Coffins & Dragons: Can it Really Spit Fire?

Dragon Soul Press’ anthology, “Coffins & Dragons,” edited by J.E. Feldman, presents twenty-one short stories and novelettes about the realms of vampires and dragons colliding. In worlds of high stakes, hard living, and eternal love, the fire-breathing beasts and the lords of undeath will frequently be at odds. Which monster will win when the two go toe-to-claw? It’s anyone’s guess, but it will certainly be a fight worth watching. And where do humans fit into this equation? As friends, foes, or as just plain lunch?

These tales are penned to delight the fantasy and horror crowds both at the same time.

It’s a tall order, but can the book actually pull it off?

One of the first noteworthy things about this literary compilation is its tremendous variety of tone. Some tales, such as Sofi Laporte’s “Tea with a Vampire” and Vonnie Winslow Crist’s “The Hearth Dragon,” are essentially innocent and fall into the YA genre. Others, such as Kira Nyte’s “Blood Born” or Ximena Escobar’s “Night of Dragons,” contain graphic, (though well-written,) sexual content. A few, such as Galina Trefil’s “The Blood and the Balaur” and Stephen Herczeg’s “Wyrms of Barcelos” fall easily into the horror, rather than fantasy, genre. Some readers will enjoy this veritable rollercoaster, given that it does indeed contain a mood for every kind of reader’s liking. Yet others might find it somewhat jarring. YA being shoulder-to-shoulder with pieces that contain frequent obscene language and adult situations will certainly not be for everyone, and given that the stories are not grouped together by their PG vs R rating, there is not much of a smooth dissolve from one tale to the next.

That said, on a positive note, Dragon Soul Press has several times over located fresh and emerging talent with their anthologies and “Coffins & Dragons” is no exception. Several of the stories in the book are innovative, humorous, and spunky. There are also moments of hair-raising, brutal gore to titillate those that are more hardcore. A couple of the tales are worthy of expanding to novella length. A select few even have screen potential.

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