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So many Dragons, so little time…

I offer for your consideration a more fictional quintet of books tonight, starting with Anne McCaffrey’s Pern Series (Del Rey Books).

Few authors have had such a long-standing and affectionate relationship with Dragons as Anne McCaffrey. Her dragons, dragonriders, and fire lizards of Pern are staples in the canon of draconic literature. Some people may quibble with Ms. McCaffrey’s dragons - say they are too tame, not fierce enough – but to my mind they are glorious, heroic creatures. They are not fantasy, either, but an elegant, almost romantic, genetic solution to a very sci-fi problem. If you haven’t visited Pern and spent time amongst these noble creatures, you’re missing a real treat.

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Bob Eggleton & John Grant. Dragonhenge (Paper Tiger. 2002).

An exquisitely illustrated bit of Dragon mythology, which embraces the grandeur and mystery of Cosmic Dragonhood.

Dragonhenge is a feast for eye, mind, and spirit.

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Edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois, The Dragon Book: Magical Tales from the Masters of Modern Fantasy (Ace, 2009) is a delightful and varied collection of Dragon tales by modern fantacists.

With Dragons dangerous, charming, magical and beleaguered, these are dragons of myriad sizes and temperaments, who are well worth your time.

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This past spring I had the pleasure of telling Dragon tales with kids in my area. Jackie Morris’s beautiful Tell Me a Dragon (Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, 2009) was one of the treasures we shared.

Ms. Morris’s world of Dragons is colorful, elegant, and enchanting. It spans the globe with Dragons for every taste and fancy. As an inspiration for kids and grown-ups, it gets you thinking about just what sort of Dragon you’d like to call your own.

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Tom Kepler’s fantasy of magic and Dragons, The Stone Dragon (Wise Moon Books, 2011) tells the tale of a young apprentice mage, Glimmer,  struggling to discover his gifts and not destroy the world and people he cares about in the process. For his magic comes in dreams – along with Dragons – and both are very hard to control.

Tom Kepler uses Glimmer’s story to examine the nature of magic, of power, of consciousness, of the grand adventure of becoming.

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These books would make fine additions to any dracophile’s library. Enjoy.

More to come….

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