Chapter Names

Chapter 1 – Rainy Days of Winter

The title “Rainy Days of Winter” refers waiting out the storm that have descended upon Theleisium’s cottage. Winter is coming and the rain is non-stop.

The title is based on the song “A Hazy Shade of Winter” by Simon & Garfunkel. I always liked this song a lot until The Bangles released their version of the song in the 1980’s and called it “Hazy Shade of Winter,” dropping the leading “A.”

I absolutely loved the faster version of the song performed by this all woman band.

Chapter 2 – Raindrops on Roses

The title “Raindrops on Roses” refers to the short chapter about the rest of the party hanging out in the barn behind Theleisium’s house during the storming weather. Although there aren’t any roses in this story, I thought that this title worked well.

The title is taken from the first line of the wonderful song entitled “My Favorite Things” sung by Julie Andrews. It’s from the movie The Sounds of Music.

This movie is one of my top five musicals.

Chapter 3 – Sweet Home Strudhyne

The title “Sweet Home Strudhyne” refers to the first chapter taking place in the blorc city of Strudhyne.

The title is taken from the awesome song by Lynyrd Skynyrd called “Sweet Home Alabama.” I simply removed “Alabama” and replaced it with “Strudhyne.”

Chapter 4 – The Loveliest of All was the Unicorn

The title “The Loveliest of All was the Unicorn” refers to the arrival of Moonglow, the unicorn sent to bring Theleisium to Devinshyre.

The title is taken from lyrics from the song “The Unicorn Song” by The Irish Rovers. I had forgotten all about this song until I discovered it again when looking for songs about unicorns. Listening to it again dredged up memories from when I was but a wee lad.

It must have been on the radio or something way back in the 1960’s or maybe teachers back then played it for us in school. I just don’t really remember where I heard the song, but I remembered a lot of the lyrics.

Chapter 5 – Turnabout is Fair Play

The title “Turnabout is Fair Play” refers to Grizill returning home to Strudhyne. As you may know, the captain of the Black Plague isn’t a nice guy. When he returned home, exhausted and thirsty, he isn’t retreated well by the blorc guard. Karma can come back and bite you on the rear.

This is an idiom, which is an expression that implies that it is acceptable to treat someone the same way that they treated you. So, if someone is nice to you, you should also be nice to them.

Chapter 6 – Bridge Over Troubled Water

The title “Bridge Over Troubled Water” refers to the party arriving at a rather precarious bridge that they are going to have to cross in the middle of the night.

The title is taken directly from the spectacular song by Simon & Garfunkel by the same name.

Chapter 7 – Centaur of Camp

The title “Centaur of Camp” refers to Theleisium arriving in Yarum, the main camp of the centaurs.

This title is a play on words, purposely changing the word “Center” to “Centaur.” 

This style of pun is something that the author Piers Anthony is known for in his Xanth series. In my opinion, the first ten or twelve book in the Xanth series are definitely worth reading. After that, they get a too punny. He didn’t know when to stop with a good thing.

Chapter 8 – Hÿdrætélth the Magic Dr’gÿn

The title “Hÿdrætélth the Magic Dr’gÿn” refers to the water dr’gÿn introduced in this chapter. Although not a main character, she is a nice addition and does help out later. Stench forms and instant bond with her because of something that she does and becomes very fond of her.

This name comes from the song by from the American folk group, Peter, Paul and Mary. Their song is called “Puff the Magic Dragon.” As a child, and even as an adult, I do love this song. They used to sing it to kids and then the kids would sing along with them, especially the chorus.

Chapter 9 – The King of Pain

The title “The King of Pain” refers the story returning to Brimstone Castle and King Gridarg Zogstomp. As the king, he does enjoy inflicting pain on others. He isn’t a very nice guy. Thus, the name of this chapter.

The title of this song comes the English band, The Police. I simply add “The” to their song “King of Pain.”

Chapter 10 – Oilliyer and his Finely Crafted Pies

The title “Oilliyer and his Finely Crafted Pies” refers to Theleisium meeting Oilliyer. He is a centaur selling a multitude of pies on his cart that he pushes around the centaur camp, Yärum. All I did was change things a bit, since the title on the side of his push foot cart is “Oilliyer’s Cart of Finely Crafted Pies.” I’m getting hungry just thinking about all those delicious pies.

I named Braunk, one of the main characters in this series, after the Denver Broncos, and the leader of the centaurs is a centaur named Elliwhey, after my favorite quarterback ever, John Elway. Being a fan of the NFL, and growing up on Houston, Texas as a kid, I used to love the Houston Oilers (they don’t exist anymore as they became the Tennessee Titans). I used Oilers as a base for creating the name Oilliyer.

Originally, one of the pies in Oilliyer’s cart was removed. It was an ode to Hagrid in the Harry Potter books. But I decided to not leave it in the story for multiple reasons. Still, it was funny. Too bad.

Chapter 11 – Schreikker the Squeaker

The title “Schreikker the Squeaker” refers a new harpy for this book, Schreikker. She is kind of the opposite of Viperous, in that she is clean, cares what she looks like, and is very nice. She has dark blue feathers, her hair is light blue with red tips, and she wears a lot of earrings on her ears and rings on her talons. She does love herself some jewelry.

Schreikker’s voice has a tendency to get higher and squeaks when she gets excited. I actually came up with the name of the chapter before I created the harpy.

This title is purely descriptive.

Chapter 12 – Row Me Bully Blorcs Row

The title “Row Me Bully Blorcs Row” refers Grizill Toefungus and four members of his Black Plague arriving in the port town of Qarrug Guk. King Gridarg has sent them on a mission to take five of the new gallery warships south to gather wood for making more warships. Since they are in galley ships, there are twenty blorcs down in the galley rowing.

Sea shanties were used to keep time for oarsmen, so all oars dipped into the water at the same time. For this title, I took an old sea shanty called “Row Me Bully Boy.”

The version of the song I like the most is by Scottish singer and songwriter Nathan Evans. His version of this song simply entitled “Bully Boy.”

Chapter 13 – Looking for Hope Among the Ruins

The title “Looking for Hope Among the Ruins” refers Maidawn and the party finally arriving at Kexy Island and visiting the ruins of St. Randall’s Sanctuary. They have gone there to look for any sign of the Amber Ring. Will they find anything?

This title was taken from a song by country singer Johnny Lee entitled “Looking foir Love.” The chours of the song is “Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places.” I changes it to work for this chapter.

Chapter 14 – Over the Hills and Far, Far Away

The title “Over the Hills and Far, Far Away” is a chapter about Theleisium arriving in Devinshyre, a long way away from where he left the party.

I kind of mashed up two different things to make this chapter name. I used words from “Over the River and through the Wood” 1844 poem title by Lydia Maria Child. I changed “Over the River” to “Over the Hills.”

For the second part, I used the blue text above the Star Wars opening crawl, you know, the text that crawls by at the beginning of the movie. I took the last part of the blue text that appears in: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . . .

This title is purely descriptive.

Chapter 15 – I See, You See, We All See the Sea

The title “I See a Sea, You See a Sea” refers to a point in the story where Maidawn and her party are standing on the shore looking out over a vast body of water.

This comes from the 1920’s novelty song, I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream.

I think you can figure out what I did. I just played around with the words, enjoying the sound of using “see” and “sea.”

Chapter 16 – You Sank my Galley Ship

The title “You Sank my Galley Ship” refers to some action that takes place in this chapter on the water.

This chapter name is in reference to commercials for the game Battleship in the 1970’s. Someone would always shout out, “You sunk my battleship!” I just switched it up to work with this chapter.

As for the change from “sunk” to “sank,” I think it sounds better.

Chapter 17 – Reach the Beach

The title “Reach the Beach” refers to Grizill’s attempt to have the damaged galley ship make its way to the beach for a much needed repair.

This title is a direct reference to The Fixx‘s 1983 album called “Reach the Beach.” I rocked this cassette a lot in my 1969 Mercury Cougar as I cruised down the road back in the ‘80’s. This is a great album.

Chapter 18 – No News Is Good News

The title “No News Is Good News” is a chapter that has two parts. The second part deals with Reilyk the Red contacting Grizill on the damaged ship. The captain of the Black Plague has bad news to report. Reilyk the Red fears delivering this bad news to King Gridarg, a ruler known for punishing the messenger. The black mage was happier before he received the bad news.

“No news is good news” is a proverb.

Chapter 19 – Almost Human, Almost a Man

The title “Almost Human, Almost a Man” refers to the human Silvilus Thlem who became corrupted by black magic scrolls while in his blorc disguise. He has forgotten about once being a human.

The lyrics come from the song “Almost Human” by the 1970’s rock band, KISS. I was in the KISS Army when I was a kid in the 1970’s. A friend of mine, Christ Martin, who lived across the street from me in the mid-1970 in Houston, Texas, introduced me to KISS. I used to go over his house and we would play games, like Battleship, while listening to his records. I was a huge kiss fan until the early 1979 when the band released a kind of disco album, “Dynasty.”

Then I got into The Beatles.

Chapter 20 – Bad News Blorcs

The title “Bad News Blorcs” refers to Reilyk the Red finally telling King Gridarg all of the bad news her had learned.

I used the title of a movie that I loved as a kid, The Bad News Bears, and simply switched out “Bears” for Blorcs.”

Psst, I kind of had a crush on Tatum O’Neal, the lead actress in this film when I saw the film.

Chapter 21 – We are Bloclabs, If You Please

The title “We are Bloclabs, If You Please” refers to when we finally get to meet the only other canine breed to survive the Century of Creation: The Bloclabs. It was rumored that the blolabs are able to wield magic. Will that be true?

The title of this chapter is taken from a song in the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp. Two evil Siamese cats sing a song about doing evil stuff. A lot of things have changed over the years, but I understand that this movie was released in 1955, just ten years after World War II when American’s fought the Japanese after they bombed Pearl Harbor. So, at the time this song came out, American’s were not the biggest fans of the Japanese. I’m not sure if Disney has already pulled these characters from the film, but I’m sure it is going to happen, as Disney is attempting to scrub clean anything that is considered offense today, as are a lot of older companies.

As a young kid in the 1960’s, none of this mattered to me. I never held any hate to the Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, or any other countries in that part of the world. It was quite the opposite for me, actually. I grew up watching a ton of badly translated Kung Fu and Karate movies and love Bruce Lee (I still do). One of my best friends when I used to work at SEGA of America in the early 1990’s was a wonderful guy named Vy Nong, who was originally from Vietnam. 

So, using the lyrics from the song, “We are Siamese” just popped into my head when I was writing this chapter. I guess you can make up your mind about this song if you watch the video.

Chapter 22 – Tower of Gröll

The title “Tower of Gröll” refers to the city where the bloclabs live.

I simply reversed the name from Gröll Tower. I was being fancy.

This is a just a descriptive title for this chapter.

Chapter 23 – Two of Hearts

The title “Two of Hearts” refers to a short chapter where we have two harpies meet for the first time. It has nothing to do with affairs of the heart. Simply, you have two harpies, they have a heart each, thus this title.

“Two of Hearts” was a very popular pop song in the 1980’s by Stacey Q. I even liked it, and I wasn’t a pop fan (I was a New Waver).

Chapter 24 – Two Divided by Hero

The title “Two Divided by Hero” refers to the splitting up of the main party. Our two heroes have to go separate ways, each setting out of find one of the pieces of the Amber Helm.

The title of this chapter is derived from the Pet Shop Boys‘ song “Two Divided by Zero.” This song was on their first album “Please,” released in 1986. I made a new friend while working at the Miramar by the Sea Hotel in Montecito, California, back in the mid-1980’s. His name was Durand Bausch. He introduced me to the Pet Shop Boys, along with Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark (O.M.D.), which fit in with all the stuff I was listening to at the time, like Depeche Mode and Erasure. I played this album over and over, absolutely loving it. I have bought every album they release, and they are still at it (42 albums and counting).

I just replaced “Zero” with “Hero.”

Chapter 25 – Four Little Diamonds

The title “Four Little Diamonds” refers a collection of four short sections of the story. None of them were big enough to make into their own chapters. Actually, there used to be five sections, but I had to move one somewhere else. I may have used “No. 5 is Alive” if I still had all five sections, but I don’t and had to come up with a new chapter name.

This chapter title is taken from a song with the same name off  of the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) 1983 album entitled Secret Messages. I was, and still am to this day, a huge ELO fan and absolutely adore Jeff Lynne. ELO is one of my favorite bands ever and the continue on with their new name, Jeff Lynne’s ELO, which I was lucky enough to see twice in concert.

Chapter 26 – A-Sailing We Will Go

The title “A Sailing We Will Go” refers to Shorn and Stench sailing on a galley ship over the Lmiryon Sea.

I used the old  folk song “A-Hunting We Will Go,” composed by Thomas Arne way back in 1777. This song later became a nursery rhyme. I simply replaced “Hunting” with “Sailing.”

Chapter 27 – Homeward Bound

The title “Homeward Bound” refers to Shorn and Stench making their way back to Strudhyne. What kind of welcome will there be, since they have been gone for a month? Will Shorn’s father, King Gridarg, give him a big hug, or will he have something more sinister planned?

“Homeward Bound is a song by Simon & Garfunkel from 1966. It was a very popular folk song. My father, Chet Tigard (miss you, dad), loved him some Simon & Garfunkel. I agree with him, as I think the song is awesome.

It was also a live-action movie by Disney about two dogs and a cat trying to make their way home after being lost.

Chapter 28 – Teenage Jail

The title “Teenage Jail” refers to what happens to Shorn and Stench after they return home.

The title comes from the song with the same name off the Eagles‘ 1980 album, The Long Run.

Chapter 29 – The Great Grizill Fizzle

The title “The Great Grizill Fizzle” refers to Grizill confrontation with Shorn.

For the title of this chapter, I played around with words that rhymed with Grizill and came up with fizzle. There are not a lot of words that rhyme with name of the captain of the Black Plague. Maybe I should have picked an easier name.

Chapter 30 – Fly Like a Harpy

The title “Fly Like a Harpy” refers to Shorn trying to get his hands on the Amber Ring. And since a harpy is involved, that is where the flying comes in.

This chapter title comes from the awesome song by the Steve Miller Band called Fly Like an Eagle. All I did was replace “Eagle” with “Harpy.”

Chapter 31 – Blorc Battle

The title “Blorc Battle” refers to another confrontation in this story, this one with Reilyk the Red.

This one will not be obvious to many, but Queen‘s first two albums were defiantly Fantasy based. One of the songs is called Ogre Battle. I needed to replace the word “Ogre” with Blorc. As for Queen, I love Queen. For many decades, they were my favorite band. So, it is nice to have a little ode to them with this chapter name.

We miss you, Freddie. On the other hand, thank goodness for Adam Lambert.

Chapter 32 – Ring-A-Ding-Ding

The title “Ring-A-Ding-Ding” refers the final chapter in the Amber Ring story. I am not going to give any more details than that.

This title comes from a song by Old Blue Eyes himself, the incomparable Frank Sinatra. The title is not changed from his song name.

As for me, I have 36 album by this man. I love this style of music that we now call Vocal. Frank Sinatra was the king of the Crooners, taking over the reins from Bing Crosby, who I also love. Then there was Dean Martin, and my favorite, Doris Day.