So here we are, with me hoping to get you hooked on them, too. Then, I got my mother-in-law to start reading the books, and she loved them, too. I read it late at night in bed, just a few pages at a time, and was overcome by this fascinating world Rawn had created. I saw the first book, Dragon Prince, was just $2.99 on Kindle and snagged it. I searched for the author, Melanie Rawn, and saw several posts about how she was a forgotten major voice in epic fantasy. On a whim, I looked up the book online and discovered it was the second book in a trilogy with pretty fantastic reviews. I was looking at it one day, having possessed it for more than ten years, when I noticed that it was based on the cover for a book: The Star Scroll. I used it for years, then misplaced it, but then found it again during a move. I bought it for the same reason kids buy any bookmark: it looked cool.

Yeah, it was an awesome Hallmark.Īnyway, one day, I bought a bookmark at the store that showed this mysterious orange dragon standing regally on a rock. That greeting card shop is where I discovered Ben Bova’s Grand Tour books, where I found a book that remained my favorite for some time– The Blood Jaguar, and where I’d spend my early teenage years looking at heavy metal magazines. My mom would look at cards for hours, picking out the just-right card for some occasion, while I roamed the long corridor of sci-fi fantasy books. And, apparently, the owner had a taste for sci-fi/fantasy books because that was one of the biggest sections in the store. The owner apparently thought it would be a good idea to have a bookstore at the back of what was a large Hallmark space. My mom would always go to this Hallmark that was a franchise. My story of discovering Melanie Rawn started decades ago with a bookmark.

Sunrunner's Fire by Melanie Rawn