Dragonborn: A Guest Post from Struan Murray

Enter a secret world of dragons and meet a young girl on a quest to find her true self. Perfect for fans of Impossible Creatures, Alex Evans is about to learn what it truly means to soar in a world of hidden powers and mysterious places. Read on for an exclusive essay from Struan Murray on writing Dragonborn.

It so happened that, while standing in line for an ice cream on a rare sunny day in Oxford, England, I found myself talking to a man about dragons.

He was very distinguished, very well-dressed: tweed waistcoat and yellow cravat, somehow halfway between J. R. R. Tolkien and G. R. R. Martin. He told me he was a Dragon Scholar.

He’d been studying them for years, he said. For a few brief minutes he spoke of his fascination with dragons — how they appear throughout human history, across time, across cultures. He spoke about dragons as if they were just around the corner, or even hiding in plain sight; as if the proof of their existence was staring us right in the face. Then he took his ice cream, and was gone, and I realized to my regret that I’d never asked him his name. And when I searched online for proof of his existence, I found none.

Now, I’ve met many peculiar characters while lecturing at Oxford, but none who’ve inspired me like this. For years I’d been looking for an idea for a dragon story, for my dragon story, and I think I had it.

What if the Dragon Scholar was right? What if dragons really did exist, but had found a way to take human form, living alongside us, influencing our myths and legends. And what if an ordinary child were to discover the truth?

That child became Alex Evans, the eleven-year-old heroine of Dragonborn. Following the death of her father, Alex discovers that she is a dragon herself and is whisked away to the mysterious island of Skralla, where young dragons learn to fly, breathe fire, and control their extraordinary powers. But there are dangerous secrets buried in the dragons’ past, and Alex soon finds herself caught up in a struggle that threatens both their world and ours.

I had enormous fun imagining the hidden world of the dragons, but I also wanted to explore what it would actually mean to be a dragon. Alex is grieving, frightened and often very angry, and suddenly discovers that her emotions can have rather more dramatic, draconic consequences than they do for the rest of us. Learning to control her powers means learning something about herself, too.

In the sequel, Dragonborn: The Twilight Child, Alex’s adventures take her to a hidden city in Scotland, where humans and dragons have lived together for centuries. But their fragile peace is threatened by the awakening of ancient demons, and Alex must confront the darkest parts of both herself and dragon history if she hopes to save the city.

I often wonder what became of the Dragon Scholar. Perhaps he’s still wandering the streets of Oxford, sharing his wild theories with strangers. Or perhaps he finally found the dragons he was looking for. I rather hope it was the latter.