Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again #Coda

by Zen Cho

No longer available

A coda to "If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again".

A wicked imugi is perplexed when a strange dragon appears in her life, offering to help her become a dragon.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction Fantasy

9 pages, ebook

First published December 19, 2018

About the author

I'm a Malaysian fantasy writer based in the UK. Find out more about my work here: http://zencho.org

Reviews

[Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a delightful short story sequel to Zen Cho's Hugo award-winning novelette, If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again. And both are free online, so win-win!

Jin-Dae is an imugi, a magical serpent that can - if it learns and grows in the right way - turn into a dragon. But Jin-Dae has no particular interest in becoming a dragon; she's just fine with her life the way it is. Except that there aren't as many wild animals around to eat as there used to be, so occasionally she has to resort to eating a human. ("Humans were infinitely preferable to snakes as dinner, but the disadvantage of eating humans was how personally they took it.")

Unfortunately the human she's planning to eat for dinner talks loudly enough to catch the attention of a dragon named "Aspire to Heaven." Aspire to Heaven announces that he wants to instruct Jin-Dae in the Way to become a dragon (which, he tells her, does NOT include eating humans, especially teenagers). But Jin-Dae really isn't interested in anything Aspire to Heaven has to say to her.

It's an amusing story - I really enjoyed the bits with Tyrone, the human dinner for the imagi, who doesn't react to his situation in any of the ways you might expect. And there's a good if somewhat heavy-handed message about accepting others for who they are without trying to change them.

Read it online here on the author's website. But you really need to read the novelette first, or you'll miss a lot of what's going on in this story.

[Dennis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very short and very entertaining sequel to Zen Cho’s Hugo winning novelette If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.

A dragon makes the acquaintance of an imugi that actually doesn’t want to become a full-fledged dragon - which is what imugis usually do, according to Korean folklore. Not this imugi, though. This one is quite content with who and what it is. Except for those annoying humans.

Humans were infinitely preferable to snakes as dinner, but the disadvantage of eating humans was how personally they took it. You couldn’t eat many before they came after you with guns. And then you had to move again …

Frankly, it was tiresome.

Tremendously funny short story. But there’s also an emotional aspect to it, which you will only get if you’ve read Cho’s novelette. So, naturally, I recommend reading that one as well. It’s good too. And both are freely accessible online.

Link to If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/s...

Link to Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon: https://zencho.org/head-of-a-snake-ta...


2020 addendum: Unfortunately the latter story isn't online anymore. Here are the author's understandable reasons: https://zencho.org/sequel-to-if-at-fi...

I still recommend If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again. You don't necessarily have to read the sequel as well. Even though it is fun.

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who wants to be a dragon?

Sorry, rather, an Imugi, bad or otherwise? :)

Short, short story. Cute. :) Continues, obliquely, the hugo-nommed story If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again.

I'm thinking I need to get around to reading Sorcerer to the Crown, too.

[Renegade ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[Trish · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the follow-up story to If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again that won this year‘s HUGO for Best Novelette.

Especially in Asian culture, reincarnation is a popular topic. This was also the basis for this story. Well, that and the concept of being oneself as opposed to filling the role others expect for us.

It was a little too short for my taste but then again, it was meant to be short and sweet and it definitely was that. Besides, sometimes, less is more.

I‘m glad I decided to read this sequel after all.

You can read it for free here: https://zencho.org/head-of-a-snake-ta...

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Formerly online]
Sample:
"Humans were infinitely preferable to snakes as dinner, but the disadvantage of eating humans was how personally they took it. You couldn’t eat many before they came after you with guns."
.
.
.
“He’s a teenager?” said the dragon. “You can’t eat a teenager! That’ll delay your ascension by centuries! "

A sequel to "If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again", and even better than that wonderful story. Zen Cho really shines in her best fantasy shorts. Don't miss!

No longer online: https://zencho.org/sequel-to-if-at-fi...
She's planning to re-issue it in a future Best-of collection of her shorts. Fair enough. Writers need to eat -- and pay rent, and....

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute sequel to If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again

Byam (now the dragon, Aspire to Heaven) tracks down Leslie, reborn as an imugi, and wants to help her achieve dragonhood. However, Leslie isn't all that interested in ascension or Byam; at least at first. Also, apparently, all of this is against heaven's rules.

[Banshee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Histerically funny and sad at the same time...

[Tatiana Alejandra de Castro Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Era complicado que me rompiesen más el corazón después de "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again", pero Zen Cho lo ha conseguido de nuevo.

Aspire to Heaven es un personaje muy dulce y comprensivo y hace un fuerte contraste con Jin-dae, que está más anclada al momento y a hacer lo que le apetece... hasta te da tiempo a encariñarte de Tyrone y lo "friqui" que es con una imugi hambriento delante.

Nuevamente los personajes de esta autora enamoran y la historia consigue hacer pedazitos tu corazón y nuevamente tenemos otros temas de fondo, que pasan casi de puntillas pero que le dan gran profundidad al texto y mucho cuerpo a los personajes.

Tengo que leer más obras de esta mujer, está claro.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice little post script for If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again. It's not as moving but the writing is as charming and the idea brought a big smile to my face.

[feux d'artifice · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love these fools

[v · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's a sequel!! A very short sequel, but one nonetheless. It was a light-hearted (some parts a touch heavy) and cute continuation to: If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again.

[Ninja · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice little addendum to If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again, set some years later, with cute modern quirks.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The coda to If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again which the author plans on eventually combining. Byam meets Leslie in her new incarnation.

[Matthew Lloyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I probably would have enjoyed "Head of a Snake, Tail of a Dragon" more if I had read it closer to when I read "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again" last summer. As it stands, though, the story mostly works on its own as a sweet little story about expectations, goals, and getting to know another person, with Zen Cho's trademark humour and warmth. It's also really short, so you should certainly track it down after you read "If at First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again".

[Emy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the world, but this was too short for me, even as a short story... I'd love to read it again with some more "meat", though.