There is perhaps no fantasy creature that is as awesome, iconic and ubiquitous as the dragon, which is as popular in mythology as it is in fiction. In fantasy novel terms, perhaps the earliest fictional depiction of a dragon appeared in The Hobbit, J R R Tolkien’s 1937 prelude to The Lord of the Rings. In Tolkien’s story Smaug the Dragon is entirely antagonistic, although it must be said that he makes an eloquent and charming villain, and many of the other authors who wrote novels in the same epic fantasy tradition have also utilised dragons as principal antagonists for their heroes. For example, in the first volume of Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, the ‘iceworm’ Igjaruk is depicted as an implacable foe, while the dragons which appear in Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders and George R R Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series, while not strictly evil as such, are at best amoral and certainly not friendly or safe to be around. Although there are exceptions (notably in Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern) this appears to be a common theme with dragons in literature – the heroes take care around these fabulous beasts, even when they appear to be on the same side. For the origins of this contradictory characterisation of dragons, we must look to real world mythology rather than speculative fiction.
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I'm a fantasy writer and on this site you'll not only find samples of my work but also articles concerning folklore, myth and legend, reviews of movies, books and graphic novels and much else besides (including the occasional short story - you lucky people!).
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White Planet
The first volume of 'The Ice World Chronicles'
Blogroll
- Abattoir
- Abomination
- Albedo One
- Allegory
- Aphelion
- Black Static
- Clarkesworld Magazine
- Cygnus
- Dark Discoveries
- Dark Moon Books
- Dark Tales
- Encounters Magazine
- Fantasy Magazine
- Interzone
- Locus
- Prime Books
- Realms of Fantasy
- Strange Horizons
- The Black Library
- The Edge
- The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
- The Realm Beyond
- Weird Tales
- #Manga - wp.me/p21O69-hS 1 week ago
- #MayDay - wp.me/p21O69-ia 3 weeks ago
- #WorldsWithoutEnd - wp.me/p21O69-hN 4 weeks ago
- #Angels - wp.me/p21O69-hH 1 month ago
- #JamesPBlaylock - wp.me/p21O69-hB 2 months ago
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Blogs I Follow
- Edwardhu111's Blog
- Winson Chiu (The Manga Creator)
- Ultimate Spoiler Attack
- Flying over a forest
- Judith Shaw - Life on the Edge
- Amber Lotus Publishing
- Faerie♥Kat's Faerie♥Korner
- Scattering the light
- The Keya Quests blog
- The Always Hungry Bookworm
- SCC Library Reads
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- Books and Adventures
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- Raging Biblio-holism
- Nada Faris | Blog
- Zendagi Migzara !
- Trees-Per-Second
- melanie bourgeois, illustrator and conceptartist
- Books On Trial
- MAHEEKATS
- Laura Bruno's Blog
- efrona's blog
- Ozark Pagan Mamma
- The Dancing Hare
- The Raven and The Oak
- stormyviews
- The Rowdy Goddess
- SCOD Public Blog
- Ravemore's Notes
- Life hands us the lemons, now where's the vodka?
- Summer Thunder
- A Witchy Life
- Temet Nosce
- PNC-Minnesota Bureau
- Fanny Fae
- Marlene Dotterer
- ChibiSketches
- Robwired
- Daniel Delgado's Blog
- litbeetle
- Bloggity, Bloggity, Blog
- Zcreed
- skylatron
- Reviews and Ramblings
- Life, the Universe, and Everything
- The Write Edge
- shelflifepodcast.wordpress.com
- The Place to Be ...
- Johann Thorsson
