A Story of Dragons

I’m not entirely sure what is so appealing about the idea of a giant scaly fire-breathing creature, but judging by the sheer volume of dragon stories in the world’s mythology, literature, and art, liking (or fearing) dragons seems to be an intrinsic part of humanity.

They’ve burned down villages and pulled Santa’s sleigh when Rudolph was on strike.  They’ve given advice and manipulated the puny mortals who dared enter their domain.  They’ve been angels and demons and boats and bestselling novelists–sometimes all at once, in the same story.  (If you haven’t read the Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica yet, you need to.  If you want something shorter, check out a Brandon Sanderson story here.).

Why they’re so cool to the rest of the world, I don’t know.  But I know some of why I personally like dragons so much.

The one thing dragons have hardly ever been was afraid.  They might be afraid of spears or arrows or the death of the universe, but it’s not the same fear I had as a little girl who didn’t really understand why the world was as chaotic and painful as it was.  Who ever heard of a dragon with anxiety?

When I was in middle school, the last Harry Potter book had just come out and I was carrying it around everywhere rereading it.  My English teacher eventually shoved me into the school library to find something new to read.  (This confused me–my mom read the book seven times before I was allowed to touch it.)  So I searched in the library’s database for a story that had something a bit like Harry Potter.

What I found involved dragons–starting with a little book called The Hobbit.

I’ve lost track of the number of dragon books I’ve read since then.  I think at one point I couldn’t find any new dragon books in the middle school library and started reading about the Loch Ness Monster.

It’s kind of hard when you’re eleven with a nearly-college reading level to find books that interest you, are age appropriate, and challenge your reading skills.  Somehow, though, most of the dragon books I found fit that criteria, while also being inspiring and showing me where to find courage.

When it came time for me to pick a pen name, of course I thought of dragons.