254. Who Would Win in a Fight Between Spaceships and Dragons? | Embergold with Rachelle Nelson

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What if you woke up in a crumbling mountain castle with the beast of your nightmares? Then discovered this kindly dragon speaks like a man and reads books? And, whether literary or not, how would such a dragon—the mascot of traditional fantasy—fare in a battle against spaceships? That’s the burning question behind this week’s book “battle” between E. Stephen Burnett as well as Rachelle Nelson, author of the new Enclave release Embergold.

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Backstory: author Rachelle Nelson

Rachelle Nelson grew up reading fantasy novels and getting her clothes muddy in the pine forests of Idaho. These days, she still loves hiking through forests and libraries, though she’s a bit less fond of mud. Her debut novel, Sky of Seven Colors, released in 2023 through Enclave Publishing, and was a recent Carol Award winner and Christy Award winner. Embergold, her newest standalone, released March 18, 2025. Rachelle doesn’t write true stories, but she does write about truth. When she’s not doing that, she sings in a band with her husband who makes her happier than should be legal. If you like good food and honest conversations, you’re her favorite kind of person.

1. Player 1: a dragon who is kind to you

Surveys of famous dragons that fantasy fans remember well
Dragons, of course, feature in Job 41 and in the St. George legend
In other countries, dragons have different entangled mythologies
Smaug the Terrible and other dragons from Tolkien’s Middle-earth
Godzilla and other creatures are arguably derivatives of dragons
Dragons from classic fairy tales, Disney, Harry Potter series, Dreamworks
Rachelle’s own literate dragon who speaks kindly, from Embergold

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