The Yeti in Snowdonia National Park

The Yeti don't get much love in Doctor Who. Sadly, the two second Doctor stories in which they figured prominently, "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear," went missing from BBC archives for many years. Aside from a cameo appearance in the twentieth anniversary story "The Five Doctors," the Yeti silently slipped away from Doctor Who, never to rival the popularity of Cybermen and the Daleks.  

Thankfully, one episode of the six-part "The Abominable Snowmen" still exists, and five of the six episodes of "The Web of Fear" were returned to the BBC in recent years. So by watching the fan-produced reconstruction of "The Abominable Snowmen" and the BBC-reissued "The Web of Fear," fans can get an idea of the menace the Yeti posed for the second Doctor in the 1960s. Still, with so many established alien races, and the program constantly introducing us to more, it seems unlikely that the Yeti will ever rise higher than curiosities in the Doctor Who universe.

Nonetheless, my wife and I thought of the Yeti, and "The Abominable Snowmen," when we drove through Snowdonia National Park in Wales a few years ago. For it was in this area that the second Doctor and his companions Jamie and Victoria encounter the elusive creatures. Or at least this was where the location filming took place. Transformed by the production team, the TARDIS actually lands in the Himilayas, where the heroes protect priests at a Buddhist Temple from the Yeti, and a malevolent entity called the Great Intelligence.

While shrouded in mist, Snowdonia National Park proved rich in character. Towns with seemingly unpronounceable names proved picturesque and inviting. Grass, foliage, and trees burst forth from the hard ground and stark rocky hillsides. We wondered how harsh the winters in Wales might be, given the rugged terrain, and were glad we had arrived in summer, when conditions were cool but comfortable.

I would have liked to have visited the actual spot where the Doctor Who production team filmed the Yeti. Sadly, this area lay far off the beaten track. So my wife and I confined ourselves to well-traveled roads, and enjoyed getting a taste of the area that had doubled for the remote Himilayas in "The Abominable Snowmen."

South of Snowdonia National Park lies the city of Cardiff, where the current Doctor Who production team is located. Perhaps we'll have to return to Wales someday, and see the locations the ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Doctors have visited. I wonder if, by the time we travel there, the Yeti will have returned to Doctor Who? Fans of the Yeti can only live in hope.

Dragon Dave

Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman in Colorado Springs

After flying into Denver International Airport, we drove our rental car south to Colorado Springs. Along the way we passed through the concrete canyons and big box store forests of urban sprawl. When we reached Colorado Springs, we ate lunch at a popular chain restaurant before touring the U.S. Air Force Academy. Then we drove along the freeway, and through wide paved streets lined by strip malls to our hotel. 

It wasn't until the next day, as we hiked in Garden Of The Gods, that I realized we were actually in Colorado Springs, where Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was set. In the TV series, Dr. Michaela Quinn travels from Boston, Massachusetts to Colorado Springs in 1867, because the townspeople of modern Boston refuse to visit a female doctor. At first, the inhabitants of this frontier town refuse to trust Michaela also. But gradually, she wins their respect, and becomes a valued member of the community.

While Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman was filmed in California, this is the area in which the TV series was set. There may not have been a real Dr. Michaela Quinn. Nonetheless, the issues the character battles, and the events she lived through, were very real indeed. When you see General Custer leading his army troops against nearby Native American tribes, this is where those battles actually took place. When you see Army troops killing herds of buffalo to drive away Native American communities, and clear the land for homesteads and ranches, this is where that occurred. When you see the townspeople striving to attract the interest of the railroads, and thereby develop their town, this is where that occurred.

In the series, all that occurred, or at least began, in 1867. In the one hundred-and-fifty years hence, townspeople like shopkeeper Loren Bray and barber Jake Slicker won. The train came to Colorado Springs, and the town grew. Now there's far more than one school or church in Colorado Springs, let alone one doctor. The town has grown out all proportion to its original size, and has reaped all the benefits of becoming a modern city, as well as the accompanying traffic and overcrowding issues. 

In Garden of the Gods, the beauty of the land in which Colorado Springs was planted remains. This was the place where people like Dr. Michaela Quinn demonstrated that all people are equal, regardless of gender, race, or beliefs. I'm so glad it remains free to enter, and accessible to all.

Dragon Dave

Captain Marvel and the Air Force Academy Chapel

While Colonel Steve Austin represents the Air Force of the past, perhaps no one represents the Air Force of the present better than Captain Marvel. While Carol Danvers resembles a normal female officer, she isn't actually Human. Instead, she's an alien living peacefully on our world, and a member of the Kree race. Yet she's brave, capable, and strives for excellence, like all cadets who attend the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. It's fair to say that she wouldn't naturally belong to the Protestant faith, to which the upper, and best known chapel, is dedicated.

While the Air Force Academy may impose many strictures on cadets, their choice of faith is not curtailed in any way. The lower level of the building hosts a Catholic chapel, which is also very beautiful.

Then there is the Jewish chapel, which was filled to capacity during our visit. 
 

While our world often pits one religion against another, cadets who would worship in the Muslim and Buddhist chapels enter and exit through the same outer door to reach their separate sanctuaries. As this would prove impossible without creating dissension and violence in some parts of the world, this exemplifies how the Academy strives to install a yearning for greatness in every cadet.
 

Apparently, there's even an All-Faiths room, which can be utilized by individuals and congregations of less popular faiths. And somewhere outside, those belonging to Earth-centered faiths such as Wicca, Paganism, and Druidism can practice their religions in the Falcon's Circle. Perhaps we would have seen the latter, had it not been raining during our visit. 

Thus, while Cadets cannot take freedoms like speech, time, and movement for granted, they are allowed to pursue the faiths of their choosing,  regardless of their race (or planet) of origin. While striving to impose order and discipline, and imprint their concept of a model officer on cadets, the Air Force Academy recognizes that celebrating diversity can make us stronger. 

Either that, or the leadership has been taken over by shape-shifting Skrulls, striving to make us all weaker, and preparing our world for invasion. Hey, it happened in the movie...

Dragon Dave

 

Astronaut Steve Austin and the Air Force Academy Chapel

The Chapel at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado is a beautiful place, both outside and in. On the day we visited, clouds filled the sky, and falling rain made it hard to take photographs outside without water spotting the camera lens. Inside the Chapel, the cloudy sky prevented the stain glass from radiating at optimum brightness and color. Still, the building's beauty was apparent.

We all idolize people like Air Force Colonel Steve Austin in the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man for his accomplishments as an aircraft pilot and astronaut. Our reverence for him stems from his real life counterparts, such as the young people who attend the Academy, and go on to  brilliant careers in the United States Air Force. Even the interior of the Chapel reminds us of their highest aspirations: to fly a jet or spaceship at incredible speeds, defend our country, and explore the unknown. But do we recognize the price these heroes pay to achieve these lofty goals?

Like this monumental Chapel, each cadet's future achievements are grounded upon their experiences--and sacrifices--at the Academy. During their Academy years, everything the cadets have ever relied upon, and called their own, is stripped away from them. Chief among these losses are freedom of choice, freedom of time, freedom of movement, and even freedom of speech, perhaps our most cherished right of all. 

Like Colonel Steve Austin after the wreck that ended his career as a test pilot, the cadets are stripped down to their component parts, and gradually reassembled according to the Air Force Academy model. Perhaps they don't leave the Academy with artificial organs or bionic limbs, but they graduate only after a substantial transformation. To paraphrase Oscar Goldman, the director of the Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI), they leave "better, stronger, and faster."

Every aspect of popular culture teaches nonconformity. To be a great person, first one must be popular, and therefore different. To become popular, one must be irreverent and disrespectful. To get ahead, one must step on toes and break the rules. Only then can one achieve great things. 

The Air Force Academy teaches an older, more staid approach. To become great, one must first learn to be respectful, to obey the rules, and to pull with the team. Only through submission, conformity, and respect for others, can one in turn gain respect and become a leader. 

Religion can also share in this older, time-honored approach to greatness. I speak not of religion which allows all influences, and therefore empowers disruption. Nor do I speak of religion in which participants and leaders play off one faction against another. True religion respects all, especially those who have traveled before. True religion doesn't merely allow or okay, but seeks to understand the meaning underlying all choices. True religion views compromise and conformity as a way of navigating the present toward a better future for all.

I don't know how cadets relate to the Air Force Academy Chapel on a daily or weekly basis, but I'm guessing that an "anything goes" philosophy plays no part whatsoever in their teachings and worship services. If the introductory film shown at the Academy Visitor Center is anything to go by, I suspect that the Chapel enhances cadets' Academy experience by helping them belong more fully to their fellow cadets and superiors, and craft a spiritual life which makes them better, stronger, and faster leaders. Based on the people we admire, like Colonel Steve Austin, I imagine the Chapel plays a strong role in fashioning them into Air Force officers, fighter pilots, and astronauts. 

Out of all who join the Air Force, and train to become officers, only a select few are chosen to attend the Academy. Hopefully, the applicants are chosen according to merit, and for their ability to achieve greatness. They have their course to pursue, and you have yours. Which path to greatness will you choose?

Dragon Dave

Arthur Conan Doyle and Downton Abbey at Baconthorpe Castle Part 2

Although William Baxton, the first member of the Heydon clan, built the Inner Gatehouse in 1460, it was Sir Henry Heydon (William Baxton's grandson) who constructed the rest of the castle inside the courtyard, either during or after the War of the Roses finished. There, they would have lived comfortable lives, their needs attended by servants a la Downton Abbey. His son, John Heydon II, also constructed a wool processing factory along the inner courtyard wall, the ruins of which you can see behind me. By his Sir Christopher Heydon I's time, the family owned 20,000 to 30,000 sheep, and their ability to produce finished cloth allowed them to live in truly grand style, perhaps even better than the Crawley Family in Downton Abbey. For then, in the mid sixteenth century, they employed around 80 servants, and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle.

Unfortunately, as in Downton Abbey, Sir Christopher Heydon I found that his spending outstripped his earnings, and his son was forced to sell off part of the estate and mortgage the rest of the property. 

When I read The White Company by Arthur Conan Doyle, I couldn't understand why Sir Nigel Loring left his castle in England to find glory in France. Recently, I've been reading about the 100 Years War, and how France was less a country back then than a series of adjacent territories overseen by various rulers. The novel is set in 1366 and 1367, when England saw itself as owning much of France back then. So Sir Nigel's decision to lead a company of knights through land of contested ownership, and perhaps in some way increase England's sovereignty, makes sense. 

There was also an economic benefit to the 100 Years War which Arthur Conan Doyle doesn't cover. One region ruled by French rulers was Flanders, which is now a county in Belgium. Flanders was where the medieval world sent its wool to be transformed into finished cloth. The leaders of the wool trade in Flanders appealed to Edward III to help protect their businesses, which were necessary to UK international trade. 

Still, British rulers were too far away to protect Flemish weavers, so they began emigrating to England. Remember, Sir John Heydon II built the wool processing factory, and his first spinners and weavers likely hailed from Flanders. The fact that he owned 20,000 to 30,000 sheep, and operated the wool processing center too, gives you an idea of how powerful he was, and how he could afford such a lavish lifestyle.

Unlike the Crawley family in Downton Abbey, Sir Christopher and his successors couldn't control their spending. So increasingly, servants were dismissed, lands were sold, buildings were mortgaged, or even dismantled and the stone sold by the cartload.

People no longer live year round at Baconthorpe Castle. But visitors come to see the ruins of a castle that lasted from the tail end of the 100 Years War, through the War of the Roses, the British religious reforms of Henry VIII and his successors, and the English Civil War. While we were there, a swan couple found the mere a pleasant place to birth their children. So perhaps successive generations of swans will call Baconthorpe Castle home. Let's hope they prove wise managers of the estate, and refrain from warring with their avian neighbors.

Dragon Dave

Related Links
Baconthorpe Castle at English Heritage
Wool Trade at Historic UK

Arthur Conan Doyle and Downton Abbey at Baconthorpe Castle Part 1

The first thing that greets you at Baconthorpe Castle is the outer gatehouse, which was built around 1560 by Sir Christopher Heydon I. His lordship of the castle seems to coincide with the high point of the Heydon family. Like the Crawley family in the TV series Downton Abbey, the Heydon family by this time had a large manor house inside the inner castle courtyard, and employed around 80 servants.

At first glance, Sir Christopher Heydon I (1518-1579) seems to have benefitted from a period of relative peace in England, falling between the War of the Roses in the 15th Century and the English Civil War in the 17th Century. But then you have to remember that Henry VIII ruled England during the first half of the 16th Century. His government could have been described as anything but placid.

By 1560, when the outer gatehouse was finished, English Christians had been rocked by the formation of the Church of England and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, ultra-progressive protestant rule of Henry's son Edward, and the ultra-Catholic rule of his daughter Mary. No wonder Sir Christopher decided he needed an outer gatehouse, as well as a larger defensive wall to surround the property. 

Oh, and he also decided to crenellate the buildings and walls around this period too, which would give his guards and soldiers better defensive positions.

The stretch of land between the outer and inner gatehouse gives you some scope of what was essentially a manor house and surrounding lands. The area off to the right would have been a large formal garden, completed by Christopher Heydon II (1561-1623). He was a solder, as well as a Member of Parliament and a writer of astrology books. 

The second Christopher's militaristic nature got him into trouble in 1601 when he took part in the Essex Rebellion against Queen Elizabeth I. Unlike the 100 Years War, and the War of the Roses, the Essex Rebellion was a comparatively small affair of short duration. Nevertheless, he fought on the wrong side, against Elizabeth, and ended up being fined and sent to prison.

Still, even if his warring nature got the better of him, and he proved an unwise estate manager, at least he appreciated the beauty of nature, as he built a mere as well as the formal gardens.

A moat surrounds the castle. You have to walk across what was once a drawbridge, and is now a permanent walking bridge, to access the inner gatehouse and castle interior. The Inner Gatehouse was built by the founding member of the family castle, built by William Baxton around 1460. 

At first, you might ask why he built such defenses, as this would have been just after the 100 Years War, which lasted from 1337 to 1453. But then you have to remember that the War of the Roses, which lasted from 1455 to 1485, had already begun. Anyone who had significant assets back then, and wanted to protect their family back then, would have owned a defensible manor or castle like Sir Nigel Loring in Arthur Conan Doyle's novel The White Company. 

Although William died rich, and got the castle off to a good start, his son changed the family name to Heydon, as William was a self-made man. Perhaps patrons like William de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk and a prominent military leader in the 100 Years War, disliked the Baxton name. Or perhaps, John felt that Heydon sounded more prestigious than Baxton in the fifteenth century. 

After all, young immigrant Bedrich Polouvicka changed his name to Richard DeVere in the sitcom To The Manor Born, and went on to found a popular UK chain of supermarkets. And the Heydon family would go on to become major players in the wool trade, which was one of England's major industries in medieval times.

Dragon Dave 

Review: Spine of the Dragon by Kevin J. Anderson Part 3

St. Edmundsbury Cathedral
Bury St. Edmunds, England

The Science Fiction and Fantasy genres have always had an uneasy relationship with religion. Usually, if religion is mentioned, it is portrayed in a negative context, as in Kevin J. Anderson’s early novel Resurrection, Inc. Some of this can readily be explained by the sad fact that the proponents of religion and science so often feel opposed to each other. As for the Fantasy field, if novels revolve around gods, usually the author pits the mortal characters against these divine beings. While this approach stacks the odds against our protagonists, it does nothing to enhance a reader’s spiritual life.

In Kevin J. Anderson’s novel Spine of the Dragon, Key Priestlord Klovus glories in destruction, and yearns to impose his will over the entire world. He nurtures his godlings not only on small amounts of worshippers’ blood, but also drains all blood from wounded sailors and prisoners of war before casting their corpses aside. His assassins brutally kill one another as part of their regimen, so Klovus will always have the very best murderers at his beck and call. And he does other things, too despicable to mention in this review. Despite Anderson’s strong portrayal of villainy—or perhaps because of it--the character never spoke to me. But Klovus is just one among a host of fully rounded characters that won me over with their passions, their bravery, and their all-too-Human foibles.

With such a strikingly negative portrayal of religion, it would have been nice to see a more beneficial one practiced in the Commonwealth. Still, Anderson throws out an interesting theological construct here. Unlike the Wreths, who were created by a god, the Humans were fashioned out of magic by the Wreths. Thus, like the featureless simpleminded drones that now serve the Wreths, the Humans have no souls, and only what they do in this life matters.

Perhaps it is unfair to suggest that the Isharan religion is entirely negative. For when Queen Iluris tours her districts in search of a potential successor, she discovers that all priests do not share Klovus’ lust for power and death. A few call upon their godling only after they have exhausted every other resource, and then only for protection and healing. Perhaps it is too much to hope that Klovus might learn from their example, and become a more sympathetic character in future volumes. But sometimes the blackest villains end up surprising you.

Kevin J. Anderson may yet reveal more aspects of Priestlord Klovus, or his everyday life, that will help his features stand out amid the darkness. For example, Kevin and his wife have several cats. Klovus could adopt a white, longhaired cat, and stroke it in key scenes like another classic villain. 

Tamworth Castle Gardens
Tamworth, England

As flowers usually grace our sanctuaries, and gardens often beautify church grounds, Priestlord Klovus could take up gardening. With the way he can channel magic, and the aid of his Godling, it would be interesting to see what types of flowers Klovis could grow in the magic-infused Isharan soil. After all, he would like to marry Queen Iluris, who has a beautiful garden on the palace grounds. Perhaps planting and nurturing a garden would be the way to win her heart?

You can never know how the next volume of a Kevin J. Anderson series will go. As a longtime reader of his novels, he surprised me with the level of originality he built into Spine of the Dragon. While charting the rising tensions between Ishara and the Commonwealth, as well as between the Humans and the Wreths, perhaps Kevin will devote a little time to showing a softer side to Priestlord Klovus. I look forward to seeing how Klovus, and Anderson’s depiction of religion and theology, grow and evolve over the course of the series.

In the meantime, perhaps I should devote a little more attention to my own garden. Even unaided by magic, I’m sure if I worked harder, I could make it more productive and beautiful. In this way, I could enhance my house and my life, while also blessing the lives of those around me.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral
Bury St. Edmunds, England

As for the whole cat thing, well, I think I’ll leave that to Kevin and his wife.

Dragon Dave

Review: Spine of the Dragon by Kevin J. Anderson Part 2

A Utauk camp

In Kevin J. Anderson’s novel Spine of the Dragon, the mainland is controlled by the Commonwealth, which is made up of three separate kingdoms. But more people inhabit the Commonwealth than just the citizens of Norterra, Suderra, and Osterra. Two groups in particular live within Commonwealth borders, but outside Konag Conndur’s control.

First there are the Bravas, who send their members to protect civic and business leaders. Bravas can channel magic via their mixed Human and Wreth bloodline. They utilize this magic to protect those they serve. But this power comes with a price. Each Brava lives by a strict code. Fall short of it, and not only does the Brava community cast you out, but they strip you of your ability to ever wield power again.

The Utauks, a nomadic people who live within and yet apart from the Commonwealth, support their communities by facilitating trade between the Commonwealth and the island kingdom of Ishara. As with the Brava, the inner workings of their communities largely remain a mystery to outsiders.

Yet their members also lay claim to their own forms of magic. One kind is the heartlink that reptilian birds called Skas can form with Utauk women. King Adan Starfall is aware of this, as his wife Penda has a Ska named Xar. Another is the way they can usually channel the unpredictable rules of chance to their own ends. But there are other mysteries, deeper magics and sources of strength, which the Utauks hide from outsiders.

After the Sandwreths return, his wife Queen Penda and his father-in-law Hale Orr agree that the stakes are sufficiently high to share this treasured lore with King Adan Starfall. They take him on a long journey, until they reach a Utauk camp in a verdant valley. There they introduce him to Shella din Orr, Penda’s great-grandmother. Aware of the threat posed by the return of the Wreths, she reveals vast resources of knowledge, and shows Adan ways by which the Utauks serve as stewards of the land and its peoples. Exactly how he can use that knowledge to protect his kingdom against the Wreths, and rely on those who have always remained apart from the Commonwealth, is a mystery he will have to discover on his own.

Utauk Matriarch
Shella din Orr

Each new book carries with it shades and flavors of every book the author has previously written. In Spine of the Dragon, an obvious source of comparison is the Fremen people, desert nomads originally created by Frank Herbert, that Kevin and Frank Herbert’s son Brian have utilized in their Dune novels. Both the Brava and the Utauk bear similarities to the Fremen. Yet due to the way Kevin builds up these two communities, they form their own unique cultural identities.

In addition to inviting comparison with the author's previous novels, each new book carries with it points of comparison with every book other authors have written. In Spine of the Dragon we meet two Utauk women, Queen Penda and the orphan Glik. Both have formed a Heartlink with flying reptilian creatures called Skas. In Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series, a few people are fortunately to have formed a psychic link with reptilian birds called Jheregs. Vlad and his Jhereg-friend Loiosh converse psychically, and each knows he can rely on the other.

While the Skas in Spine of the Dragon form an emotional bond with their Human companions, the ways they interact with each other are different from that of Vlad and Loiosh. Instead of humorous banter, the Skas communicate visually with their Human counterparts. Utauk women like Penda and Glik can see through the Ska’s eyes. They also see visions in a way reminiscent of legendary Greek oracles.

In Spine of the Dragon, Kevin J. Anderson has introduced us to the Commonwealth and Ishara, two communities we can readily understand. He has also crafted two more mysterious communities, the Bravas and the Utauks. He has summoned up each community with all the magic of a seasoned author, and left me wanting to know more about these two, unique peoples. I can only hope that this level of character development and worldbuilding carries over into subsequent installments of his Wake The Dragon series.

Dragon Dave

Review: Spine of the Dragon by Kevin J. Anderson Part 1

From memorable characters to mythical creatures, from epic adventures to world-threatening wars, High Fantasy stories have long stirred readers’ souls with the romance of a forgotten age. Kevin J. Anderson is a respected and beloved writer of the genre, with roughly 160 titles to his credit. His latest novel, Spine of the Dragon, promises to delight existing fans, while winning over those who hold J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, and George R. R. Martin in high regard.

The novel begins with a kingdom in crisis. King Adan Starfall of Suderra races from Bannriya Castle, and rides through the streets of his capital city, to prepare his citizens for an approaching sandstorm. Beside him rides his wife Penda, a member of nomadic Utauk peoples. After helping their subjects seek shelter, the royal couple race back to their castle. The storm howls and beats at the castle walls, tears aside shutters, and breaks windows. Aided by the servants and his father-in-law Hale Orr, Adan manages to keep the windblown sand from invading his castle.

When the storm passes, Sandwreths arrive outside the city gates. Although their crumbling statues remain in Bannriya, this ancient race has not been seen for two thousand years. Some consider the Wreths little more than the creations of storytellers, invented to explain the prehistory of the Commonwealth. 

But as their Queen Voo walks through Bannriya, and banishes the sand clogging the city’s streets with a wave of her hand, King Adan Starfall realizes that Humanity’s former rulers have returned.

Adan’s father Conndur, king of Osterra--and overall leader, or Konag, of the Commonwealth--faces more pressing concerns, when Isharan warships attack his coastal town of Mirrabay. Conndur sends his Brava Utho to mount a defense. With the magic fire a Brava can summon, Utho rallies the townspeople. But they can do little to fend off the ravages of the godling, a primal force born of Isharan beliefs, the magic that suffuses the Isharan land, and the hatred of their priests for the Commonwealth.

Like his brother Conndur, and his nephew Adan, King Kollanan of Norterra, the final member state of the Commonwealth, faces a new and unexpected threat. A relaxed and solitary journey to visit his daughter’s family ends in a confrontation with powerful beings who have frozen the town before its people could flee. Kollanan survives the encounter, and races back to Fellstaff castle. The Frostwreths have returned!

Aside from mourning their lost family members, as well as the other slain townspeople, Adan and Kollanan fear a resumption of the Wreth wars. Commonwealth lands may not compare with the rich magic teeming in Isharan soil, capable of summoning the awesome energies of the godlings. But at least the soil of Osterra, Suderra, and Norterra can grow plants again, and Commonwealth citizens live more than a hand-to-mouth existence. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the Furnace, a wasteland filled with deserts, valleys cluttered with rocks so slick and sharp that a slip-and-fall means death, mystical Wreth ruins, and soil still lifeless after two millennia of rest.

Konag Conndur hasn’t seen the Wreths. Although he holds his son and brother in high regard, Adan and Kollanan’s stories seem too fantastic to be believed. Besides, he’s got the brutal assaults from Ishara to worry about. His Brava Utho likewise puts little stock in the other kings’ reports. This seems strange, as Bravas can summon magical fire due to their Wreth-and-Human heritage. But then, Utho burns with anger at how the Isharans killed his family in an earlier attack on Mirrabay, during the last war between Ishara and the Commonwealth. Nor can he forget how the Isharans nearly exterminated his halfbreed race. 

All told, it's a powerhouse opening from a masterclass writer. (And it only gets better from here, folks).

Dragon Dave

Spine of the Dragon, the first volume in the Wake The Dragon series, goes on sale today. Secure a copy quickly, before they all sell out!

Kevin J. Anderson and Wells England

Wells was the last place we visited in our tour of Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall in 2015. It remains a highlight not just of that trip, but of all our visits to England. It's a picturesque town that frequently plays host to moviemakers. 

While we were there, big moving trucks were parked around Wells Cathedral. We soon learned they were filming "The Huntsman" starring Chris Helmsworth, who plays Thor in the Marvel movies. However, as it was either raining, or threatening rain during the two days we were there, no filming took place for us to watch. So we resigned ourselves to exploring the cathedral, and when it wasn't raining too hard, the surrounding town as well.

The way the grand cathedral dominates the quaint English town of Wells came to mind as I read my review copy of Kevin J. Anderson's upcoming novel Spine of the Dragon. When Empra Iluris looks out from her castle in Serepol, she finds it hard not to notice the temple complex. The Isharan temple Magnifica dominates her capital, yet the priesthood wants to make it many times larger. 

After the war between the ancient Wreth factions devastated their homeland, her ancestors sailed to Ishara. Unlike their former home, this new land holds magic. The priests bind this magic with the beliefs, emotions, and sacrifices of the common people to create Godlings, creatures they can wield as weapons of mass destruction.

Like the Wreth, the Isharans once warred with those in the lands they left behind. Since she took power, the country has enjoyed decades of peace. Yet the priesthood wishes to change that. 

Iluris learns too late that Priestlord Klovis has commandeered her naval ships and personnel to mount a raid that could reignite the flames of war. She's desperate to keep that from happening, but she knows that will be difficult. Aided by a capable crew, and an immensely powerful Godling, his raid will almost certainly be successful. So she has to find a way of controlling Klovis, while not angering the populace who believe so strongly in the Isharan priesthood.

I imagine her capital city looks much like present day Wells. I'm sure Serepol has its fair share of businesses and residential districts. I wonder: if I visited the temple Magnifica complex, would the surrounding city look as stately as this?

That's what Iluris wants to preserve, after all. She doesn't want to see her beautiful city destroyed, or her people killed. Of course, she's also fighting to preserve not just Serepol, but her entire nation. 

Like all those in power, Iluris must temper every action she believes is right by how it will affect her populace. She cannot sanction the priesthood directly, even if she believes they are wrong. So she decides upon a course of action she believes will be popular with her citizens. 

She orders her guards to confiscate the building materials the priesthood has been stockpiling to enlarge the Temple Magnifica, and distribute them to crews repairing streets, schools, and other important buildings. Iluris hopes this will be enough to curb the ambitions of the priests who wish to grow even more powerful Godlings, and drive her country to war. 

Wells Cathedral is famous for its distinctive scissor arches. I enjoying sitting in their sanctuary the morning before we left, and listening to a visiting choir sing. Not only did it get me out of the rain, but it allowed me to relax and sketch the interior during my waning hours in Wells. 

It'd be interesting to visit Serepol's Temple Magnifica, and see how their Godling inhabits that impressive structure. I'm not sure I'd be at ease in the presence of a primordial being capable of rampaging through a town and killing hundreds or even thousands of people. I doubt I'd be able to sit down and relax while I sketched the Magnifica's interior. 

But then, Priestlord Klovis is thrilled with his Godling, so I could be wrong.

Dragon Dave

Spine of the Dragon, the first in the Wake The Dragon series by Kevin J. Anderson, is due to be released June 4, 2019. You can purchase it before it's published, at a substantial discount, at Amazon and other online booksellers.