read from the beginning. This is one that is absolutely fantastic read all at once, but would be a nightmare to start in the middle. Crossroads would be a particularly hard place to start, as it's composed of things going on at the same time, but in many different places with various people... and if you've read the other books, you've been following those characters and you're quite interested in everything happening all at once... but I'm sure it was very awkward with no background information.

RJ always said he's write til they nailed his coffin shut... and apparently he did. Wilson (his cousin that he was very close to) had posted just a week ago that RJ had recently "played Gleeman" and told the rest of the story, the whole thing, to him and Harriet (RJ's wife). Harriet is also apparently his editor.

Needless to say, there is a very strong belief that the final book will come out... in fact, that many feel that is what kept him hanging on so long, and that he was finally "done enough".

He loved his fans too much to leave us hanging.

He'd just better be writing in that better place, too... cause I want to read the rest of those stories he had planned out someday!

According to some of the posts in Terry Goodkind's forums on his web site, RJ had written the end of the book and was filling in the blanks when he passed. The last few days of his life, his wife reminded him how proud of him she was that he had touched so many people's lives.

Because he had told his wife and his cousin how the story was supposed to play out, the general idea is that they will finish the final book. As with any long standing series, there will be questions left unanswered. Many fans left the series becasue he had slowed down somewhat after book 8. Alot of people think he may have been getting sick during the writing of book 8, but it was too soon to really tell anything. But, as more fans learned that he was ill, they picked the series back up and continued to read it. TOR was very understanding about deadlines for him towards the end because of his illness. The rumor is that they extended his deadline for the final book as he got more and more ill. This comes as a shock to many fans, becasue the last thing posted on his blog before this was that he was doing so much better health wise. He also said he knew the worst could happen, and this would be the final book in the series and every thign would be resolved even if he had to make it 5000+ pages.

So two series are now, apparently and unfortunately, confirmed to be ending, one by force and one by choice. The Dragon will be dearly missed in the fantasy world. 

 "The grave is no bar to my call." Inscription on the Horn of Valere (The Great Hunt)

Yeah, it looks like RJ was working to get as much of the story across as he could before he passed away -- the website says he'd taken to dictating info onto recordings near the end to get the main storyline across faster.   So it may not be all his writing, but the story will be told as close to the way he wanted as possible.  That was really great of him!

Earlier this the site said Memory of Light was due out in 2009.   I don't know if his death will change the timing, but it looks like it's still coming sometime!

So two series are now, apparently and unfortunately, confirmed to be ending, one by force and one by choice. The Dragon will be dearly missed in the fantasy world.

What other series are you talking about?

What is so shocking is that as late as last month all things pointed to him getting better, but I guess not. I still can't get on his official site because they never expected the volume of visitors they have right now, so the servers have crashed.

According to everything I have been able to read so far, he had planned to finish A Memory of Light at the begining of 2008. His passing will probably delay the release of the book for at least a few months while his wife and family come to terms with his loss and get the strength of spirit to do what he wanted and finish the book. If it takes longer then expected, I hope that his fans will understand, since finishing his work, his legacy, his story will be like saying a final goodbye to him again.

Anyone else think the title of the book is a little ironic? A Memory of Light.... in essence, finishing this book in his honor and memory will be like his family's way to allow his fans to have a final good bye to him and a final Memory of Light, a memory of his light, which he would bring to the imagination of millions of readers world wide through his telling of the stories of these characters.

I was talking about Terry Goodkind's series being the other one.... Confessor will be the end of the series when released in November. It was just a comment that two very good series are going to be ending around the same time. Next thing we know, George RR Martin will decide to finish his series and announce that the book will be released in December.

Sounds like we read the same books! I am getting a little tired of Richard and Khalan.But, I read a feast for crows and wailed to wait for the next one!

I love the whole concept of a love story that is able to flourish during a time of such hardship and destruction, as the war with the EO and Jagang is..... I, personally, think adding the whole Cara and the military commander story into it was to show how much Cara has changed since Richard became Lord Rahl, by having more himan emotions and letting them show, but I really do not see the point of yet another love story.... other then that I am super excited about Confessor, can't wait for the mini series next year, and  I am thinking of adding HBO to my cable just for teh stuff they are airing in the next few years.... George RR Martian's will be a running series (I have heard each book will be a season, and I believe he has confirmed 8 books now) and the SoT mini series will be on HBO as well, lol..... (It will be interesting to see how they incorperate the Debt of Bones into the WFR mini series, lol)

OMG A mimi? I haven't heard.I knew about Martin's, but they won't start untill 2011 from what I can tell.People have been "casting" it on the BBoards.I cannot wait!

The people on Goodkind's site have been doing the same thing for WFR, lol... Pre Production was supposed to start after Spiderman 3 wrapped, since Sam Remi(sp) is producing both Spiderman and WFR. Everyone is hoping to get someone unknows to play R and K, but I have a few casting ideas of my own...... Maybe Idina Menzel (Maureen in RENT, star of Wicked, and Tey(sp) Diggs' wife, lol) can color her hair blonde and play either Cara or Denna. or one of the Mord Sith that was effected by the plague, since she is experienced at acting the lasbian relationship...... If they can get a big name for maybe one or two semi minor parts, it would probably be better and fit more with Gookdind's theme and message.... like Morgan Freedman as Bird Man or (since alot of his character's lines are comic relief, but somr are serious) Steve Martin as Zed..... I will be interested to know what the casting looks like.... www.terrygoodkind.com has some bare bones info about the mini....

I just found out he had passed this last weekend, I don't go to Dragonmount on a regular basis, but I did know he'd been sick and wanted to check how he was doing. I was shocked (and selfish) to learn he was gone. I got the 1st. book at Wal-Mart a couple years ago, not knowing that it went on and on and on...:D I do so hope that the final book will end the series and answer all the questions and tie up the loose strings. RIP RJ.