Drakon by A. M. Tuomala: Cover Reveal and Teaser

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The first title published by Candlemark & Gleam was the remarkable sui generis fantasy Erekos by A. M. Tuomala. A unique secondary world with absorbing characters (some of whom are gods), it received all kinds of accolades.

C&G is ecstatic to be entrusted with Drakon, A. M. Tuomala’s second foray of inspired imagination. One of the Candlemark editors calls the novel “Tolstoy with Dragons” and that’s an apt description, equal emphasis on first and last word. Drakon is as immersive and vividly drawn as Erekos and its characters (some of whom are dragons) are unforgettable. Deeply embedded in 19th-century Russia, with wonderful twists on lóng lore, the novel fully honors its historical and literary sources while transmuting this material into something “rich and strange.”

The cover for Drakon is as enthralling as its text: Alan C. Caum has fully captured the spirit and mood of the work. The glyph of dragon poetry used on the cover is the creation of A. M. Tuomala.

Prologue:

By noon, the cold had grown so deep that Elizaveta was forced to give up her spyglass—the heat of her body was fogging up the eyepiece, and no amount of wiping could get it warm enough to stay clear. Not that it would do much good in any case, since the clouds lay so thickly across the sky that she couldn’t find the sun through them, but it wasn’t the Tarasov way to let incapacity stand in the way of work. Her father had manned the gunnery turrets whilst drunk, enraged, and plagued with the gout, and he’d take it very poorly if Liza let a bit of a chill stand in her way.

The cloudy days were the worst, although the clear days were colder. On a truly clear day, with her spyglass, Liza could see all the way to Turkey. Even on a hazy day, she could still make out the sinuous shapes of the dragons against the sky.

Calendar:

We plan to show A. M. Tuomala’s Drakon to the world around the 2016 Winter Solstice.

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