Dragons and me: Misha Herwin

 

What is it about dragons that fascinates and sparks the imagination? These mythical reptiles are found in cultures as diverse as those in China and the UK. They are the staple of story and legend and their presence can be found in the most unlikely places.

It is the prevalence of dragon imagery that sparked off one of the threads that runs throughout “The Adventures of Letty Parker”, my series of children’s books set in an alternative Victorian world.

In my Bristol, dragons are to be found on roofs, on the top of drainpipes, as sculptures and door knockers. During the day, they are inanimate, at night they fly over the city searching out dark deeds of “’napping, slitting and robbing” and reporting their findings to the gargoyles that await their news.

I’ve always had a thing about dragons. When I was a kid I had to share a bedroom with my sister and at night I would tell her stories about Roostance, the dragon that lived under my bed.

One of the first plays I wrote was “Barlaston the Redundant Dragon.” A rotund and good natured beast who had problems controlling his fire breathing, he was thrown out of the castle only to be hunted down by the evil queen, who had him in mind as the source of her designer dragon skin coat. Since the commission was for a theatre-in-education company, there had to be a happy ending, primary school kids would not be expected to cope with too much horror, Barlaston finally found his true calling by solving the king’s energy crisis when he kept the castle boiler fuelled.  

Moving on a few decades and I have dragons all over the house, including one that is currently taking a nap by the garden pond.

In the previous Letty books, the dragons are important but not a vital part of the story. In the fifth of the series “A Gathering of Gargoyles” which is to be published this November, they are well and truly centre stage.