![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/Dynasty-1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHow to Save the Dynasty<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Set out brush, paper, inkstone.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Record the lineage of the dragon.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rinse one river dragon in melted snow;<\/p>\n remove ribs and lungs, then truss.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Roast at low heat over phoenix ashes,<\/p>\n basting each midnight with cinnamon oil.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do not weep. Remember the battles,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the cemeteries razed by the enemy.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the sixth day, stuff dragon cavity<\/p>\n with wolf heads soaked in bamboo sap.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the twelfth day, remove from heat.<\/p>\n Set on salt while preparing sauce.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Do not weep. Fetch your sword,<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the sword that slew the dragon.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Tap your left median cubital vein<\/p>\n collecting blood in an iron chalice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Whisk with starlight harvested<\/p>\n from the White Tiger of the West.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Serve cold to the enemy commanders<\/p>\n while promising fame and immortality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You will be damned with them.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Redemption requires sacrifice.<\/em><\/p>\n ________________________________________<\/span><\/p>\n Mary Soon Lee is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Poetry Association, and winner of the AnLab Readers’ Award, Dwarf Stars Award, Elgin Award, Rhysling Award, and Utopia Award. An illustrated edition of her epic fantasy\u00a0The Sign of the Dragon<\/em> was published in 2025. She hides behind a cryptically named website (marysoonlee.com) and BlueSky account (@marysoonlee.bsky.social).<\/span><\/p>\n Andrea Alemanno\u00a0 is\u00a0a compulsive illustrator \u00a0who fills the line spacing, preferably at 300 dpi.<\/span> HOW TO SAVE THE DYNASTY, by Mary Soon Lee, Artwork by Andrea Alemmano How to Save the Dynasty \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Set out brush, paper, inkstone. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Record the lineage of the dragon. Rinse one river dragon in melted snow; remove ribs and lungs, then truss. Roast at low heat over phoenix ashes, basting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[90,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-issue-65-archive","category-main","category-poetry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4475"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4517,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions\/4517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heroicfantasyquarterly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHe\u2019s\u00a0 from Italy and loves to move into a new city searching for inspiration. In every city,\u00a0 he constantly keeps drawing.\u00a0 Now, 3 decades later (and a little bit more), he is\u00a0 still drawing and learning something new everyday.\u00a0 He loves the traditional touch into a digital tools world so uses pencil, ink and digital colors to give life to his artwork.\u00a0 Sometimes he shares his knowledge with wannabe illustrators.\u00a0 His work has been selected for several awards\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>he\u2019s currently working for Italian and international publishers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"