publisher the forever king
James Oliver Rigney , Jr . ( October 17 , 1948  September 16 , 2007 ), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan , was an American author of epic fantasy . He is best known for the " Wheel of Time " series , which comprises 14 books and a prequel novel . He is one of several writers to have written original Conan the Barbarian novels ; his are highly acclaimed to this day . Rigney also wrote historical fiction under his pseudonym Reagan O ' Neal , a western as Jackson O ' Reilly , and dance criticism as Chang Lung . Additionally , he ghostwrote an " international thriller " that is still believed to have been written by someone else . The Forever King is a fantasy book written by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy , the authors of Grandmaster , which reached # 3 on The New York Times bestseller list . The Forever King is the first in the Forever King Trilogy . The second title is The Broken Sword : King Arthur Returns while the third book is called The Third Magic . Robert Jordan , author of The Dragon Reborn calls The Forever King `` a fresh and exciting view of the Arthur legend . '' Set in modern and medieval times , the antagonist Saladin has lived through many of the world ' s ages by using the Holy Grail ... until he loses it . The Cup finds its way into the hands of ten - year - old Arthur Blessing . Now Hal Woczniak must protect Arthur and the Grail from the madman Saladin , who kills anyone that ever stands in his way or between him and the Cup . The Forever King is 55 chapters divided into three sections entitled , `` Book One : The Boy , '' `` Book Two : The Cup , '' and `` Book Three : The King . '' The Dragon Reborn ( abbreviated as tDR by fans ) is the third book of American author Robert Jordan ' s fantasy series " The Wheel of Time ". It was published by ___MASK82___ and released on September 15 , 1991 . The unabridged audio book is read by Michael Kramer and Kate Reading . " The Dragon Reborn " consists of a prologue and 56 chapters . ___MASK82___ is the primary imprint of Tom Doherty Associates LLC publishing company , based in New York City , US . It is noted for its science fiction and fantasy titles , and publishes the online science fiction magazine " Tor . com ". Conan the Barbarian ( also known as Conan the Cimmerian ) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp fiction magazines and has since been adapted to books , comics , several films ( including " Conan the Barbarian " and " Conan the Destroyer "), television programs ( cartoon and live - action ), video games , role - playing games and other media . The character was created by writer Robert E . Howard in 1932 via a series of fantasy stories published in " ___MASK33___ " magazine . A pen name (" nom de ___MASK37___ ", or " literary double ") is a pseudonym ( or , in some cases , a variant form of a real name ) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by - line of his or her works in place of their " real " name . A pen name may be used to make the author ' s name more distinctive , to disguise his or her gender , to distance an author from some or all of his or her previous works , to protect the author from retribution for his or her writings , to combine more than one author into a single author , or for any of a number of reasons related to the marketing or aesthetic presentation of the work . The author ' s name may be known only to the publisher , or may come to be common knowledge . Fantasy is a fiction genre set in an imaginary universe , often but not always without any locations , events , or people from the real world . Most fantasy uses magic or other supernatural elements as a main plot element , theme , or setting . Magic and magical ___MASK68___ are common in many of these imaginary worlds . Fantasy is generally distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the expectation that it steers clear of scientific and macabre themes , respectively , though there is a great deal of overlap between the three , all of which are subgenres of speculative fiction .