A Memory of Light, the twelfth and final book of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, is to be completed by Brandon Sanderson. From www.dragonmount.com:

As we all know, Robert Jordan passed away in September, 2007. A Memory of Light, the twelth and final novel in The Wheel of Time series, was incomplete at the time of his passing. He left behind a staggering amount of notes on the world, as well as some written chapters for the final book. In addition, for the parts of the story he did not have documented in written form, he passed on in the good, old fashioned way: he told people the story.

In his last days he told the story to his friends and family, who recorded it onto tape. In the months that followed his death, Harriet, Robert Jordan's beloved wife and editor, put together a comprehensive outline of this final book.

Brandon Sanderson, an up-and-coming fantasy writer (and long-time fan of Robert Jordans's) was chosen by Harriet to bring the outline to life in the form of a published novel. Harriet will edit this book, just as she did the rest of the series.

When will it be published? The manuscript for A Memory of Light is expected to be completed by December, 2008. From there it will undergo further editing and preparation. It is currently expected to be published in the Fall of 2009. If this timeframe changes, we will report it here on the website.

Will the prologue be published early? It's still too early to tell. Robert Jordan released the prolgues to the previous three books several months ahead of the book itself being published. Although it seems likely they'll follow this trend again for this final novel, we won't know until much more time has passed.

What will happen in this book? We have, of course, no idea! Dragonmount will soon publish a list of unresolved questions and plot threads that we know of. Most of those are likely to be resolved, but both Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson are known for their suprise twists.

Brandon Sanderson said the following about the contents of A Memory of Light:

[A Memory of Light] WILL finish the series. I've read the outline, and I am confident that I can do it in a single book. This won't go five more novels. It will end here. Note that I'm not saying there won't be more Wheel of Time material released. That's not up to me. There were notes for prequels (Mr. Jordan wrote one of a planned three) and some notes on what happened to certain characters after the end of book 12. However, those are all intended as extra information and separate books outside the Wheel of Time main series.

Book 12 will deal with the final battle and give resolution to the story started in EYE OF THE WORLD. It will be one volume if it's within my power to make it so.

Where can I learn more about Brandon Sanderson? Brandon runs a very active website complete with forums and a blog. He encourages anybody to contact himn through his website and encourages you to enjoy his free sample chapeters of his published books.