The series star is Naruto, a mischievous school boy who lives in a ninja village called Konohagakure. The spirit of a demon fox was trapped inside Naruto when he was a baby, and any time he slips up, the neighbors rub this curse in his face. Nevertheless, he’s a good kid, and his teacher tries to help him keep steady.

The story begins as a fairly standard school drama. Naruto likes Sakura, but Sakura likes Sasuke. Naturally, these three are placed together in a study group/fighting team headed for a series of tougher and tougher combat trials that will determine how far they can go in their training. And Naruto wants to go high indeed. His dream is to become Hokage (leader of all the ninjas in the village).

By the way — as a writer, one of the best things you can do for your character is give them a big dream. Like Ash in Pokemon, who wants to “catch them all,” Naruto’s big dream wins the reader’s sympathy and keeps everything moving forward.

Then, in the middle of these combat trials, a mysterious character appears and the entire tone of the series changes. Naruto is amazed, because all the ninjas he looks up to are terrified of this guy. You guessed it — this is Orochimaru.

Once upon a time, Orochimaru was a young ninja in training, orphaned and alone. This he has in common with both Naruto and Sasuke. Orochimaru had a big dream, to learn every chakra there is. He was a child prodigy and was trained by the greatest ninja of his day, Hiruzen. But, unlike Naruto, Orochimaru was deeply wounded by the loss of his parents. Even as a child, people who knew him well described him as “twisted.” As Orochimaru grew to manhood, he served as an elite ninja and took part in combat on the side of Konohakagure, but he never fell in love or formed any other strong attachments. The big dream of his childhood was growing bigger, but ever darker. In time, he left the village to pursue his ambitions.

Come back on Thursday for more about what makes Orochimaru a great villain and a true dragon.

In addition, I have been nominated for the Lovely Blog Award. Thanks so much to A. P. Roberts for the nod. I’m pleased to accept, and I’m currently putting together the seven questions and pass-on nominations, so look for that to be coming, too.

Now we come to my usual Sunday offering, my swords and sorcery podcast, The Weight of Their Souls. It’s the penultimate episode! Vingrel turns the battlemaid Jerromie against her companions, and the battle goes from bad to worse. You can download the most recent episodes from Podbean, or if you’re coming in late the entire series is on my web site. I hope you’ll enjoy the story. Any comments are welcome.

Time notes: Intro, 0:12; Chapter Six, 0:52; End Credits, 9:47; Total Run Time, 11:10.

Orochi is a Hydra-like monstrosity, with eight heads, eight tails, and a thirst for blood. He is so large that he covers eight hills and valleys. Cedar and cypress trees grow on his back, and the rest of his skin is covered with moss. (It sounds as if, perhaps, Orochi could disguise himself as a mountain, and the plants started growing on him when he was in this form.) His eyes were red as cherries, and his belly was constantly swollen and red. Orochi lived in Izumo Province, hear the head waters of the Hi River. He terrorized the populace and demanded regular human sacrifices. Life was good (at least, for Orochi) until a stranger wandered through.

This was Susano-O, brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu. He had been invited to leave Heaven after playing a trick on his sister. As he wandered the land, Susano-O saw some chopsticks floating on the River Hi. Knowing that this meant there had to be people nearby, he followed the river bank and soon came upon an elderly couple and a young woman, all of whom who were weeping with deepest despair. Susano-O asked what was wrong. They told him they were minor mountain spirits, and once had eight lovely daughters. But every year, Yamata no Orochi appeared to demand a sacrifice. For seven years in a row, the dragon had devoured one of their daughters. Soon the dragon would come to claim their last living child.

Susano-O felt sorry for them, so he promised to help. First, he asked that they give him their daughter in marriage. When they learned he was Amaterasu’s brother, the couple agreed. Susano-O turned his bride into a comb and put her into his hair, so the dragon would not be able to find her. Then he asked his new in-laws to gather as much sake as they could find. He told them to distill the sake eight times, to make it more powerful, and pour it into eight vats. Susano-O built a fence with eight gates, and inside each gate he placed a vat. Then he and the old couple hid and waited.

Orochi came seeking human flesh, but he wouldn’t turn down free saki. Each head burst through a gate and gulped down the strong liquor. Shortly afterward, each head slumped down and fell asleep. Susano-O seized his chance. He ran along the fence, chopping off each dragon head. Then, just to be sure it was dead, he cut the rest of the body into pieces. As he chopped off one of the tails, something inside it caused his sword to break. Susano-O groped inside the dragon’s tail and drew out an even more powerful weapon. He took this back to Heaven and turned it over to Amaterasu.

This is where the story ends. Nobody knows how the sword got inside Yamata no Orochi. Perhaps this festering injury was the reason the dragon had turned to evil. We can assume, however, that Susano-O turned his wife back to her normal form, and they lived happily from then on.

You can listen to my podcast on Podbean or my web site, though space limitations mean I can only have a few episodes at a time on Podbean. If you wish to download the entire series, get it from my web site.

If you’re enjoying the story, please tell your friends about my podcast. Or even tell me! I could use the attention, believe me.

Time Notes: Introduction, 0:12; Chaper 5, 0:52; End Credits, 11:17; Total Run Time, 12:39.

Lacking the archaeological underpinnings, Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real is necessarily more speculative. The creators try to show that dragons could have evolved from dinosaurs, and what biological mechanisms could have produced flight, fire breath, etc. At the same time, they weave in the tale of a disgraced scientist who was laughed at for trying to prove dragons were once real.

The general look and feel of these episodes will be very familiar to anyone who viewed the dinosaur shows. The music, narration and storytelling pretty much follow the same vein. It’s good drama — there’s even a dragon vs. T-Rex battle! — but ultimately I was not convinced. As with all attempts to explain dragons by real science, it just makes clear that dragons are best enjoyed as creatures of fantasy.

That said, there are a lot worse ways to spend an afternoon than Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. I’d recommend it more for the the under-ten crowd, as older kids are likely to want more flash and dazzle.

Incidentally, Animal Planet also produced another docufantasy called Mermaids: The Body Found in 2012. This, to me, is much more of a stretch, as it’s well documented that mermaids were taxidermic hoaxes produced for circus side shows.

The setup is that humans and dragons are forty years into an uneasy peace. Dragons are able to take human form, and there’s a lot of paranoia about this on the part of the humans. Dragons who change have to wear bells and other identifying markers. But it isn’t only the humans who are worried. Taking human form causes dragons to experience emotions that their reptilian lives haven’t prepared them for. Their time in human form is limited, and afterward they have to report to Censors who will erase problematic experiences from their memories.

This aversion to emotion may be a fresh surprise to younger readers, but anyone who is familiar with Star Trek will instantly recall the supremely logical Vulcan race.

Well, perhaps there’s a reason for this paranoia. The title character, Seraphina, is half dragon. Her mother, a disguised dragon, became so entranced with music and her emotions that she left her home behind to marry a human. Imagine the poor man’s surprise when she died in childbirth, bleeding silver instead of red. Seraphina is brought up by this strict father who demands, for her safety, that she deny and conceal her true nature.

Well, it wouldn’t be much of a story if she did THAT, now would it? Seraphina ends up in the most dangerous place she could be — the royal court, where she’s helping throw a huge ball for the human and dragon leaders to celebrate the anniversary of their peace treaty. This was something that struck me as off in the story; if I had as much to hide as Seraphina, I would be teaching music in an obscure kindergarten, not in a capital city full of intrigues!

But there she is, preternaturally intelligent and a true musical prodigy. Yet she believes herself to be ugly and cringes when men flirt with her. With her draconic mind, Seraphina comes across as almost autistic, and I have mixed feelings about this because the real people who are autistic might or might not find it appropriate. And, as smart as she is, Seraphina insists on going blithely into the most dangerous situations, including a battlefield of the heart where she’s up against her own best friend.

In other words, the story is a good old-fashioned adventure with lots of twists, secret identities, and a romantic triangle. Things seem to be coming out her way by the end, but this is clearly the first in a series, so we’ll have to see where Hartman plans to go with it.

Some of my comments might seem too negative, and I don’t mean it that way. I enjoyed the book and would recommend it for ages 12 and up. It is a rich and complicated world, and kids under 12 might not have the patience for so many details.

We’re half way through the story now, so please let me know what you think!

Time notes: Introduction, 0:12; Chapter Four, 0:54; End Credits, 11:45; Total Run Time, 13:07.

Deby Fredericks at Valley View Elementary, May 1, 2013

If you still have a question that you didn’t get to ask me, you can do it right now. Just leave a comment, and I’ll get back to you.

In case you didn’t get all my info, the podcast for middle graders is called Masters of Air and Fire, and you can download episodes from my web site. The link is right here. You might also like my podcast of fairy tales, called “The Dragon King.” Click here to download those.

And remember, WRITING ROCKS!

Chicken Naga Curry
(with thanks to the Curry Frenzy web site)

Ingredients
2 Chicken Breasts, diced
1 cup Masala Gravy (recipe is on the web site)
1/4 of an Onion, finely chopped
2 tsp Curry Powder
24 Naga Chilies
4 cloves Garlic, crushed
2 inches Ginger Root, grated
5 Tb Vegetable Oil
4 Tb Coriander Leaves, finely chopped
1 Tb Coriander Leaves, whole

Instructions
1) Puree the chilies in a blender (I assume you stem and seed them first) and form into a paste with the curry powder and some of the vegetable oil.
2) Fry the onion in the remaining oil until it begins to look transparent. Add the garlic and ginger, and fry 5 minutes more.
3) Add the chopped chicken and fry until lightly browned.
4) Now add the chili/curry paste and stir for 30 seconds to coat the chicken.
5) Add the gravy, reduce temperature, and cook 20 minutes until chicken is done. Stir occasionally; add water or more gravy if the mixture thickens too much.
6) Serve over rice or with naan bread, sprinkling the whole coriander leaves over the top. Keep a fire extinguisher handy, and enjoy!

You can download episodes from Podbean or my web site, and I’d love to hear what you think of the story.

Time notes: Introduction 0:12; Chapter Three, 0:55; End Credits, 12:07; Total Run Time, 13:30.