Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan was the pseudonym of James Oliver Rigney, Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), under which he is best known as the author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He also writes under the name Reagan O'Neal.

Robert Jordan was born and still resides in Charleston, South Carolina. He served two tours in Vietnam (from 1968-70) with the U.S. Army where he earned the Distinguished Flying Cross with bronze oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star with "V" and bronze oak leaf cluster, and two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses with palm. After returning from Vietnam he attended the The Citadel where he received an undergraduate degree in physics. After graduating he was employed by the US Navy as a nuclear engineer. He began writing in 1977. He is a history buff and enjoys hunting, fishing, sailing, poker, chess, pool and pipe collecting. He currently lives in a house built in 1797 with his wife Harriet McDougal who works as a book editor.

On March 23, 2006, Robert Jordan disclosed in a statement in a firm and optimistic tone that he has been diagnosed with primary amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy, and that, with treatment, his median life expectancy is four years, though he says he intends to beat the statistics. He later posted on his Dragonmount blog to encourage his fans not to worry about him and that he intends to have a long and fully creative life, working for another 30 years.

Robert Jordan began chemotherapy treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota in early April 2006. Mr. Jordan is currently enrolled in a study using a drug just approved for multiple myeloma but not yet tested on primary amyloidosis. On September 15, 2006, he added a post to his blog noting incredibly good news concerning his condition (though he has not yet gone into remission)

On November 8, Robert Jordan confirmed the report of his progress in a post on the Dragonmount blog, stating that he had experienced a 25% reduction in Lambda light chain levels. The wider results of his test group, studying treatment under the drug Revlimid, is inconclusive showing (according to Mr. Jordan) numbers that are "all over the place". The reduction is in spite of the fact that Mr. Jordan was taken off the Revlimid due to some kidney troubles believed to be in correlation with his treatment. However, with this situation stabilized, he is back on the drug and is enjoying the freedom of home-care; sending self-collected blood samples in monthly, receiving medications by mail, and not having to return to the Mayo Clinic until January (and thereafter in three month intervals only).

Jordan succumbed to his illness on September 16, 2007 and died at approximately 2:45 p.m. EDT.  His funeral service was held Wednesday, Sept. 19,2007.

It has been speculated that the pen name is from the main character of Ernest Hemingway's novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, but Robert Jordan has since clarified on his blog that his pen names have all been chosen from three lists of names using his real initials, and that one of his pen names managed to contain all three of his initials in both the first name and the surname.

Pseudonyms: Jackson O'Reilly , Reagan O'Neal , Chang Lung

Selected Bibliography
Complete Bibliography

Series

• Conan
  • The Further Chronicles of Conan: Conan the Magnificent, Conan the Triumphant, Conan the Victorious (1999)
  • 1 Conan the Defender (1982)
  • 2 Conan the Invincible (1982)
  • 3 Conan the Triumphant (1983)
  • 4 Conan the Unconquered (1983)
  • 5 Conan the Destroyer (1984)
  • 6 Conan the Magnificent (1984)
  • 7 Conan the Victorious (1984)

• Fallon
  • 1 The Fallon Blood (1980) [as by Reagan O'Neal ]
  • 2 The Fallon Pride (1981) [as by Reagan O'Neal ]
  • 3 The Fallon Legacy (1982) [as by Reagan O'Neal ]

• Wheel of Time
  • 1 The Eye of the World (1990)
  • 2 The Great Hunt (1990)
  • 3 The Dragon Reborn (1991)
  • 4 The Shadow Rising (1992)
  • 5 The Fires of Heaven (1993)
  • 6 Lord of Chaos (1994)
  • 7 A Crown of Swords (1996)
  • 8 The Path of Daggers (1998)
  • 9 Winter's Heart (2000)
  • 10 Crossroads of Twilight (2002)
  • 11 Knife of Dreams (2005)

Return from Robert Jordan to Biographies

Image #1 from locusmag.com #2 from dragonmount.com

This article uses some information from tor.com, draonmount.com, and wikipedia.org and