#dragon week

[torpublishinggroup]

Is a Bat a Dragon? We Asked James Rollins

By now, Tor is at the forefront of research into what exactly constitutes "dragon." We've entertained many queries throughout the years, determining if the umbrella of dragon extends to hippos, snakes, and Godzilla. Now, we turn to the expertise of James Rollins to advise on the dragonic status of bats. If you've read The Starless Crown and its sequel The Cradle of Ice, you probably know the answer.

Check it out!

by James Rollins      

My love for the natural world and all its myriad creatures was one of my main drives for pursuing a career in veterinary medicine. Even today as a full-time writer, I’ve not fully stepped away from that profession. As I’ve stated many times during book talks—yes, I can still neuter a cat in under thirty seconds.

Still, my greatest fascination about Nature is how it adheres to a dictate stated so succinctly in Jurassic Park:  Life will find a way.  I’ve always been captivated by the manner in which animals and plants discover innovative survival strategies to fill different environmental niches and how that fight has resulted in all the marvels (and horrors) found in the natural world.

While growing up, I found a new way of exploring this subject matter:  in science fiction and fantasy novels set on different worlds. I found myself especially drawn to material that explored life’s resilience across fantastic worlds. Whether it was the sandworms of Herbert’s Dune, the engineered landscape of Niven’s Ringworld, the many species of Card’s Ender’s Game, or a universe of other writers tackling how life finds a way.

Even when it came to those novels that featured dragons, I found myself most interested in the biology and the circumstance of their origins. How did the telepathy and bonding in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books come about? What steps were taken to harness the physicality of dragons to become warriors in Novik’s Temeraire series? In Martin’s books, could dragon eggs truly be encysted for ages and require fire to bring them back to life? If so, how and why?

When it came to crafting my own fantastic world in the Moonfall Saga, I took a similar scientific eye to its construction. The series takes place on a tidally locked planet, a world that circles its sun with one side forever facing the sun, the other locked in eternal darkness. The only truly livable clime is the band between those extremes of ice and fire. Across such a harsh and unforgiving landscape, I wanted to build a biosphere of flora and fauna that made evolutionary sense. How would species survive the extreme cold and lack of sunlight? Could life find a way in the sunblasted hemisphere?

And what about dragons?

In the novel, one of the apex predators is a species of massive bat, with a wingspan of ten meters or more. We first see them in Book One (The Starless Crown). They inhabit the vast swamplands of Mýr—found in that more temperate climate of the world. They are nocturnal, haunting a drowned forest and roosting in a volcanic mountain. I wanted those bats to make biological sense, to have them fit that environmental niche in a natural way. Being arboreal, they would likely have evolved prehensile tails. As nocturnal creatures, they would need bell-shaped ears and still use ultrasonics to navigate. And without giving away any of the surprises in the books, there is a significant aspect to their biology that will allow them to bond to certain people.

In the books, I also wanted to add a level of verisimilitude to the bestiary by adding naturalistic sketches, drawings that you might find in a turn-of-the-century research journal.

Here is the Mýr bat:

Keep in mind, life will find a way, so this species is not limited to those swamplands. A subspecies evolved in the dark, frozen half of the world. It adapted to fit that harsh niche, becoming smaller and stockier, with shaggy fur, and nasal flaps that could seal to conserve body heat. Likewise, in this treeless landscape, that prehensile tail would no longer be needed. They make an appearance in the second book in the series, The Cradle of Ice.

Here is their sketch:

But what about the title of this blog post: Is a bat a dragon?

In the third volume in the series (A Dragon of Black Glass), which will be coming out in 2024, this species has also adapted to the sunblasted half of the world. To survive, they would need to burrow to survive, growing larger claws for digging, and bodies that would be hairless and elongated, with fanned tails for aerial maneuvering when out of their burrows. They would become known as “sanddragons.”

Here is a sneak peek at their preliminary incarnation (with the final version still to come):

I must note that all of these drawings were beautifully executed by graphic artist, Danea Fidler—as were all the other creature sketches featured in the books. I look forward to sharing the final versions of these “dragons” in 2024 when A Dragon of Black Glass hits bookshelves.

[hiddenschools]

DRAGONS in the Craft Sequence

It’s @torbooks' 5th annual Dragon Week and as I love a) dragons and b) bandwagons, I simply had to quickly pull together an unplanned Craft Sequence dragon article about every single dragon reference in the series. So let’s jump on band-dragon and take a look at dragons, cross-continental commercial air travel, and weapons of mass destruction in the Craft Sequence.

Except the last two bits are actually going to be in part 2 because wow this is already so long

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

[caemidraws]

Eclipse

[httyd-art-requests]

Hi. Have a part 2 to the silly GF crossover thing

(Part 1)

[ID in alt text]

[arcane-gold]

death • rebirth

[corseque]

(video) Trick Weekes describes another rule they follow when writing Solas (which explains why players have had completely opposite reactions to him)(x)

[mossattack]

on a side note, bianca looks better than ever

[daeneryseastar]

rhaenyra not wanting to get married in the show and ‘do her duty’ has nothing to do with viserys ‘spoiling her’ or her being a ‘selfish brat’ but everything to do with watching her mother be forced into pregnancy over and over again, each time resulting in a dead baby and eventually DYING because of this; she views marriage as a death sentence.

[monstermonger]

I recently bought an art book on Caspar David Friedrich, whose emotional work stuck with me since I first saw it in a museum years ago. Over the course of a few weeks, I read about his life and at the same time did studies/interpretations of many pieces. It was a really enjoyable and fulfilling project; here's a good lot of them together :)

I was happy to see many people enjoyed Friedrich's work+my interpretations while posting them individually. It took way too long, but I FINALLY set up a print shop for some of these + some other pieces for those who expressed interest. Thank you so much!

[torpublishinggroup]

Tor Staff Builds a Dragon

You can only write about dragons for so long without creating one. Tor staff have gathered from across the corners of our several departments to collectively design a precious little monster.

We're Tor. Meet our dragon.

Assigned Component: Name Designer: a stack of feral racoons in a trenchcoat, Assistant Director of Marketing

"The ideal dragon name is hard to pin down but it’s all about branding. Do you want adventurers popping by regularly for when you’re feeling snacky? Try something intimidating but sure to pique their curiosity so they feel the trip to your digestive system is worth the effort but also sure to earn glory. Best naming convention for this purpose is BLANK the BLANK, like Doralindon the Conqueror of Cities or Steve the Ignoble.

But above all when considering a dread dragon name to terrify children around the fire in the halls of your enemies for years to come is to stay true to yourself. If you like your birth name, flaunt what your momma gave you! If you’re looking for a Nom de Guerre, don’t be afraid to flaunt your most fun qualities. Corey the Lover of Long Walks on the Beach is just as valid as The Dread Claw of Winter."

Assigned Component: Tail Designer: Rachel Taylor, Senior Marketing Manager

"Dragons must be protected on all sides, and maybe most importantly from behind, so no pesky wannabe ‘heroes’ can sneak up and attempt a murder (cowards). The Tor Publishing Group is mighty and swift, so I think the tail must encompass those virtues, with a long, spiky tail that is fast, sharp, and deadly. AKA, the tail is made of knives. No unexpected sneak attacks will get the Tor Dragon down! BEGONE, ATTEMPTED DO-GOODERS!!!"

Assigned Component: Wings Designer: Dragon Enthusiast, Marketing Assistant

"Most dragons you see nowadays have thin, bat-like wings that are, frankly, not much fun. Here at Tor we’ve got flair, we’ve got pizazz, and our dragon should too so we’re taking the wing-game up a notch and giving them a pair of the fanciest, featheriest wings you’ve ever seen. Might our dragon look a tad silly? Perhaps. Will they be primed and ready to live their best dragon life? Most definitely."

Assigned Component: Limbs Designer: a cat, Assistant Marketing Manager

"Tor Publishing Group has many imprints, so our dragon must have many limbs. At least as many limbs as we have imprints, and they all must be different to reflect the different propensities of Tor. For example, the Nightfire limb is obviously a chainsaw. The limb that represents Tor Teen will be a slightly more youthful iteration of the dragonic arm that represents Tor Books, etc."

Assigned Component: Lair Designer: A Nightfire Ghoul, Associate Editor

"If I tell you there’s a dragon in all of us, you may laugh, as is your right. But you feel it, don’t you? Tail coiled around your ribs, wings tucked between your lungs, fire burning in your heart. So yes, dear reader, laugh if you’d like. But you know it’s the truth. The dragon’s lair is you. Be sure to feed it well."

Assigned Component: Magic Powers Designer: Jill Cipher, Associate Publicist

"While most readers probably imagine a fire-breathing, hoarding lizard with wings, I prefer dragons to be slightly more… peculiar. To really encompass the full idea of Tor Publishing Group, our dragon has to be a chameleon of chaos. I imagine our dragon has malleable collarbones like a cat in order to fit into small spaces; the disorienting scream of a goat; and world shaking (earthquakes, avalanches, etc.) abilities."

NOW BEHOLD OUR CREATION, ARE NOT THEY LOVELY?

LOOK UPON OUR CHILD AND DESPAIR

[hiddenschools]

Dragons are a mainstay of fantasy literature BUT have you ever seen them as vehicles of mass public transport? Or their corpses turned into the kind of weapons that break the Geneva Convention (or local equivalent).

Now you have. Part 2 of our (belated) dragon week series is OUT NOW.

Major spoilers for LAST FIRST SNOW, be warned.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Expertise can't help you here.

[caemidraws]

---

[zazrichor]

point of no return

[shaniacsboogara]

liking dnd is so funny because yeah you play the actual game sometimes but mostly you just think about the game and watch other people play the game and slowly go insane thinking about how much you wish you could play the game and hoping that buying more shiny rocks will fix everything