My sister has just informed me:
Fantasy novelist Robert Jordan dies at age 58
Author Robert Jordan, whose "Wheel of Time" series of fantasy novels sold millions of copies, died Sunday of a rare blood disease. He was 58.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20824649/from/ET/ Those of us who've read his thousands and thousands and thousands of pages and have been waiting for his final book are... well... screwed.