The BSC Beat – E.E. Knight Talks Dragons

E.E. Knight joins us for The Bookspot Beat.  While he is probably more famous for his Vampire Earth series, he also has The Age of Fire series, which is all about dragons.  They have been some of my favorite books in recent years, and so I decided to ask E.E. Knight to talk to us about dragons.  The BookSpot Beat is a topic-specific, 10-question interview feature.

High in the mountains, deep in the safety of a cave; a brood of dragons is born.  The four young ones are among the last of a dying breed – the final hope for dragons’ survival.  But hope shatters when a murderous group of slave-trading dwarves breaks into the cave, leaving death and destruction in its wake.

Damon:  Let’s start off with asking the question of why you picked Dragons for the main characters in the Age of Fire series, why not elves, why not pegasi (is that even the plural) etc..

E.E. Knight:  I was a dinosaur fan as a little boy, one of these kids who could name fifty different species in a flash. I’ve also liked dragons since I was little. They’re really just dinosaurs on steroids: better, stronger, and faster. . .

Damon:  What is your favorite dragon rendition, excluding the ones on the covers of your books?

E.E. Knight:  Oh, there’s been so much great dragon art over the years. But honestly, the one that holds a special place in my heart is Tolkien’s watercolor of Smaug atop his pile of treasure. The Northern Illinois University Libarary SFWA archive in De Kalb has a first edition of The Hobbit with color plates featuring Tolkien’s art, and I had them do a great scan of it using their ten-thousand-odd dollar scanner. Old Smaug was my first encounter with a literary dragon, and I love him still.

Damon:  Who do you consider the most powerful dragon in literature?

E.E. Knight:  Powerful depends on how you interpret it a bit, doesn’t it? But there have been so many great dragons, it’s tough to choose. Recently we’ve had this rather cool clockwork dragon in

Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett’s Havemercy. I also like the dragons in James Maxey’s Dragon Age novels (the first book is called Bitterwood), because they’re on top for once.

I’m also fond of Alan Dean Foster’s Falameezar, the Marxist dragon from the Spellsinger series. He doesn’t just burn your castle down, he rallies all the mice and rat peasants to come in and assist.

Damon:  Who do you consider the most powerful dragon slayer in literature?

E.E. Knight:  Beowulf, with an assist by Wiglaf. Still the first and best.

Damon:  Are dragons without wings really dragons? 

E.E. Knight:  Of course. They’re fictional. It’s a little like saying Fiver isn’t really a rabbit because he was born with ESP.

Damon:  Why do dragons have hoards?  Do you have a hoard of your own?  What is in it?

E.E. Knight:  In the Age of Fire series, they have hoards because they need the refined, high-conductive heavy metals to keep their scale thick and refreshed, so it’s a matter of good health, like being sure you eat a balanced diet. It’s also considered polite to keep some around to offer a visiting dragon.

My own hoard is probably books. They keep me mentally healthy and I’m always giving them away to guests, so there are similarities.

Damon:  What is the best weapon to take to fight a dragon?

E.E. Knight:  I’ll go with a fully-armed F-22 Raptor, or maybe an AEGIS air-defense weapon system.

Damon:  Are dragons evil or just primal?

E.E. Knight:If you’re being pillaged by one I’d say evil. I write them as autonomous creatures struggling to survive like the rest of us.

Damon:  Does the Loch Ness Monster exist and is it an underwater dragon?

E.E. Knight:  I certainly hope so.

Damon:  Dragons on the cover of books, in recent years, they have been said to be the old regime of fantasy, what are your thoughts?  Does having a dragon on the cover of a book help or hurt?

E.E. Knight:  They help, certainly. I’ve bought books just because I like the cover art.

Damon:  I would like to thank E.E. Knight for joining us for this edition of The Bookspot Beat, please take the time to check out both The Age of Fire series and the Vampire Earth series.

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About Damon Cap

One of the partners/admins here at the site. We do what we want. Check out the site where I do real work at BSCKids. Hoping to surpass the teacher with BSCkids.