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Firestorm of Dragons, Michelle Acker and Kirk Dougal (ed.), 2008, ISBN 9781896944807 Here is a group of stories all about that mainstay of fantasy literature, the dragon. Welcome to the new extreme sport of dragonscaling. The object is to climb a sleeping dragon, using ropes and pitons hammered right into the dragon’s hide, and gather as many fresh scales as possible (they are a pharmacological treasure house). Naturally, the climber has to finish and get off the dragon before it wakes up, and turns the climber into lunch. Have you ever thought of a dragon as a hard-boiled 1940s detective? A woman from a world of magic is on Earth working for a veterinarian taking care of dragons. A pair of humans are captured by a dragon, but manage to escape. The young dragon wanted to keep them as pets, but, after their escape, he gets frustrated, and complains to his mother. Think of Little Red Riding Hood facing a dragon instead of a wolf. A pair of young lovers enter a cave where a great treasure is kept. They plan to take enough of the treasure to convince her father that he really isn’t after the family money. The dragon in the cave demands a high price for not eating them. The book ends with a couple of very poignant stories about the Last Days of Dragons. This is a very good bunch of stories, but the reader has to really like dragons. At least they are not the usual type of dragon tales. Fantasy readers will enjoy this one. Paul Lappen is a freelance book reviewer whose website, Dead Trees Review has over 600 reviews on all subjects, with an emphasis on small press books.
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