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Orson Scott Card is a winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula awards for short fiction and novels. His novel, Ender's Game, is considered one of the classics of the genre and is currently being developed for film. Along with subsequent novels in the Ender's series (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, and Ender's Shadow), Card is also the author of the contemporary novels Lost Boys, Treasure Box, Homebody; The Homecoming Saga, including The Memory of Earth, The Call of Earth, The show more Ships of Earth, Earthfall, and Earthborn; an alternate history novel, Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus; and the American fantasy series The Tales of Alvin Maker: Seventh Son, Red Prophet, Prentice Alvin, Alvin Journeyman, and Heartfire. A respected playwright, Card has seen a dozen of his plays produced in regional theater. He has also taught writing courses at several universities and workshops, including, most recently, a novel-writing course at Pepperdine. Card currently lives in Greensboro, North Carolina, with his wife and five children. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Fantastic collection overall. Its not straight fantasy, the various (very successful) authors involved were given a lot of latitude in interpreting 'dragon' as a theme for the collection, so hopefully there's something here for a variety of fiction readers.
There were, for me, a couple of low points. Not necessarily poorly written stories, but ones that didn't hold my attention as well (as I *was* here for the dragons). Roger Stine's 'Thermals of August' springs to mind, which was primarily about hangliders. "Soldatenmangel" was also on the strange side, and a little goofy, though still entertaining.
Overall, great fantasy read though.
There were, for me, a couple of low points. Not necessarily poorly written stories, but ones that didn't hold my attention as well (as I *was* here for the dragons). Roger Stine's 'Thermals of August' springs to mind, which was primarily about hangliders. "Soldatenmangel" was also on the strange side, and a little goofy, though still entertaining.
Overall, great fantasy read though.
An interesting collection of fairly dark fantasy stories all illustrated by different artists. In some instances the artwork was better than the stories but they're not bad as a whole.
Balancing out a previous collection called Dragons of Light, this collection is, as the name suggests, darker. Dragons here are dangerous, evil or deadly, or just - dragons, with not real moral compass other than their own dark natures.
Stories included are as follows:
Filed Teeth by Glen Cook
Vince's Dragon by Ben Bova
The Thermals of August by Edward Bryant
The Dragon's Clubs by Stephen Kimmel
Negwenya by Janet Gluckman
Middle Woman by Byron Walley
The Storm King by Joan D. Vinge
My Bones Waxed Old by Robert Frazier
Soldatenmangel by Victor Milan
Alas, My Love, You Do Me Wrong by James Tucker
Fear of Fly by Lynn Mims
Though All the Mountains Lie Between by Jeffrey A. Carver
The Lady of the Purple Forest by Allan Bruton
A Dragon in the Man by Kevin show more Christensen
A Plague of Butterflies by Orson Scott Card
Review: This is a wild collection, all over the place as far as theme, feel, tone, and subject. The only connection is the concept of the Dragon, but even that is loose. For example, the dragon in Middle Woman is more like a genie in a bottle, while the Negwenya is an African spirit who is dangers, while dragon of The Lady of the Purple Forest is the classic treasure-hoarding, princess-stealing sort.
Some of these stories are humorous and amusing, but most are darker and horror-toned; In particular, Filed Teeth and Alas, My Love, You Do Me Wrong. They also span genres. Many are fantasy or dark-fantasy, but at least three were science fiction, and several had the fairy tale or folk tale formula.
This anthology is a fine edition of any collection of Dragon stories. While I did not enjoy all of them, I recognized them for being excellent examples of short stories and fine example of dragon mythos. show less
Stories included are as follows:
Filed Teeth by Glen Cook
Vince's Dragon by Ben Bova
The Thermals of August by Edward Bryant
The Dragon's Clubs by Stephen Kimmel
Negwenya by Janet Gluckman
Middle Woman by Byron Walley
The Storm King by Joan D. Vinge
My Bones Waxed Old by Robert Frazier
Soldatenmangel by Victor Milan
Alas, My Love, You Do Me Wrong by James Tucker
Fear of Fly by Lynn Mims
Though All the Mountains Lie Between by Jeffrey A. Carver
The Lady of the Purple Forest by Allan Bruton
A Dragon in the Man by Kevin show more Christensen
A Plague of Butterflies by Orson Scott Card
Review: This is a wild collection, all over the place as far as theme, feel, tone, and subject. The only connection is the concept of the Dragon, but even that is loose. For example, the dragon in Middle Woman is more like a genie in a bottle, while the Negwenya is an African spirit who is dangers, while dragon of The Lady of the Purple Forest is the classic treasure-hoarding, princess-stealing sort.
Some of these stories are humorous and amusing, but most are darker and horror-toned; In particular, Filed Teeth and Alas, My Love, You Do Me Wrong. They also span genres. Many are fantasy or dark-fantasy, but at least three were science fiction, and several had the fairy tale or folk tale formula.
This anthology is a fine edition of any collection of Dragon stories. While I did not enjoy all of them, I recognized them for being excellent examples of short stories and fine example of dragon mythos. show less
A short story collection of Dragon themed stories. An excellent collection of both authors and illustrators.
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Author Information
Orson Scott Byron Walley Card, was born in 1951 and studied theater at Brigham Young University. He received his B.A. in 1975 and his M.A. in English in 1981. He wrote plays during that time, including Stone Tables (1973) and the musical, Father, Mother, Mother and Mom (1974). A Mormon, Scott served a two-year mission in Brazil before starting show more work as a journalist in Utah. He also designed games at Lucas Film Games, 1989-92. He is best known for his science fiction novels, including the popular Ender series. Well known titles include A Planet Called Treason (1979), Treasure Box (1996), and Heartfire (1998). He has also written the guide called How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy (1990). His novel Ender's Game and its sequel Speaker for the Dead, both won Hugo and Nebula awards, making Card the only author to win both prizes in consecutive years. His titles Shadows in Flight, Ruins and Ender's Game made The New York Times Best Seller List. He is also the author of The First Formic War Series, which includes the titles Earth Unaware, Earth Afire, and Earth Awakens. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1981
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, Fantasy
- DDC/MDS
- 813.087608 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Speculative fiction Collections
- LCC
- PS648 .F3 .D68 — Language and Literature American literature American literature Collections of American literature Prose (General)
Statistics
- Members
- 182
- Popularity
- 179,420
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.82)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 3
