Summary
Edward Longstretch is a normal boy who has a normal sister, a normal mother, and a father whose mysterious job requires the family to suddenly pull up stakes and move out to an odd house in the country. He soon discovers that nothing is really as normal as he thinks it is, the new house least of all. How is that he has a weird affinity for the place, can communicate with it, and even swim through its walls? Why are there strange occult books in its library, living gargoyles on its cornices, and cannons in its belfrey?
Edward is barely introduced to the house's many secrets and his new teachers, Dr. Basileus and the partly robotic Zarcon of the planet Zarconax when the place comes under attack by Ghastly Horrors. Then sister Margaret, seeking a better internet connection, opens a window and accidentally lets them in. After that things start happening really fast, with the adults out of commission and the children in the clutches of the sadistic Mrs. Morgentod, and the fate of the entire universe in the balance.
Unless Edward can awaken the Dragon that is the house and become the hero that is needed through his connection with it, the undead Skeleton Dragon and its sinister Avatar will corrupt and consume all he holds dear.
James Branch Cabell was an American author of fantasy fiction and belles-lettres. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works were considered escapist and fit well in the culture of the 1920s, when they were most popular. For Cabell, veracity was "the one unpardonable sin, not merely against art, but against human welfare."
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron Dunsany, commonly known as Lord Dunsany, was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. He published more than 90 books during his lifetime, and his output consisted of hundreds of short stories, plays, novels, and essays. He gained a name in the 1910s as a great writer in the English-speaking world. Best known today are the 1924 fantasy novel The King of Elfland's Daughter, and his first book, The Gods of Pegāna, which depicts a fictional pantheon. Many critics feel his early work laid grounds for the fantasy genre.
Algernon Henry Blackwood, CBE was an English broadcasting narrator, journalist, novelist and short story writer, and among the most prolific ghost story writers in the history of the genre. The literary critic S. T. Joshi stated, "His work is more consistently meritorious than any weird writer's except Dunsany's" and that his short story collection Incredible Adventures (1914) "may be the premier weird collection of this or any other century".
Michael Swanwick is an American fantasy and science fiction author who began publishing in the early 1980s.
The Iron Dragon's Daughter is a 1993 science fantasy novel by American writer Michael Swanwick. The story follows Jane, a changeling girl who slaves at a dragon factory in the world of Faerie, building part-magical, part-cybernetic monsters that are used as jet fighters. The plot of her story takes the form of a spiral, with events and characters constantly recurring in new settings.
David Lindsay was a Scottish author best remembered for the philosophical science fiction novel A Voyage to Arcturus (1920).
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. Etchison referred to his own work as "rather dark, depressing, almost pathologically inward fiction about the individual in relation to the world". Stephen King has called Dennis Etchison "one hell of a fiction writer" and he has been called "the most original living horror writer in America".
John Gregory Betancourt is an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, as well as short stories. He is also known as the founder and publisher, with his wife Kim Betancourt, of Wildside Press in 1989. In 1998, they entered the print on demand (PoD) market and greatly expanded their production. In addition to publishing new novels and short stories, they have undertaken projects to publish new editions of collections of stories that appeared in historic magazines.
Darrell Charles Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy. Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Advent:Publishers is an American publishing house. It was founded by Earl Kemp and other members of the University of Chicago Science Fiction Club, including Sidney Coleman, in 1955, to publish criticism, history, and bibliography of the science fiction field, beginning with Damon Knight's In Search of Wonder.
Gregory Frost is an American author of science fiction and fantasy, and directs a fiction writing workshop at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa. A graduate of the Clarion Workshop, he has been invited back as instructor several times, including the first session following its move to the University of California at San Diego in 2007. He is also active in the Interstitial Arts Foundation.
Keith John Taylor is an Australian science fiction and fantasy writer.
We Are All Legends is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Darrell Schweitzer featuring his sword and sorcery hero Sir Julian. The book was edited by Hank Stine and illustrated by Stephen Fabian, and features an introduction by L. Sprague de Camp. It was first published as a trade paperback by The Donning Company in 1981. It was reprinted by Starmount House in 1988, Borgo Press in 1989 and Wildside Press in 1999.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire media franchise:
Another Round at the Spaceport Bar is an anthology of science fiction club tales edited by George H. Scithers and Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in paperback by Avon Books in April 1989. The first British edition was issued in paperback by New English Library in January 1992.
The Mask of the Sorcerer is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer.
The Shattered Goddess is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, illustrated by Stephen Fabian.
The White Isle is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, illustrated by Stephen Fabian.
The Mysteries of the Faceless King: The Best Short Fiction of Darrell Schweitzer Volume I is a collection of fantasy short stories by American author Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover by PS Publishing in April 2020 as the first of its two volume set The Best Short Fiction of Darrell Schweiter.
The Last Heretic: The Best Short Fiction of Darrell Schweitzer Volume II is a collection of fantasy short stories by American author Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover by PS Publishing in April 2020 as the second of its two volume set The Best Short Fiction of Darrell Schweiter. An ebook edition followed from the same publisher in September of the same year.
