Locus Award nominee 2013.
More than twenty-five years
ago, Lucius Shepard introduced us to a remarkable fictional world, a
world separated from our own “by the thinnest margin of possibility.”
There, in the mythical Carbonales Valley, Shepard found the setting for
“The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule,” the classic account of an
artist — Meric Cattanay — and his decades long effort to paint — and kill — a
dormant, not quite dead dragon measuring 6,000 feet from end to end. The story was nominated for multiple awards and is now recognized as one of its author’s signature accomplishments.
Over the years, Shepard has revisited this world in a number of
brilliant, independent narratives that have illuminated the Dragon’s
story from a variety of perspectives. This loosely connected series
reached a dramatic crossroads in the astonishing novella, “The Taborin
Scale”. The Dragon Griaule now gathers all of these hard to find
stories into a single generous volume. The capstone of the book — and a
particular treat for Shepard fans — is “The Skull,” a new 40,000 word
novel that advances the story in unexpected ways, connecting the ongoing saga of an ancient and fabulous beast with the political realities of
Central America in the 21st century. Augmented by a group of engaging,
highly informative story notes, The Dragon Griaule is an indispensable volume, the work of a master stylist with a powerful — and always unpredictable — imagination.
Table of Contents:
- The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule
- The Scalehunter’s Beautiful Daughter
- The Father of Stones
- Liar’s House
- The Taborin Scale
- The Skull
- Story Notes
