Thank you for following along with the adventures of Trip, Rysha, and their many, many friends.
As you know if you read the original series of Dragon Blood books (if you started with Dragon Storm and haven’t yet tried the earlier stories, Balanced on the Blade’s Edge is free everywhere, so go snag a copy, please!), this world has existed for many years for me. There are thirteen novels in it to date, and there will be at least one more (I know this because I’m about to start writing it, a new installment in the original series).
I guess it’s obvious that I enjoy spending time here, but it’s a little amusing to me because I originally wrote Balanced on the Blade’s Edge (what later became Dragon Blood, Book 1) as a stand-alone novel. I had no intention of turning it into a series. It was a fun little fantasy adventure and romance that I worked on when I needed a break from another project. It wasn’t meant to inspire one series, much less two.
But this is how things often work for writers. A side character who was meant to die early on turns into a hero with his own series (or at least his own novel—yes, I’m looking at you Therrik), and a book turns into an entire world.
You may find it interesting to know that when I wrote the first couple of Dragon Blood books, I had no intention of bringing any actual dragons into the world. They had been dead and gone for a thousand years, and that was a good place for them. You see, I was never a huge dragon fan growing up. Oh, I thought they were pretty, and I may have had a couple of 5,000-piece dragon puzzles glued to my wall as a kid, but mostly, I saw them as the hulking creatures that got your adventuring party killed in a D&D game. Nothing good ever came from sneaking into a dragon’s lair and having its eye slowly open…
But then this dragon blood showed up in Book 3 (Blood Charged), and it seemed there had to be at least one dragon somewhere in the world. In Book 4, we found Phelistoth. And he was arrogant and not terribly fun. Clearly, I needed to introduce more dragons, some with better personalities. So, a couple of books later, Bhrava Saruth came into existence. The first dragon god (ahem) in the story.
He had more personality than any other dragon in the series, and he was a lot of fun to write. I didn’t think I’d top him with a dragon that was even more fun to write. But then I started the Heritage of Power series, the portal opened, and suddenly, there were a lot more dragons in the world. Most of them still weren’t as fun as Bhrava Saruth, but I knew the first time that Shulina Arya twirled that I would enjoy writing her.
Here, in this last novel, she kept trying to steal the show. The title of Gold Dragon… does it refer to her? To Bhrava Saruth? Or to Trip shifting into his little dragon form at the end? Hm. You’ll have to decide. (Bhrava Saruth assures me the book was named after him. He did defeat that half-sized bronze dragon, after all.)
So, what’s next, you might wonder. I mentioned that I’m going back in time, at least as far as the chronology of the world is concerned, and writing Oaths, an eighth Dragon Blood novel, but will there be anything after Gold Dragon?
I honestly haven’t decided yet. Heritage of Power started out as a trilogy that morphed into five books, and I never envisioned it as being a super long series. I feel like the story is ending in a good spot. Trip has more or less come to terms with what he is, he and Rysha are happy with their relationship, and she’s attained her goal of following in Kaika’s footsteps. I believe all of the major plot threads have been wrapped up.
I am curious what will happen when Trip’s little siblings grow up, but I’m not sure I’m ready to jump ahead twenty years in the timeline to find out. Shulina Arya tells me she wants a romance of her own (complete with chivalry, a considerate hero, and many, many valiant battles), so I’m kicking that idea around.
If there’s something you would like to see, feel free to write and let me know. [email protected].
Also, if you have time to post reviews for Gold Dragon and the other books in the series, I would appreciate it. It helps folks decide to try the books, especially those who don’t yet know they’ve always wanted to read about dragons that turn into ferrets and like belly rubs.
That’s it from me for now. Thanks again for following along with the whole series!