Waiting on Wednesday: The Dragon Book

Coming Nov 3 from Ace
Edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois

Last October, I read the anthology DREAMING AGAIN, edited by Jack Dann. This anthology rightly won the Ditmar Award, as well as the new Chronos Award. Every story in that collection was a winner. It makes me eager to read his new anthology, which (clearly) features dragons. And who doesn't love giant, fire-breathing monsters?

Book Summary from Amazon:

Whether portrayed as fire-breathing reptilian beasts at war with humanity or as noble creatures capable of speech and mystically bonded to the warriors who ride them, dragons have been found in nearly every culture's mythology. In modern times, they can be found far from their medieval settings in locales as mundane as suburbia or as barren as post-apocalyptic landscapes-and in The Dragon Book, today's greatest fantasists reignite the fire with legendary tales that will consume readers' imaginations.

With original stories by New York Times bestselling authors Jonathan Stroud, Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Diana Gabaldon, Tamora Pierce, Harry Turtledove, Sean Williams, and Tad Williams as well as tales by Naomi Novik, Peter Beagle, Jane Yolen, Adam Stemple, Cecelia Holland, Kage Baker, Samuel Sykes, Diana Wynne Jones, Mary Rosenblum, Tanith Lee, Andy Duncan, and Bruce Coville.

Let's go through those names in order:
I've heard of Jonathan Stroud, but haven't actually read his books.
Gregory Maguire doesn't do it for me. I've read LOST - which people soon told me was not his best - but I followed it up with WICKED which didn't do much for me either.
Garth Nix brought a lot of traffic to this site, since for almost a year most of my Google hits were for vampire sex. But that's not why I enjoy his writing: he's got strong world building skills and sympathetic characters.
Diana Gabaldon can research, but neither OUTLANDER nor DRAGONFLY IN AMBER did it for me. I think it was the pacing. Perhaps I'm too young to get it? My great-aunt loves these books.
Tamora Pierce rocks my socks. In the past year she's put two books out, MELTING STONES and BLOODHOUND. While I was disappointed in MELTING STONES, BLOODHOUND was everything I wanted and more.
I own a Harry Turtledove book, but have never picked it up. Not sure he's my thing.



And I'm going to stop there because listing them all is taking forever and I'm supposed to be writing an essay on Tsugaru syamisen. But I do want to give props to Peter Beagle, who is an absolute gentleman. He's been to a couple of A-kons, and his behavior stuck in my mind due to being that classy.

(Posted early because why not?)