Happy Publication Day Here There Be dragons.
A Tales From Burkeland Special Edition
When a dragon moves into the abandoned mine in the mountains around Coric’s secluded cabin, his hunting skills are pitted against the beast’s. As wild game dwindles and winter creeps in, Coric digs in his heels for lean times. But his hunting dog, Star, has other plans.
What started as practice for the Apex Writers 2024 March Microfiction Madness competition became a first-place winner in the Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville’s 2024 Themed Contest and the lead story in the guild’s 2024 anthology, Here There Be Dragons.
I never expected that 300-word microfiction to be anything more. But when my local writer’s guild announced dragons as the theme for last year’s competition, my creativity lit up. I had a story for that. Or, at least, the beginnings of one.
As the microfiction grew into “The Dragon, the Dog, and the Mountain Man”, a grumpy-sunshine friendship between Coric and his dog, Star, emerged. So did a battle between man and nature set high in the Colorado mountains, with a dragon complicating Coric’s struggle for survival.
How can Coric feed his dog—and himself—when a dragon is gobbling up all the wild game for miles? And what happens when his dog wanders into the dragon’s cave? You’ll have to read Here There Be Dragons to find out.
Here There Be Dragons is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.
My Second By-line: “A Look at Dragon Lore”
What’s a dragon-themed anthology without a look at the myths and legends about the famed beasts?
Incomplete, at least in my and H.B. Arnette’s opinions.
As we edited the Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville’s 2024 anthology Here There Be Dragons—which includes short stories, poems, and nonfiction essays by members of the Midwest Writers Guild of Evansville—we decided the anthology needed an introduction.
Cue months of researching dragon stories from around the world and compiling each culture’s take into the essay “A Look at Dragon Lore.”
Our first challenge: Defining “dragon.” Here’s an excerpt from the essay that explains how we developed our definition.
“Of course, defining ‘dragon’ is a task as large as the beasts. Do you include primordial shape-shifting beings that sometimes took on a dragon-like form? If not, then you eliminate the earliest dragon stories from your collection. Must a dragon have wings and breathe fire? If so, then you eliminate the water dragons of many indigenous and Asian mythologies. Are dragons only wise guardians of the natural world? If so, then you eliminate Middle Eastern and Western heroic tales of princes and knights slaying the great beasts. A dig into the roots of dragon lore reveals a key similarity among the beasts: they are intelligent, serpent-like creatures with astounding power, including the ability to shape the natural world. For the purposes of this collection, that will be our definition.”
Personally, I favor the myths where shape-shifting deities take on dragon form or where mythical giant serpents guard the natural world.
Pick up a copy of Here There Be Dragons, give “A Look at Dragon Lore” a read, and find your new favorite dragon tale.
Here There Be Dragons is available in ebook and paperback on Amazon.
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