Den of Geek: In this novel, we get several chapters where we see from the dragon’s point of view. Since discovering his mate and brood were killed, we can’t blame him for wanting to attack the humans in the surrounding town, but he has some surprising revelations, and questions whether these humans should be punished. Was it important to empathize with the dragon, all while following Guillot on his journey to slay him? Does seeing from the dragon’s point of view perhaps explore issues that other monster-slaying stories avoid?

Duncan M. Hamilton: I think there’s an element of “everybody being the hero of their own story” in this. While I feel there is something engaging about the idea of a brave hero going off to slay the mindless ravening beast, it’s not particularly nuanced. Part of what has always fascinated me about dragons from different world cultures is (some of) them being wise and intelligent. I wanted to explore that idea, and making them POV characters was the obvious way to do it. I think being able to empathize with the dragon makes for a far more compelling story.

Gill fits the mold of the heroic dragon slaying knight but for one key detail made clear from the beginning — he’s way past his prime. For the majority of the story, that fact is brought up again and again — with nary a Rocky training montage to put him in the right shape. Why did you choose a hero who by all means shouldn’t pick up a sword anymore, who struggles with alcoholism and has a grating personality to authority figures?

I’ve done the coming-of-age approach a couple of times now, and wanted to try something a little different with my main character, someone older who’s reached a stage where he feels the high points of his life are well behind him. That was the starting place for me. Beyond that, the character develops out of the experiences I see them as having had in their backstory, which is where the smaller traits come from.

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