What Dragons Prefer

A dragon slayer arrives to rescue a threatened town, but the real threat—and the dragon’s true desires—are not necessarily one and the same. A short-short fantasy story with a wicked twist! Find out why USA Today Bestselling Author Dean Wesley Smith calls Dermatis “one of the best writers working today.”


“What Dragons Prefer” first appeared in Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Fall 1994; and republished in Dragons: A Celebration of the Greatest of Mythical Creatures, January 1996. You can also listen to the story as a podcast at Podcastle!


DAYLE A. DERMATIS’s short fantasy has been called “funny (and rather ingenious),” “something new and something fresh,” and “really, really good!” Under various pseudonyms (and sometimes with coauthors), she’s sold several novels and more than 100 short stories in multiple genres. She lives and works in California within scent of the ocean, and in her spare time follows Styx around the country and travels the world, all of which inspires her writing. To find out where she is today, check out www.DayleDermatis.com.