Fire Flight and Other Tanninim Tales

A dragon shifter collection of five short stories

The tales begin with three stories of dragon shifters living in contemporary America. A fireman without protective gear enters a burning home. A woman's thoughts see lurking danger. And a student tutors without speaking. The tanninim live hidden among men. But their influence affects us all.

A fourth tale is the first chapter, Winter, from my novella Oracles of the Vinedresser.

Saxon incursions prove invasion looms for Wales under Deron, prince of the Britons. He reluctantly accepts counsel from a mysterious enslaved vinedresser, the center of a web of dark rumors. Despite the pervasive superstition, Deron welcomes her wisdom. But he uncovers her shocking secret. She's a dragon shifter. And her dire situation. She is his father's slave. Obeying her oracles may steer him to a costly victory. But her curse could drag him to a bitter end.

The final tale is the original short story that grew into the novella Nguni's Trade. In this Medieval African tale, dragon shifter Nguni resents the tribe's move into Zimbabwe's interior. He takes out his frustrations on the one person who understands him. God sets the solitary in families. But power is a jealous companion.