Character-Naming Contest!

Hello, all! I'm about to begin writing The Lion's Crypt, the second book of The Emberlyn Chronicles, and I'm looking for some great character names! It's a fantasy series, so keep that in mind.

The rules:

1. Names must end with either a "c," a "k," or a "ck." They are intended to be male names.

2. They shouldn't sound too Vulcan; after I came up with my loose rules for the language, I realized that Vulcan names generally end in "c" or "k," so I've been trying to avoid anything that sounds too similar.

3. You may submit up to three names. I need some evil-sounding names among them.

Here are some names used in The Lion's Crown, to give you a feel for what I'm looking for: Faric, Braedok, Karak, Lanioc, Dourok.

The Prize: If I use one of your names, it will appear in The Lion's Crypt and/or the third book of the series, The Lion's Court. You will also receive an ebook copy of the book(s) your name appears in and a mention in the acknowledgements section of the book(s).

Submit your answers and any questions to authormkrose@gmail.com with "Naming Contest" in the subject line. If you've yet to read The Lion's Crown, you can get your copy here.

This contest ends May 31, 2017.

Sale & Free Ebooks, May 6-12

Beginning on May 6, I'm having a sale on eight of my titles! Three of them will be completely free, and the others five will be just 99 cents! Click on any title below to get your ebook copies from Amazon.

FREE: Sullivan's War (The Sullivan Saga Book 1)
99¢: Sullivan's Wrath (The Sullivan Saga Book 2)
99¢: Sullivan's Watch (The Sullivan Saga Book 3)
FREE: Sullivan's Blood (The Sullivan Saga Book 4)

FREE: The City Beyond the Sands (The Strange Lands Saga Book 1)
99¢: Riders of the Red Land (The Strange Lands Saga Book 2)
99¢: The Sea Dragons (The Strange Lands Saga Book 3)

99¢: Provocation

Sale details: Sullivan's War, Sullivan's Blood and The City Beyond the Sands are free May 6-10. Sullivan's Wrath and Sullivan's Watch are 99¢/£0.99 May 6-10 at Amazon.com and Amazon UK only. Riders of the Red Land, The Sea Dragons and Provocation are 99¢/£0.99 May 6-12 at Amazon.com and Amazon UK only.

Book Signing May 25-28 at Phoenix Comicon!

Authors Alexia Purdy, Jenna Elizabeth Johnson, Katie Salidas, David Jones and I will be attending Phoenix Comicon! Come by and say hello; we'll be giving away prizes and signing books all weekend long!

Find us at Booth #696 on the main exhibitor floor.

Facebook Event Page

Purchase Tickets to Phoenix Comicon

The World of The Lion's Crown

Up until this point, I've primary written science fiction, but fantasy and science fiction are two genres that have become closely associated despite their apparent differences. This is because they are "speculative fiction," a term that encompasses any tale that takes place in a world that is not our own, whether that be a future in which technology has progressed beyond or to the limits of what is currently possible, a past in which things did not unfold as history describes, or a completely made-up fictional world.

The Lion's Crown (Amazon link), the first book of The Emberlyn Chronicles, takes place in the last of these settings, as does much "high" or "epic" fantasy. Today I'd like to share with you some details of that world without, I hope, revealing too many spoilers.

Let's begin with "Earth" as it exists in The Emberlyn Chronicles. What makes the setting unique is the presence of the Hobswood, a vast, nearly impenetrable forest in the center of the landmass that the characters call home. It lies between the kingdoms of Emberlyn and Gronstave--frequent enemies who currently recognize an uneasy truce--and it is completely ringed by a dark, forbidding swamp. This is the Bleaklands, and the peasants who live along its edge are called Bleaklanders. They scrape together a meager living by working the land--which is owned by local lords--and digging peat from the bog, which is used as fuel and sold to merchants traveling the Peat Road, which runs from the major cities of Emberlyn to the villages along the Bleaklands.

The characters who go in to explore the Hobswood all come from the Kingdom of Emberlyn. It is named for the Ember Lion, a legendary creature that the royal family believes was responsible for their ancestor's victory which united the warring Eastern Kingdoms into one country. Emberlyn's capital, Granisle, is dominated by the castle that sits on an island at the confluence of two rivers, the Stout and the Deerford. To the east is the Oulfeist Sea, and what lies beyond it is a mystery.

The great Hobswood Forest covers much of the eastward-jutting peninsula that Emberlyn sits upon. To the west of the forest is the Kingdom of Gronstave. While Gronstave is mentioned only in passing in The Lion's Crown, it will come to play a more important role in the sequels, The Lion's Crypt and The Lion's Court. To the west and south of Gronstave are desert and jungle lands. If Emberlyn and Gronstave can be understood as "European," these lands are roughly analogous to Africa and the Middle East. There is some contact and trade with the people who live there, but little is truly known of the cultures and civilizations in these lands.

Now, concerning the Hobswood Forest itself. The interior is a mystery at the beginning of the novel, and I don't want to reveal too much; I think it will be more fun for readers to make those discoveries along with the characters. What I will say is that there are people in the Hobswood, but they are unlike those who live outside the forest. They have been embroiled in a generations-long war, and it doesn't take long for the book's protagonists to get caught up in the conflict. The forest is also home to the Ember Lion, which our main characters discover is much more than a myth.

The characters who make up the expedition are:

Penelope "Penny" Blackmoor - a Bleaklander living along the edges of the bog.

Sir William Carlyle - a knight, the leader of the expedition.

Owen Blackmoor - Penny's brother, who went into the Hobswood as a child. He returned after two weeks, but he came back a "fool," as the Bleaklanders say. Even though he is now an adult, he appears to have the mind of a child. As the only living person to enter the Hobswood and return, he has been ordered to accompany the knights. Given his condition, Penny refuses to let him go unless she can also join them.

George Ashberry - A Bleaklander in love with Penny. When he learns Penny and Owen are joining the expedition, he convinces Sir William to let him also go along.

Sir Harold Swift, Sir Stephen Laurenge, Sir Alfred Pierce - the other knights accompanying Sir William.

There are more key characters you'll meet once the explorers enter the Hobswood, but I can't say too much about them without giving away spoilers.

You'll learn much of this information while reading The Lion's Crown, but I hope that this little primer about the world of the story will help cement some of the settings in your mind. I drew a crude map for my own purposes, but it's not very presentable. At some point I'll create one I can share with you all.

Until Next Time!

Michael K. Rose

Click here to order The Lion's Crown from Amazon.

It's just 99¢ through the end of April!

The Lion's Crown: An Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from my new fantasy novel, The Lion's Crown (Amazon link). Sir William Carlyle and his companions have been tasked with exploring the mysterious Hobswood Forest. The party has crossed through the Bleaklands, the bog that rings the forest, and have made camp for their first night inside the wood.

* * *

Wraith Smoke

Sir William let out a puzzled grunt. He reached forward to stoke the fire but paused. He was looking beyond it and beyond Sir Alfred, who was sitting opposite him. “A lurking shadow,” he whispered. “The wraith!”

Everyone but Owen sprang to their feet. Swords were drawn, but William was at the pile of packs. He pulled out the torches and tossed them to the others. They lit the torches in the fire, but before anyone could act, the dark shape swept toward them. Sir Alfred yelled out as it whipped by him, but his torch was already lit. He lashed out, and the flame licked at the edge of the shadow.

A scream like wind rushing through a cavern pierced their ears. The wraith dashed past them and up onto the boulder. It glided across the rock and down into the ravine beyond.

The four knights stood with their torches held aloft, facing the boulder. George armed himself with a brand from the fire and pushed Penny and Owen back behind him.

“If we can’t kill it,” Sir William said grimly, “then we can’t sleep. It could return at any time during the night.”

They spread out in a circle around the fire and stood silently, watching and waiting. Minutes passed without anything happening, but the second their guard began to slack, the thing rushed out from the trees on one side of their camp. Again it charged by them, seemingly trying to graze them without getting caught by one of the torches. But as it whipped past George, he flung his burning stick toward it. The brand hit the wraith squarely and passed through it, but another chilling scream told them it had been injured. It sped around the camp in a circle, making quick, jerky advances ever few seconds. Sir Stephen cried out as it touched his leg, but he was able to graze it with his torch before it could dart away again. He fell to one knee but he kept his torch at the ready as he rubbed his calf where the wraith had stung him.

Again and again, the wraith tried to graze them, and even though Harold, George and William each also suffered the thing’s touch, they were able to retaliate every time.

The wraith’s dizzying rush began to slow, and as it made one final advance toward Sir William, he brought his torch down like a headsman’s axe.

The burning end of the torch seemed to pin the wraith to the ground, and as it flailed, William took several more stinging touches before it finally fell still.

William collapsed onto the ground next to the wraith. His forehead was glistening with sweat, and his face was twisted in agony.

“Is it dead?” Harold called, hobbling over.

William poked at the wraith with his torch. It didn’t flinch. “I believe so.”

They all gathered around the thing for a better look. Its edges were indistinct, but the body was roughly diamond shaped. A wispy tail trailed behind it, but they couldn’t make out any eyes, mouth or limbs. Without it moving, it was almost impossible to see. It was a shadow on the ground, nothing more, and Penny had to fight an impulse to look around for the real creature that was casting that shadow.

As they studied it, the wraith began to thin. The shadow grew lighter, and a moment later it dissipated as a breeze blew across the camp. It drifted away like smoke, and they were left staring at an empty patch of ground.

“By the lion’s tail,” Sir Alfred muttered.

Sir Stephen turned away and looked into the dark forest. “Do you suppose this is the same one that attacked us at the village?”

William shrugged. “That wraith did escape across the bog.”

“But how many of them could there be?” Stephen asked. “The forest could be thick with them for all we know.”

“Sir William?” George said.

“Yes?”

“Penny and I have lived on the edge of the Bleaklands all our lives. If there were many such things, I believe they would be encountered much more often. Until the recent attacks at the village, wraiths were only known from ancient stories.”

William stood up from his kneeling position. “I hope you’re right. Still, there are six of us who can stand watch. Two of us will be on guard at all times. I will stand the first watch with… Penny.”

The others mumbled their agreement and rounded the fire back to the bedrolls lined up along the base of the boulder. George gave Penny a light kiss before he left, and she blushed as she glanced over at Sir William.

William extinguished the torches with a thick cone of stiff leather but kept them nearby, ready to be relit. He sat down on the side of the fire opposite the boulder. “Back to back,” he said to Penny. “We can lean against one another so we don’t get too many aches.”

She sat behind him, facing away. “Why not just lean against a pack?”

“This way one of us will know if the other begins to fall asleep. And since we can feel each other moving, that will help keep us alert.”

Penny felt strange with Sir William’s back pressed against hers, but after a few minutes her discomfort subsided. The warmth was reassuring. She felt him fumbling with something, and a moment later it was pressed against her arm.

“Here, take it,” he said.

She reached around and took the object with her other hand. It was Sir William’s knife. She slid it out of the leather scabbard and looked at the blade. “But wraiths aren’t hurt by weapons,” she said.

“No, but wraiths aren’t the only thing to be concerned about.”

She felt stupid for not thinking of that and was glad Sir William wasn’t able to see her blush. “Of course,” she said. She looked across the fire at George. “Sir William, why did you choose me to keep watch with you?”

“I wanted to speak with you.”

“What about?”

She heard William take a breath. “I wanted to say that I am sorry.”

“Sorry?”

“For forcing Owen to come with us. Only I had my king’s order….”

“I know.”

“And we must be able to rely on one another, yes?”

“Yes.”

“So I hope we can be friends. Neither you nor George has done or said anything to concern me, but I do have to be able to trust you both. With my life. If there is any resentment, I hope you’d let me know now. We could talk it over and come to an understanding.”

Penny leaned her head back to look at the sky but straightened her neck again as the back of her head pressed against William’s. “Perhaps you won’t understand this,” she said, “but people like us… George and me… we’re used to having no say in what happens to us. The lord who owns our village is a good man, and for that we are fortunate, but we must still obey him without question. So when you, a knight, comes and says something must be done… well, it must be done.”

“I do not want you to see me like that,” William said quietly. “And my life is no different, whatever you may think. When my king commands me to do something, I must do it. My life is not my own either.”

“But you, in turn, can command others. Even your fellow knights must follow your orders, as you’ve been put in charge by the king. I command no one.”

“Owen does what you tell him.”

“That’s not the same. He’s older than me and a man. If he were normal….” She let the thought go.

“I understand,” he said. “And I am sorry. Please don’t see me as the one who commands you. Let us be friends.”

“Friends,” Penny said. She looked left then right, scanning what could be seen in the ring of light cast by the fire.

* * *

The Lion's Crown is only 99¢ through the end of April!
Click here to get your copy from Amazon!

New Release: The Lion's Crown

Hello, all. After writing twelve novels in the science fiction and paranormal genres, I am pleased to announce that my first fantasy novel, The Lion's Crown, is now available! I've wanted to write fantasy for a while now and have started and stopped a few projects. Those others aren't necessarily abandoned, this is just the first fantasy project to come to fruition.

I haven't given up with science fiction either, for those of you who prefer that genre. I have a couple of ideas swimming around and may even be collaborating on a project with an author friend. Stay tuned for updates!

In the meantime, I hope you'll check out The Lion's Crown. It's the first book of a trilogy called The Emberlyn Chronicles, and I'm extremely pleased with how it turned out. Thanks to Alexia Purdy for the great cover!

Click here to order The Lion's Crown from Amazon.

It's just 99¢ through the end of the month!

For thousands of years, the Hobswood Forest has repelled all attempts to uncover its secrets. Few have entered, and even fewer have returned.

Now the king of Emberlyn has organized a new expedition into the wood, and as the explorers battle dark creatures and are drawn into a generations-long war, they will also encounter the most powerful entity to ever stalk the forest: the Ember Lion.

The Lion’s Crown is the first book of The Emberlyn Chronicles, an epic tale of magic, war and love.

A Plague of Dragons: Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

Hello, and welcome to the final interview with my fellow A Plague of Dragons (Kindle link) authors! Please welcome Jenna Elizabeth Johnson! Her story in the anthology is called Flame and Form.

* * *

Tell me a bit about your story.

Flame and Form tells the story of Brienne, a Faelorehn woman from the Otherworld, and Dorran, a draghan shape-shifter from Firiehn, a neighboring realm.  Brienne is on the run, having recently escaped a life of slavery from the Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of war.  While passing through a small town, she gets the opportunity to help a captured draghan.  Knowing the creature will probably end up in the Morrigan’s hands, she sets aside her own plans of escape in order to take the draghan out of the reach of its tormentors.  It isn’t too long, however, before Brie discovers this draghan is really cru-athru, a man of Firiehn who can take draghan form.  This story began as a retelling of Beauty and the Beast (a favorite tale of mine), but soon started to develop its own personality.  There are still the common themes of a man taking beast form, and looking past the outer self and seeing the beauty within, but Flame and Form also introduces elements from my Otherworld universe as well. 

Dragons are inherently magical; they cannot exist in nature. That being said, did you give any consideration to natural or physical limitations when you were dreaming up your dragons? Why or why not?

The setting of my story is a land rich in magic, so it wasn’t a far leap for me to incorporate a magical creature.  The people of the Otherworld and Firiehn have glamour, fae magic, and can utilize it in different ways.  Dorran, my dragon character, uses his magic to take draghan form and breathe fire.  Despite the fact that my characters wield and use magic as part of their natural existence, there are limits to how much they can use and if they use too much, they need to rest and recharge before they are at their best once again.

How many average-sized adult sheep do you think the dragons in your story would have to consume per day?

Unfortunately, Dorran, my dragon character, isn’t a huge dragon.  When he is in his beast form, he’s about the size of a Clydesdale or Shire horse.  So I would say, if he were to stumble upon a hillside full of sheep on an empty stomach, he might be able to consume one of them.  Though, I bet he’d be too stuffed to take flight afterward for at least an hour.

The dragons in your story are shapeshifters. In many shapeshifter stories, people lose their humanity while in their animal forms; werewolf tales are a well-known example of this. Do your dragons retain all aspects of their humanity when in dragon form?

This is a good question, and the way I usually approach characters in my stories who have the ability to shapeshift is that they retain enough of their humanity not to go entirely feral.  I like the idea of the animal side of them lending their sharpened instincts to either form (because if they don’t go a bit wild, what’s the point of turning into an animal?).  In Flame and Form, my shifter characters take on all the aspects of being large, fire-breathing reptiles.  They are fierce, they are strong, they are naturally graceful.  They recognize the human (or in my case, Faelorehn) woman who is their friend, but they also have no trouble identifying the enemy and treating them as such.  I didn’t spend a lot of time on this subject in Flame and Form, but I do hope to explore it further in future books.

Tell me about some of the other dragon stories you’ve written.

I have one other series that directly features dragons as important characters, and that is my Legend of Oescienne series.  The Oescienne books are appropriate for younger readers (10 years old and up) and they tell the story of a human infant found and raised by dragons in a world where her kind no longer exist.  The dragons in this series are highly intelligent and capable of speech (in fact, Hroombra, the dragon mentor to my girl hero, Jahrra, was responsible for tutoring the human children of the royal family from long ago).  This series is an epic fantasy adventure along the lines of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Eragon.  There are currently four full-length novels and one short story collection in the Legend of Oescienne series, with the fifth and final book in the works.  The titles of the books are The Finding (Book 1), The Beginning (Book 2), The Awakening (Book 3), The Ascending (Book 4), and Tales of Oescienne.  The Finding has recently been made available in audio format.

Will there be a sequel to Flame and Form?

Yes!  I have this terrible habit where, if I start a shiny new story, it usually decides to grow into something larger than a single book.  I do have plans to write at least two follow-up novellas to take place after Flame and Form.  No set publication dates yet, but hopefully one or both of them will be out before the end of the year.  It all depends on how busy my other writing projects keep me.

If you could take one of your characters to a book event to help you sell books, who would it be and why?

I’ll go ahead and pick someone from Flame and Form since this book is the one featured in the new anthology, A Plague of Dragons.  Let’s see… I would bring all my characters if I could, and although I think Mynne (Brienne’s blind, spirit guide wolf) would be a fun addition to any event, I’m going to have to go with Dorran.  In his Firiehn form, he’s a ruggedly handsome, tall, dark-haired, flame-eyed man; a warrior from a realm of magic.  I mean, who wouldn’t want to wander over and get a picture with him?  And if he wasn’t impressive enough in his more human form, he could shift into draghan form.  A soot black draghan the size of a large horse who happens to breathe turquoise fire?  Yeah, if I was attending a book event, that would DEFINITELY get my attention.

* * *

To check out A Cold Fire plus five more dragon tales, get your copy of A Plague of Dragons! It's just 99 cents for a limited time!

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/mkr31

Nook: http://bit.ly/2lninBX
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lpb3F9

iBooks: http://apple.co/2lluWuf

A Plague of Dragons: Jason LaVelle

Today I continue my interviews with my fellow A Plague of Dragons (Kindle link) authors! Next up is Jason LaVelle, here to talk about his story, A Cold Fire. 

* * *

Dragons are inherently magical; they cannot exist in nature. That being said, did you give any consideration to natural or physical limitations when you were dreaming up your dragons? Why or why not?

I think the idea has always been that because dragons are magical, they cannot exist in nature, that they can’t be real. That seems like a reasonable, adult idea, but I challenge you with this question: Is there anything that exists in nature, that lives either among us or in some faraway place that isn’t powered by some kind of ‘magic’?

Are there any plants or creatures on this earth that were not created by ‘magic’? You yourself, humanity, are we not the product of some kind of ‘divine magic’ or science that cannot be explained Everything on our planet, and in fact, life itself is magical, and I’m not talking about some hippy-dippy bologna, I’m talking about the very mechanics of how life works – we know a heart pumps blood, we know a lung draws air, we know a brain sends and interprets electrical impulses that control everything from motor functions to our thoughts and memories, but what actually breathes ‘life’ into life? It’s magic! Something we will never understand but that exists nonetheless.

So, do dragons exist? I have no idea! Could they exist? Of course! Just because something is ‘magical,’ and we haven’t seen it yet, doesn’t mean it isn’t still out there, waiting to be discovered… or perhaps, avoiding discovery.

The dragons in my story are not so different from us, they have hopes and fears, they experience pain and they feel joy. In their human forms they have the same physical limitations as we do, and while in dragon form, they have a completely different set of physiological traits. Even when writing in a fantasy world, I try to give my characters the dignity and respect they deserve by not only endowing them with gifts, but with limitations as well. No animal is perfect, not even a dragon, and they must live within their limitations to survive. What happens when two different, intelligent creatures, such as humans and dragons are thrust together? You’ll have to read A Cold Fire to find out.

How many average-sized adult sheep do you think the dragons in your story would have to consume per day?

Everything has to eat to survive. Humans are omnivores, we eat a bit of everything. Some creatures eat only plants, and plants consume nutrients and sunlight. There are bacteria on this planet that consume things that we wouldn’t normally even think of as food, such as atmospheric gases, and even electricity. So it would follow that dragons have to eat too. My dragons eat like a human would, consuming meats, fruits and vegetables – on a little bit larger scale. While the average human needs about 1,800 calories a day to survive, one of my dragons needs closer to 130,000, or roughly two adult sheep.

The dragons in your story are shapeshifters. In many shapeshifter stories, people lose their humanity while in their animal forms; werewolf tales are a well-known example of this. Do your dragons retain all aspects of their humanity when in dragon form?

Regardless of their physical form, whether it is the cold-blooded reptilian dragon, or the warm-blooded human, my shapeshifters remain intelligent and reasonable, capable of complex thought and careful decision making. Whether or not they will use those skills, well, that’s a different story.

Are you fond of films like Dragonslayer that depict dragons as mindless, violent animals, or do you prefer your dragons with a bit more intelligence and, perhaps, kindness?

My favorite dragon movie is Reign Of Fire, a post-apocalyptic story where the dragons are the tormentors and human-kind has been hunted to near extinction. The movie stars some very kick-ass fire-breathing dragons, Christian Bale (before he lost it) and a buff, tattooed Matthew McConaughey.

* * *

To check out A Cold Fire plus five more dragon tales, get your copy of A Plague of Dragons! It's just 99 cents for a limited time!

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/mkr31

Nook: http://bit.ly/2lninBX

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lpb3F9
iBooks: http://apple.co/2lluWuf

A Plague of Dragons: David Jones

Hello! Today's A Plague of Dragons (Kindle link) interview is with David Jones. His story in the anthology, The Sky Hunter, is a sci-fi take on dragons!

* * *

Tell us a bit about your story.

The Sky Hunter is a sci-fi military story that introduces us to Ilana, a human warrior who was raised by the Ociel, a race of dragon people, on their islands in the sky. Her past is a mystery, even to her, and that’s partly because of the Ociel, so she resents them. Ilana is relatively new to being a Sky Hunter, and wears a special suit of armor called the Aether Suit that allows her to keep up with her fellow warriors. She descends to the surface world, which is absolutely foreign to her, with the intent to fulfill this final mission for the Ociel elders, and then go off on her own. This story essentially blends Metroid, Mega Man X, Jurassic Park, dragons, and Little Shop of Horrors together in really fun ways, and Ilana is by far the strongest, most badass character I’ve written to date.

Have you written any other dragon stories?

The first book I ever wrote is called Onyx The Half Hero Dragon. It’s still unreleased, but it’s a story that I’ve always loved. I’ve grown a lot as a writer since I started work on Onyx, which has had a ridiculously long development history, but I have every intention to release Onyx by the end of the year. Onyx The Half Hero Dragon is a coming of age story about a young bionic dragon who grew up on a mythic island, and was raised by a mechanical engineer named Sheila. They set out to explore the island they live on to hunt down components for a powerful new weapon, and quickly find themselves caught up in war. There's much more to the story, obviously, but I'm not about to spoil everything here.

Will there be a sequel to The Sky Hunter?

I would love to write a sequel to The Sky Hunter. Ilana's world is full of possibilities, and even I don't know where she's headed.

* * *

To check out The Sky Hunter plus five more dragon tales, get your copy of A Plague of Dragons! It's just 99 cents for a limited time!

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/mkr31

Nook: http://bit.ly/2lninBX

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lpb3F9
iBooks: http://apple.co/2lluWuf

A Plague of Dragons: Katie Salidas

We continue to celebrate the release of A Plague of Dragons (Kindle link) with Katie Salidas! Her story in our anthology is called Molten Heart. Take it away, Katie!

* * *

Let’s talk dragons, shall we?

Why don’t we see many dragons flying around or burning down cities? Probably because they, just like us, have had to grow and adapt with time. Rise beyond the firebreathing image to something a bit more…

Maybe dragons exist and we just don’t know it. And that is the kind of thinking that led me to dragons as shifters in the story, Molten Heart.

Dragons belong just as much to the human world as we do. And really, calling it the human world might piss them off, because they think we’re a bit irresponsible with the world we’ve taken over. So let’s maybe just stick to calling it earth. It will make life easier on us all. Trust me. Most dragons are good, but piss off the wrong one….

Anyway. Back on point. Dragons could possibly be the very first breed of shifters. Over time as they grew and adapted with time, maybe they learned how to change forms. All creatures on earth have had to grow and adapt over the years or risk extinction. And though dragons might seem like the king of beasts, there is a greater beast on this earth that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of all creatures who share this planet… man!

Was that too preachy? Sorry. Moving on.

That leads us to the question of their (the dragons) nature. Are they beasts? Are they thinking and feeling beings. And if the answer to both of those questions is, yes. What is dominant in them and how does it work when they shift between forms?

I’d have to answer that with turning it back around on humanity. We’re thinking and feeling beings who act absolutely beastly without shifting into a twenty-foot tall firebreathing creature, so why would a dragon who has the ability to swap forms be any different? In both their impressive drake form and in their tiny (by comparison) human form, the character is the same. Their minds stay intact as well as their ability to reason and understand their surroundings. It is merely their appearance, and fire-proofing, that alters.

Why do they change then, you might ask?

Well, who doesn’t want to be able to take to the sky? Admit it, if you could sprout wings, you would.

As far as my dragons are concerned, their drake form is their natural form. They take on the human guise to keep their truth secret from the savage humans who rape and pillage the earth they live on.

Humans are a pretty damn scary race!

But, that might be giving too much away. Let’s chat about more fun dragon facts, like what they eat.

My Dragons are actually omnivores (because of their dual forms) but because of their massive size need more protein than their human counterparts. That of course leads to quite a bit of meat consumption. They’ll eat pretty much anything that moves. Sheep, cow, pig, etc… Fish too, for the water variety (the hydras). And when you have a colony of dragons around, there had better be quite a bit of available food.

How much do they eat? Well, that’s a great question. On the island they live on herd of wild sheep and ponies are pretty prevalent so that is the natural meal of choice for a dragon on the hunt. Bunny en flambé though is a favorite snack. Food is energy for the dragons, not an indulgence. Participating in the circle of life (cue the Lion King music), means that the dragons only take what they need when they need it. Could a dragon glutton himself on six or seven fully grown mountain goats with a side of squirrel every day? Of course they could. But eventually overhunting leads to extinction, and they know that. They are thinking and feeling creatures, remember.

On average, a male drake will sustain themselves on one meal a day consisting of two to three large prey animals.

I know what you’re saying. Dragons are fantasy creatures. They cannot exist in nature. Why are you spending so much time pretending that they’re real?

That’s my job. As the author I have think of all the little details and physical attributes necessary to validate my dragons. Even if all of these details do not end up in the final story, the world and character building has to be there first. Laying the foundations so that I can tell you a believable story. Do I think dragons exist? Doesn’t matter. But if for one second, just one, I can make you suspend your belief, then I have done my job!

Hope you enjoy reading Molten Heart!

* * *

To check out Molten Heart plus five more dragon tales, get your copy of A Plague of Dragons! It's just 99 cents for a limited time!

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/mkr31

Nook: http://bit.ly/2lninBX

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lpb3F9
iBooks: http://apple.co/2lluWuf

A Plague of Dragons: Alexia Purdy

Hello, everyone! A Plague of Dragons (Kindle link), an anthology I'm involved with, has just been released. For the next few days I'll be posting interviews and guest posts from my fellow authors!

To get things started, here's an interview with Alexia Purdy. Her story is called Lucidium: Rise of the Dragons, and I'll let her tell you a bit about it.

* * *

Do you have a favorite dragon from legend, literature or film?

There are two. One is the dragon from The Neverending Story. I always loved the concept of a “luck” dragon and I think I based Catori around this. Though her life has been kind of rough up until this point, she is a catalyst of sorts for those around her, and I think that as time goes on, this will stand out more. The second dragon I admired was the one from the movie Reign of Fire. It scared me and became truly a post-apocalyptic scenario that could frighten anyone about dragons. I loved the way people dealt with the mythical creature and how they survived its wrath. It made more “real world” to me.

Will there be a sequel to Lucidium?

Yes. Lucidium is part one of the story, and I have plans to continue the series in the near future. I don’t have a title for part 2, but I plan to extend part 1 into a novel-length adventure if possible and then put out book 2 of the series. We’ll see how it goes.

Dragons are inherently magical; they cannot exist in nature. That being said, did you give any consideration to natural or physical limitations when you were dreaming up your dragons? Why or why not?

I did make my dragons smaller than the usual sized dragons you see in the movies. Mine was more the size of Falkor in The Neverending Story for the one reason that I don’t believe that a person can truly shift their body into a much larger mass than their body. I didn’t want them the exact same size, but not gigantic like one would think of when thinking of dragons. Though several times larger than a person, they aren’t that much bigger than an elephant. I think keeping them smaller makes sense and works in my story better than making them huge.

* * *

To check out Lucidium plus five more dragon tales, get your copy of A Plague of Dragons! It's just 99 cents for a limited time!

Kindle: http://smarturl.it/mkr31

Nook: http://bit.ly/2lninBX

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2lpb3F9

iBooks: http://apple.co/2lluWuf