BUFFALO, N.Y. - TelAve -- It was a surprise to author Christie Waldman when Marcus A. Dragon of Deweydaire first showed up out of the blue--all in a huff--and accused her of stealing his "secret notebooks." Fortunately, she was able to placate him, and the two were able to work together to create The Voice of the Wooden Dragon. The debut novel, charmingly illustrated by Lane Waldman, was published by NFB Publishing last month in Buffalo. Appropriate credit is given to Marcus on the title page.

The novel tells the story of three friends: Princess Meredith (a dragon), Peter Porter (a human), and Felix the court-jester (a dragon) and their struggles against the bully Prince Rupert, Meredith's cousin. Although it has its share of humor, it deals with important themes: friendship, fairness, risk-taking, and not giving up, even when things seem hopeless.

Christie is a 1985 graduate of Southern Illinois University School of Law at Carbondale, Illinois. She first drafted the novel in the summer of 1983. At the time, she had just finished her first year of law school.The book includes a trial scene inspired by Portia's quality of mercy speech in Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice. While the Land of Deweydaire is not to be found on any map, some basic rights and freedoms are the same everywhere, whether one is human or dragon, she observes.

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Although she has never been a follower of Chinese astrology, it seems fitting to her that her book was published in The Year of the Wood Dragon which only comes every sixty years. For, it was exactly sixty years ago that Christie first aspired to becoming an author.

From the book's back cover: "Things were not fair in Deweydaire, a land ruled by dragons, where humans worked while dragons played. Princess Meredith, a dragon, was willing to fight for the cause of human freedom, but even she had her limits. How could she have known that things would go so wrong when her intentions were so noble? Somehow, with the help of her friends both dragon and human, she must defeat the power of an illegal magic, find her way home to Deweydaire, and reclaim all that she has lost. What holds her back? And who will listen to the Voice of the Wooden Dragon?"

For more information on NFB Publishing or to purchase a copy of The Voice of the Wooden Dragon, please visit nfbpublishing.com.