Chris Allen, at ten years old, finds himself in the middle of the 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy. In this actual, historical event, schools were dynamited, and closed due to bomb threats, school buses were shot at, people were murdered, school board members were attacked, and the Ku Klux Klan marched in the streets alongside thousands of parents in protest of books that they claimed promoted sodomy, communism, anti-white and anti-American values.

Chris Allen's father, one of the would-be leaders of the protesters is a physically and emotionally abusive fundamentalist preacher who rules his rural congregation with an iron hand. He beats Chris with a leather belt, and continually tries to stifle and suppress his growing intellectual curiosity, fearing that Chris' unusual precociousness will harm his ministry. After his father denounces him from the pulpit, Chris finds himself very much alone, distrusted, and punished at every turn.

He finds comfort, and interest in one of the books his father wants to ban, John Milton's “Paradise Lost.” Through studying the book, Chris finds questions that cause him to doubt what he has been taught all his life. He devises a dangerous strategy to escape his situation, and puts it in motion, despite the pain of leaving the world of his upbringing behind.

This novel attempts to capture, through the eyes of a precocious ten year old child, the feeling of living through this dangerous time, which some writers have said marked the beginning of the rise of the new “Christian right” in America. It is also the story of an abused, talented child trying to grow up in a narrow, self-righteous community that has no place for him. 

This is the second volume of the "Dragons of the Shadow War" trilogy. 

The third volume,  "Rage of the Dragon Queen" will be available soon. 

Ashlultum, the ancient Babylonian dragon queen lies in a deep coma, terribly wounded and slowly, too slowly recovering. Building on the wreckage of the ancient Concordat of Dragons, Naram-Sin seeks to usurp the dragon throne, and continues his dark, cunning plan. J.D. Breckenridge, dragonslayer, attempts to recruit a powerful, dangerous ally, who may be even more dangerous to his friends than Naram-Sin. Jubal Cohen, brilliant cyberwarrior and the youngest of the dragons is torn between his love for Ashlultum and his friends, and his oath of loyalty to the returned Ghenghis Khan.

The battle lines are being drawn. All are being swept toward a conclusion written in blood and dragon fire.