Keeping Dragons Busy
February 20, 2025 • No Comments
Idle dragons are an invitation to trouble. They’re often guilty of overeating—cattle, cowboys, firetrucks, whatever. There’s the inappropriate hoarding of shiny objects (really, they’re just big crows). And the WorkSafe complaints by disgruntled knights. Don’t even mention fire insurance.
You can see why, as an author, it’s in everyone’s best interest to keep the Brightwing dragon clan busy, book after book. It’s the responsible thing to do.
Lately, Telkoram has been the most underfoot. I just released Glitter to my reader community, which is chronologically the first of the Crown of Fae stories. He goes from his starring role there to reappear in Flicker, along with his love interest, Caliste. And now, here he is again, popping up in Quake.
A smidge of backstory: Between the events of Glitter and Flicker, the Shades win a significant victory over the fae. The high king of the fae disappears in the aftermath and without him, there is little hope of defeating the Shades. So, Telkoram goes in search of the errant monarch and disappears from the main action for a time. Finally, in Quake, he returns with the results of his quest.
What I like about his character is that it shows there can be many kinds of heroes. There are the flashy rogues, the mighty captains, and then those who quietly keep the wheels on the bus. Telkoram falls mostly into this last group: he has a job to do, sets aside his personal needs, and gets the work done. Full stop. He’s the kind of guy to have on speed dial when the car dies or the roof springs a leak.
It’s been my pleasure to keep our dragony hero fully occupied. Of all the characters (except John Barleycorn), he knows the most about what’s really going on because he’s been working the hardest. I’m going to owe him a really nice happy ever after.
And hey, keeping him on the hop is far better than having a dragon chewing the furniture or chasing the food delivery guy. I haven’t been able to order my favorite curry since The Incident.
Now I have to do something with those wolves ….
(PS, you can get your free copy of Glitter here)
Image by MythologyArt from Pixabay