The Slayers

by David Lee Summers

Dragon bellies are full of powerful carbide that allows them to breathe fire. Dragon carbide is a valuable treasure. Rado is a young man who sails the winds in a flyer. He signs aboard a mighty dirigible called the Slayer to hunt dragons. However, he soon learns that Captain Obrey will not rest until he strips the teeth and carbide from a mighty gold dragon. First published in 2001, "The Slayers" is a fun, clever retelling of Moby Dick in a fantasy world with dragons.

Genres: Fantasy

15 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

David Lee Summers is an author, editor and astronomer living somewhere between the western and final frontiers. He is the author of eleven novels including The Solar Sea, Owl Dance, and The Astronomer's Crypt. His short fiction and poetry has appeared in such magazines as Realms of Fantasy, Cemetery Dance, The Martian Wave, Star*Line and The Santa Clara Review. He has edited the science fiction and fantasy magazine, Tales of the Talisman and the Full-Throttle Space Tales Anthologies Space Pirates and Space Horrors. Over the years, David has also worked at numerous observatories in the U.S. including Kitt Peak National Observatory.

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the ebook edition of my short story "The Slayers", which was originally published in Realms of Fantasy Magazine in August 2001. The story came about while I was reading submissions for the magazine Hadrosaur Tales. I read several stories in a row that were a variation on the theme of how a knight climbed a mountain and slayed a dragon. I thought, surely there is a way to tell a dragon slayer story in a new way. At the same time, I was reading Green Hills, White Whale -- Ray Bradbury's wonderful memoir about traveling to Ireland to work on the screenplay of Moby Dick. It occurred to me that retelling Moby Dick with dragons instead of whales could be a fun challenge. I gave it a try and it ultimately went on to be my first professionally published short story. 2011 marks the story's tenth anniversary and I felt it deserved a re-release. It's now available at Smashwords. The URL is: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...

[Erin Penn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Slayers by David Lee Summers is a combination of Steampunk, Dragon Hunting, and Moby Dick in short story format.

Picked up as part of a Kickstarter.

(Rating "I Liked it" - on Goodreads three stars and Amazon four stars)

[Bill Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A retelling of the Moby Dick tale in a steampunk setting. Short (14 pages) fun read following Rado on his first voyage aboard the Slayers. Capt. Obrey is in search of another Gold Dragon having lost the last to a volcano along with his leg.