Dulcinea

About the Book

Dulcinea Brown, sixteen, is about to discover a whole new kind of magic.  It’s a good thing, too, because although she is just coming into her magical powers, she will soon be called upon to save the world.

Under the guidance of her father’s new apprentice, Raz Songsterson--who is not what he seems--Dulcinea must first use the flute magic she has stumbled upon to save Ladenia City from destruction by a magically conjured Blue-Scaled Dragon.  The dragon was illegally brought from an alternate plane of existence and is under the control of the wicked Society of Mages.  The Society plans to loose the dragon on an unsuspecting Ladenia City at the height of Festival Week.

Raz commands quite a bit of sorcerous power, but at first he conceals this from Dulcinea and her father;  he is using their apothecary shop to hide from the diabolical Society of Mages, on whom he has been spying (and from whom he stole the Dragonstone, which controls dragons.)  Dulcinea’s father, Hector Otto Brown, is an accomplished mage himself;  when he decides to find out Raz’s secret--for it is obvious to him that Raz is an advanced sorcerer--he embroils himself and his daughter in the battle against the Society.

The Society cares only for gaining power, even at the risk of tearing the very fabric of reality by gating between this physical plane and the dragons´ world;  if they´re not stopped, uncontrolled transfers of power between the two realities could turn the world into Discordia.  To defeat them requires luck, skill, and Dulcinea’s new magic.  Can Dulcinea and Raz rescue the dragon and stop the Society in time to save Ladenia City--and the rest of the world?

Along the way, Dulcinea experiences the pain and wonder of first love, discovers that parents are only human after all, and learns how to rely on herself.

If you liked the Harry Potter novels, you’ll like Dulcinea.  And even if you didn’t care for Harry’s exploits, you might enjoy Dulcinea’s adventures.  This book is the first in a series.

About the Author

Shalanna Collins is the pen name of an ex-hippie who’s still wearing embroidered bluejeans, drop earrings, long Alice-in-Wonderland hair, and sandals. Shalanna has been writing since she could hold a crayon. She started reading before nursery school, and is still going strong. She graduated from Southern Methodist University with a BS in Computer Science and a BA in Mathematics; she worked as a software engineer for several years while writing in the evenings. Now that she’s a full-time writer, the corporations don’t miss her. When she isn’t writing, she tutors secondary school math, works as a literacy volunteer, does research on the Internet, and noodles on the piano. She doesn’t apologize for her small, yappy dog. Shalanna and her husband of fifteen years live north of Dallas, Texas, with two sleepy cats and the aforementioned yappy dog. Dulcinea was the first runner-up in the 1996 Warner Aspect First Novel Contest.