Dragon Champion (originally, and cumbersomely, titled Pride of the Clutch) was begun in 2000 and finished in 2002, which gives you some idea of the gap that often exists between finishing a manuscript and seeing it published. I was working as a software developer while writing it; Auron’s dark journey is the product of a lot of nights and weekends and cups of British Breakfast at the bookstore cafe.

John Silbersack, who had signed me as a client in January 2002, started showing it around as Way of the Wolf appeared in 2003. The sf/fantasy houses were underwhelmed. There seemed to be some confusion as to just how to categorize it. An editor or two handed it off to their YA (Young Adult) imprint, and then the YA decided for whatever reason (probably the red-in-tooth-and-claw violence) to pass it back to the adult line.

Roc (the Penguin imprint that also puts out my Vampire Earth series) finally took the plunge and made the decision to accept it in 2004 (the contract is dated January 1, 2005).

Liz Scheier edited the novel, the indomitable Eliani T copy-edited. They're both veterans of Vampire Earth and familiar with my inadequacies.

Liz liked my ideas for a possible series, so much so that it ended up as a two-book contract. I don't envision more than four books to describe the "Age of Fire," though if it finds a devoted audience. . .

Liz forced me to make Auron's sister Wistala more interesting and pushed me to get the elves and dwarves to be less like central casting extras from Jackson's Lord of the Rings. There's more spectacle in the battle scenes thanks to her. She also trimmed back some of the long, rambling stories my characters tell, so some boring backstory to the Wizard of the Isle of Ice is gone for good. That and hundreds of other tiny editorial nudges made it a much better book.

Eliani, as usual, made it coherent.

Liz and the higher ups at Penguin decided to put the novel out as a trade paperback, making Dragon Champion my first foray out of mass-market originals.

Penguin hired Paul Youll to do the cover art. When I saw the final version it was so stunning I wept. I loved his beautiful art-nouveau wings. The art is featured here with his permission.