On Dragons

I have a unique relationship with dragons. The first piece of art I ever sold was a charcoal sketch of Smaug that I drew from the Rankin & Bass animated film of The Hobbit. When I started showing at SF&F cons, some of my earliest pen & ink pieces were of dragons. I love dragons, I think they're really beautiful and they play a part in mythologies all over the world. A couple of my earliest paintings had dragons in them as well, but they're very time consuming and detailed in the extreme, so I haven't painted very many of them.

The two largest paintings I did of dragons turned out very nicely, and I'm quite pleased with them. When one of my collectors contacted me and asked to buy both originals, I was delighted to know that they would be going to a good home. But what happened next wasn't so delightful - they were lost during shipping. By lost I mean there was a good chance they were stolen. Luckily I shipped them insured, and my collector was reimbursed, but they're out there somewhere with someone who did a dreadful thing to get them. It made me pretty unhappy, and I'll be very careful about how I ship my originals in the future.

Right now I'm reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik and I'm almost done with it. Luckily I already have the next book in the series to jump into right away, they were Christmas gifts to me from my sister. I love what this author has done with the dragons and it's a really cool re-telling of history, only this time there's dragons. This is why I'm still a fan after all these years, because there's no end to how tall a tale can be and still capture my imagination. I can see the dragons in my mind and go along with the well-crafted story of it all. This is a delightful historical fantasy series set in the Napoleonic era, and as the author is working on Book 5 right now, I have hours and hours of adventurous reading to look forward to. Just not all at once...well sometimes all at once...oh wait, I only have a chapter left of this one...
must...
finish...
book...

Happy Harrypottermas!

Did you see midnight roll around on July 21st in your favorite neighborhood bookstore? Well I certainly did! I even played hostess to a sorting hat ceremony. Lacking a magical talking hat, I borrowed a lovely blue velvet one and had the would-be Hogwarts students pull a futhark rune from a bag to tell them what house they belonged in. I, of course, belong in Slytherin.

So I picked up my book at midnight and started reading it the next day. But before I could finish I had my husband's birthday party to throw so I was wearing the hostess hat until late at night, again. No rest for the wicked! Who knew that so much responsibility was required for those who wore the green and silver of that much maligned Hogwarts house.

The official total of books sold broke the previous world-wide record by a respectable 2 million. Here's the scoop from BBC NEWS:

The seventh and final Harry Potter book has broken sales records on both sides of the Atlantic, selling 11 million copies in its first 24 hours.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows sold 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.

The previous record for the fastest-selling book was held by the sixth Harry Potter novel, which sold nine million in its first day in 2005.

The long-awaited climax to JK Rowling's series was released on Saturday.

It was published simultaneously in more than 90 countries...A decade after the first instalment, the running total for Harry Potter book sales was already at 325 million even before the seventh novel came out.

Author JK Rowling launched the final instalment with a reading session at the Natural History Museum in London, and signed 250 copies an hour for fans between midnight and 0630 BST.

Tens of thousands of devotees - many dressed as wizards and witches - turned up to midnight launch parties at 280 branches of book chain Waterstone's, while many more took part in release parties all over the world.

Never underestimate the power of a single person to change the world, especially if she's a single mom! While I read this final installment in the saga that I love so well, I'll keep in mind that I too have an arsenal of creative gifts to bring joy and wonder into this world. So really, where were you at midnight on the 21st?