The blue dragon, Lazuli, lives to torment the villagers of Sandon’s hometown, Hartfall. He demands more and more riches until the Baron, Sandon’s father, has only one thing left to give: himself. Lazuli will arrive at midnight to take the Baron away. Sandon has only one hope left: the gold dragon that sits atop a ledge above the village, silently watching. In one legendary battle Lazuli magically petrified the gold dragon, once Hartfall’s sworn protector. But Sandon is sure he can find a way to awaken the beast. In the dead of night, he sneaks out onto the gold dragon’s ledge. And there he stumbles onto a secret that throws everything he thought he knew about his home and his family into question. Can Sandon unlock the secret of the gold dragon in time to save his village–and his dad?

This next installment of the series inspired by The New York Times best-seller A Practical Guide to Dragons shows just how much a young boy can do when he realizes that the strength of a gold dragon may lie inside himself.

Flames Rising is pleased to offer our readers an excerpt from this book by R.D. Henham. Gold Dragon Codex is available now at Amazon.com.

FlamesRising.com is pleased to present an interview with author Thomas Sniegoski. Tom is a veteran author who has written for dozens of comics titles (BONE, THE SISTERHOOD), media tie-in novels (HELLBOY, ANGEL) and his original fiction (The Remy Chandler Series). Fans of Christopher Golden might recognize Tom’s work; the two have collaborated on a number of projects. Our first Girls of Gore article highlighted their character named Eve from The Menagerie.

In this interview, Tom Sniegoski discusses what he enjoys writing, monkeys and some of the challenges he faces.

In young adult fiction, you’ve probably noticed a lot of urban fantasy and paranormal books hitting the market. Strange Angels, written by veteran author Lili St. Crow (You might recognize Lilith Saint Crow’s work from the Dante Valentine and The Night Shift series), is a dark exploration of what happens when a teenager named Dru finds herself lost, alone and in a fight for her survival.

Strange Angels is clearly, in my opinion, a novel that is right on target in its depiction of teenagers. The characters are not fully grown, beautiful and confident; they are awkward, tumbling and self-conscious. Dru is not the prettiest, or the most popular, or even the most sought-after girl in this small town. She’s a transplant who meandered around the country with her father hunting beings from the Real World, which is a world hidden beneath the surface of our own that houses all manner of creatures.

At fifteen, Chloe Saunders still hasn’t menstruated. But the day it hits coincides with the ghost of a custodian haunting Chloe at school, until she finally breaks down. Told she has schizophrenia, she’s sent to live in a group home for other teens dealing with mental illness. Or are they?

But Lyle House’s patients are here by no happy accident, judging by the supernatural happenings. As Chloe comes to terms with her necromancy, she learns her powers are much stronger than they should be. Ghosts have been more hindrance than help in the past, but there’s one particular ghost who could provide information the group needs. If only Chloe can figure out how to contact her…

Review by Tez Miller

For any of you who were frustrated or disappointed with Midnight Alley (Book Three), you’re in for a treat with Feast of Fools. Feast of Fools takes all that we learned or thought we learned from Midnight Alley and puts it all together in a very entertaining package. I could not put Feast of Fools down, and there aren’t a lot of books that I’ve read lately that I can say that about.

There is a level of tension in the Morganville books that keeps you on the edge of your seat, even in the background scenes you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it always does. Rachel Caine abuses her characters like a pro, and she doesn’t shirk because these are YA books. Claire and her friends go through hell just trying to survive in Morganville.

Review by Jenn Moffatt.

In the third installment of the ongoing “Morganville Vampires” series, not-quite-seventeen year old Claire has opened a whole new can of worms: she’s agreed to work for the Founder, Amelie, an ancient vampire who has, for some reason been sticking up for her since she came to Morganville. It seems a simple enough exchange at first: Protection (with a capital P) for herself and her friends by promising her obedience. Better yet, her first task is taking advanced classes, and she finds herself with a scholarship to boot. But not all of those classes are the safe, classroom kind: she has an independent study with Myrnin, an old vampire who is brilliant, but seems on the edge of losing it.

Review by Alana Abott

The Dead Girls’ Dance is not a stand-alone novel. A reader new to the series (like me) can figure out what’s going on with no problem–but the story doesn’t begin here. Nor does it end here. The conclusion leads straight into Morganville Vampires Book Three (which I’ll be reviewing in the near future). Claire has to choose how best to deal with being wanted by vampires, and how best to gain the protection she and her friends desperately need to survive–how she makes that decision and the consequences of her choice are likely to be the plot of the third entry in the series. As a series book, the story is compelling, the characters sympathetic (even some of the villains), and the world that Caine has drawn is easy to sink into, if not pleasant. Her world is one where monsters aren’t just vampires, but humans, where it’s not safe to be out after dark, and where demons lay in wait in dark alleys.

Review by Alana Abbott

As the last of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is the finishing touch to a series full of magic, mystery and friendship. Having read all of the books, I’m sure that fans of the series have either already picked up this book or will shortly. Still, there are interesting things to point out here that have left many readers feeling a little bit unsatisfied with the events that have happened here.

Half mystery, half teen drama, Vampire Academy introduces a dying world of tradition: the Moroi can do magic, but must be protected from the evil, undead Stirgoi by their Dhampir guardians. The Stirgoi feed on the blood of innocents, and if they can drink from a Moroi, so much the better. So when Rose suspects that Lissa is being hunted, the danger of losing her is very real.

The first in a series of ten novels for Mirrorstone, the young adult imprint of Wizards of the Coast, In the Serpent’s Coils launches readers straight into the larger story. Corrine’s father disappeared during the Civil War, and her mother died while she had the swamp fever. She finds herself alone in the world except for an uncle who would rather not be responsible for her wellfare. Until, that is, she discovers people living in the hawthorn tree who promise to cure her in exchange for a small stone.