Results tagged “dragons”

In HIs Majesty’s Service, the handsome new hardcover omnibus volume of His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War goes on sale this week, and contained therein is a never-before-seen short story which all Temeraire fans will want to read. In the chronology of the series, it falls between Throne of Jade and Black Powder War, and contains the story of how Temeraire’s nemesis, the white dragon Lien, first meets Napoleon Bonaparte. I hereby evilly post just the first few paragraphs.

In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over The Wide River(c) 2009 by Naomi Novik

The diplomat, De Guignes, had disappeared somewhere into the palace. Lien remained alone in the courtyard. The pale narrow faces of the foreign servants gawked out at her from the windows of the great house; the soldiers in their blue and white uniforms staring and clutching their long muskets. Other men, more crudely dressed, were stumbling around her; they had come from the stables by their smell, clumsy with sleep and noisy, and they groaned to one another in complaint at the hour as they worked.

The palace, built in square around the courtyard, was not at all of the style she had known at home, and deeply inconvenient. While it possessed in some few places a little pleasing symmetry, it was full of tiny windows arranged on several levels, and the doors were absurdly small — like a peasant’s hut or a merchant’s home. She could never have gone inside. Some of the laborers were putting up a pavilion on a lawn in the court, made of heavy fabric and sure to be hot and stifling in the warm autumnal weather. Others carried out a wooden trough, such as might be used for feeding pigs, and began to fill it with buckets, water slopping over the sides as they staggered back and forth yawning.

Here is the UK cover for Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb, the second part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles that began with Dragon Keeper.

I’m not a huge fan of covers utilizing icons as their main emphasis. This is usually done by marketing departments to try and infiltrate the contemporary fiction readership, a readership that contains a stigma toward the fantasy genre. I would much rather have a cover that boldly illustrates what it is.

But that’s just me.

Then again, perhaps the resultant sales would make it worthwhile. Who knows.

Dragon Haven will be published in the UK in March 2010.

Over coffee and snackies the other day Naomi Novik, freshly returned from Australia, reported some of the results of her research for Book 6 of the Temeraire series, which will be published Summer ‘10, God willing and the creeks don’t rise. As the so-far-untitled novel begins, Will Laurence and Temeraire have been deported to the prison colony in New South Wales in order to springboard a breeding colony of dragons on Britain’s most far-flung possession.

In 1809, when Laurence and Temeraire arrive in disgrace, the settlement is embroiled in unrest and power struggles. Governor William Bligh (the same Bligh who was mutineed against on the HMS Bounty) has been deposed once more and sent packing to Tasmania, there to plot his return. Temeraire and Iskierka’s arrival signals a tremendous power shift, as the dragons represent the colony’s largest concentration of firepower.

Laurence and Temeraire quickly find themselves embroiled in the political and personal conflicts running rampant in the new colony, which was largely being treated by the British government as a convenient dumping ground for the excess convict population. The entire settlement of New South Wales was a jail, surrounded by the Blue Mountains which blocked passage to the interior, and populated with resentful convicts and grasping military officers trying to make their fortunes. “The early history of the colony at the time has an almost Wild West, lawless-frontier feel to it,” Naomi told me.

Above: A view of the Blue Mountains, showing the characteristic blue haze
(produced by light reflecting off the oil of the eucalyptus trees
dominant in the area).

Here are a few more of the literally thousands of shots Naomi took on her trip. And if you haven’t kept up with the Temeraire series, be aware that the mass market of Victory of Eagles, book 5, goes on sale today.

Left: A small relative of Temeraire? Hanging out in the desert near the Kata Tjuta rock formation in the red center of Australia.
Right: A mangrove at low tide on the shore in North Queensland.

Tad Williams is one of my favorite writers! Ever since I read The Dragonbone Chairin the 80’s I’ve been hooked on his work. He is a wordsmith of the highest order and his ability to write is only eclipsed by his storytelling ability.

Over the years he has made forays into different sub-genres—epic fantasy, myth, virtual reality, urban fantasy, short stories and comic books.

But his next forthcoming book is new, even for Tad!

The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, written by Tad and his wife Deborah Beale, is classified as young adult, but knowing Tad I bet it will be enjoyed by adult readers. Author Terry Brooks was given an advance read of the book for cover blurb consideration and he wrote of Ordinary Farm, “This is a rousing tale that should and will find a wide readership!” To me, that means adult fans of Tad will enjoy this book a great deal!

The Dragons of Ordinary Farm will be published in the US in June, in the UK in August and in Germany in September.

For Tad Williams fans, nothing will be ordinary again!

Let me begin by saying, this was New DM’s idea.

“Why don’t you try DM’ing a game sometime,” he suggested.

“No, that’s okay,” I said. “You’re doing a great job.”

“Umm… not in place of me,” he smiled. “I meant for fun.”

For fun? Ha! Dungeon Mastering is fun? Come on, New DM. I didn’t fall off the longship yesterday.

I like to think New DM suggested this believing I might actually have what it takes to run a successful game, but I suspected it was more like penance for all the hell I put him through. Of course he’d be in my “for fun” game, contradicting me, inventing spells, trying to pass as 3rd level when I know he’s only 2nd (I read ahead in the PH, okay? Tabitha has some cool spells coming her way.) He’ll master that same heartbreaking look as his Boston Terrier, Tulla, when I tell him his character takes damage. That same look I try to give him when my character gets in the way of some arrows.

“Tabitha takes 5 points of acid damage.”

“She does?”

“Yes, she does.”

“Really? She does?”

“Yes, really.”

“She had her shield of acid protection up. Is it still five points?”

“Oh. Right. Make that 10 points.”

I’d also like to believe we’re all created equal, but I can’t. I think certain people are better suited for certain things. Some people are lousy athletes but exceptional spectators. Some have a good eye for art but couldn’t draw a blank if their life depended on it. Some people can master a dungeon, but simply aren’t cut out to Dungeon Master. Sadly, I think I’m the latter in all of these examples.

I also know I’m not alone. I’ve heard from countless people the reason they won’t take a turn at Dungeon Mastering is because of the belief it’s just too hard. You have to know every rule. It takes weeks, even years to prepare for a campaign! You have to invest a lot in the tools a DM needs to run a really good game. A lot of games don’t ever get off the ground because no one wants to be the Dungeon Master. It’s more like D&D Show & Tell or D&D therapy where they just sit around a table and talk about what you would do if someone were running a game.

I, too, was under the impression that Dungeon Masters are players who have graduated through some elaborate, decades long, physical and mental rules-heavy competition like a jujitsu master climbing the ranks to black belt. Misconception? Maybe. But there must be some truth to the difficulties of DMing to inspire R&D to make some changes. 4th Edition is supposed to make Dungeon Mastering easier. Digital tools, restructured rules, more of what the players want, so you—the DM—look even better. (The virtual dungeon does look cool, even if it will call us all out on who really is packing a light source.)

I would be remiss to play 4th Edition for this long and not try out all of it’s features, and like it or not, that includes being a DM. I admit I was curious. I had one Dungeon Mastering experience that turned into a fiasco where I tried running my five unsuspecting, D&D-phobic, somewhat belligerent, and mostly tipsy girlfriends through the basic game. It… didn’t quite go as planned, as they couldn’t seem to get past the notion that they had to roll a die to find a door (it was a secret door!). This time I would play with people who already play D&D, which should make things easier, right? And let the record show I have absolutely no motive for wanting to kill any of my friends.

To continue reading, please visit Dragon Magazine.

Let’s be honest. Adolescence can be a crappy time for any kid, but I feel like it could have been easier if I had played D&D.

I just left my weekly D&D game, and the only backstabbing going on involved a bastard sword and a strategically placed minion. With no rest and only a handful of healing surges between the six of us, we took on an endless stream of orcs, a body-pierced shadar-kai warlock, and a weeble-like Captain Bad-Ass who had the maddening ability to keep popping up every time we knocked him down. Multiple times in the two hours, everyone made choices that put their PCs in danger all so they could save someone else — including the NPC who got us into this mess!

D&D isn’t about sabotage or sacrificing your friends to make yourself look good. This sure isn’t middle school! Who do I contact to make D&D as much a requirement as PE and Health?

I would have had real friendships — not the on-again-off-again, tumultuous, celebrity-like relationships 10-year-old girls are prone to. Maybe I would have been focused on things like the best defense against a bugbear or figuring out how to defuse a trap rather than cigarettes, dressing like Madonna, and Brenden Wendle’s hair. And after facing villains like hellcats, frostworms, and chimeras, maybe I wouldn’t have been so terrified of that mysterious camp in the Poconos my parents used to threaten my brother and I with.

I’ve met D&D-playing kids at conventions or around the office, where they show up with their books and pockets full of minis and regale us with their tales of Dungeon Mastering. (They often take turns because everyone wants to DM!) I marvel at their ability to rattle off stats straight from the Monster Manual and argue with R&D over the virtues of a beholder versus a zombie. I listen enraptured to the epic backstories they give their characters and how they wax poetically about them like one of my friends does when she meets the latest man of her dreams. He’s big and he’s strong and he can swing a masterwork greatsword with only two fingers. They were crawling in dungeons before they crawled in living rooms.

And it’s cool to be smart! Not true in my day. In an effort to be accepted by the dumb, shoplifting, ripped-jeans-not-because-it-was-cool-but-because-their-jeans-were-really-ripped crowd, I failed a vocabulary test on purpose because it wasn’t cool to have an A in English. The next day, Mom’s green Cordoba was in the parking lot, and she and I were in the principal’s office where it was determined that I did in fact know what conceited meant, and clearly I was trying to act out. Did I need attention? Were things OK at home? Was I eating?

I also knew what mortified meant and not because I was quizzed on it. My mom used the word at least twelve times on our way home from school. She made a deal. “Every week you don’t fail a test, stay away from those girls, and quit pretending you’re riddled with this pre-teen angst crap, I’ll take you to K-Mart and buy you two new books.”

Wow! Two new books every week? Can Judy Blume and Francine Pascal even write that fast?

So why the stroll down memory lane? Because I stumbled across my childhood diary the other day. My 3”x4”, green, vinyl-covered book with the words, “One Year Diary” etched in gold across the cover. Here I wrote down all my innermost thoughts. I was barely a decade old and apparently had multiple-personality disorder, because most of my entries are scribbled out with the words “No I didn’t!” or “Gross! Not true!” scrawled across the pages.

I love Brenden Wendle!

I hate Brenden Wendle!

I hope my parents don’t make me go to the Poconos!

The inside front cover has the words “Property Of,” which I filled out in my nine-year-old script, SHELLY! If that weren’t clear enough I wrote “Not you Mike!!!! Or Mike’s friends!!!! And then, as if foreshadowing my future life as a part-time sorceress, I added, “Read it and be cursed with bad luck!”

I do not look back on this time with any sense of nostalgia. If I look back at all, it’s more with a sense that I’m about to break out in hives and need to throw my face in a paper bag to regulate my breathing. Flipping through some of my diary entries, I realize much of what I anguished over could have been avoided if I had had the benefit of a D&D group twenty years ago.

Yeah, I’ve heard the tales of woe from the kids who did grow up playing D&D — getting beat up in gym class and called names like freak and nerd and Orc Face. But guess what? I was called names, too. Like “Brenden Wendle Lover” (TLA!) and “Smelly Shelly” (OMG!) and “Turtle Head” (WTH?). At least if I was part of a D&D group, I’d have had the benefit of returning to a group of friends I knew would have had my back. And my turtle head.

So, in the spirit of the season, I’d like to give thanks to D&D for imparting these important life lessons. For some of you, it may not be too late. Go on without me! Save yourselves! Back to middle school we go!

To read the rest, please visit Dragon Magazine.

The following was submitted by Todd McCaffrey on his experiences creating Dragonheart, his latest novel chronicling the land of Pern:

I started writing Dragonheart on the heels of Dragonharper. I wanted to continue the story of Kindan and Lorana, which had begun in Dragonsblood. But as I progressed, I realized that I wasn’t ready to tell that story and that, in fact, I had to lay some groundwork. A lot of this is because I realized that the story of Lorana and Kindan was a bigger story and needed more characters for the telling. Six months into the novel, I decided to scrap most of what I’d written—it just wasn’t working.

Having made that painful decision, I found that the book moved forward again, although it was much different from what I’d originally envisioned. For one, it was better. For two, it was bigger. And as I moved on with Dragonheart I realized that I didn’t have just one but three novels in a tight-knit arc. I was wrong. As it turns out, I’ve got four.

Dragonheart tells the story of Fiona, Lord Holder Bemin’s only surviving child, starting when she is almost fourteen, nearly twelve Turns (Pernese years) after the Plague. Of all the characters I’ve written so far, Fiona amazes me the most. She does things that I wouldn’t have imagined, and makes them work in ways that has my head shaking in surprise and admiration.

Dragonheart is the longest book I’ve written to date. It needed the length to get Fiona’s story told right. By the end of the book, I hope you’ll find that Fiona has found a place in your heart, perhaps even as dear a one as Lessa’s. And now that I’m nearly finished with the next book, I can tell you that Fiona’s story will continue even as we reunite with Kindan and Lorana and the three of them grope for solutions to the huge problem facing all Pern—too much Thread and too few dragons to fight it!

Todd McCaffrey appears courtesy of Del Rey’s DRIN newsletter. Read the current issue here.

To sign up for Del Rey’s DRIN newsletter where you will be updated on the latest Del Rey news and releases click here.

For Todd McCaffrey’s Del Rey page click here.

How did they find me? I’m not a Wiccan or a New Age fanatic. I’m not into astrology and I didn’t actively participate in Talk Like a Pirate Day, although I’m sure I told my one and only pirate joke a few times (Q: What’s the most important part about throwing a pirate party? A: The Arrr-SVPs!)

So how did this catalog find me? It offers, true enough, a rather alluring collection of clothing, jewelry, artwork, and “magical objects” that do, okay, appeal to me here and there, especially the …

Although Regency dancing is often a part of the programming at science fiction conventions, I had never bothered to go and watch. My loss—the exhibition of Regency dancing I saw recently was delightful. The event was the launch party for Naomi Novik’s newest novel in the Temeraire series, Victory of Eagles. Held at the Explorers Club in New York, the party included in its guest list representatives of the press, Random House sales force members and their accounts, editors, FON (Friends of Naomi), the occasional LARPer and many others. Including a squad (squad? surely not) of eight Regency dancers, who hail from various Northeast states and had gathered at the party to provide a demonstration of their skills.

Dancers, from left to right: Mary Alice Ladd, Alan Ahles, Lynn Saltonstall, Marc Hartstein, Marci Morimoto, Racheline Maltese, Irene Urban, Susan de Guardiola. Photo by Kaitlin Heller.