Erulisse Dances

Dragons - the word evokes large beasts with unfurled wings and spouting flame. The word can also the Oriental dragons; sinuous snake-like beings riding among the clouds, treasuring pearls and bringing the rain. Dragons, or the tales of such beasts, are found throughout the world. Personally, I have always been on the side of the dragon in most stories. Looking at pictures of Saint George slaying the dragon, it was always the dragon that evoked my pity. It gave me great pleasure to submit a story to Untold Press for their short story collection, Dragonthology.


My story, "Dragon Seeks a Wife", takes the format of a traditional fairy tale similar to those spoken in verbal storytelling traditions world-wide for centuries. The storyteller, in this case an elder of the tribe, tells the tale of a feathered green dragon whose blood had been joined with an ancestor of the King of their land while Dragon searched for the wife he had to have. Because I wanted a different spin than standard European or Oriental dragons, I placed my dragon's tale in the highlands of Central America, a land of pyramids, blood sacrifice and witchcraft and the home of yet another dragon type - the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl. It was an occasion of great joy for me when my story was accepted and I am proud to join the six other authors and stories in the pages of Dragonthology. I invite those reading my blog to purchase the book (available in e-book format from Amazon) and to register to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card which will be awarded on January 25th.



( Short descriptions of the seven stories below the cut... )

So the publisher has come to us with a firm date for the publication of Dragonthology, which will be available as a Kindle Loan Book for 90 days, so we're hopeful that we'll get some good lends as well as purchases over the time span. Amazon is not accepting pre-orders (yet) so we just have to be patient until...



OK, I know...obnoxious? Yeah, a bit. But publicity is part of my author contract, so you'll be getting some. I also have friends who have asked to be kept in the loop, and my blog is how I do that. So...January 3rd.
( Why it's been fun working on this project below the cut... )

I worked hard at my O-fic, "Dragon Seeks a Wife", yesterday, finally finishing up the text shortly before Aearwen phoned me for our weekly chat. We had a totally delightful hour catching up with writing, music and families, finally signing off with a promise to talk again next week. I'm already looking forward to it. After starting the next load of laundry in the dryer, making the bed and checking the mail I began editing the fic. I wanted to send it off last night, but still had three pages to edit when my eyes went bonkers at 9:00 pm. So when I awoke at 3:15 am this morning I went right to my computer and started the final edit. I was able to send the completed story to the publisher at 4:20 am this morning. Now I just hope that they enjoy the story enough to include it in the book. If they don't, I'll check out a couple of other places to submit it, but I also will have time to ask a couple of friends for beta help which would be wonderful. So if it doesn't get accepted, it's both good news and bad news at the same time. Rather like life in micro - LOL.

( SPOILERS BELOW FOR SURVIVOR....Then a quick discussion of Ghost Hunters )

So time is compressing on me. It is August 21st and I'm already stressing about writing deadlines for the 16th of September and the 1st of October, in one case for a story that I haven't even started writing yet. Can everyone say "Ridiculous!" along with me? The next few days will be very busy though, and my writing time will be constricted. The Fair opens on Thursday so a lot of last-minute things need to be accomplished at the small house before then. We will be over there tonight after work to get the lawn cut because we won't be able to cut it again until after the Fair and it will grow shaggy in the intervening time. I have bushes to trim and a general clean-up to do, so I'll be busy tonight. I hope to still get my next chapters posted with the schedule I've set up, but it may be quite late tonight before I get to it.

( Jungle? Yes, read on for the jungle of life and pics... )