I raised my head in delight, only to lock eyes with the dragon we just knew was ours. We paid for him and said a happy good-bye to Val, never thinking that we would see her again. In the car on the way back home I held our new companion in my lap. Having been chatting about our day, we were stopped at a traffic light, when Chris suddenly yelled out, “She’s a potter! Elizabeth Pennykettle is a potter, and she makes clay dragons, which she sells at the local market. And she has them dotted all around the house as ornaments.” The small clay dragon twitched his tail on my knee, I swear it.
This minor revelation, among many other changes, was written into Snigger and duly sent back to Chris’s editor for her approval. She definitely saw the potential in the story, but had one more comment to make: “Can we do something more with the dragons?” she said, quite innocently. “Can they come to life?”
Chris began the mammoth task of a wholesale rewrite once more. It took months. But eventually the dragons were woven in throughout the whole manuscript. Once the concept of “living” dragons was accepted, they did indeed seem to have lives — and abilities — of their own. It helped that we remembered that Val had created different characters for her clay dragons. Ones with large ears: in Chris’s mind they became listening dragons. One with a bunch of flowers became a potions dragon, able to influence people by getting them to sniff her bouquet. Another had overlarge paws — it now became a wishing dragon, and so on. Other characters, created by us, have then inspired Val to create further varieties of dragons. Thus she has made Gollygosh Golightly, for instance, who carries a magical toolbox. (More of him later, in the “Who’s Who” chapter.)
However, the most relevant dragon, the one we purchased initially and named Gadzooks (the best fiver we have ever spent), turned out to be the key to retaining the squirrels in the story in a very natural way. As we perceived him, he had a notepad and pencil in his paws — an inspirational writing dragon, obviously. So Chris had David write a story, within Chris’s own story, for Lucy Pennykettle’s eleventh birthday present, Gadzooks helping him when he gets stuck. David reads parts of it to Lucy throughout the latter part of Chris’s book. Success at last! It was to be published.
Book covers are generally thought out and produced long before the book itself is published, or even finished sometimes. Because Chris’s book was originally conceived as a squirrel book, and also went through various changes of style, content, and approach, before settling on the dragon element as dominant, it was a long and tricky job to get the covers right. The accompanying illustrations demonstrate what I mean. They are just a selection of roughs that were suggested, mulled over, and eventually rejected as being unsuitable for one reason or another.
Early attempts at covers
A different approach …
Various ideas were tossed about until someone at the publisher came up with the genius idea of using a dragon’s eye on the cover. A very rough illustration of this was produced and approved as a concept, and then an artist was hired to do justice to the suggested idea. The artist concerned did more than that. He created an exceptional and iconic cover painting — which became the precursor for the whole of the series. That phenomenally talented artist is named Angelo Rinaldi. He very generously contributed the following information about his work for the books.
“Regarding the first cover, I was closely art-directed and given a fairly detailed brief to produce a close-up of a pottery dragon’s eye. This was before I had the luxury of the Internet to do any referencing, so I went hunting in old bric-a-brac shops and found some green china figurines. I then took some inspiration from Chinese dragons and worked up a pencil drawing, which went through a few minor corrections regarding the shape of the eye and the teardrop. And then it was on to artwork, which is oil painted on canvas board to give the cover a distinctive textured look. The main challenge with the first set of covers in the series was making the dragon look like it was made of pottery, and alive! Of course by the time I came to do the later ones, I had the Internet at my disposal for referencing. For example, The Fire Eternal benefited from some great reference of a Chinese golden dragon. The last piece of artwork for Rain and Fire was a departure from the series style, in that it was more illustrative and less design-led. I did several pencil sketches for this cover; in some the dragon looked more reptilian, in others too human, but I think we reached the right balance in the final piece.”
A breakthrough idea at last
An unused rough for Dark Fire
Over the rewrite period it also became obvious that a change of title was required. Snigger and the Nutbeast was hardly the right title for a dragon book. A total rethink was called for. Although several titles were passed around for consideration, it was always Chris’s intention to have the “new” book called The Fire Within. For him, “the fire within” represents the creative spark and, with the creation of Gadzooks as an externalized version of that, clearly that was what the book was all about.
Chris was doing a school visit one day, and was explaining that The Fire Within was a metaphor. Having established that the children knew what a metaphor was, he brightly asked if anyone would like to have a guess at “A metaphor for what?” There was a pause. Silence. Then one brave lad put his hand up and said, rather hesitantly, “Is it heartburn?” Chris no longer asks that question in his talks.
The Fire Within was finally published in the United Kingdom in 2000. It did very well (and still does — it’s past its twenty-fifth reprint), and was long-listed for the Carnegie Medal. It was then published in the United States in 2005. Reader response was very positive and Chris felt that he could write more on the subject — but even he had no idea that there would be so much story to tell, and that it would eventually take seven books — the Last Dragon Chronicles — to do it.
By this time, Chris was getting fan mail from all over the world via his Web site. Over a hundred e-mails a week were arriving, from adults and children alike, all greatly enthusiastic about the Pennykettle dragons, but many also wanting to know if (a) there was going to be another book, and (b) if so, could it have “real” (i.e. large, fire-breathing) dragons in it, as well, please. Interesting. “As well,” not “instead of.”
Happy to oblige, off Chris went to do some research about big dragons. At the library, he was ushered over to a bookshelf crammed to the ceiling with book upon book about dragons.
“All these?” Chris whimpered.
“And these. And those. And the ones over there,” responded the librarian. Chris collapsed in a small heap (quite difficult when you’re six foot two). Having been assisted back to his feet, he shambled out of the library and wandered off down the street, practically gibbering.
After that experience, he decided to simply make it all up. Thus a lady at one of his book-signing events, upon asking him how much research he did (“It must have taken you years….”), was rather taken aback when Chris said, “None,” and then promptly ran away to hide in the bathroom. It all seems to have worked out for the best, though — check out chapter 7 on “Myths and Legends” to see if you agree.
The second book in the series, Icefire, was published in the UK two years later (in 2006 in the US), and yes, the series does contain big dragons from there onward. Following the dragon-eye cover concept, Angelo Rinaldi this time painted an ice blue illustration, with an Arctic landscape reflected within the pupil of the dragon’s eye. By the time the third book, Fire Star, came out (red, with a fire star within the eye), Chris’s books were becoming a definite “brand,” being called the Fire series or Dragon series by the fans, and even sometimes by the publishers. The fourth book, The Fire Eternal, was published next (gold cover, the Earth in the eye), followed by Dark Fire, which has a very dark blue, almost black, cover, and a darkling (or “antidragon”) in the eye.
It was at this point that the publishers wanted a “proper” title for the series, and it officially became the Last Dragon Chronicles. And in fact, Dark Fire has the series title mentioned within its pa
ges as part of the story line. Book six, Fire World, has an orange cover. The eye contains an image of a firebird, a brand-new creature featured in the story. It’s somewhere between a bird and a dragon. The final book, called The Fire Ascending, is a brilliant blue-purple color and features a young girl with wings within the eye.
Initially, it seemed to be quite a task to find a definitive title for the series. It wasn’t until Chris stopped and thought, Whose story is this, really? that it became apparent that it was not actually David Rain’s, but Gawain’s — the last known “big” dragon in the world. Once that was established, it was simple.
There are over a hundred and fifty named characters in the Last Dragon Chronicles. Human beings, squirrels, and the little clay dragons made by Elizabeth Pennykettle dominate the first book in the series, The Fire Within. From there on the character base broadens out substantially and we meet polar bears, “natural” dragons, firebirds, unicorns, alien life-forms (both “good” and “evil”), and even Mother Earth. The following list focuses on those characters who play major roles in the series, even though some of them may appear only briefly, or in a single book.
David Rain: The hero of the books. He first appears as a young college student, when he becomes a tenant of the Pennykettle family. His curiosity about the clay dragons that Elizabeth (Liz) Pennykettle makes drives the whole series and fuels his increasingly dangerous investigations into the existence, history, and mythology of dragons. As his journey progresses, we learn that there is a lot more to David than the innocent young man he first appears to be. In Dark Fire it is revealed that his connection to dragons runs very deep, and that his mission of discovery has been preplanned by a greater intelligence called the Fain in an effort to prepare the Earth, and the human race, for a new era of dragon colonization. This brings him into conflict with many enemies, principally the sibyl, Gwilanna. By the final book of the series, he even has to travel through time in his attempts to defeat her and to fulfill his destiny.
Elizabeth (Liz) Pennykettle: The mother of Lucy Pennykettle, Liz lives at 42 Wayward Crescent in Scrubbley. Liz is a potter with a difference. She has the ability to make clay dragons that she can bring to life. Among the many dragons she makes in the series, the most important is probably Gadzooks, whom she makes as a housewarming gift for David. Liz is a distant but direct descendant of Guinevere, a woman who was with Gawain, the last known natural dragon in the world, when he died. Naturally, Liz has inherited her own “dragon-ness” from Guinevere.
Lucy Pennykettle: The feisty daughter of Liz Pennykettle. Lucy is just short of her eleventh birthday when David first comes into her life. She is sixteen by the time of the events of The Fire Ascending. She regards David as something of the “big brother” that she never had. Her initial insistence that he help her save an injured squirrel leads to the discovery of David’s ability to write stories (with the aid of Gadzooks). The books that David writes for Lucy (particularly a polar bear saga called White Fire) help to establish David as a cult author and indirectly draw Lucy into an edgy friendship with journalist Tam Farrell.
Suzanna (Zanna) Martindale: The long-term girlfriend of David and later the mother of his daughter, Alexa. Zanna and David meet in Icefire when she is a sparky Goth student. Her knowledge of all things New Age aids his investigations into dragon lore. Ultimately, it is revealed that Zanna is a sibyl, able to perform certain kinds of magicks. Although she loves David deeply, their relationship is often rocky and they clash frequently over Alexa’s upbringing. After many twists and turns, they resolve their differences and have a happy life together.
Arthur Merriman: A brilliant physicist who is continually wrangling with the mysteries of the Universe and the power of human consciousness and creativity. He first meets Liz when he is a postgraduate student living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and falls in love with her. Their relationship is temporarily broken off when the sibyl Gwilanna tricks him into believing that Liz’s love for him is not genuine. Distraught, Arthur joins a monastery and adopts the name Brother Vincent. At the monastery, he finds a claw of Gawain and is empowered to write about David, little knowing that he is manipulating the so-called dark matter of the Universe to create David’s character. In Fire Star, he is reunited with Liz and thereafter lives with the family at Wayward Crescent.
Gwilanna: More of a nuisance than an out-and-out villain, Gwilanna is a sibyl and a kind of specialized midwife who, like Guinevere, was around when the dragon Gawain died. Unlike Guinevere, Gwilanna has survived for thousands of years, keeping herself alive by the clever use of elixirs brewed from one of Gawain’s scales. Arrogantly regarding herself as superior to any human, she constantly clashes with David. What saves her from his wrath on more than one occasion is her ancient knowledge of dragons and her role in the development of the descendants of Guinevere, e.g., Liz and Lucy Pennykettle.
Anders Bergstrom: A mysterious and extremely influential character who first appears in Icefire as David’s college tutor. He guides David in his investigations, teaching him about the connection between dragons and polar bears. Over the course of the series it transpires that Bergstrom was a polar scientist who vanished, in mysterious circumstances, on an Arctic exploration to the remote Hella glacier. Thought to have been killed by a polar bear, Bergstrom has actually harmonized his life force with Thoran, the first polar bear ever to walk the Arctic ice. Bergstrom, in his role as an ambassador for raising awareness about the Arctic (particularly the dangers of global warming), was responsible for giving the young Liz Pennykettle (as a child) a snowball containing dragon auma, which she, now an adult, uses to animate her clay dragons.
Henry Bacon: A librarian who lives at 41 Wayward Crescent and a longtime, well-meaning but grumpy next-door neighbor to the Pennykettles. Although always on the periphery of the stories, Henry’s significance grows when it is discovered that his grandfather was in the same party of explorers as Anders Bergstrom. In Dark Fire, Henry’s collection of memorabilia connected with his grandfather’s explorations provides direct evidence of the ancient existence of dragons.
Tam Farrell: A journalist who first comes to prominence in The Fire Eternal when he tries to uncover the truth about David’s background. His attempts to use Zanna to get information on David almost results in her killing him with magicks. He makes amends when he twice rescues Lucy from the malevolent thought-beings, the Ix (an offshoot of the Fain), and thereafter becomes an ally of the family.
Alexa Martindale: See also Agawin. Arguably the most important character in the whole series. Alexa is the charming daughter of David and Zanna. Her abilities, which include telepathy with David and an apparent ability to predict the future, are largely ignored as a kind of advanced (but slightly expected) precociousness. Her importance starts to come to the forefront when she is five years old, in Dark Fire. In The Fire Eternal, to Zanna’s amazement, she begins to grow wings, and as a result, is sometimes known as Angel. The literal meaning of the name “Alexa” is “protector of mankind” and she more than lives up to this role in The Fire Ascending.
Sophie Prentice: David’s first girlfriend. She appears toward the end of the first book, collecting donations for a local wildlife hospital. She helps Lucy Pennykettle and David look after Snigger and Conker, two squirrels who feature heavily in The Fire Within. Conker has an eye injury caused by a crow named Caractacus.
Guinevere: A young woman from the mists of time who held a passionate desire to see dragons survive. Although she is mostly mentioned as a character of legend, Guinevere’s role in the story is hugely important, for she was present when the last-known natural dragon, Gawain, died. She caught Gawain’s fire tear, setting off a chain of events that is still continuing to the present day, through her descendants Liz and Lucy Pennykettle.
Agawin: Begins life as a simple goatherd on early Earth, but becomes involved in an epic journey to save one of the final twelve dragons, Galen, from the clutches of the Ix-controlled Voss. Although Galen perishes, Agawin catches a spark of his
fire. This has many remarkable benefits, one of which is to be physically transformed on the point of his own death and reborn as Alexa Martindale, David and Zanna’s daughter. From there on in, he/she aids David in a battle to prevent Gwilanna altering the Earth’s timeline and destroying everything they know and love. Agawin narrates the major part of The Fire Ascending and even features as a grown-up Alexa at the end of the book.
Voss: Appears in The Fire Ascending as a common man who becomes infected by the Ix and is used by them to capture a unicorn and break his horn. This gives him power over men and other creatures. The Ix intend to use Voss to capture the dying dragon, Galen, so that they might invert his fire to create a darkling. This ambition is initially thwarted by Agawin, but Voss returns and raises a darkling army when his daughter, Gwilanna, attempts to change the timeline.
Grella: A young woman who takes care of Gwilanna as a baby, even though she is not her mother. Grella comes from the district of Taan, a region in the far north on early Earth. The Taan are well known for making tapestries, at which Grella excels. Her family befriends Agawin and they encourage him to try making a tapestry of his own. Although not skilled at drawing, Agawin produces a faithful representation of the Pennykettle dragon, Gadzooks, whom he has seen in a vision. After this, the picture seems to gain a life of its own. It grows and changes to become what is known as the Tapestry of Isenfier, which first appears in the librarium building in Fire World.
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