Thank you to everyone who entered our Riders of Fire and Dragon Art Contest! We had some coloring entries and some originally drawn and painted work from adults and teens. Thank you for your patience. With me being so busy finishing Sea Dragon, launching the Riders of Fire box set, and finishing Ruby Dragon, the announcement of the results got delayed.
Feel free to check out some of the entries below.
Winner
Congratulations to Lilly of New Zealand for her winning art. She was so enthusiastic and entered four pictures — of a dragon eye, Zaarusha the dragon queen, a tharuk, and Handel the bronze dragon. All four of her entries showed different styles, cartoon and free style, with great use of color. Lilly wins a Riders of Fire paperback of her choice.
Lilly, 13, New Zealand: Dragon eye with shimmering scalesLilly, 13, Bronze Dragon, Handel (the pen ran out!)Lilly, 13, New Zealand: A tharuk.Lilly, 13, New Zealand: Zaarusha the Dragon Queen, with shiny scales
I also loved the sea dragon and black dragon below from Saydi of Honduras. These pictures show a fabulous use of imagination and color and style.
Saydi Duplantis, 13, Honduras, child: This is a sea dragon. It hides in old shipwrecks and spreads its wings to attract its next meal.Saydi Duplantis, 13, Honduras. A black dragon.
Erob by Mia of New Zealand, is very cute, too.
Mia, 12, New Zealand: Erob, Roberto’s blue dragon with a great sense of humor.
Skilah Cat shows us the power of a dragon’s eye.
Skilah Cat: Dragon’s eye
Sam used a cool concept to decorate Zaarusha – colors and words that make up Dragons’ Realm. This is really creative and I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you.
Sam, 12, New Zealand: Zaarusha the Dragon Queen.
We were lucky enough to have Laura Thompson of Rogue Kitsune send one of her lovely dragons for the contest.
Laura Thompson, USA. Laura has more dragon art at Rogue Kitsune Art deviantart/artstation.
Susi Galley did Zaarusha the honor of putting her likeness on canvas! I think the dragon queen would be very pleased with the lovely colors on her scales and wings.
Susi Galley, UK, Zaarusha in oil paint.
Coloring entries
Several entrants colored dragons or characters and sent them in.
Susi Galley, UK, demonstrates her lovely use of color to give us a beautiful depiction of Zaarusha and Ezaara.Sean Alexander uses online coloring sites, and he sent me this dragon for everyone to enjoy.Julie imagined a tharuk like this but with a lot more fur.
Thank you everyone for your art, for joining in and having fun, and celebrating Riders of Fire by sharing your talents. I hope you have a lot more fun in Dragons’ Realm!
Let’s help you (and your kids) through the covid-19 lock down! Color and draw dragon art to your heart’s content, and go into the draw for a surprise prize pack!
Two Ways to Enter Dragon Art
My new Riders of Fire coloring book is releasing in late 2020. You can get a sneak preview & test fly a dragon colouring page for free. Have fun. Go wild!
You can also create your own dragon art and enter that in the contest too.
Enter as many times as you want via the form below. Throughout April, upload a photo or scanned image of your dragon art or coloring page! It’s that easy!
They’re reading Riders of Fire here! And here! And there!
I recently ran a contest for my Riders of Fire readers. Here are the results. Meet my readers from around the world.
Our Riders of Fire readers grand prize winners are Zach and Cherish
Cherish Kasner in Ledges State Park in Iowa
Cherish is from Madrid, Iowa USA, and loves Ezaara. She says, “The Riders of Fire books are original and they pull you in!” She sent some lovely photos of her having fun with dragons, a trainee dragon rider, swords and magic! Scroll down to see more of Cherish!
Cherish’s A2 poster of Dragons’ Realm is being flown by dragon post to her doorstep!
Zachary Spencer in Alberta Canada
Zach has many aliases, including Zach the Shark, because he gobbles up so many books and is always prowling the waters of Amazon looking for more! (If you didn’t realize Amazon was a sea, it is now! I claim poetic license). He helps run a Discord Server for readers in his spare time, loves gaming and is a valiant Rider of Fire, leading the troops against Commander Zens!
When asked what he likes about Riders of Fire, Zachary tells us, “I love the dragons, fast paced feel. You do not fear having loss or darkness, and of course your overall creativity.”
Wow, that’s cool and totally unexpected. Thanks, Zach.
I’m hoping the dragons don’t freeze their wings off flying up to Canada to drop Zach’s Dragons’ Realm poster to him. (I’m also hoping the sharks don’t eat them, but don’t tell Zach that!)
Lanyard winners
The following readers have won lanyards which are in dragons’ saddlebags, winging their way to their doors.
Christine Steffens in Minnesota
Christine Steffens in Minnesota loves all things dragons and even has some pets that like to steal her e-reader and read about their fellow dragons. Look at this cutie!
Christine’s wee dragonet even matches the color scheme for Bronze Dragon, which is quite a feat! I wonder if the dragon is a chameleon, changing color depending on what book its holding.
When asked what she loves about Riders of Fire, Christine says, “Dragons, of course!”
Yeah, I get that!
Andrew Agnew in Findlay, Ohio, USA
Andrew loves dragons too (surprise!) and owns a super-sized copy of Dragon Hero which he’s proudly cradling above. He’s a Dragon Hero himself, out crusading against tharuks and battling evil.
Originally from Australia, he’s now at home in Ohio where it’s rumored that dragons are plentiful and there are many tharuks to fight. He loves audio books and e-books!
Andrew says, “I love the connection between dragons and their riders, and not just in your books, but others as well. Especially when the dragons are good and not evil. Can’t wait for the next in the series.”
The words of a true dragon hero! Go Andrew!
A young Kasner dragon rider!
Cherish’s daughter is also a fan of dragons and got into the spirit of things. I don’t usually publish kids’ names on my blog. But here she is, armed with her sword, a trusty dragon at her side, and a great book to read!
Way to go!
Ina Fowler in Spring Hill, Florida
Ina was in a playful colorful mood and tried out Zaarusha’s rainbow colors while riding dragons!
I love this attitude of experimentation and the bright upbeat colors that every dragon rider should wear as a warning that we will triumph over evil tharuks and the darkness of Commander Zens’ Death Valley!
Ina says Riders of Fire is “Intense and mystifying.”
Well, in this photo, I think Ina is too!
Richard Goodrum in Carrollton
When asked what he likes about Riders of Fire, Richard Goodrum sent me this photo, with the simple statement, “Dragons!”
I asked him if he had any further comments, and he said, “Dragons!”
I think that says it all! He’s obviously fiercely loyal to a species that has a special place in our hearts!
Deb, USA
Deb lives in the USA and loves Riders of Fire. She’s an e-book, print book and Audible fan and has the books in all three mediums! That’s pretty awesome.
Rumor has it that she’s writing books of her own, but not about dragons. Hey, it doesn’t always have to be about dragons! Good luck, Deb.
Cherish deep in story!Cherish fighting tharuks with a dragon at her side!
More Riders of Fire readers
Alisha and Elena Hewett of Crockett Texas, USA visiting New Zealand earlier this year
In January this year, I had a surprise when someone called me out of the blue and wanted to visit! Elena and Alisha devour all the books in their local library and often make recommendations to the librarians, who are happy to order titles they like.
It’s cool to know that Riders of Fire even has a home in Crockett!
If you live in Crockett, Texas, feel free to take my books out of the local library. Also feel free to recommend them to your own library!
And yes, we three do actually have eyes. It was just a bright sunny Wellington day!
More Riders of Fire readers’ comments
Some readers didn’t have photos, or experienced technical glitches when uploading, but wanted to let me know what they thought of the series. Here are their comments.
Sherryl Taylor of Eugene, USA, says, “I LOVE LOVE LOVE DRAGONS. Have loved them since I was a kid. Now I’m a 66 year old kid!”
I know young adult fiction appeals to readers of all ages. I’ve had a kid of 9 years old write to me about my books and also pensioners in their late eighties who enjoy a dragonback adventure as much as teens do!
Stuart McClements of Bellshill says, “I like all things fantasy and horror!”
Although I don’t write stirct horror, I do have a couple of dark short stories about dragons that haven’t been widely published (in magazines or out-of-print anthologies). They may hit the light of day as soon as I have a good cover. So hang in there, Stuart, and you may get fantasy dragons with a tinge of horror!
Gene Mallard of Lilburn, Georgia, loves the covers of Riders of Fire.
A special thank you to Christian Bentulan, my amazing cover designer! He really has helped this series come to life.
Thank you to everyone who has participated in sharing their love of Riders of Fire.
Would you like to be famous? Or win cool Riders of Fire dragon swag?
Yes? Read on…
I’ve finished the draft of Dragon Strike, and guess what? At 180,000 words, it’s big enough to be two books! Yes, Dragon Strike and Dragon War (working title) will be coming out later this year.
To celebrate the release of Dragon Strike, Dragon War and my Riders of Fire audio books later this year (yay!!!!), I’m offering you a chance to star on my blog! Just send me a photo of you with one of my books – paperback, e-book or audio book!
If you don’t like photos, feel free to send your own art of dragons or riders from Riders of Fire! Or a just photo of my book somewhere interesting.
I’ll collect the photos now, and be publishing them in November before the books launch.
Prizes – cool dragon swag
What cool dragon swag am I giving away? You’ll go in the running to win one of:
2 x poster-sized color maps of Dragons’ Realm by Ava Fairhall (unframed – excuse the late night photo!)
5 x e-books
10 x bright Riders of Fire lanyards featuring your favorite dragons.
Note: Due to expensive international postage, I can only send posters and lanyards to Canada, USA and NZ. (I’ll be in USA in November). I can send e-books internationally. I’d love your photos from all around the world.
I’ve teamed up with some great authors to bring you the Brightblade Box, a fantastic box of dragon goodies, including cool dragon books from talented and popular authors.
Yes, many of them are autographed!
This is an awesome haul for a lucky reader! And all the cool dragon swag makes it even more worthwhile! Will it be you? Let’s hope so.
Imagine that… autographed books from amazing authors of cool epic dragon fantasy, bookmarks, a mouse pad, book ends and dragons to keep you company!
What more could you want?
Okay, that was a silly question.
And no, I don’t have a live dragon to throw into the prize draw. Mine are all out saving Dragons’ Realm from tharuks! But I have heard that the prize is delivered by dragon post!
The goodies in the Brightblade Box, including a signed copy of Ezaara
Thank you to Tiger Herbert and Brightblade Press for coordinating this giveaway for lucky readers. Thanks to the other authors who have also generously co-sponsored the prizes and spread the word:
I’d like to announce the winner of the Name a Spider contest that I ran on Facebook back in March! I had meant to announce the results along time ago, but was neck-deep in edits for Dragon Rift, my latest book. Then I launched Dragon Rift at Armageddon, and life went crazy with Easter and visitors and running my writing business and publishing the NZ Youth Laureate Award winners, and suddenly… its’ May!
I mean, May? How did that happen?
The Challenge was:
I need a cool fantasy name for a venomous spider as big as a dinner plate. Any ideas?
What I’m looking for is a fantasy species name, so a fantasy name that shows it’s a huge, dangerous spider. i.e.: a species name – bitten by a/an xxx spider. This is for Dragon Rift, the 3rd book in Riders of Fire, a dragon rider medieval fantasy series… go for it! I’ll name you and call out your genius in my acknowledgements!!
The Results
You all came up with such fantastic names! Now I’ll have to write another novel full of awesome spider characters. That’s the problem with being a writer: thousands of book ideas and not enough time to write them all!
There were over 80 entries, so I had a lot of clever names to choose from.
The Winner :
Susan Minot: Gargantula ?
Sue’s name is in the acknowledgements of Dragon Rift. As a bonus, I’ll send her a copy of the paperback. And although gargantulas are only mentioned once in Dragon Rift, I’m sure they’ll skitter across the pages of Dragon Strike, Riders of Fire book 4, due out later this year.
My favourites:
I loved everyone’s ideas. I was torn in a few different directions, but ultimately I wanted the species to sound big and venomous. Here are some of my favourite suggestions. Some made me laugh, some gave me the creeps, some were fascinating. See what you think:
Angela Oliver: One of my characters had a pet spider called Fluffy.
Mary Edwards: Plateous hugemont
Melinda Szymanik: Huntsman is big and scary so some variation on that?
Annemarie Mead: Dobelix from Lachlan
Denika Mead: Sounds like a cool character, I can’t wait to read it! What about ‘mortiferun’?
Wendy Vella: Spidersaurusrex
Renee Jaye Lyons: Ansidium mortius
Alicia Ponder: Depends on what you want the spider to do – trapdoor – webs – etc I reckon choose one the family names: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_taxonomy then go for a species name like armida or morteus. Or a species name of …ebenum – for Ebony 🙂 Spider taxonomy – Wikipedia (Ebony Jean’s comment: awwww yeah! #TeamSpider)
Susan Minot: Gargantula ?
Ava Fairhall: Mix and match with these: Shield crawler, or
colossal harvestman, or
disc spinner, or
orb weaver
Virginia Taylor: Michael
Bronwyn Norman: Venomous maxima, but people call it ‘Carol’
Natasha Kenyon: TEmperor
Zelda Tufue Dahya: Aracknidus Giganticus (Hail came up with that! He has been a Spiderman fan since he was 2yrs old)
Eric Corrington: Peteroid Parkernid
Ryan Mcfadden: a Ceramihumngi. I took the word for large and the start of the word Ceramic seen as as large as a dinner plate…
Tania Torea: Ingensaranea Literally two Latin words meaning huge spider Or Ragnoenorme
Peter Friend: Troll Hands – named after their supposed resemblance to those of mythical (or are they?) eight-fingered trolls, or so parents tell their children…
Nicky Curran: Zorboct.
Silvia Brown: Plato, means plate in Spanish and is the first thing that came to mind so I am sticking with it. Plus wasnt that the name of an Ancient Greek philosopher as well? A philosophical ceramic spider!!!
Martin Riesen: What kind of a name are you looking for? A pet? (Fred), More funny? (Spidermax). Medieval? Arachnia Tantus
Simon Voysey: Skitters
Meg Jolly: Empress Widow?
Jean E. Lane: The “Freakindead” spider.
Matt Whitaker Jeff. Or Dave.
Kevin Maclean: Tarantula morbidius…
Moya Bawden: Tantunab – Sanskrit
Gary Freedman: Puppy
Adam Roberts: Arachadonis. Spider with a six pack…
Adam Roberts: Arachadonis Rex. Front legs are too small to do anything useful…
Adam Roberts: Terran Chulla.
Eric Corrington: Aralob.
Deryn Pittar: Archnia gigantus
Wow, you made it to the end of that humongous list of scary spiders. Just for being brave, here’s a reward. Enjoy this fascinating video.
If the venomous spiders haven;t put you off Riders of Fire, feel free to pick up a copy here. Your next wild adventure is waiting.
Everyone who posts an honest review on Amazon before 15 September 2017, and emails me a link to their review, goes in the draw to win a paperback copy of Dragon Tales.
Email me via my contact page, and provide a link to your Amazon review. If you win, I’ll contact you for your postal address, and send you the book. The winner will be announced on this website, and notified by email.
Whether you’re looking for a nip, a nibble, or a chomp-sized story, wing your way to an adventure with Dragon Tales.
Math Dragon – When Sean discovers a math dragon in his desk, his troubles multiply.
Wingspan – Shorty has failed before, but this time she must graduate or face life in the salt mines. The local bullies don’t want her to succeed.
Fluffy’s Triumph – Whoever heard of a fluffy dragon? It’s an embarrassing secret, having fluffy scales, but when salt pirates attack, Fluffy’s secret weapon saves the day.
Suds and Scales – What happens when a muddy football player finds a playful dragon in the toilet?
Dad’s Wisdom – A ravenous dragon demands to be fed, but Dad’s advice only makes things worse.
Golden Days – A magical book offers two sick friends adventures – with a dragon.
Rumbled – The gift under the Christmas tree is growling. Two brothers want it, but only one will get it.
I crawled into my bed, ruing the budget accommodation I’d hastily booked a few days before. Romance was the last thing on my mind. The bed shook, the walls throbbed and the screaming in the room next door would inspire the horror writers at Lexicon, the Science Fiction and Fantasy convention down the road – not to mention the manic laughter that followed every gut-curdling cry. (On second thoughts, maybe the horror writers were next door?)
Was it the rabid dancing downstairs that was making my mattress shake and undulate? Or just the music? Perhaps the band were part banshee…
Walking the dark streets of Taupo, I’d felt safer as I approached the drunks outside the nightclubs and bars under my hotel – better than the vehicle with tinted windows that had crawled past, peering at me. But with the whole place about to implode, I did what every writer does at 1 a.m. when there’s a party on downstairs.
I joined the melee on the dance floor and gyrated my heart out.
Nah, don’t be silly. Why waste an opportunity to write? I turned on my laptop. Okay, for a moment I did consider dancing, but hey, alone in a strange town with no one to knock on the door and demand dinner, a driving lesson, or a taxi service… why not write?
But sometimes the best intentions get waylaid and emails get in the way. But that day, yay, hooray, for emails!!!!
Celebration time! Yep, so I danced, but only in my room!
Bright and early, just a couple of hours later, one of my critique partners texted me to tell me she was a finalist too! Double reason to dance. Charlotte Jardine’s story is a classic contemporary romance that warms my heart each time I read it – nostalgia, summer days and golden sand.
Mine stars young adults with tricky pasts learning to trust again – and leather and fast motorbikes.
Both are set near the sea. So here’s a photo of the Charlotte and I near our local beach! (Actually, it’s been rainy this week, so this is a photo of us indoors!) We’re very lucky. Everywhere in New Zealand has a local beach – or thirty! And the contest? Well, all five finalists are waiting to hear back from the judge, who happens to be the editor for a well-known English Women’s magazine!!
YUSS!!!
**fist-pumps! Then coughs** Ahem, excuse the YA-speak!
We received a hoard of dragon limericks from all around the world. The verses made us roar and laugh, and on occasion, breathe fire. It was a tough decision because so many of the limericks were clawsome! Thank you to all contestants for your fangtastic effort!
Although we had to select winners, we want everyone to know that you’re all winners for entering, because you all created new limericks! Unfortunately the volume of entries hasn’t made it possible to provide feedback to everyone, as we’d hoped, however we will provide feedback to all children who entered, in due course.
Is your name in the e-book?
Our winners ( 1st, 2nd & 3rd places) will soon receive a voucher for the e-book Clawsome Dragon Limericks. All winners, honorable mentions and finalists have their limericks in the e-book and their names in the table of contents.
Third Equal: A.C. Lindsay, New Zealand & Kerrie Spicer, New Zealand
Honorable Mentions:
Jane Percival, New Zealand, Best Illustrated Limerick
Lyn McConchie, New Zealand, Clever Use of Historical Language
Jack Newhouse, New Zealand, Best Limerick with a Scottish Accent
John Irvine, New Zealand, Brilliantly Yuck!
Gloria Hanlon, USA, Inspiring Limericks
Finalists:
Christopher Drown, Australia
Gareth Barsby, United Kingdom
Katharina Gerlach, Germany
Chris Makowski, Texas, USA
Charles Hoge, New York, USA
Mahoney Adair, Christchurch, New Zealand
Sarah Garriott, USA
Dr Bob Turvey, UK
John Irvine, New Zealand
Andrew Mackrory, Ohio, USA
Vincent Van Gouache, New Zealand
Feel free to share this link to Clawsome Dragon Limericks with your family and friends, any grumpy old knights, dragons with a sense of humor, and princesses who may enjoy dragon limericks or a roarsome laugh! Have fun reading these limericks! We’d love a review on Amazon!
Love Limericks? Love dragons?
Are you good at rhyming?
Or maybe you just want to try something new?
For kids, adults, teenagers, everyone!
Be quick, get your limerick to us before 30 July 2016 and be in to win publication in my new book Clawsome Dragon Limericks and Amazon vouchers for the book! The full post about Phantom Feather Press’ Dragon Limerick Contest & how to enter is here.
