Chism, Holly. The Dragon’s In the Details. 2023 Kindle edition
Dragons come in small packages. And not so small. This collection of short stories features dragons in urban fantasy – big dragons, small, tiny, numerous, and singular. And all of them are life-changing for the women and men who encounter them.
The first story begins with a tired mother and a daughter who is a bit disconcerted to discover a basset-sized reptile in the young lady’s wagon. Happily, the dragon is housebroken. Another story features a pocket-sized dragon. In some cases, the dragons change size, or mass (mostly). They can be singular or numerous. In all cases, they are forces for good.
One of the linking themes in these short stories is healing. The human characters recover from the past, from sorrow, from bad deals or other problems. Another theme is self-reliance.All the characters are doing what they can with what they have when a dragon or two appear in their lives.
The stories are all short, as is the collection. It is a treat of a book to be dipped in and out of, or read through. I’d recommend reading and coming back. There is a similarity in the stories beyond theme and style. This isn’t bad, just noticeable in spots. It’s light as well. Any violence is limited, and makes the collection suitable for mid-teens and up.
It’s a fun little read, good for a rainy afternoon, or waiting for an appointment, or any time you want some dragons in your life. (And cats. there are a few cats as well. More or less. Ish.)
FTC Disclaimer: I purchased this book for my own use and received no remuneration or consideration from the author for this review.
Cat Rotator's Quarterly 
I will search Amazon for the book, but don’t you usually have a direct link? Or did I miss it?
Thanks, John
No direct link for reviews. I generally don’t link unless it is my book, or I am doing a book boost for a friend.
OK. Thanks.
Healing as a dragon theme?
Unicorns, yes.
But dragons?
Greed, envy, pride, poison, wrath, sins of the father, insidious evil, etc. sure.
But healing?
Obviously, I missed this zeitgeist retcon. Does anybody want to explain where the frick this came from?
If you want the long version, I can try to track down the book about dragons in modern fiction that outlines the progression. The short version is that it started with Anne McCaffrey and some of the writers of the 1960s, who were playing with tropes and the idea of dragons as either neutral forces of nature, or possibly good (like Asian dragons could be). That, plus the metallic dragons of D&D, led to dragons as semi-positive to positive. Now? They range from purely evil, like Smaug or Biblical dragons, to very good.
If you want a novel with a dragon, R. A. MacAvoy’s “Tea With the Black Dragon” is a good one.
“Tea With the Black Dragon” was good. Now waiting for Paul to chime in.
There are Seraphim protecting the Throne; not all serpents or dragons rebelled. We are enjoined to be wise as serpents along with the dove portion.
Not sure when I’d get to this on my list.
I’ve never heard of Seraphim called Dragons.
The Hebrew word was most often used to refer to types of snakes and Isaiah uses the word to refer to six-winged beings before the Throne of God.
Isaiah’s Seraphim appear to be more human-like than snake-like or what most people would call dragons.
Still the Latin/Greek word that’s the “root” of the word Dragon refers to Serpents.
So the question boils down to “What Is A Dragon”. Dragons in Folklore vary greatly with some as the fire-breathing four-legged winged being that Tolkien used but others are basically Giant Serpents with others being wingless four-legged beings (ie Chinese Dragons).
Here’s a wiki link for Seraphim https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seraph
I’ll post a reply for the wiki link for Dragon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon
I’m pretty sure it’s Chism, no ‘u’, unless there are two books with that title and very similar author names.
No, I am not that Holly, but she’s a friend.
When I loaded the post, it was “Chism.” Apparently the “u” or “Chisholm” spellings are far more common, and it got corrected. It is now uncorrected. Thanks.
Spellcheck being it’s drunken well-intentioned self.
You’re welcome, glad I could help.
It’s a good read.
Yep, Holly writes some interesting fiction, and this is another good one! Who’s to say what is or isn’t good? And these stories are uplifting little slices of life.
Bought and enjoyed the book. Good stories there, well told.
Thanks, Lourain, I hadn’t thouht of Tea with the Black Dragon in years. I loved that book. The Dragon was so civilized, and so definitely non-human. I will probably have to go on Alibris for another copy soon.
Bought it, read it, enjoyed it immensely. Another author to follow! I think that makes 74. . .