My guest today is Dianne Gardner, talking about her new book, THE DRAGON SHIELD. This is book 2 of her Ian’s Realm saga. Naturally, I wanted her to come talk about it because: Dragon.

Dianne Gardner is both an author and illustrator living the Pacific Northwest, Olalla Washington. She’s an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the National League of American Pen Women. She has written Young Adult Fantasy novels as well as articles for national maga­zines and newspapers and she is an award-winning artist.

I asked her:

Why the Dragon Shield?

Good question!

Since The Dragon Shield is the second installment of the Ian’s Realm Saga, with four very important short stories binding the first two books together, (Deception Peak and The Dragon Shield), I’ll try to answer this without giving too much of the story away.

In the short stories The Tales of the Four Wizards, Patriarchs of the Realm you’ll find out the answer to the question that precedes this one…that is:

Why the Dragon?

The short stories Silvio, Meneka, Kaempie and Reuben tell the myths of the Realm, the magical land our hero Ian Wilson and his father stumble into.

In them, you’ll discover where the dragon lives and why the Meneks, a certain tribe of the Northern lands, worship him. You’ll also discover who the Kaemperns are, and why their hope is to someday rid the land of the dragon’s tyranny, and free the Meneks from its oppression.

But the Kaemperns need protection and there aren’t many things that can protect a primitive people from the vicious attacks of a fire-breathing dragon, other than magic. The magic that the Northern Winds carry, combined with the healing powers that the wizard Kaempie once possessed, create the Songs of Wisdom, a power the children of the Realm are keepers of.

The songs that they sing are, in fact, The Dragon Shield.

But the Dragon Shield is stolen, leaving the Kaemperns defenseless.

We’ll find out that not having the dragon shield can be disastrous for these people, and the fact that it’s stolen might be just as disastrous for Ian. For indeed, when our hero returns to the Realm he must struggle to prove to the Kaemperns that he’s on their side. With all that is happening–the forest dying, war raging, a dragon stirring—this proves to be a not so easy feat for Ian, especially when the forces of evil are taunting him.

Deception Peak, The Dragon Shield, and the next sequel Rubies and Robbers are high adventure fantasy stories with a taste of SciFi (our hero does enter a parallel world through a computer portal). Available in paperback or Kindle editions.

Family friendly. Rated 4.7 stars on Amazon!

Here — have a look at this trailer:

Text and Images Copyright 2013 Dianne Lynn Gardner, used by permission.

Whole buncha links:

Publisher’s website:

Official book blog:

http://dragontargeseries.blogspot.com/

Dragon Shield Trailer

website

http://gardnersart.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/TheIansRealmSaga?ref=ts&fref=ts

Twitter

https://twitter.com/DianneGardner

Author Central on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Dianne-Lynn-Gardner/e/B0090LIYEO

The Dragon Shield on Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Dragon-Shield-Dianne-Lynn-Gardner/dp/0615760457

Deception Peak

[link defunct]

Silvio

Kaempie

Meneka

Reuben

Smashwords Deception Peak

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/260744

Goodreads

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6473931.Dianne_Lynn_Gardner

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17304505-dragon-shield

Thanks for visiting, Dianne! My dragons say “Rawr!” to your dragon. 🙂

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Something a character considers a charm against misfortune goes missing.

MA