Indigenous Fantasy - Blog Posts

I am thrilled to announce that my upcoming novel, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath: The First Book of Nampeshiweisit - which will be released on May 9th 2023 - is now available for preorder!

Anequs, a fifteen-year old indigenous girl, has never been away from her isolated island community. But Anequs has just bonded with a dragon hatchling, and thus become the first Nampeshiweisit - person in a unique relationship with a dragon - that the island has seen in more than two hundred years. That’s something that does not go unnoticed by the colonizing powers that be.

Now, in accordance with the colonizers’ laws, Anequs must attend an academy on the mainland and prove her competence in dragon husbandry and magic. If she can’t or won’t perform to their very specific expectations, her dragon will be put to death.

Anequs must navigate two cultures’ worth of traditions and wisdom, trying to fill a role no one has held in two hundred years. There are no mentors who can teach her precisely what she needs to be, so she must find her own path. She rekindles lost traditions, pieces together new ways of doing ancient things and traditional ways of doing new things. She must comply with the laws and regulations imposed on her by colonizers while also staying true to her people's values and beliefs.

It can be preordered at Penguin Randomhouse, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon among other retailers.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/706010/to-shape-a-dragons-breath-by-moniquill-blackgoose/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-shape-a-dragons-breath-moniquill-blackgoose/1141987016

https://www.amazon.com/Shape-Dragons-Breath-First-Nampeshiweisit/dp/0593498283

Big thanks to the artist of the cover illustration, Ryan Pooman

https://www.instagram.com/ryanpooman/

and to art director Regina Flath

https://twitter.com/reginaflath/

https://www.instagram.com/reginaflath/