The other day I got a chance to sit down with Chris Cannon, author to one of my favorite dragon series~Going Down in Flames. Hopefully our chat will leave you as excited as it did me. Afterwards there is short excerpt from Trail by Fire, which released yesterday.
~Why do you write about dragons?
Doesn’t everyone
have dragons flying around in their heads? No? Just Me? That’s weird.
~Your books have a lot of food in them. My gal Bryn can surely eat. I feel like there is a story behind this.
Apparently I’m
obsessed with food. I didn’t realize this was the case until other people told
me that reading my books made them hungry. Some people found it annoying.
Fellow foodies like myself enjoyed it. I will even admit to having a crush on
Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins, and
Dives.
~I absolutely love this series. Can you give us a hint- maybe a number of how many books we can expect to be about Bryn and this beautiful dragon world you created?
My editor pointed
out that my books span about 3months in the characters lives. So Bryn’s first
year at school will be covered in four books. I’d planned to write about Bryn’s
senior year too, which would make eight books.
~ Plotter or
a Pantser?
I’d love to say
that I plot out my stories using color-coded post-its and metallic sharpies.
That is not the case. I am a total Pantser. I know the direction I want to go,
and then I sit down to write. I once outlined an entire book and found I
couldn’t write it because I already knew the ending. Weird. I know.
~Just in case someone doesn't know- what is the reading order of this series?
Going Down In
Flames
Bridges Burned
Trial By Fire
~What do you want your readers to take away from these dragon tales?
I love to make
people laugh. Bryn and Clint can say all the smart ass things that I think but
don’t utter aloud.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me. I absolutely adore dragon stories and this series is one of the best!
Excerpt from Trial by Fire
Skipping two days
of classes seemed to have multiple consequences, like extra homework and people
staring at her like they had when she’d first come to school. She hadn’t missed
that level of scrutiny and wasn’t happy to have it back.
“What is everyone’s problem?” Bryn asked as
she walked on the treadmill in Basic Movement.
Valmont ran on the
treadmill next to her, not breaking a sweat. “We are a curiosity.”
“I wish we could
fly today.” Something inside of her ached to shift and take flight, but Mrs.
Anderson refused to let her fly until she had clearance from a medic.
“After classes today, why don’t we find Medic
Williams and ask her for a note, so you’ll be able to fly tomorrow.”
“Or we could go
flying tonight.” Bryn increased the speed on her treadmill to a jog.
“Sorry, I’m siding
with the authorities on this. If you need more time to recover, then that’s
what you’ll have.” She glared at him.
“That look doesn’t
work on me.” He grinned. Then the corners of his mouth turned down.
“What?” Bryn
checked the area for whatever had made him frown. Jaxon stalked in their
direction. Great. When he reached her, he smacked the button to turn off her
treadmill.
“You need to joust
or do something to show everyone you aren’t weak.”
Valmont turned his treadmill off and moved to
stand at Bryn’s side. “You need to work on your manners.”
Jaxon didn’t even
acknowledge Valmont. “I’m trying to help you.”
“Why?” It was a
serious question.
“Because I don’t
like being associated with anyone who is weak,” Jaxon snapped.
Now she
understood. “You went from caring and concerned to a self-centered asshat in
one sentence.”
“You do realize
your opinion of me means nothing.” Jaxon stepped closer. “Go do something to
prove you’re not spineless.”
He’d crossed a
line. “I could start by blasting you across the room.”
“You could try,”
Jaxon said. “But you wouldn’t succeed.”
The desire to
shoot a fireball at his head had flames crawling up the back of her throat.
Valmont put his
arm around her shoulders. “He’s an idiot, but he knows how his Clan thinks.
Let’s go practice with broad swords.”
“Fine.” Bryn let
Valmont guide her toward the lockers where the equipment was kept. Valmont
squeezed her shoulders.
“You do realize,
when you face off with Jaxon, you won’t be doing it alone.”
She wanted to argue but knew that would hurt
his feelings, so she nodded in acknowledgment. Why did it feel like she was
lying to him?
Valmont opened
several lockers until he found what he wanted. Pulling a set of rapiers from
the locker, he frowned. “Are these toothpicks the only blades they have?” Bryn
chuckled.
“Jaxon and his
friends have trained with those since they were five. I think your broadsword
is a much better weapon.”
“Agreed. But for
the Bryn-is-still-a-badass show, I guess we’ll use these.”
“I like the sound
of that. It would look good on a T-shirt.”
Valmont pointed
toward the ring. “After you, Ms. Badass.”
“Does that make
you Mr. Badass?” Bryn asked.
He grinned. “I
think it does.”
Once in the ring,
Bryn faced off with Valmont, which felt weird. “I’m not sure we can—” He came
toward her swinging his sword in a wide arc. She blocked it with her sword.
“Hey!”
“Showtime.”
Valmont’s eyes darted to the side. A crowd was gathering. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Ignoring the crowd, she shoved Valmont’s sword back, forcing him to retreat. He
came at her, and she blocked. She swung at him, and he dodged the blow. Faster
and faster, they dueled. The sound of wooden sword clacking against wooden
sword played out like a song.
The fact that she
hadn’t been able to touch Valmont with her sword both irritated her and made
her proud. Her knight had skills. His sword whizzed by her shoulder. Too close.
She focused on pushing him back. Sweat ran between her shoulder blades. He held
his ground, giving little.
She raised her
sword and brought it down with all her might, he blocked and crack half his
sword was gone. She stopped wide-eyed.
Valmont held out
his stubby sword. “I think you won.”
The crowd around
the ring drifted away. Jaxon caught her eye and gave a nod of approval. She
reined in the instinct to roll her eyes or flip him off. Instead, she gave a
curt nod back. When she made eye contact with Valmont, his jaw muscle was
clenched. “What’s wrong?”
“I hate that Jaxon
was right.”
Bryn laughed. If
that didn’t prove they were meant for each other, nothing would.
Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters—the only two in Russia—and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the Tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.
