Seven Slayers a Dragon Must Fear!

Excerpt to a Hatchling from Dragon Champion

“Listen my hatchling, for now you shall hear 

Of the only seven slayers a dragon must fear. 

First beware Pride, lest belief in one’s might 

Has you discount the foeman who is braving your sight.

Never Envy other dragons their wealth, power, or home 

For dark plots and plans will bring death to your own. 

Your Wrath shouldn’t win, when spears strike your scale 

Anger kills cunning, which you will need to prevail. 

A dragon must rest, but Sloth you should dread 

Else long years of napping let assassins to your bed. 

‘Greed is good,’ or so foolish dragons will say 

Until piles of treasure bring killing thieves where they lay. 

Hungry is your body, and at times you must feed 

But Gluttony makes fat dragons, who can’t fly at their need. 

A hot Lust for glory, gems, gold, or mates 

Leads reckless young drakes to the blackest of fates. 

So take heed of this wisdom, precious hatchling of mine, 

And the long years of dragonhood are sure to be thine.” 

― E.E. Knight, Dragon Champion (One of the Age of Fire #1)

Art by Rebecca Hunt - Out of "Not an Egg!"

A Wondrous Journey of an Independent Writer!

Fear - That is the word that drives home.  I have never sent my books to a publisher due to straight out fear.  However, I had read an article out of Woman's Day Magazine about a woman who worked from home writing books.  She had put her kids through college, bought a house all through Createspace and Amazon.

I thought, wow, my mom has this little story she has always told. We should try that.  So my friend, Rebecca Hunt who drew dragons that would appeal to a child's eye, agreed to illustrate and the two of us set about creating How the Dragons Got Their Colors.  A rework of my mom's bedside story.  It was mildly successful.   We immediately got to work on a second book about the angst an older child goes through when mom is expecting and Not An Egg! was born. Later we converted them for Kindle download as well and made them part of Amazon's Kindle Select Program. 

This gave me the confidence to go ahead and tentatively put out my first Novel - Outcast.  I figured I had nothing to lose, if it did not do well, the only thing I lost was some time. There is no upfront outlay to Createspace.  I followed the forums on how to self promote as an independent author.  I got another friend to do my cover, Heather Scoggins.  I think she will be a bit surprised when she gets April's percentage that she and I agreed upon. I think she didn't expect it to really go anywhere.

Yesterday, for a time, Outcast was in the top 30 in the US in coming of age, it was #25 in the UK and had crawled it's way up to #16 in Epic Fantasy in Australia.  As I sit in amazement and wonder, the downloads of the ebook just keep rising.  I have been furiously working on the sequel per reader request.   My editor, yes I have one, pushes me constantly to re-describe and to re-work. I have him to thank in the success of Outcast as well as my own creativity and the support of good friends!

No, not all my reviews are good.  Either you love the way I describe the slow journey into adulthood and the details of culture and the intertwining of the characters or you hate it. There has been little in the way of middle of the road reviews.  Another writer told me not to sweat that, everyone has a taste for the type of books that they like to read.  If you want a frantic tale of battle and climax and a sweet ending, well I am not the writer for you.  The Blue Dragon's Geas books each have a minor climax but the main story is spread out over them.  We don't grow up over night, so I refuse to have Alador do so.

I guess the most wondrous part for me was at my day job, someone was telling me I needed to knuckle under because I "need this job."  I stood there for a moment and slow smiled.  Then I responded. "No.. actually.. no I don't." I am going to make it as a writer.  Maybe not every book will get the accolades of Outcast. Maybe not everyone will love my style.  But today, I realized Ms. McDonald, my English teacher in High School was correct.

 I was born to WRITE!

Keensight Finally Poses for a Picture!

A major play in future stories, Keensight is introduced in Outcast and also is discussed and has a cameo in The Blackguard. He is beginning to brave the world for interviews and sneak peaks.  His own book is down the road. There are still stories he will not share with me, his only living mortal friend!

This picture is not to be used except by express permission of Rebecca Hunt! 2/19/13

2nd Children's Book is Released

Artwork by Rebecca Hunt 

NOT an Egg! hits both Amazon print and Kindle Select!

Rebecca Hunt, one of the illustrators at Dragons' Geas, has outdone herself with this children's book. Her unique rendering of dragons insures that they are not frightening for a child's book.  The little dragon Seaferia shows emotion in her tears, her surprise and even her feeling of dejection.  This brings the tale to life in a way that words alone could have never achieved.  I am proud as the author to have had her at my side for this book and though she will blush when she reads this, I am not ashamed to shout it out to the world.

"Not an Egg!" is both a touching tale of a little dragon's reactions to a new baby but also is a great way for children to learn that what they are feeling is normal.  Research has shown that a child's personality will affect how they react to a new baby.  With this is how close the older child is to their mother, the closer the relationship to the mother the harder time they have.  This is why father's are encouraged to work in developing that relationship when a new baby is expected as it helps children transition when the mother's time is taken up by the needs of a new born.  

Preparing your child is another important step.  "Not an Egg!" has plenty of places to stop and discuss how your child is feeling.  Are they adamant it be a boy or a girl? My grandson was so adamant that his upcoming sibling be a boy that when I asked him, "what if its a girl?"; he answered.  "you can have it."    In addition to reading books such as "Not an Egg!", you should get out baby pictures of your child and talk about what it was like when he/she was a baby.

Most importantly, "Not an Egg!" is about dragons and that is our favorite topic here at Dragons' Geas.

We hope you will enjoy it as much as our own children and grandchildren did.  You can order it on our website at dragonsgeas.com .

Giving Away Five Signed Copies

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Blue Dragon's Geas

by Cheryl Matthynssens

Giveaway ends February 14, 2014.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Meet Becky! Our Children's Book Illustrator.

Rebecca Hunt - Click to see other artwork

Hello, I am Rebecca, though most of my friends call me Becky. I am a twenty-something mom of one adorable little boy and wife to an amazing husband. I have been born and raised in Minnesota my whole life and love it here.

As a child and young adult, I loved to draw, color and paint. I was rarely without some kind of drawing utensil and something to draw on. During junior high, I was drawn to the kids show Veggie Tales, not only for their cute stories, but also the computer animation. I decided then that I wanted to work at Big Idea, the creators of Veggie Tales, and so that fed my passion for art. Throughout junior high and high school I took all the art classes I could, trying to focus on my drawing and computer skills. After high school, I went to college for graphic design and got a diploma in that field. I worked in the field for a short time before I discovered that it was not what I really had wanted to do. But, the good news is that my college experience gave me the skills to do what I am doing today, which is illustrating books for my good friend Cheri.

After over 5 years of hardly touching the hobby I called a passion, Cheri inspired me to draw up her story, so I did. And now, after all that time, I am a published illustrator. My passion for fantasy art and culture fuels my creativity in my drawing. Now as we work on our second book together, I am inspired to  draw so much more. I cannot wait to see more of our books hit the shelves, and I look forward to getting more of my art out to the masses.

How did The Dragon Geas Get Started?

The Dragon Geas came about almost unintentionally.  I have been roleplaying and reading fantasy for years.  In High School, due to my writing skills, I was given an extra class with a writer as I was just racing through all my English assignments. I have been writing ever since that one to one experience.

My first book was a children's book that was originally a story of my mother's.  I edited it for a younger age group several years ago but then could not find an illustrator that I could afford AND who had a vision of a children's dragon that seemed to fit.

One day a good friend of mine, Alex Hunt, told me that his wife's favorite thing to draw was dragons.  I contacted her, and she sent me some sample dragon sketches.  They were exactly what I was looking for to bring How Dragon's Got Their Colors to life.  We collaborated and published the first book.  We had so much fun that we immediately started into the second one.

"Not An Egg!" is still in illustration.  It is the tale of a little dragon whose mother lays an egg.  She doesn't want to share her mother and father.  It is a story that relates to the angst that a first child often goes through when expecting a new baby in the home.  Told from a dragon's view point, it is a sweet tale of sadness, surprises and love.

At the same time, the first of the Dragons' Geas Novels was completed. It is currently in edit.  Expect both "Bloodstone" and "Not An Egg" to launch in the near future.

Becky has become my dearest friend.  She and her husband have supported the effort to build websites, blogs and all the time it takes to have a successful launch of a book.   We formed The Dragons' Geas website to keep our fans informed of upcoming work.  It is a place to see what is going on behind the scenes, get a glimpse of upcoming work and just be a part of the World of Vesta.  After all, what better way to enjoy, learn and grow, than through a dragons' view.