The Shadow War of the Night Dragons, Book One: The Dead City is a parody fantasy short story by John Scalzi. It was first published on Tor.comonApril 1, 2011, and presented as an excerpt from a nonexistent larger work.
On a dark and stormy night, three palace guards in the city of Skalandarharia discuss the possible existence of Night Dragons.
The Shadow War of the Night Dragons was a finalist for the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[1]
GamesRadar considered that the story "affectionately skewers the heroic fantasy genre".[2]AtEscape Pod, Mur Lafferty commended it as "very funny".[3]
Jim C. Hines praised Tor for supporting the joke by commissioning cover art for the non-existent novel, and noted that there was "an actual story (...) amidst the jokes and the over-the-top fantasy tropes", such that "when (he) finished reading, (he) wanted to know what happened next;" Hines did, however, note that "some of the humor felt a little forced", and correctly predicted that the story would not win the Hugo.[4]
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| Old Man's War series |
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| The Interdependency |
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| Lock In |
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| The Dispatcher |
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| Other novels |
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| Shorter works |
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