Currently Reading: Intellectual

[Zargabaath]

I finished "The Dragons of Krynn" a few days ago, it had a lot of entertaining short stories.

I started "The Black Talon" by Richard A. Knaak of the Ogre Titans Trilogy.

Why am I reading this book? It tells the tale of Golgren ,who had a big role in the Minotaur Wars Trilogy also by Richard A. Knaak, and the fate of Ogres after the War of Souls. Each race has been given their own story after the War of Souls so I wanted to know what happens to the Ogres. There aren't many books in the Dragonlance world (there may even have been zero before this series) or short stories from the Ogre's perspective.

So far Golgren has won a big battle against rival chieftains challenging his claim to power. With the aid of the Ogre Titans, who are very adept at magic, normal ogres have no affinity to magic, have a phyical description that makes me think that they have kept most of their species original look of the Irda. The Irda were the original ogres created by the dark goddess Takhisis, whose beauty far surpassed the elves, their magical ability greater than any other race, who created beautiful cities but a seed of corruption was planted into the ogre race that transformed them into the brutish, ugly form that they have now. The Irda that aksed Paladine, the leader of the gods of the good pantheon, to be protected from the corruption and they were forced a life of seclusion from the other races or the corruption would start again. I have not learn the origin of the Ogre Titans but am eager for this find has intrigued me very much. Golgren is also trying to civilize the ogres, forcing all of his soldiers and citizens under his control must learn common and dress in better attire, inspired by elven design, than what is custom, and to rebuild the ancient Ogre city, Garantha, to its former glory.

Edit: Well I finished the book three days ago and it was a good book. A Solamnic Knight was captured by some ogres and brought forth to Golgren who wanted to make a pact between the orges and the knighthood against their common enemy the minotaur empire that has invaded the mainland. A wizard named Tyranos, who currenlty sides with Golgren found a High Ogre grave; he went inside and after searching found a signet, a powerful artifact. Tyranos gave it to Ildaria, a elf maiden servant of Golgren who secretly is a spy for some group. Ildaria gave it to Golgren as Tyranos instructed which helped Golgren in a fight against the Black Talon/ Dauroth when an army of undead attacked the capitol. Dauroth also killed his first apprentice and another member of the Black Talon before the final fight in the book so once he died from Golgren killing him, Dauroth's second apprentice took over.

[Sinister]

I am currently rereading possibly the greatest book in the history of words and letters. I just bought a special original hard-back copy that set me back a considerable amount of money, even though I'm close to dead broke. I wouldn't want an original copy of any other book, though.

The King in Yellow by Robert Chambers is a book. At first it appears to be just a collection of short stories, all amateur reviewers of this book call it that. The irony that you realize as you read it, is that it is not the actual book "The King in Yellow". The actual "King in Yellow" is supposed to be a script for a play that the book concerns itself with. The contents of the play are not made clear to the reader, but it's effects are. The play will cause anyone who reads it to go completely insane. Every time you see a copy of the play on someone's desk or in someone's library in this book, you immediately start to mistrust them and become apprehensive. They're obviously insane...what horrible things have they done that you don't know about yet?

Eventually you realize that in all of the stories, the book is a common character and you start imagining that the stories take some sort of chronological order, but you can't place them.

Spoiler: After you've read this book as many times as I have, you catch on to a pretty chilling fact. The book is the play, the play is the book. It's all one gruesome disfigured entity looking at you as you read it. You're infected too, you've read the King in Yellow.

Obviously this book spawned the cliche of the "thing will turn you crazy" media. The movies, Cigarette Burns and In the Mouth of Madness are just the aftereffects caught in the contrails of this masterpiece.

As to the Eponymous "King in Yellow"? He has returned.

-KiY