Guest Post by Troy Lambert - Fear is The Dragon

This is the first time that I am taking part in a blog tour for the brand spankin' new anthology, Dragonthology.  Kind of weird for me (being an introvert), and yet kind of exciting! ;)  I don't know WHAT to feel, lol!

Today I have a guest - Troy Lambert.  Mr Lambert is one of the talented writers featured in the anthology Dragonthology. His contribution to the anthology is titled The Clan. He has written a very interesting guest post with a great message that I'm happy to share with readers.  Enjoy. :)

Fear is The Dragon

    

      When I was six years old, I wrote my first book.  It was titled George and the Giant Castle.  It was colorfully illustrated and followed the typical fantasy story form.  George was a normal six-year old boy in love with a blond-haired, blue-eyed princess (Angela Peck, who sat behind me in my first grade class).  The princess was in danger and held prisoner in a Giant Castle guarded by a fierce Dragon.  With the help of a discovered magic sword, George slays the evil dragon and rescues the princess.  Grateful, she marries him and they live happily ever after.

     As everyone does, I grew up.  Angela Peck and I drifted apart (she moved to Seattle when I was in the second grade).  I've been married twice on my path to becoming a writer.  There have been many dragons in my life.  Some I was able to conquer and some conquered me.  Along the way I discovered that not all dragons were the evil, fire-breathing creatures that George faced on that epic day in 1975.  Some of the dragons I met became my friends.  Some turned out to be much different creatures than the ones originally described to me by the adults in my life who told me to avoid them at all costs.  In fact some of the ideas that those same adults told me were friendly house pets, to be adopted and welcomed into my life turned out to be the most evil dragons of all.

     I escaped my own childhood dragons at library and the worlds contained in the thousands of books there.  I devoured everything I could get my hands on, from Tolkien and Brooks to Asimov and Heinlein.  Ray Bradbury, L. Ron Hubbard, Hemmingway, Piers Anthony, Arthur C. Clarke, Ken Follett and many others wrote the vehicles for my escape, and I often pounded on the keys of an ancient Royal typewriter that once belonged to my grandfather, dreaming to someday be like them and provide another with a similar means of escape.  While exploring I discovered an author named Stephen King.

     I know, you're saying "Great, another King fan."  I'm not going to gush or tell you how closely my life parallels his and how our writing is so much alike, as if I am even in that league.  I'm simply going to mention one of my favorite of his stories: Eyes of the Dragon.  I won't spoil the book for you, in case you haven't read it.  I will say that even if you are not a King fan but you a enjoy a good fantasy, you should read it.  It was from reading that story that I fell in love with dragons and the idea behind these mystical creatures.  I asked "What is a dragon?"

     Isn't a dragon just like me?  I have certainly breathed fire in my life from time to time, and even bitten a few heads off.  Often, when backed into a corner I fought my way free.  When something that was important to me was threatened, did I not defend it?  What if the castle that George rescued the princess from long ago was the dragon's home or hid a treasure that it held dear?  What if the dragon was merely afraid for its life, or the lives of its family?  What if dragons were just large people with wings?

     As humans, we often persecute or enslave that which we do not understand because of fear.  In my story "The Clan" Dragons have returned to the earth, and humanity has enslaved them using the technology of their dying race.  Now the technology of old is fading, and the humans fear war.  Not everyone fears the dragons though, and the dragons have a plan.  Will they be able to rise again?  Will the humans declare war, or will a peaceful solution be found?  It depends on an ancient dragon, a lowly shepherd, and his Clan.

     I've often been told that if you have a message, get a pulpit or a soapbox.  If you have a story to tell, tell it.  If it has a message, so be it.  "The Clan" is just that: a story with a message.  Perhaps your neighbor is not an evil dragon after all.  Perhaps he's just misunderstood.  Perhaps even your mother-in-law or that odd cousin from Albuquerque with the bad complexion isn't so bad.  Perhaps neither of them understands you, nor do you understand them.  Maybe they think you are the evil dragon that needs to be conquered.  Perhaps you are the lowly shepherd or even the ancient dragon that will bring about change in your world.  Will you? Do you dare?

     Fear is the dragon we can all defeat.  Embrace difference.  Be victorious over fear.  Peace is possible if only we will strive to find it.

     Happy reading!

TL

See?  interesting, wasn't it?  I have to admit, when I read that he 'discovered Stephen King', I did think "ugh, another King fan".  haha.  I do feel that Stephen King is over rated, and to date have only been able to finish reading a couple of his novels - one when I was 17 and living on my own with my then boyfriend, (who happened to out that night), The Shining, shivers...  And the other was Eyes of the Dragon, which to this day I think does not sound like a Stephen King Novel.  I will agree with Troy - that was a good book.

But back to Lambert's post - great message.  If you were to compare your life's obstacles and fears to dragons, than you would find some to be friendly dragons and some to be not that scary, and others to be sympathetic.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Mr Lambert - I've also harbored a long term fascination with dragons.

The next stop on the Blog Tour is Reviewing in Chaos - be sure to stop by there 1/7/13.  And there is another stop today 1/6/13 at Jen Wylie's blog