Here be Dragons!
Dragons have existed in myth and legend around the world from our earliest histories to our most recent television shows, movies, and fantasy fiction. For some, they are a representation of good luck; for others, the embodiment of their deepest fears. Whatever the source of the legends, dragons are a living metaphor for the power of nature – and at least part their enduring appeal comes from our desire to connect with that raw power.
In early 2018, a talented group of writers brought their own tales of dragons to a small town on the Oregon Coast, in the hopes that they would become part of a new Fiction River anthology being created by the event’s organizers at WMG Publishing. But as the selection of stories proceeded, an unusual pattern emerged: time and time again, the purchasing editor, Allyson Longueira, identified a story as “young adult” in nature and set it aside, often remarking that it was “…a perfectly good story, just not right for the collection” she was assembling.
Allyson also suggested – more than once – that someone should look at those stories and create a dragon-themed young adult anthology.
It was at that point that I started looking for artwork (a dragon hunt that eventually took several months before I found the dragons that grace the covers of Wings of Change and populate its pages).
The fourth time Allyson suggested that someone build the second anthology, I raised my hand and announced to the room that I was going to do just that, and anyone interested in submitting could contact me. Six of the stories in Wings of Change came either directly from that workshop or from authors I reached out to from that pool.
But six stories do not an anthology make, and I extended my search for the “right” stories for the collection I was building. I asked authors to show me dragons as active, participating characters, to give us a window into what the dragon thinks, feels, and why it does what it does, with behavior that is true to whatever dragon culture they had created. I asked for dragons from all around the world and in different time periods. Most importantly, for both human and dragon characters, I asked for a young adult sensibility and an underlying feeling of wonder.
The stories I selected for Wings of Change met this challenge. In these pages, twenty-three authors tell stories of teens and young adults (both human and dragon) overcoming adversity, evil, or ignorance and having a positive effect on their situation. They shine a light at the end of the tunnel, and let us know that it is possible, through our own efforts, to overcome the challenges that have been thrown at us.
Whether born as an explanation of the bones and footprints of the great lizards of prehistoric eras, a creation of religious or cultural significance, or from more fanciful imaginings, tales of wise, ancient dragons dispensing wisdom, hoarding treasure, terrorizing villages, and doing battle with noble heroes have long fascinated us. But dragons were not born old and wise, nor were heroes born brave and noble.
Wings of Change gathers tales of young dragons growing into their scales, and human youths making choices that shape their destinies – destinies that will be forever changed by their interaction with the dragons.
So, as one bold map-maker inscribed on a map over five hundred years ago, Hic sunt dracones – Here be Dragons. Come fly with us, if you dare!
– Lyn Worthen
Sandy, Utah
February 28, 2019