Tag: Dragons

Flash: The Emerald Dragon Flies

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Image from huangshunping on Unsplash

Swimming from the green misty woods to the blue morning sky, the emerald dragon’s scaly body slid back and forth against the air, like a snake swimming through water. Each polish scale reflected lights in flashes, silvery diamonds glittering when touched by the newly reborn sun. Clouds gathered and moved in curious circles like stone ripples in a Zen garden with each turn and swirl of the serpent’s long tail.

The monks held poses, waiting far beyond the normal time to shift stances, watching the impossible.

Dragons only flew above free states. The Emerald Valleys had knelt for generations at the Throne of Providence, their dragon sleeping deeply. What had happened?

(words 111; first published 2/25/2024; created 11/20/2023)

Flash: Wood Dragon

Erin Penn Leave a comment

Photo by Karen Cann on Unsplash

The dragon emerged slowly from his long rest, nosing out of the borrow he had hidden in so long. Green grass and meadow surrounded him, replacing the village he had burned to the ground before digging his nest, its people a forgotten memory by all but him

… and the archeology team carefully laying out a string square grid to dig up the speculated trade town of Briganemeto, best translated as “the hill claimed as sanctuary by wood”. With small shovels and measuring sticks in hands, the students and professors stared at the legendary creature.

The year of the wood dragon had begun.

(words 103; first published 2/11/2024; created 11/18/2023)

Flash: Painted Sunflowers

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Image from Kristina Sepanidenko on Unsplash

“Alaina, what have you done to your face!” Debbie explained.

“I got it painted.” The young woman turned her face to show off her left cheek. “I got a flower, isn’t it great.”

“No, I mean yes, that is really pretty, but—” Debbie grabbed Alaina’s face and turned it to see the right side of her face, examining the design there in the glow from overhead street lights. “Why did you get a black dragon painted? I know it is the dragon festival and all, but black, and on the face, that is just asking for trouble.”

Yanking her face out of the other’s hands, Alaina said, “What are you talking about? I only got the sunflowers and bee painted.” She reached up and touched the one cheek with the bright yellow oils. Then she lifted to touch the part of her face Debbie had been manhandling. “I didn’t do anything here.”

“Oh, don’t lie, let me get this wiped off before anyone sees,” Debbie licked her thumb and set about rubbing the layered design, hoping to smear it to unrecognizability. “You don’t want anyone thinking you are a rider.”

“Debbie, Debbie, ow, that hurts.” Alaina tried pulling back from the determined woman. “I didn’t do anything there. And while the face painter offered some cartoony designs of dragons, she hadn’t offered anything that could be mistaken for a rider tattoo.”

“Just let me…” Debbie rubbed harder, “it’s not budging. What in the nine realms did she use?”

“Stop, stop it.” Alaina grabbed both of Debbie’s hands. “You are scaring me. Debbie!” she shouted, causing several of the other festivalgoers to turn their way, some of them stopping and pointing. “What is happening?”

Debbie slow blinked her green eyes. “It’s real. It’s not moving, it’s real.”

“Rider.” “Black flyer.” “Is that a girl with a dragon tattoo?” whispers started in a circle around them.

“No, I got nothing there.” Alaina assured her.

“By Moxie and Damion, come here.” Debbie pulled Alaina to a nearby storefront glass-plated window by their joined hands. “You just became a rider Alaina.”

“Please, who would choose…” Alaina stared at the reflection in the glass. “Women don’t become riders.”

“They do.” Debbie touched the glass beside Alaina’s cheek. “White or red, sometimes even green.”

“Maybe it is a really dark green?” Alaina leaned in close, but the Illumination from the night street lamps didn’t give much reflection.

Debbie shook her head. “No, it’s black.”

She reached out and touched the glass herself. “A dragon chose me.”

“It’s the Festival of Choice, when the dragons finish their second molting.” Debbie wrapped an arm around her friend. “New riders are always chosen.”

“But kids, or matrons, or trained fighters, or someone else, anyone other than me.” Alaina laid her head on Debbie’s shoulder. “I’ve never been chosen before.”

“You only get chosen once.” Debbie quoted the old saying.

“No one in my family has flown. Not ever. It … I mean …” She wailed, “I got work tomorrow!”

(words 501; first published 1/14/2024)

Book Review (SERIES) Dragons of Boston

Erin Penn

Amazon Cover

Dragons of Boston by Chris A. Jackson

  1. Dragon Dreams
  2. Dragon Nemesis
  3. Dragon Legacy

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for DRAGON DREAMS

Introducing a new techno-thriller from Chris A. Jackson – The Dragons of Boston!

The monster awakens…

Harvard PhD student Aleksi Rychenkna longs for the peace of solitary study, away from people, questions, and human interaction. With a new advisor, a new project, and a fascinating new mystery, a preserved specimen that defies identification and contains human DNA, she has everything she wants.

But the mystery runs deeper than Aleksi bargains for. Powerful people are interested in her work; people who can make or break a young scientist’s career. Then, after an accidental exposure to the specimen’s strange DNA, she finds herself…changing.

It begins with dreams, nightmares of blood filled with violent images and urges. When threatened by another student, her social anxiety shifts to aggression. Her reflexes and instincts sharpen, and she is becomes stronger and faster than she should be. Aleksi begins to realize her dreams are more than psychosis.

Because they’re not dreams at all. They’re memories. And now the powerful people aren’t just interested in her, they’re hunting her.

MY REVIEW for DRAGON DREAMS

Even keeping the best records, maintaining the best containment, doing everything right, things can go grievously wrong. When Aleski discovers the bone slab she is working on is from an entirely different dig, her world shifts on its axis. She had just changed advisors and started a new project. Now this … DNA and X-ray mess of paleontology. She does her best to continue with her project despite everything, including a nasty head cold and an on-campus murder.

If that isn’t enough, she dreams of dragons. And she isn’t the only one.

Character driven, this action-packed story keeps you moving to the very end.

Deeper thoughts
My biggest problem with the book is how much the main character’s (Aleski) personality changed after her infection. We got to know her as a person, identify with her, and she changed so much she became unrecognizable. But then, she did become a dragon.

The theme of the story does seem to be about transformation. Is the person what they look like on the outside or what they are on the inside personality wise? Are they their experiences, even when the experiences are forgotten? Are they something else entirely? The questions aren’t addressed head-on, but they do nibble in the back of your head as you read the book.

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for DRAGON NEMESIS

The stunning techno-thriller trilogy that began with Dragon Dreams continues!

Aleksi Rychenkna’s metamorphosis is complete.

A long-extinct evolutionary twist that lies hidden with the human genome now soars through the skies above Boston. Hunted by the government that would use her as a weapon, sought by a secretive organization that can reshape human flesh, and loved by the one man who keeps her horrible secret, Aleksi lives in the shadows.

But the transformation that reshaped Aleksi into Homo Draconis is contagious, and she harbors a plague that could reshape the world of mankind.

There is, however, the promise of hope. But can Aleksi trust those who say they can make her human again? If it means a chance to regain her life, to become Aleksi Rychenkna again, to be with the man she loves again, perhaps it’s worth the risk.

But the powers that want an army of dragons will risk humanity to get one. Aleksi is not the only Dragon of Boston, but those who made him know not what they have unleashed. This new dragon has but one irresistible urge burning in his mind: he must find Aleksi Rychenkna. For male dragons are driven only to eliminate rivals and procreate.

MY REVIEW for DRAGON NEMESIS

Even better than the first, Dragon Nemesis starts where Dragon Dream leaves off in the Dragons of Boston series.

Each book easily stands alone, but also supports the overarching narrative. No cliffhangers!

The new male dragon in town, David, is a world of difference from Penningly in so many ways. Will he be able to throw off the dragon instincts, as he has done all his life with his human instincts in response to his training and responsibilities? Or will his long history as a solider, as a killer (spy-assassin), make him succumb that much faster? Be that much more deadly in his skill and sanity? I fell in love a bit with David.

The cops show up again, as does Hutch’s ex and her family, and the DHS. The story is logical and full, the world and its characters fully realized. Great story!

 

Amazon Cover

BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for DRAGON LEGACY

The Captive Dragon…

While Aleksi struggles to become human again, Lori Watkins, the single surviving victim of the rogue dragon, David Gilford, begins her metamorphosis in captivity.

Traumatized by the death of her fiancé and tormented by the dreams of the dragon she is becoming, Lori is struggling for sanity. She has only one hope, for others know she’s being held captive. But with a dragon in hand, Lori’s captors aren’t likely to make a deal with the secretive organization that wields more skill in manipulating the human genome than they do, and Aleksi’s new family will never trust the government with the ability to cure the Homo Draconis infection.

But angering the Department of Homeland Security is not unlike taunting a dragon, and Lori’s captors are as much out for vengeance as they are for the secret of creating an army of non-infectious dragons.

The two organizations are doomed to clash, and in the middle stands the man Aleksi loves. But if one thing is more dangerous than keeping a dragon captive, it’s threatening one’s loved ones.

MY REVIEW for DRAGON LEGACY

The conclusion of Dragon Legacy works as a stand-alone, though the story will be much better if you have read the whole story.

The first third of the book sags with personalities being pieced together; healing and hurting; and political maneuvers. Then the bombs go off and the rest of the book is a Thriller ride all the way.