What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
This topic is about
The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas
SOLVED: Adult Fiction
>
SOLVED. YA Fantasy with Quetzalcoatl, set in modern SW US desert. Read mid 1980s-early 1990s.
date
newest »
newest »
How many main characters were there?Male or female, or both? Was it told from the perspective of a particular character?
Are the characters high school age?
sorry it's taken me so long to reply.It's been a long time, but I think there are both male and female characters. I don't recall the POV
I think most were high school age- or maybe young adults. Fairly certain they were collectively on some kind of desert ranch type of place.
Burning Water, by Mercedes Lackey?"A sexy witch who writes romances and a police detective who sees more than mortal man team up to battle an ancient Aztec god! Dallas Police Detective Mark Valdez isn't just any cop, he's a psychic who knows that the cattle mutilations and torture murders he's been investigating are somehow tied together. He also knows that his meager psychic abilities aren't enough to identify the killers, much less stop them. Luckily, Mark has an ace up his sleeve: an attractive young romance novelist who happens to be a practicing witch. And not just any witch, either-Diana Tregarde is a Guardian, charged with protecting the Earth and all its creatures. Using modern science and ancient magics, Diana and Mark discover that they are tailing no ordinary serial killer but the awakened avatar of an Aztec god. Tezcatlipoca and his four beautiful handmaidens are preparing for a great sacrifice that will transform North America into a new Aztec realm. Diana isn't sure her powers are strong enough to take on those of a risen Aztec god, but she has no choice. As a Guardian, she is sworn to protect mankind, even at the cost of her own life. Luckily, she does not stand alone. Mark Valdez is more than just a cop. And Tezcatlipoca is not the only Aztec god walking in the world."
Robert wrote: "Burning Water, by Mercedes Lackey?"A sexy witch who writes romances and a police detective who sees more than mortal man team up to battle an ancient Aztec god! Dallas..."
Getting closer - I looked this up, thinking it might be the one, but the cover isn't right. Plot is pretty close?
Remembering more details about the cover - in a lower corner was a Latina woman in a white dress, with her arms up to protect her face. I think Quetzalcoatl, as a winged and feathered serpent, was in the front/center of the cover.
YA, and very typical-looking 1980s colors/style used in the cover
Rainbowheart wrote: "Do any of these books look familiar?https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=kw%..."
Unfortunately no -
There is a quetzalcoatl in So This Is How It Ends, but it was pubbed in 2006, so that's gotta be way too recent.
It sounds super familiar, but it could be that I am just remembering the book above.This one was the other I thought of, but am doubtful: Island in the Lake (and related Towers Of The Earth )
I found this: Quetzalcoatl, which doesn't look right on the GR side of things, but from WorldCat, it's a Fantasy novel with these chapters:ISBNs: 0816493030 9780816493036
novels
Fantasy fiction
Fiction
Historical fiction
Novels
Translations (form)
Novels (texts)
OCLC Number: 2648749
Description: 151 pages ; 21 cm
Contents: Beginning --
Way --
Anahuac --
Toltecs, the builders --
Ce-Acatl --
Pyramid --
Captives --
Drought --
Return of Tezcatlipoca --
Exodus --
Prophecy --
On the bank of stillness.
The Chalchiuhite Dragon, maybe?If not, there are also these lists to check:
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/4... (Aztec/Maya/Inca in Fiction)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3... (Aztecs, fiction)
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... (Aztec/Inca/Maya Middle Grade Hist. Fiction, also incl. mythology)
Another one, not on GR, but not anything I'm super confident about:
The white god of the Aztecs - William A Berg, 1961
Fiction
Biographical fiction
Historical fiction
Fantasy fiction
Quetzalcoatl -- (Mesoamerican deity) -- Fiction.
Cortés, Hernán, -- 1485-1547 -- Fiction.
Conquerors -- Fiction.
Mexico -- Fiction.
Aztecs -- Fiction. if this sounds promising, it's apparently available online somewhere
Mod
https://books.google.com/books?id=PYn...
Rainbowheart wrote: "There is a quetzalcoatl in So This Is How It Ends, but it was pubbed in 2006, so that's gotta be way too recent."Thank you - I looked at that post, but it wasn't the right book.
Capn wrote: "It sounds super familiar, but it could be that I am just remembering the book above.This one was the other I thought of, but am doubtful: Island in the Lake (and related [book:Towe..."
I don't think so ---
Kris wrote: "Google Books has a snippet preview of Burning Star by Eth Clifford - Capn's suggestion. You might get lucky searching for keywords:https://books.google.com/books?id..."
I looked - I don't think this is it either, but it's closer. Note that it IS fiction, almost a modern day fantasy. It is set in "modern" times. It's not time travel - if that helps. It's like... this thing awakesn, flies around, I think a sheriff is called at some point, and he doesn't know what to do. This colorful dragon-like creature calls (the bad guy, his brother?) 'smoking mirror'. The bad guy - I think we eventually see him, he's a smokey color.
If you had to guess, what state do you think it took place in?
Rainbowheart wrote: "If you had to guess, what state do you think it took place in?"hmmmm... New Mexico? Texas maybe?
Does Shaman Winter look/sound familiar? I really can't say much about content - I found it in a really roundabout way (text search on OL which lead to Chicano Detective Fiction: A Critical Study of Five Novelists via 'smoky mirror' and 'quetzacoatl').Searching that on OL doesn't bring up 'smoky mirror', but does have 'quetzacoatl':
Page 103
Sonny turned on the desk lamp. The l^ght shone on the shiny black surface, revealing the finely raised glyphs. Eric said it was a pre-Toltec piece. One obvious engraving was the plumed serpent thrashing upward along the side of the bowl. The Toltecs had made their covenant with Quetzacoatl.
Page 103
"A few of the symbols are pretty obvious. Quetzacoatl. There's a circle, or spiral, of glyphs from the bottom of the bowl, around the bowl, up to the lip. Like Jacob's ladder."
(I'm not convinced it's right, though. A kidnapped girl named Catalina is involved?)
EDIT: Ah, I think it's too late - I can't find an early enough edition. Sorry about that. :(
A few more contenders to rule out:Obsidian Sky (1994): https://books.google.co.uk/books/abou...
&
The Shaman (1980)
Capn wrote: "Does Shaman Winter look/sound familiar? I really can't say much about content - I found it in a really roundabout way (text search on OL which lead to [book:Chicano Detective Fiction:..."Hi! Thank you for looking -- Neither one sounds right, unfortunately.
Capn wrote: "A few more contenders to rule out:Obsidian Sky (1994): https://books.google.co.uk/books/abou...
&
[book:The..."
No, neither of these are right either. This was a fun, rather light read, for adults or ya.
Update : Solved without a doubt --- The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas, by Elizabeth Scarborough.
Mod
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
The Drastic Dragon of Draco, Texas (other topics)Obsidian Sky (other topics)
Shaman Winter (other topics)
Obsidian Sky (other topics)
The Shaman (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Eth Clifford (other topics)Eth Clifford (other topics)
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)
Mercedes Lackey (other topics)
I read this book sometime in the mid 1980s-early 1990s. I think. Certainly well before 2000. It was a standard-length paperback, a sort of "western" cowboy type of scene on the front, very bright blue sky. One of the main characters in the lower left, iirc.
This was set in roughly modern times, in the desert of the US Southwest or maybe Mexico. Very "urban fantasy" style.
Someone somehow woke or summoned Quetzalcoatl. I *think* a necklace or pendant was involved, but not sure. This is key - he could speak, and was kind of a smart a$$. I don't think he realized who he was at first, and grew. Eventually toward the end of the book, his nemesis Smoking Mirror was summoned or found him, and they had a fight as huge flying dragons.