Plot summary
Jim Eckert holds a doctorate in medieval history and is hoping for an instructor position at a Minnesota university, where he works as an assistant to a history professor. He is engaged to marry Angie Farrell, who is working toward a doctorate in English literature and works as a laboratory assistant to psychology graduate Grottwald Weinar Hansen. During one of Grottwald's experiments in astral projection, Angie suddenly disappears. To locate her, Jim puts on the apparatus she was testing and finds his consciousness projected into a world of medieval fantasy, in which his mind inhabits the body of a dragon named Gorbash. In this world, dragons refer to humans as "georges" after the story of Saint George and the Dragon.
Two other dragons, Smrgol and Bryagh, have captured Angie. Despite being a dragon, Jim is able to convince Angie of his identity and attempts to hypnotize her in order to return her to the real world, but she refuses out of fear that he will be left behind. They seek help from the magician Carolinus, who demands payment in the form of Gorbash's treasure hoard, but Jim does not know its location. Bryagh kidnaps Angie and takes her to Loathly Tower, and Carolinus advises Jim to gather companions to assist in mounting a rescue. Jim meets the knight Sir Brian Neville-Smythe, who is sympathetic to his predicament, and the two set off to rescue Sir Brian's courtly love interest, Lady Geronde, from the clutches of the villainous Sir Hugh. Along the way they are attacked by creatures called sandmirks but are saved by the talking wolf Aragh, who is a friend of Gorbash. Aragh does not believe Jim's story about being stuck in Gorbash's body, but agrees to accompany him and Sir Brian. They are next joined by the archer Danielle, the Welsh bowman Dafydd ap Hywel, and the outlaw Giles of the Wold. Arriving at Malvern Castle, the party attempts to rescue Lady Geronde but Jim is wounded by Sir Hugh. Upon recovering he finds that Smrgol and Carolinus have joined the quest, though Smrgol is developing a stroke and thus is of limited ability. Jim attempts to head to Loathly Tower alone but, upon encountering more sandmirks, returns to his companions.
The next morning, Jim finds that Sir Hugh has captured a dragon named Secoh. With the help of his companions, Jim manages to drive off Sir Hugh and his men, free Secoh, and overcome the sandmirks. The group arrives at Loathly Tower, where they face Bryagh along with a monstrous worm, an ogre, sandmirks, and harpies. With some coaching from Smrgol, Jim fights the ogre while Sir Brian takes on the worm, Aragh deals with the sandmirks, Dafydd fends off the harpies, Smrgol and Secoh attack Bryagh, and Carolinus pitches in using magic. The heroes are able to overcome their enemies, but Smrgol is killed and Dafydd is wounded.
Jim finds Angie, who says that her mind has been in Jim's body part of the time. After some consideration, Jim and Angie decide to stay in the fantasy world. Carolinus separates Jim from Gorbash, and the group celebrates Jim's decision.
Anne Inez McCaffrey was an American-Irish writer known for the Dragonriders of Pern science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction and the first to win a Nebula Award. Her 1978 novel The White Dragon became one of the first science-fiction books to appear on the New York Times Best Seller list.
A fantasy world is an author-conceived world created in fictional media, such as literature, film or games. Typical fantasy worlds involve magic or magical abilities, nonexistent technology and sometimes, either a historical or futuristic theme. Some worlds may be a parallel world connected to Earth via magical portals or items ; a fictional Earth set in the remote past or future ; or an entirely independent world set in another part of the universe.
Gordon Rupert Dickson was a Canadian-American science fiction writer. He was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame in 2000.
The Flight of Dragons is a 1982 animated fantasy film produced and directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name (1979) by Peter Dickinson with the novel The Dragon and the George (1976) by Gordon R. Dickson. It stars the voices of John Ritter, Victor Buono, James Gregory, James Earl Jones, and Harry Morgan. The film centers upon a quest undertaken to stop an evil wizard who plans to rule the world by dark magic. A major theme within the story is the question of whether science and magic can co-exist. This is told mostly through the experience of character Peter Dickinson, drawn from the 20th century into the magical realm.
Bangsian fantasy is a fantasy genre which concerns the use of famous literary or historical individuals and their interactions in the afterlife. It is named for John Kendrick Bangs (1862–1922) who often wrote it.
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The Dragon Knight is a series of fantasy novels begun in 1976 by American writer Gordon R. Dickson. The first book, based on the short story "St. Dragon and the George", was loosely adapted in the 1982 animated movie The Flight of Dragons by Rankin/Bass. The title here refers in part to an in-universe nomenclature, wherein the story's dragons use the name "george" as a synonym or substitute of "human", after 'St. George the Dragon-Slayer', and in part a reference to the latter.
Terri Windling is an American editor, artist, essayist, and the author of books for both children and adults. She has won nine World Fantasy Awards, the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, and her collection The Armless Maiden appeared on the short-list for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In 2010 Windling received the SFWA Solstice Award, which honors "individuals with a significant impact on the speculative fiction field". Her work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Lithuanian, Turkish, Russian, Japanese, and Korean.
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Jane Gaskell is a British fantasy writer. She wrote her first novel, Strange Evil, at age 14. It was published two years later and was described by John Grant as "a major work of the fantastic imagination", comparing it to George MacDonald's Lilith and David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus. China Miéville lists Strange Evil as one of the top 10 examples of weird fiction whilst John Clute called it "an astonishingly imaginative piece of fantasy by any standards."
Phyllis Eisenstein is an American author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels whose work has been nominated for both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award.
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The Dragon Knight is a fantasy novel by American writer Gordon R. Dickson, the second in his Dragon Knight series. The novel begins five months after the battle at Loathly Tower, which took place in The Dragon and the George.
Dragons, Elves, and Heroes is an American anthology of fantasy short stories, edited by American writer Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books in October 1969 as the sixth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series. It was the first such anthology assembled by Carter for the series, issued simultaneously with the second, The Young Magicians.
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe, often inspired by real world myth and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded further into various media, including film, television, graphic novels, manga, animated movies and video games.
Aladore is a classic allegorical fantasy novel written by English poet Henry Newbolt. It was first published in hardcover by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh, in 1914. An American edition from E. P. Dutton & Company, followed in 1915. The first paperback edition was issued by the Newcastle Publishing Company as the fifth volume of the Newcastle Forgotten Fantasy Library in September, 1975; this edition was reissued by Borgo Press in 1980. The book has been translated into German.
"The Coon Rolled Down and Ruptured his Larinks, a Squeezed Novel by Mr. Skunk" is a 1990 science fiction novelette by American writer Dafydd ab Hugh. It was originally published in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in August 1990, and subsequently republished in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighth Annual Collection, in "Best New SF 5", and in Nebula Awards 26.
The Dawning of a New Age is a fantasy novel set in the Dragonlance campaign setting of the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game.
The Throme of the Erril of Sherill is a fantasy novella for juvenile readers by Patricia A. McKillip, as well as a subsequent collection containing the novella. The novella was first published in hardcover by Atheneum in 1973. It bears the distinction, along with The House on Parchment Street, of being one of McKillip's first published books. The novella was later gathered together with the author's short story "The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath" into a paperback collection, also titled The Throme of the Erril of Sherill, issued by Tempo Books in January 1984. The collection was reprinted in February of the same year.
