Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen
The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen
The Indigo King by James A. Owen
James A. Owen
When a trio of young men come together in London on a dark and stormy night, to find themselves in the middle of a murder investigation of a noted scholar – and all this in the opening pages of the first volume of The Imaginarium Geographica – any reader is going to be curious about what happens next. It’s the nature of storytelling, after all. And when the reader learns that strange creatures are hunting this trio of men, he knows he is in for an unusual adventure.
Owen launches his characters and readers into an adventure that crosses the boundaries between the “real world” and literary creations. But his romping tale is more than just a cruise through story references. In the course of telling a good tale with engaging characters (I dare you to dislike a talking badger whose skills run to baking weaponized blueberry muffins), he insightfully shows you links (in tone or meaning) between a variety of literary creations.
At the heart of the novels lies the responsibility of protecting the atlas called The Imaginarium Geographica, which contains maps of all the lands ever to appear in stories. The guardians of this important book can use it to navigate the islands of the fantasy realm. But there are dark forces that want control of the Geographica, the Archipelago and indeed even the “real world” (for what affects one realm can affect the other). Along the way, the reader begins to realize the real power of storytelling, not just in this wonderful confabulation that Owen has created, but in any story.
