Sleeps With Monsters: Two Books About Family Situations
I don’t think Zen Cho is capable of writing a book that isn’t a fascinating and stylish delight. Black Water Sister is her latest, and it’s a striking, appealing narrative of family, displacement,...
View ArticleSwift and Strange: Harold R. Johnson’s The Björkan Sagas
Harold R. Johnson is a difficult writer to classify and, therefore, an interesting writer to read. On his Twitter bio, he labels himself “trapper, fisherman, writer, father, grandfather, husband,...
View ArticleEssaying the Epic in Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey’s The Elvenbane
Andre Norton’s collaborative novels of elves and humans and elf-human hybrids (and dragons) with Mercedes Lackey seem to have been a commercial success. Of the four they planned to write together,...
View ArticleThe Firefighter’s Guide to Battling a Phoenix
And you thought dragons were tough. In my previous article, A Firefighter’s Guide to Fighting Dragons, I discussed how real-life smoke eaters could battle the ultimate fantasy archetype: the dragon....
View ArticleWhy Do Writers Abandon the Ordinary Horse for the Extraordinary Fantasy Animal?
As I was wrapping up my other long-running series, the Andre Norton Reread, I mentioned a theme that’s been niggling at me for a while. That is the way in which Norton’s horse-savvy collaborator, Lyn...
View ArticleDragon or Balrog: Who Would Win in the Ultimate Middle-earth Showdown?
No question animates the mind of a young speculative fiction fan more than “Who would win?” It’s a question that provokes our firmest cultural loyalties in the lizard part of our brain that enjoys...
View ArticleFantasy Feature Damsel Snags Angela Bassett to Co-Star With Millie Bobby Brown
Angela Bassett (Gunpowder Milkshake, Black Panther) is joining the cast of the Netflix film, Damsel, which already has Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown attached. According to Deadline, Bassett will...
View ArticleMatt Smith Can’t Remember the Dragons’ Names Either
With House of the Dragon’s premiere date just over a month away, HBO’s media onslaught is in full effect. Cover stories! A featurette! A two-part deep dive into House with a look at the other Game of...
View ArticleSix Odd, Unusual, and Unconventional Dragons
Dragons are cool. Giant scaly (or feathered) winged beasties, hovering in the skies or lurking in deep, dark caverns. Some are bearers of luck, some wreak havoc with a belly filled with fire. And many...
View ArticleThe Ultimate Fantasy Beast: The Dragon
When it comes to fantastic beasts, the one, the only, the genuine original, is the dragon. Dragons are fantasy. So much so that one of the most popular examples of all, Anne McCaffrey’s Dragons of...
View ArticleFinal House of the Dragon Trailer Confirms That Game of Thrones Prequel Will,...
We are mere days away from the premiere of House of the Dragon, and HBO is giving us one more trailer to remind us that the show will, in fact, have dragons. And also fire. And also a lot of actors in...
View ArticleA World Full of Dragons: Naomi Novik’s Temeraire Series
I came late to Naomi Novik’s celebrated series. I’d heard of it, of course: it was a huge bestseller, and everyone was talking about it. By the time I worked my way down to it in the TBR pile, the epic...
View ArticleA Feast of Magical Beasts: The Dragon Prince
In general I’m not an animated-series person, or much of a fan of cartoons in general. Hard of hearing child in the days before closed captioning, which rendered that medium inaccessible. But it’s the...
View ArticleThe Intrepid Lady Scholar: Marie Brennan’s A Natural History of Dragons
I have a significant soft spot for nineteenth-century women adventurers, both historical and fictional. From Lady Anne Blunt to Amelia Peabody, I’m there for the character, and I’m intrigued by her...
View ArticleDragons, Dragons Everywhere: How to Train Your Dragon
I am having much too much fun with this chapter of the SFF Bestiary—and there’s still more to come. This week I actually felt as if I was playing hooky, watching movies instead of doing, you know,...
View ArticleDragons Under the Seine: Aliette de Bodard’s Dominion of the Fallen
Aliette de Bodard’s Dominion of the Fallen is one of my favorite fantasy series of the last couple of decades. In the blasted remnants of Paris after a war that nearly broke the world, mortals and...
View ArticleLove and Transformation: I Am Dragon
A few years ago I was trolling Netflix, as one does, looking for something to watch. The algorithm threw up an odd title, but the summary looked interesting. Russian-language film, subtitles, fantasy...
View ArticleDragon Lion Bee People: Martha Wells’ Raksura
Martha Wells’ Three Worlds are a bravura achievement. They’re a single planet populated by literally hundreds of different species, many of them sentient, and most more or less able to coexist—with a...
View ArticleThe Mother of Dragon Shows: House of the Dragon
I know I should wait till Season 1 of House of the Dragon ends, but I have Plans for the next few articles, and it’s time to move on from dragons. If anything huge happens in the final couple of...
View ArticleHouse of the Dragon Redux: Dragons Gone Wild
Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did. –Daemon Targaryen I had another article lined up for this week, moving on to a new chapter of the Bestiary, but commenter Susan reminded me of a promise I made...
View ArticleDragons, Ghost Dogs, and Doomslugs: What Are Your Favorite Fantasy Animal...
Warning: this post contains no deep interpretations of animal companions and their impact on story. I won’t philosophize on the essential nature of furry, fuzzy, or squishy familiars or ask why they...
View ArticleWhat Does a Dragon Look Like?
Close your eyes and picture a dragon. Don’t think about it much. What do you see? Now, a bigger question: Where does that image come from? What unique combination of books and movies and TV and game...
View ArticleAlmost as Addictive as Chocolate: Stephanie Burgis’ Dragon Heart Series
All right. I confess. I could not resist. Once I started thinking about The Dragon With a Chocolate Heart, I knew I had to reread it. Then I dug the rest of the series out of my TBR pile and read...
View ArticleHow a Chonky Dragon Wyrmed His Way Into Our Hearts
There’s been a lot of talk about fatness in film lately. But you know who’s a great, non-problematic fat character, who didn’t require the use of prosthetics or an egregious fatsuit? Themberchaud, the...
View ArticleDragons and Mages and Ghosts, Oh My! Announcing Two Dragon-Slaying Novellas...
Tordotcom Publishing is delighted to announce the acquisition of two dragon-slaying books by the award-winning British author and podcaster, Charlotte Bond. The Fireborne Blade is the first of these,...
View ArticleCats Are Basically Furry Dragons, and I Have Proof
Oh, how often I’ve dreamed of befriending a dragon. Of finding a miniature draconic companion to curl up on my lap while I read a book! Of showing off my fire-breathing familiar to awestruck...
View ArticleA Dragon, a Heist, and a Whole Lot of Dangerous Secrets: Dragonfall by L.R. Lam
L.R. Lam’s previous speculative fiction has appeared under the name Laura Lam, and most recently includes a space opera duology co-authored with Elizabeth May, Seven Devils and Seven Mercies....
View ArticleShifter Romances, Dragon Style: Elva Birch’s Royal Dragons of Alaska
Shifter romances are a thing. A big, exuberant, all the fun and hot sexy shifter guys (and gals and even nonbinaries) you can eat thing. They’re usually written by pseudonymous authors—and some of...
View ArticleA History of Dragons in Western Literature
In 1504, a copper globe was built somewhere in Europe. It stood only 4.4 inches in diameter and 13.6 inches in circumference, so it was nothing terribly overwhelming. Tiny ships and monsters adorned...
View ArticleHouse of the Dragon Trailer Promises Exactly What You Expect in Season Two
War is coming to Westeros. Again. And it’s a nasty one, probably, if Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best)’s observation plays out: “There is no war more hateful to the gods as a war between kin, and no war so...
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