'Wheel of Time' to be finished by new author

PROVO, Utah (AP) -- Brandon Sanderson, author of the fantasy "Mistborn" series, will finish Robert Jordan's final novel.

Jordan, whose real name was James Oliver Rigney Jr., died from a blood disease in September in South Carolina. He was working on the 12th book in his "Wheel of Time" fantasy series at the time of his death.

More than 44 million books in the "Wheel of Time" series have been sold worldwide, according to publisher Tor Books. The final book is titled "A Memory of Light."

"To me, Robert Jordan is still kind of a mythological figure," Sanderson told the Daily Herald of Provo. "I would have done this with no credit and no payment, to be perfectly honest."

Sanderson, whose first novel, "Elantris," was published in 2005, has four books in print.

Jordan's widow and the book's editor, Harriet Popham Rigney, said she was "absolutely delighted" that Sanderson agreed to finish it.

"He left copious notes and hours of audio recordings," Rigney said in a statement on Tor Books' Web site.

Jordan's books tells of Rand al'Thor, who is destined to become the champion who will battle ultimate evil in a mythical land. The first title in the series, "The Eye of the World," was published in 1990. E-mail to a friend

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