The Laughing Gods
In this second book of the Forest of Allund Trilogy, Mage Alexio Sopholus has cut his ties with both his rulers and the Brotherhood of Mages. However, conditions conspire to draw him back into the Zilar conflict. Despite an attempt on his life and the constant meddling of the Ethnarch and Brotherhood, Alexio is again forced to take part in the wider conflict. A bold move by the Zilar forces Alexio and his family to undertake a perilous journey to ask aid from an untrustworthy Ethnarch in a nearby kingdom. Once deep in enemy territory, he becomes aware of an even more insidious plot against his home, forcing him and his companions to run for their lives. With his life, kingdom, and the Brotherhood all in tatters, Alexio is forced to confront the new enemy and the Zilar to save his home and his friends from the ravishes of his enemies. Along his journey, he will also find new knowledge that will lead him to develop even greater powers Even with these new powers, he must find the courage and the will needed to act in order to protect his friends or they will all suffer the consequences.
Wilbur Arron
Wilbur Arron is the pseudonym of a retired professional engineer, project manager, and government official who has spent over 40 years in various engineering fields throughout the Southeast United States. In this time he has worked mostly on environmental issues, but also promulgated government regulation, performed forensics investigations, and investigated and corrected manufacturing problems.
Besides his technical background, Wilbur Arron is also an amateur historian with his major work on ancient history. This has given him insight on how the principles of science and engineering developed over the ages. He is familiar with both Greek and Roman history from 1500 BCE until 500 AD. He has also studied European history and the history of the Far East. Now in his late 60s, he has witness the major technical events occurring since the early 1960s and has taken part in a few of them. His first work in computer modeling was done using Fortran IV, and an IBM 360 on loan from NASA; then having data sent out on the Arpa-net. He was an early user of both desk top publishing and word processing platforms.
The Forest of Allund
The Forest of Allund consists of three books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.