David A. Wimsett's Perspectives

Dragons Unremembered, the first volume of my epic fantasy series The Carandir Saga, won three medals at The BookFest Awards; Silver (second place) for Literary Sci-fi and Fantasy and two bronze medals (third place) for Fantasy Action & Adventure as well as Fantasy Dragons & Mythical Creatures.

The announcement came at The BookFest semi-annual conference held in Los Angeles in the Spring and Fall. Hundreds of books in multiple categories are submitted by authors from around the world.

The Carandir Saga consists of Dragons Unremembered, Half Awakened Dreams and Covenant With the Dragons, which won third place for Literary Sci-fi & Fantasy and Honorable Mention for Epic Fantasy last fall. It’s set in a world shaped by dragons who taught humans to farm, to fish, to work the forge, to read, to write, and all things they needed to know.

One dragon named Baras fell from grace when he taught the forbidden knowledge of magic to sorcerers called the Barasha, the servants of Baras, who used the arts for evil. This sparked a war between the dragons in which Baras was subdued with a magical crown weilded by Avar the Great, chieftain of a northern people. The Barasha were destroyed, or so it was thought.
Avar founded the monarchy of Carandir in the south, a land where people of different genders, gender orientations & identities, colors and ethnicities have the same rights, opportunities and freedoms.

Yet, not all accept this idiology. Some traitorous nobles plot civil war to gain control, oppress the rights of women and expel or kill all whose ancestors came from different lands so that only those the nobles consider pure are allowed to live in Carandir to make the monarchy great again in their eyes.

All the while, some of the Barasha who survived conspire to steal the crown and release their master.
All this is wrapped in a grand adventure with histories, legends, music and engrossing characters; good, bad and simply weak — rather than as a dry lecture.

I am very happy to have the book recognized for its action & adventure and its unique magical creatures. There are no elves, dwarves, hobbits, orcs, Ents or any other Tolkienien characters in the story.
The honor I am most proud of is for Literary Sci-fi and Fantasy.

Some think literature means those old, boring books they were forced to read in school and immediately forgot after the exam.
Others feel it has to be a contemporary story in which the format is the most important aspect.
Yet literature is neither inaccessible to those without advanced degrees, nor does it consist of books filled with dense prose and convoluted structures.

Literature is simply fiction that explores the human condition and allows readers the opportunity to consider their own lives. It can be found in contemporary stories, westerns, historical novels, science fiction, fantasy, detective stories or any other setting.
The science fiction novel Dune examines some who seek noble causes while others seek selfish gain. The Lord of the Rings looks at strength, courage, service to others and tyrany. The western Broke Back Mountain explores intense and forbidden love. All are literature.

There are, of course, books that are pure rollicking escapist fun. They are just as valid. A good story is a good story, and stories bind societies together.