Welcome to
Heart Dragon Publishing

Heart Dragon Publishing is a passion project begun by Jenny Stuart and Zander Kahdoma, who became friends first through a shared love of writing Treasure Planet fanfiction then becoming writing partners, but they have always had dreams of, not just writing, but publishing their own original stories.They decided on the name of "Heart Dragon" because they both have stories featuring dragons that they have been wanting to write for over a decade. It is only recently that they have perfected their writing skills to the point of being able to do those stories justice.Jenny primarily enjoys writing character-focused stories set in fantasy worlds with a unique scientific or historical twist, and she loves using the fantastical settings to explore various modern social and cultural topics. A few of the stories that have inspired what she enjoys as a writer include The Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, ElfQuest by Wendy and Richard Pini, and Treasure Planet by Disney.Zander also primarily writes character-focused stories set in high fantasy worlds, with a growing interest in writing science fiction novels set in deep space and across planets. Redwall by Brian Jacques, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, and Treasure Planet by Disney were all instrumental in shaping their author voice through character relationships, world building, and fantastical stories and settings.

Coming Soon

In the unfamiliar frigid Blaaclands, Sionnach Hawk Kin never expected that he would befriend and then develop feelings for the already betrothed Keepholder heiress Kathryn Blaac. Much to her dismay, she finds herself falling in love with him too even though she was the one who initially proposed her current marriage arrangement.

Summary

Driven from their ancestral winter lands in the fringes of the great Hilthilian forest by a ruthless band of marauders, the Hawk Kin pack of amcaira – people who can bond their souls to animals – find themselves in the northern most province of Draas, the Blaaclands.They clash with the Keepholders there, spurring animosity on both sides and putting them at a precarious position of passing the winter in the Blaac Keep’s holiest temple.Over the course of the winter and following spring, the Keepholder heiress and would-be packleader of the Hawk Kins develop an unexpected friendship that blossoms into a taboo relationship.

Excerpt

Kath sat forward in the saddle, then stood up a little so she wouldn’t bounce as hard as Belenus broke into the long strides of his gallop, and she wished that she’d put a different saddle on him that would have been more beneficial for racing. It wouldn’t have made sense when she was first getting ready for this ride; she had had no idea she would have met Sionnach, nor did she have any inkling prior that he would have egged her into a race. She was already at an advantage for sitting in a saddle and had more to hold onto so she wouldn’t fall off Belenus’ back, unlike Sionnach who risked falling off easier for riding bareback.Kath was impressed that the lack of a saddle seemed to not be a disadvantage at all to Sionnach as he lay close to Starchaser’s neck with his legs squeezed around her middle. Not even his wooden lower leg seemed to hinder him at all. Yet with his ease and skill and Starchaser’s speed, Belenus had a longer stride.They caught up quickly and Kath couldn’t help but smile when Sionnach looked over and startled a little. But then a grin lit his face and he kicked Starchaser again.They raced neck and neck, dodging around trees and ducking under branches while the horses puffed heavily. Sionnach somehow urged more speed out of Starchaser and they shot away from Kath and Belenus, and Sionnach shouted back to her, “Is that the best ye can do?”Kath let out a laugh, both excited by the taunt and eager to prove herself. She snapped the reins, urging Belenus to run faster as well, and let him go as fast as he could when normally she would hold him back so he wouldn’t overextend himself.Her gelding flew over the soggy landscape, his hooves hardly touching the ground, and she flew with him. The trees were thinning, the underbrush clearing to hardly anything, and she could see unbroken sunlight in a clearing ahead of them.Sionnach steered Starchaser to one side of a large fallen log, but Kath stayed the course. Belenus – ever the trusting steed – followed her urging, his back legs bracing as he prepared to jump the log.Kath whooped as they soared through the air, weightless, filled with exhilaration.Their flight was short lived. Belenus landed on the ground and continued to gallop into the field. Kath heard Sionnach shout in response behind them – a joyful, boisterous howl of approval – and she pulled up on the reins to slow Belenus.He snorted and whinnied, throwing his head as he slowed to a prance. His tail flowed behind them like a flag and Kath tossed her own head to flip the hair that had come loose from her bun out of her face, and she smiled broadly over at Sionnach.Starchaser pranced too, kicking her feet in little happy bucks as both of them drew closer. Sionnach practically beamed and he shook his head. “You’re someone te be admired, Kath.”If she wasn’t already flushed from the exercise, she would have blushed at the incredible compliment. Her heart pounded, there was a flutter in her stomach, she couldn’t take her eyes off Sionnach. The sun beamed down through the thick clouds, warming both him and his mare with golden light that lit up his eyes. The playful smile on his face, the way he gazed at her as if she was the very sun in the sky, the easy way he rode past… her heart leapt again and the fluttering grew stronger. The delicate snowdrops swaying in the breeze behind him and his mare created one of the most striking visions she’d ever seen.Sionnach rode past slowly, reaching his right hand out toward her. Kath raised her hand automatically to return the gesture. Their fingertips brushed.It felt as if a shock went through her entire body when they touched. Her breath rushed out. What was this? Where was this reaction coming from? She’d never felt anything like this before–“Now that ye’ve caught me, will ye drive me from your territory, my lady?” Sionnach asked playfully.The flutter in her gut merely grew stronger at his teasing and use of her title. Kath’s face burned. She felt so flustered all of a sudden and she floundered for a moment before she somehow managed to regain her composure and straighten. Despite how hard she tried to sound calm, her voice shook and she stumbled over her words as she said, “I have decided that you and your people will be allowed to stay within the boundaries of the Blaac family lands for a while longer, so long as you behave yourself.”Sionnach’s grin widened and her heart felt as if it might burst as mischief once more darted across his features. “I can’t make any promises.”

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Featured here are blog posts detailing our thoughts on feelings on various stories, be they books, movies, TV shows, comics, theater, video games, etc.

• Wings of Fire - Not Your Average Prophecy Story

• Worldbuilding and What Inspired Draas

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Wings of Fire - Not Your Average Prophecy Story

by Jenny Stuart

I have to gush about why I love the Wings of Fire books. The first five make up the first arc and it's about five young dragons from different tribes. They were prophesied to all hatch on the Brightest Night (the night of three full moons) in order to stop a twenty-year war of succession between three desert dragon sisters whose mother was killed by humans stealing her treasure. Usually, queenship is passed to the daughter who challenges her queen mother to the throne and kills her, so in this instance, the sisters have made individual alliances with other dragon tribes and have plunged the entire continent into war to determine who shall be the next queen.Now initially, the prophecy part actually put me off a bit when I first encountered these books! I've read plenty of Chosen One prophecy stories by now and was tired of them, even though I did like the sound of the POV character for the first book, Clay, who seemed like a gentle giant character archetype (happily, he is). But it is still a dragon story and the prophecy was my only bone of contention, so I decided to give it a shot.Let me tell you, I was hooked from the start because in the prologue, the SkyWing egg that's supposed to be in the prophecy to end the war is smashed by one of the desert dragon princesses. When that happened, one member of the Talons of Peace, a group of dragons from all across the continent that are trying to fulfill the prophecy and end the war, decided to fetch a RainWing egg to replace it to make sure the prophecy had five dragonets even though RainWings weren't mentioned in it. This prologue alone captured my interest long enough to get to know the characters and the world because it immediately prompted several questions: 1) if the prophecy is real, does the death of the SkyWing egg mean the prophecy has already failed? 2) Is it really good enough just having five dragonets even though RainWings aren't in the prophecy? 3) is the prophecy even real? 4) if it's not real, then how are a handful of dragonets supposed to end a twenty-year continent wide war?From the beginning of the story, the very legitimacy of the prophecy was already in question which was a wonderful shakeup from the usual Chosen One prophecy status quo I had previously read. The books are intended for a middle grade audience, so the language and concepts are a little on the simpler side compared to adult books, but they don't feel like they're talking down to their intended audience, and I found them very enjoyable to read as an adult. By the end of the first arc, I was also perfectly satisfied with all my questions regarding the state of the prophecy and how the war would end.Now I cannot speak to the quality of the rest of series, save the stand alone novel Dragonslayer (Wings of Fire: Legends) which focuses on the perspective of some of the human characters living in the world during the course of the first five books. From reading the summary of book 6, my initial reasons for picking up the series regarding how prophecies were handled seem to have been completely dismantled, and the prophecy dragonets of the first arc are no longer the focus either. My lack of interest in the second arc onward is due solely to personal taste in the direction the author chose to take the story, but I'm still very happy I read the first arc and would happily recommend Wings of Fire to others.

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Worldbuilding and What
Inspired Draas

by Zander Kahdoma

We all have to start from a base when creating a universe. Sometimes it’s a rough plot, a character we want to see be a hero (or a villain), or the fascination of a particular geographical location.For me, it starts with characters.The Dragons of Draas series all spawned from three characters: Thythiel (tie-TEE-el), Sliveraxx, and Eorl. Thythiel and Sliveraxx are mountain dragons and Eorl is a human raised by Thythiel alongside Sliveraxx as her brother. All of whom will be introduced in the second novel, Eorl of Drakes, once Winter Bonds is edited and no longer in need of my attention.My dragons are based on western style dragons; big, bulky, armored, fire-breathing beasts. Media from my childhood greatly inspired the dragons in my Draas universe. Disney’s Maleficent-turned-dragon in Sleeping Beauty, the wyvern duo in The Black Cauldron, and the dragon version of Madam Mim in The Sword in the Stone are just a few prominent characters I grew up with.As for people and country worldbuilding, I follow the pillars of culture as a basis to create communities that feel alive and immersive:- Climate and biome affect the weather and resource availability. Architecture, agriculture, and animal husbandry are all then bi-products of the geography.- Language indicates who is important to the culture and who is part of the group.- Religion and politics dictate what is and isn’t acceptable in the group.- All of these feed into the arts, which are used to express emotion, morals, and pass down skills to younger generations.If I want particular things to be acceptable in my universe – let’s toss out the idea of women wearing men’s clothing – then I obviously need to model my cultures after places where this isn’t a crime punishable by death. Now, there of course is the argument that this could be a major plot point, and I agree! But for Draas, this type of belief just wouldn’t work.When creating Draas, I embedded my own morals and ideologies. While the country is a patriarchy, the gap in equality between men and women is slim. Eorl and Sliveraxx are equals regardless of their vast differences and species gap, and that doesn’t ever change. These beliefs are implanted in them from the very beginning by their mother, Thythiel. Being raised by a brave and strong mother myself, I built Thythiel to reflect her. She isn’t infallible, she makes mistakes, but she is endlessly loving, supportive and a believer of fairness and equality. So is Thythiel.When developing the magic system, I skewed it more in favor of women. There are countless cultures across the world that celebrate and revere the life-giving capabilities of women. These in turn inspired me, and it was the pride for my own capabilities as a biological woman to make the women of Draas more receptive to the magics of the universe. But then I paid homage to my non-binary (tomboy-ish) other half and allowed certain male magic users to be incredibly powerful, such as Sionnach in Winter Bonds.The value of deep platonic and romantic bonds are also massively important to me, which is evidenced through the series through the soulmate-adjacent bonds between my amcaira characters and their animals, and Eorl and Sliveraxx.I also base a lot of my worldbuilding in High/Epic Fantasy characteristics; magic, magical creatures, diverse cultures and intelligent species, and fantastical locations. Brian Jacques and JRR Tolkien were very influential in instilling strong values of fairness, what is right and what is wrong, and that heroes can come from the unlikeliest of places.Yet with all this worldbuilding and planning, I still needed a purpose to write this story.I was 19-20 when I first conceived of Eorl, Thythiel, and Sliveraxx. I had just left my parents’ house, was working and going to college full-time, and I didn’t know my place in the world. To be honest, I didn’t yet know who I was. I had moved out of a home where creativity was stifled as a means of punishment by one parent, and quietly yet enthusiastically encouraged by the other. My worldviews were greatly impacted by my experiences and desperation to find a place I could exist without constraints.Through my characters and the world of Draas, I was able to explore myself. I was able to express my deep admiration for my partner at the time (now husband), who in part inspired the visual characterization for Eorl, and the personality of another character. Part of the reason it has taken me more than a decade to write these books is because I was still learning who I was, what was most important to me, and the messages I want to share.Eorl, Thythiel, Sliveraxx, Kath, Sionnach– all of them are expressions of myself; who I am, who I was, who I want to be.It feels conceited to admit this, but at the root of this story – these stories – I am my own inspiration.