CLOAK OF DRAGONFIRE excerpt

Let’s have a short spoiler-free excerpt from CLOAK OF DRAGONFIRE! In this excerpt, Nadia meets the dragon Varzalshinpol, and realizes some of the difficulties she will face.

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“Power,” said Varzalshinpol. “In my time on this world, Tarlia has given positions of great authority to humans before. Beyond the usual political offices of governors and presidents and prime ministers, of course. But I believe you are the first human Marshal in the history of the Conquest.”

“It’s not something I sought out,” I said.

“I expect not. Tarlia would hardly have given it to you otherwise,” said Varzalshinpol. “President Jackman, likewise, was most complimentary in his assessment of you.”

“You talk to the President?”

“Regularly,” said Varzalshinpol. “He starred in the first American motion picture to make a billion dollars at the box office since the pandemic of Conquest Year 121.”

“Yeah, he mentioned that.” Pretty much every other sentence.

“Obviously, he will wish to return to his film career once his term of office expires,” said Varzalshinpol. “We discuss options quite frequently. Though he might wish to move to the producer’s chair. Kalvarion has no film industry at present, and at the High Queen’s suggestion, I have begun investing in one. We hope our first project will be an epic film of Kaethran Morvilind’s life.”

The coffee cup froze halfway to my lips. “What?”

Varzalshinpol either didn’t notice my surprise or didn’t care. “The Elven commoners of Earth have a fairly well-developed film industry in some of their free cities. Lord Morvilind is not quite as revered among them, but they do hold him in high regard, and both the Elven commoners of Earth and Kalvarion share a similar disdain for Elven nobles. An epic of Morvilind’s life, culminating in the Mage Fall, might well launch a film industry on Kalvarion.”

Dear God.

Just…dear God.

A movie about Morvilind’s life?

I chewed over a response that wouldn’t be angry or insulting and came up with nothing.

-JM