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Firestorm of Dragons

by Michele Acker (Editor), John Teehan (Contributor), Karina Lumbert Fabian (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Kim Richards (Goodreads Author) (Contributor), Kirk Dougal (Editor), Tina Morgan (Contributor), Dana Sisson (Contributor), Sarah R. Suleski (Contributor) , more…

4.54 of 5 stars 4.54 · rating details · 13 ratings · 5 reviews

"Dragonscaling " is a tongue-in-cheek look at a future where the world's most extreme sport involves the use of genetically engineered creatures. Subsequent stories deal with, among other things: dragons and high school reunions; a dragon who is a pesky door-to-door salesman; the power of devotion when lovers encounter a dragon; and a trilogy of stories depicting some poss...more

Paperback, 217 pages

Published May 15th 2008 by Dragon Moon Press

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Nov 14, 2012 Werner rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fantasy fans --especially those who like dragons in their fantasy

Recommended to Werner by: My Goodreads friend Kim Richard

Shelves: fantasy

Note, Nov. 14, 2012: I didn't mention this at the time I wrote this review, about three and a half years ago (maybe the disclosure wasn't required then), but my copy of this was an unsolicited gift from the author of one of the stories, Kim Richard. (It was an electronic copy that I subsequently printed out and read like a regular book.) There was no pressure to write a review; her gift was just an act of generosity.

Dragons are staple figures of the fantasy tradition; but in much of the genre, t...more Note, Nov. 14, 2012: I didn't mention this at the time I wrote this review, about three and a half years ago (maybe the disclosure wasn't required then), but my copy of this was an unsolicited gift from the author of one of the stories, Kim Richard. (It was an electronic copy that I subsequently printed out and read like a regular book.) There was no pressure to write a review; her gift was just an act of generosity.

Dragons are staple figures of the fantasy tradition; but in much of the genre, they tend to be just menacing and villainous figures, as in The Hobbit, R. A. Salvatore's Spearwielder's Saga, or the movie Dragonslayer and its novelization, and they're usually secondary characters in terms of the plotting. But in the 15 original stories in this anthology, dragons often come into their own as protagonists or major characters; and while the writers' depictions of dragons vary widely, the draconic specimens here are not usually purely malevolent predators --though they may have an agenda that differs greatly from ours.

Except for my Goodreads friend Kim Richard and for Karina L. Fabian, a rising star in the galaxy of Christian fantasists whose "Dragon Eye, P.I." is part of a broader corpus of work set in a near-future where our world interacts with Faerie, I'd never heard elsewhere of any of the 15 writers here (editors Acker and Dougal each contribute one of the stories). Probably the majority of them are fairly young writers at the early stages of their writing careers. But on the evidence of these stories, those are apt to be long and successful careers, because the quality of writing here is consistently high. Most multi-author anthologies are apt to have a few stories that are clunkers; this one doesn't --some are better than others, but they're all good!

Portrayals of dragons here range widely --some are shape-shifters with a human persona, and some are not; some display a psychology much like that of humans and some are wholly other; a few prey on humans and many others are misunderstood or exploited by humans. The tone of the stories also covers a broad spectrum, from humorous to tragic and poignant --but even in the latter, the writers manage to strike a note of ultimate hope. (Another plus is the freedom from bad language and prurient sexual content --only Sarah Suleski's "Poison Bird" has some swearing and teen sex, and it isn't gratuitous there.) In these pages, you can feel the pain of a sentient species hunted to the point of extinction, the euphoria of flying with no aid but your own body, and the thrill a predator takes in the kill and tearing and eating raw meat; and you can savor well-crafted storytelling at its best. My comments on Kim's excellent story were already posted as a comment on her own review of the collection. Some of my other favorites are Fabian's contribution, a charming tongue-in- cheek rendition of the noir detective tradition in fantasy garb; Dana Sisson's "A Dragon's Dawn," Richard Bray's "Inside the Cavern," and "A Darkness of Spirit" by Eric Diehl. But there isn't one I wouldn't recommend!(less)

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Jun 22, 2009 Jon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Jon by: Werner A.

Shelves: fantasy, fiction, anthologies, read-in-my-40s

An eclectic collection of dragon tales. Most of these authors I have never read before. I will be seeking out more of their work. I highly recommend this collection to all dragon lovers.

Some of my favorites include "Dragonscaling!"; "No Time for Dragons!"; "Dragon Fruit" and "Dragon's Dawn."

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Sep 06, 2008 Paul rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sciencefictionfantasy

Here is a group of stories all about that mainstay of fantasy literature, the dragon.

Welcome to the new extreme sport of dragonscaling. The object is to climb a sleeping dragon, using ropes and pitons hammered right into the dragon’s hide, and gather as many fresh scales as possible (they are a pharmacological treasure house). Naturally, the climber has to finish and get off the dragon before it wakes up, and turns the climber into lunch. Have you ever thought of a dragon as a hard-boiled 1940s...more

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Sep 26, 2008 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: sci-fi fantasy fans, fiction readers, classic tales fans

Recommended to Sarah by: an author from the collection

Great collection, and I'm pretty new at this sci-fi business. My full review is here, on my blog.

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Jun 19, 2008 Hikerdee rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: young adults to adults who enjoy fantasy

Shelves: 2008

This anthology collects fifteen stories about dragons and every one is different and memorable. My favorite story is "No Time for Dragons!" by Tina Morgan.

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Oct 30, 2012 Eric Diehl rated it 4 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

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Sep 14, 2012 Denise Vitola rated it 5 of 5 stars

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Jul 15, 2012 Karina Fabian rated it 4 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

Shelves: have-a-story-here

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Mar 07, 2012 Bob Nailor rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

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Oct 18, 2011 Sandra Almazan rated it 5 of 5 stars · (Review from the author)

Sep 29, 2011 Terisa De Morgan marked it as occasional-reading

Shelves: anthology, fantasy, paperback

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About Michele Acker

I am the author of The Heretic's Tomb, The Emerald Curse, The Clone Conspiracy, The Sorcerer's Letterbox and The Alchemist's Portrait. On my website you will find book descriptions, author profiles, interviews, audio files of readings, book reviews, teacher and reader comments and more. I offer a wide variety of presentations, workshops and author in residence programs for schools and libraries, w...more

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