I’ve been ambivalent as to which genre to call, A Dragon for George: fantasy or sci-fi?
I’ve hesitated to call A Dragon for George a fantasy, because I knew it wasn’t but didn’t want the reader to know. Suspect: go right ahead. But not know. George doesn’t know until Chapter 14 and the novel is from George’s perspective.
A lot of this novel comes out of fantasy I loved as a kid. I loved Arthur (well, Galahad and, depending on the author, Merlin). I loved The Lord of the Rings. I loves The Legend of Zelda. I loved A Wizard of Earthsea.
A lot of A Dragon for George also comes from another idea I had several years ago about a group of people who had to track down genetically engineered pets for the super wealthy. I wrote a book about them. I may one day release that book. It also isn’t a fantasy. It’s not quite as sci-fi as it might seem: genetically engineered pets already do exist. You can get pet fish that glow under certain light (depending on where you live). This has been happening for a while. There are grown up people who had such pets as kids.
I also had an idea for a tangential tale. One where one of these super wealthy people try to recreate the fantasy I loved as a kid and is actually able to do it. I thought about how creating a dragon might actually work if one were actually to try to do it. I thought about how people’s fantasies might influence a futuristic world. I thought about how fantasies already do influence a futuristic world. We are living in a world where rich and powerful people use technology and money to try to bend reality to their will, consequences be damned.
I thought about how reality always gets in the way, be damned with the bedamning of consequences.
This led to A Dragon for George, a book about the tension between our fantasies and our realities.
In other words, a fantasy influenced sci-fi.
Narrative comedy, for lovers of laugh-out-loud literature (or “lololl’s” for short). A mix of novels (chapter by chapter), short stories, and theatrical shows to help you laugh along with the human condition.
Sonnet for Spring Sonnet Contest Winner Tara Travis. Listen closely. The first letter of each line spells Tara's chosen phrase: ”Y O U 'R E S O A W E S O M E”.