{"id":2443,"date":"2021-07-10T12:12:10","date_gmt":"2021-07-10T16:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/?page_id=2443"},"modified":"2021-07-10T12:12:11","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T16:12:11","slug":"an-excerpt-from-after-the-dragons","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/index.php\/an-excerpt-from-after-the-dragons\/","title":{"rendered":"An Excerpt from Cynthia Zhang&#8217;s AFTER THE DRAGONS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven&#8217;t already heard the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/index.php\/praise-for-cynthia-zhangs-after-the-dragons\/\">buzz about this book<\/a>, we invite you to watch this video of the author briefly talking about her intimate approach to the fantasy genre, and reading a short excerpt. <em>After the Dragons <\/em>is a queer romantic fantasy novel which will be published by Stelliform Press on August 19th. The book is Cynthia Zhang&#8217;s first novel.<\/p><p>The video reading includes captions for those who prefer or require them and the full text of the excerpt is provided below.<\/p><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/orJUTv0xu7A\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p><p>\nIt\u2019s dark inside the store. A few dragons chirp in protest when Kai\nflips on the light, but the room is otherwise silent.<\/p><p>Kai glances around the shop, assessing the lines of cages and tanks. Then, without saying a word, he closes the door, slips his sketchpad under the front desk, and walks decisively toward the back of the shop.  <\/p><p>After\na moment of hesitation, Eli follows. \u201cDo\nyou want any help?\u201d he asks\nas Kai slips a thick, leather glove over one hand.<\/p><p>\u201cWhat,\nand have the whole shop escape? You can stand there, and if I need\nanything from the top shelves, you can take it down for me.\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cI\nthink I can pull that off,\u201d Eli says as Kai steps toward a cage in\nwhich a blue dragon sits atop a pile of rocks, preening the scales on\nits back. Compared to the tianlong Eli sometimes sees clustering on\nrooftops and stop lights, this dragon is larger and sleeker, the size\nof a hawk with a narrow chest and long curving wings. Feathery frills\ncircle the dragon\u2019s head, giving an appearance halfway between a\nlion\u2019s mane and an Elizabethan neck ruff worn by a draconic poet. \n<\/p><p>Kai\nmakes a high, clicking sound, and the dragon raises its neck toward\nhim, imperious as a little monarch. \u201cHello to you too, your\nhighness,\u201d he says, unhooking the door and sticking his gloved hand\ninside. The dragon glances at the glove, then back up at Kai: <em>and?<\/em><\/p><p>Rolling\nhis eyes, Kai takes a dead mouse from one pocket and dangles it in\nfront of the cage. The dragon cocks its head to one side, politely\nuninterested. \u201cOh, come on now,\u201d Kai says, shaking his hand.\n\u201cCixi, baobei, piece of shit, don\u2019t be like that&nbsp;\u2014\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cCixi?\nLike the empress?\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cJust like the empress,\u201d Kai confirms, eyes intent on the dragon as she gingerly steps onto his wrist to take a bite&nbsp;\u2014 the smallest bite&nbsp;\u2014 of the mouse. \u201cAlmost as bad as the human one, too. Bossy little thing,\u201d he says, carefully lifting his hand out of the cage, spindly dragon and all. \u201cIsn\u2019t that right, princess?\u201d  <\/p><p>In\nresponse, Cixi trills, licking her snout as she snatches the mouse\nand swallows it whole.\nHer eyes are tawny, and in the dim light, they gleam like gold coins\nagainst delicate whiskers and blue scales. \n<\/p><p>\u201cShe\u2019s\nbeautiful,\u201d Eli says, leaning forward. \u201cWhat is she?\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cA\npain in the ass? Careful&nbsp;\u2014 this one <em>does<\/em> bite,\u201d Kai\nwarns as he hands Eli a strip of dried meat. \n<\/p><p>Eli\noffers it to Cixi, who sniffs the jerky before deigning to take it\nfrom him.<\/p><p>\u201cIn\nterms of breed, feilong, which goes a long way toward explaining the\nsense of superiority since they supposedly only appear to \u2018great\nmen\u2019 in the wild.\u201d Kai strokes her neck, Cixi leaning into the\ntouch before snapping at his fingers. \u201cDoesn\u2019t do anything to\nexplain the stubbornness or complete lack of manners.\u201d<\/p><p>\u201cLike\nowner, like dragon, maybe?\u201d \n<\/p><p>Kai\nglances up, and for a second, Eli is unsure whether he\u2019s earned the\nright to say what he did&nbsp;\u2014 but then Kai laughs, a short,\nsurprised sound that turns into a wry smile. Eli can\u2019t help smiling\nback. And then, with no warning\nwhatsoever, Cixi swoops off Kai\u2019s wrist and out the door, a\nglistening blue blur with Eli\u2019s jerky between her teeth.<\/p><p>\u201cOh, fuck,\u201d Kai mutters before sprinting after her.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you haven&#8217;t already heard the buzz about this book, we invite you to watch this video of the author&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>An Excerpt from Cynthia Zhang&#039;s AFTER THE DRAGONS &#8902; Stelliform Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this video reading, Cynthia Zhang discusses her intimate approach to the fantasy genre, and reads an excerpt from her novel, AFTER THE DRAGONS.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stelliform.press\/index.php\/an-excerpt-from-after-the-dragons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Excerpt from Cynthia Zhang&#039;s AFTER THE DRAGONS &#8902; 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