The Consequences of Drawing Dragons

In the 15th century, pre-France, port town of Valemont - a hub connecting the best of the best from routes around the world, a new king takes the throne, and the way things have been change precipitously for the worst. A talented teenage apprentice, Marceau Leggett, wants more than anything to join his mother's family guild of esteemed artists, but does not have the right surname. His younger sister, Delphine, wants to do anything other than the lady-like tasks expected of her, like climb trees, and explore their magnificent manor lands set between the spring-hewn mountains and the edge of the ocean. It seems clear that neither of them will become who they were meant to be without each other's help, and nothing short of a miracle.

When Delphine saves an old woman from certain death, she is rewarded with a phenomenal gift and responsibility that she soon shares with her brother, a magic that allows his artistry to become real. When the Purple Turnip, the exploring and surveying ship that their father navigates, returns unexpectedly from their charter, the crew find themselves caught in the new king's trap with time quickly running out. In order to extricate his family and the Turnip from certain servitude, Marceau decides to use his new power to create a team of dragons from his art materials; beasts that can move earth, herd, hunt, and protect. Once brought to life, however, the dragons set into motion an unstoppable chain of events that continue to ripple far beyond the shocking and terrible events at Karthaik Castle, sending Delphine across the many oceans of the world, and Marceau across the universe to fix what they had done.

Fully abbreviated, this is an origin story about where dragons came from and where they went, creating a new mythology that explains their magical origins and the reason for their extended disappearance, as well as the complicated and long lives of the well-intentioned artist and his sister who brought them all to life.

Additionally, the book functions as an allegory of the Italian Renaissance, and seeks to find the narrow line of common ground between history and mythology. Beyond this book, the 4-volume series ventures across the seas, the galaxy, and the uninhabitable terrain of the planet Jarimeht, before finally concluding in modern-day Detroit. A dual-protagonist/brother-sister aesthetic permeates the entire series in reoccurring, thematic ways, as it continues to tell the tale of dragons, and just what indeed happened to them all.