Thursday Recipe - Vern, Dragoneye PI, and his Fast Chili

Please welcome Vern, the DragonEye PI, to The Far Edge of Normal. I admit I don't often get to interview dragons. I'm glad this one was long-distance, despite his assurances that he doesn't eat people.
Hi, Vern. I hear you are quite the private investigator. What case was your favorite?

My favorite? How about the ones where I’m not hurt, embarrassed, or lose something valuable—and I get well paid in the end? *sigh* Those, unfortunately, don’t make interesting reading.

Karina chose to write one of the most embarrassing, annoying cases for her first DragonEye, PI novel. We were “volunteered” to babysit a bunch of Faerie at a Mensa convention. Okay, it was a convention; we didn’t expect all the Magicals to behave, but to declare war on Florida? Magic, Mensa, and Mayhem won the 2010 INDIE award for best fantasy, so apparently, you Mundanes enjoy reading about me being annoyed.

Thus encouraged, Karina has novelized the case where we take on a Norse goddess who wants to destroy the world—your world—in hopes it will get her husband out of Helheim. (It’s a Norse thing.) I actually had a lot of fun on this case, which almost made up for iron poisoning, nearly being eaten by a giant board game, and getting shrunk to the size of a Great Dane. Live and Let Fly comes out in April from MuseItUp.

Does being large, red, scaly, and a dragon help or do you find people are prejudiced against dragons?

I am a superior species, top of the food chain. I command respect from all sentients (intellectually challenged knights notwithstanding). Of course, that was in Faerie. Here, in the Mundane, I spent the first few years just trying to convince people that I had not eaten their cats, did not need rabies shots, and, yes, I was better “housetrained” than aforementioned intellectually challenged knights. Things are better now, but I’d just like to mention that the government still refuses to consider dragons as “persons,” and I still cannot get a green card.

Coyote the Trickster God has a green card, and I cannot get one. Where is the justice in that?

I've heard rumors that dragons eat virgins. Is that still true or are you enlightened now?

The only enlightenment needed is for the humans. Let’s do the math: two-ton omnivore… 125-pound adrenalin-filled waif dripping tears and snot? Or 1200-pound dairy cow, milk included? Honestly, virgin meals are kind of like French Haute Cuisine—looks good, not exactly filling. Plus, dealing with the heroes was a pain. Give me a nice juicy bovine instead.

I was just starting to get the humans in my territory trained up to this fact when St. George decided to use me in God’s ineffable plans. One thing I will say about the Mundane world: when you get a take-out order wrong, you usually apologize and offer a discount on the next meal.

What about Hostess products? At our house, we call them politically correct virgins because they're untouched by human hands.

*snort* I like that. Unfortunately, I’d probably get in trouble if I used that phrase. When a dragon mentions virgins, people automatically get the wrong idea.

I don’t like chocolate, and the individual wrappings are a lot of work for what’s, to me, a tiny reward. I’d rather pry a knight out of his armor. However, when I was bored and truly desperate for food, I did come across an entire gross of Twinkies in the back of my lair. (The lair is an old warehouse of some crazy packrat who upon death, donated it complete with contents to the local parish, who sold it to me.) I spent two days just opening plastic wrap and eating Twinkies. The next day and a half, I pretty much slept. Too much sugar, even for my metabolism.

Are you into health food? What would constitute a good meal for a dragon?

After the Great Twinkie Feast, I’ve been a little more careful about what (or at least how much) Mundane food I put in my gullet. Having said that, I thoroughly enjoy the variety of cuisine I’ve found in Los Lagos. Natura, who owns a restaurant that does theme buffets, is always good for giving me the leftovers. Love Indian nights! Of course, nothing beats Rosa’s chili. She always adds extra Bhut Jolokia pepper sauce for me. Closest thing to breathing fire you can get.

Would you mind sharing your recipe?

I’m a dragon. My recipes tend to be swoop from above, snag, carry off and use your teeth to peel off the hide. Or in some cases, roast to taste. Unlike the dragons in your movies, I have precise control over my fire. I can cook a steak to medium-well or I can weld a steel door shut. I’ve lit cigarettes, too.

Rosa won’t share her recipe, but I’ll pass you on to Karina for hers.

Karina: Mine is pretty basic, but only takes five minutes to do, and even the kids can put it together. I usually make it at the same time I make sloppy joes, so that we have two meals done at once.

Fast Chili:

1 pound ground beef
1 can hot chili, no beans
1 can chili with beans
½ can diced tomatoes
½ to 1 can tomato sauce (depends on how thick you like the chili)
¼ chopped onion
¼ can chopped green chilis
Chopped bell pepper (optional)

How simple is that? Brown the beef, drain the grease, crack open the cans, pour them in and stir while you heat it up. It’s a great meal on cold days for a busy family.

Thanks so much for stopping by. And thanks to Karina Fabian for putting me in touch with Vern, the dragon PI.

Book Reviews - The Presence, Paul Black, and Enemies & Playmates, Darcia Helle

It's 2 am and insomnia has me in its grasp. My house makes funny noises in the night, especially when the wind is blowing and a storm is moving in. The cat paces restlessly, adding his own set of noises. I know if I don't go back to bed soon, I'll never make it to work in the morning. When it gets really bad, I read books until I can sleep again. Just a warning, neither of these books will let you sleep.

The Presence, Paul Black

I met Paul Black at FenCon last September. He was nice enough to give me an ARC copy of his book to read. We have something in common: we both published a book titled Nexus Point. He didn't have a copy of that one handy, besides his is book 3 of a trilogy, so he handed me The Presence instead. If this book gives any indication of how he writes, I may have to squeeze money to buy the other trilogy.


The Presence is near future science fiction. Sonny Chaco is an agent of the NSA, a net jockey, surfing the expanded and intricate waves of the future version of the internet. He's set on bringing down Albert Goya, big businessman with links to organized crime. He romances his information source, the beautiful Deja Moriarty, trying to walk the line between milking her for information and falling in love with her. Enter a mysterious man that has no past, no records, nothing, and a beautiful and highly illegal clone of Goya's wife, and the story spirals out of control, pushing the characters into places they never expected to go.

The book is fast-paced and well written. Paul pulls futuristic tech into a believable and seamless world. Although it was a bit confusing at first, because the characters understand the tech and feel no need to explain it, the story pulled me in, submersing me in the world Paul created. I'd recommend this book for anyone who wants a fast read with a complex world and storyline. It's not a thick book, but it's loaded with action.

One warning, the book uses the f-bomb, sometimes to excess.

Enemies and Playmates, Darcia Helle

I confess, I didn't finish this book. Not because of the writing or characters, both of which are well crafted, but because the subject is just too dark. I read for escape. I prefer my books light. Enemies and Playmates is neither. It deals with abuse very frankly.

Lauren Covington's father is a highly successful businessman who shows the world a face of compassion. But to his family, he is brutal, vicious, and unforgiving. Lauren wants to escape, to just live a normal life of a college student, but feels trapped by her mother's helplessness and the need to protect her younger brother. She meets Jesse at a bar, feeling an instant attraction to the man, without realizing that he works for her father, handling contract jobs her father wants kept off the book and out of sight.

Darcia doesn't hold anything back in this story. This story went places I just didn't want to go. I couldn't finish it. If you want a compelling story dealing with abuse, I'd recommend this book. If you want a beach read, try something different. This book will give you nightmares.

Language warning on this one, too, although not as frequent as The Presence.