Fantasy always held a special place in my heart as a boy. Edgar Rice Burrough's took me to many fabulous places through his various series - Pelucidar, Mars, Venus. Other great writers soon followed - J.R.R. Tolkien, Andre Norton, Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffery, R. A. Salvatorre. The fantasy world of elves, dwarves, ogres, orcs, and dragons fascinates and inspires in a way few other places can, which is why it touches even my AEthereal series. Whether the dragon was an evil ravening beast like Smaug or those wonderful partners on Pern, I found dragons were most often portrayed as more driven