Dragons, Reluctant and Otherwise

Three generations of fantasy writers explore the timeless "deal with the dragon" tale in this unique anthology connecting Kenneth Grahame, Roger Zelazny, and Warren Lapine across nearly a century of classic fantasy storytelling.

The collection opens with Kenneth Grahame's beloved classic "The Reluctant Dragon," one of the foundational works of modern dragon fantasy and among the earliest stories to portray a dragon as intelligent, civilized, and sympathetic rather than monstrous. Grahame's influence would quietly echo through generations of fantasy fiction, eventually reaching Roger Zelazny, one of the great masters of modern speculative fiction and author of the legendary Chronicles of Amber series.

Inspired in part by Grahame's story, Zelazny wrote "The George Business," a witty and memorable reinterpretation of the dragon tale that has become a favorite among readers of classic fantasy and Zelazny's shorter fiction. The story later gained unexpected notoriety when it was plagiarized word-for-word by a teenager who submitted it to a writing contest and won first prize. Zelazny later recounted the bizarre incident in a letter to his friend Carl Yoke, portions of which are included in this volume.

The final story, Warren Lapine's "Gainful Employment," completes this unusual literary lineage. Written under the unconscious influence of Zelazny before Lapine had ever read "The Reluctant Dragon," the story became a third-generation variation on the same enduring fantasy premise. Concerned that the story might be too close to Zelazny's work, Lapine eventually sent it to Zelazny himself, who responded warmly and encouraged him to publish it. The story would later appear in Weird Tales.

Collected together for the first time, these three tales offer fantasy readers a fascinating look at how great stories evolve across generations of writers. Moving from Grahame's whimsical classic fantasy through Zelazny's sophisticated modern reinvention and into Lapine's affectionate continuation of the tradition, this anthology traces a direct creative lineage through the history of dragon fantasy.

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