James Oliver Rigney, Jr, (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007) better known under the pen name Robert Jordan, was an American author of epic fantasy. He is best known for The Wheel of Time, which consists of 14 books and a prequel novel. Rigney also wrote historical fiction under his pseudonym Reagen O'Neal, a western as Jackson O'Reilly and dance criticism as Chang Lung. He also ghostwrote an "international thriller" that is still believed to have been written by someone else.