First the good news: I’ve got a new story out today! “Dragon Years” is part of Dragon Writers: An Anthology. This collection features best sellers like Brandon Sanderson, Jody Lynn Nye, Todd McCaffery, and David Farland. It’s also another fundraiser for the Don Hodges Memorial Scholarship which helps writers learn the business of writing.
As I usually do when submitting to anthologies, I came at the subject of dragons from an unusual angle. “Dragon Years” is the story of an old man reflecting on a long life and the amazing creature he discovered in the forest of North Korea while MIA in 1952. It’s a story about life, loss, healing, and friendship. The dragon in it (and there is a wonderful dragon) embraces the gentler eastern view of the dragons as opposed to the fiery and destructive Norse version.
This was a tricky to story to write, hopping through several different times and telling a fairly expansive story in 5,000 words. But there is something very satisfying about pulling off a difficult story like this, and something even more satisfying about it getting picked out of a field of talented writers. I am proud of this story and hope you will go check it out.
And now the bad news: This is likely my only release this year. Since 2011 I’ve come out with at least one book a year, but because of unusual demands on my time on both the professional and personal sides of my life, it doesn’t look like the novel I planned for this year will come out until next year.
I am disappointed, of course. I don’t think any of us like to confront our limitations, but there is really no choice here. This novel, Of Things Not Seen, is the third “A Ghost’s Memoir” novel and is very close. It follows Jesus down to Mexico City as he comes to terms with his childhood, tries to help the dying nun that saved his life, and meets a mysterious new ghost. There were some hints of Jesus’s journey in To Be a Fool and I can’t wait to get this one out, but it will be a while longer.
Stay tuned for more ghosts next year, but in the mean time: Dragons!!! You can find them here:
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fn01LN
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragon-writers-lisa-mangum/1124844276?ean=2940156700790
Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/dragon-writers
