''The Dragon Waiting: A Masque of History'' is a 1983

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

by John M. Ford. It won the 1984

World Fantasy Award for Best Novel In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Plot summary

The novel is a fantasy alternate history combining

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

s, the Medicis, and the convoluted English politics surrounding Edward IV and Richard III. The book also fictionalizes the fate of the

Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the apparent murder in England in the 1480s of the deposed King Edward V of England and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. These two brothers were the only sons of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville sur ...

. Edward IV is on the throne of England, but in this alternate world, medieval Europe is dominated by the threat from the Byzantine Empire. During the 4th century CE, Julian the Apostate reigned longer than he did in our world, succeeded in displacing Christianity and reintroduced religious pluralism within the Roman Empire, resulting in the subsequent disappearance of Islam as well. Without any cohesive threat from the east, presumably Byzantium was able to survive, consolidate its authority and expand. Sforza, the Vampire Duke, marshals his forces for his long-planned attack on Florence, and Byzantium is on the march. Gregory, a mercenary, Dimi, the exiled heir to the Byzantine throne; Cynthia, a young physician forced to flee Florence, and Hywel, a Welsh wizard, nephew of Owain Gly Dwr, seem to have no common goals but together they wage an intrigue-filled campaign against the might of Byzantium, striving to secure the English throne for Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and make him Richard III. This succeeds, and Richard III goes on to win the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Au ...

in this alternate universe, killing Henry Tudor and ensuring that he never becomes Henry VII as he did in the reality. At that point, the book ends.

Reception

In 1985 Neil Gaiman reviewed ''The Dragon Waiting'' for ''

Imagine Imagine may refer to: * Imagination Music Albums * ''Imagine'' (Armin van Buuren album), 2008 * ''Imagine'' (Eva Cassidy album), 2002 * ''Imagine'' (Janice Vidal album), 2012 * ''Imagine'' (John Lennon album), 1971 ** ''Imagine: John Lennon' ...

'' magazine, and called it "a complex and brilliant work, serious, funny, and highly entertaining," recommending that readers buy it despite the cover art. In 1995 Ford reported its sales as "40,000 copies in print (six thousand in hardcover) in English, about 10K more in the foreign editions". The novel won the 1984

Jo Walton Jo Walton (born 1964) is a Welsh and Canadian fantasy and science fiction writer and poet. She is best known for the fantasy novel ''Among Others'', which won the Hugo and Nebula Awards in 2012, and '' Tooth and Claw'', a Victorian era novel ...

praised it as "a brilliantly written, absorbing book with great characters", lauding Ford for having convincingly portrayed "a feudal world without Christianity", and emphasizing that it is a book "written by n Americanand set in Britain (...) where the geography works and the scale of the landscape feels right."Subtly twisted history: John M. Ford’s The Dragon Waiting
by

, at

Tor.com ''Tor.com'' is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine published by Tor Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers. The magazine publishes articles, reviews, original short fiction, re-reads and commentary on speculative fiction. From 20 ...

; published July 30, 2009; retrieved August 1, 2022

Editions

* 1983,

Timescape Books Timescape Books was a science fiction line from Pocket Books operating from 1981 to 1985. Pocket Books is an imprint of Simon & Schuster. It was named after the Gregory Benford novel ''Timescape'', which was not published by the Timescape imprin ...

, * 1985,

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles rea ...

, cover by Sanjulián * 2002, Gollancz (#29 in

Fantasy Masterworks Fantasy Masterworks is a series of British paperbacks intended to comprise "some of the greatest, most original, and most influential fantasy ever written", and claimed by its publisher Millennium (an imprint of Victor Gollancz Sir Victor Gollan ...

line), * 2020,

Tor Books Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...

, hardcover, paperback, e-book.

References

External links

Draco Concordans: A Concordance for John M. Ford's ''The Dragon Waiting''
by

Andrew Plotkin Andrew Plotkin (born May 15, 1970), also known as Zarf, is a central figure in the modern interactive fiction (IF) community. Having both written a number of award-winning games and developed a range of new file formats, interpreters, and other u ...

Featured review
at

SF Site SF may refer to: Locations * San Francisco, California, United States * Sidi Fredj, Algeria * South Florida, an urban region in the United States * Suomi Finland, former vehicular country code for Finland In arts and entertainment Genre ...

* *
Ford interviewed about ''The Dragon Waiting''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Waiting, The 1983 American novels 1983 science fiction novels American fantasy novels American alternate history novels Cultural depictions of Julian (emperor) Novels by John M. Ford Works about women in war World Fantasy Award for Best Novel-winning works