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ABOUT THE BOOK

  The story opens with two friends, Bobby Sheriff and Baker Chen, hiking in the North Carolina mountains with Baker's grandfather who has gone off alone into the mountains. When a thunderstorm appears the boys become concerned about Grandfather Chen's safety, and go off - despite his earlier warning otherwise - to find him.

  What they find instead sets them off on an adventure neither could have anticipated, an adventure rich with legend and myth, Chinese sorcerers and Taoist Immortals, martial arts and a miniature dragon hidden away for centuries and protected by generations of Chens. Baker's grandfather, Chen Kwan-Ta is last in this line of protectors, and Baker learns that he was to be the next ... only now the dragon is out in the open, and protection turns instead into a race against time and a fight for survival as Bobby and Baker are prepared to stand against the dragon's nemesis and pursuer, the evil Wang Shih-Pai.

  Even before their training can begin, however, two of the boys' friends - Amry Dobbins and Chandler Caldwell - stumble onto the secret when Chandler inadvertently discovers Ming (the dragon) when they drop in unexpectedly on Baker and Grandfather Chen. Once the secret is out, the kids all lobby for Amry and Chandler to be included and the training of the four is scheduled to begin - Shaolin boxing (kung fu) with Chen Kwan-Ta and Wudang boxing (the esoteric martial arts of the Chinese Taoists) under the watchful and demanding eye of the little dragon.

  There is little time to prepare - no one knows when Wang Shih-Pai may appear - and only Ming's magic makes their success possible. A 'pocket' is created in the Chen's backyard into another world where minutes are stretched into hours and days into weeks. The children train diligently, each of them in a slightly different style, and each assigned a personal weapon and special skill suited to their temperament and their task, but as the confrontation with Wang and a small cadre of assassins draws closer, none of them knows if it will be enough.

  A different kind of fantasy from the typical 'sword and sorcery' or high fantasy set in mystical - and usually 'medieval' - worlds (such as The Lord of the Rings or Eregon), Dragons of Antioch is instead the shared adventure of four ordinary kids thrown unexpectedly into extraordinary circumstances, and how they are changed as a result. The story contains elements of fantasy, adventure and humor as they confront not only a dragon, but also a very different culture embracing ageless Chinese traditions and martial arts.

  While centered around a conflict that began centuries ago in Imperial China, the final resolution plays out in the small (fictional) town of Antioch, North Carolina, where the children - the 'Dragons of Antioch' - struggle to prevail against Wang Shih-Pai and their own complex emotions of duty, friendship, sacrifice, and even the prospect  of death.

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© Copyright 2009  Daniel A. Middleton  Contents may not be reproduced without permission