The Fate of the World and the Destiny of a Chinese Orphan Collide in America.
After the Dragon King's ultimate sacrifice, Little Tiger learns that life in America is not exactly a dragon parade. He must one day return to China to reclaim his stolen inheritance, but not with servants of the Beast Witches searching for him. Until the first full moon of the New Year, a remote bayou in Tarpon Springs is the only place he and his dragon hatchlings can hide. Little Tiger soon appreciates his eccentric guardians, as well as the marshes and springs of his coastal refuge. On his thirteenth birthday, even as his enemies surround him, he learns the truth about his destiny and awakens a powerful magic sleeping inside him.
D. B. Patterson writes contemporary fiction for adults, as well as fantasy/adventure fiction for teens and kids. His short works have been published in Elephants & Other Gods, Ramble Underground, Shalla Magazine, Larks Fiction Magazine, and Cerulean Rain. His books for young readers include The Christmas Witchling and Little Tiger series. His illustrated books for early readers include four top-selling Lamby Lambpants storybook adventures and a coloring book. His first novel for adults, Perdido River Bastard, was released August 2014.
D. B. Patterson's literary influences include the writings of Toni Morrison, Flannery O'Connor, Pat Conroy, John Irving, Dorothy Allison, Harper Lee, Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Paulo Coelho, John Jakes, Margaret Mitchell, Carson McCullers, J.D. Salinger, Joseph Campbell, Shakespeare, and Stephen King.
Patterson's deeply personal professional mission to create flawed characters who aspire to better themselves or try to achieve redemption was forged from his development of Lamby Lambpants, a sassy disfigured toy lamb magically brought to life by Chinese dragon magic.
"Creating Lamby's world," Patterson says. "That process rooted me to an economical kind of storytelling, which is very honest and emotionally engaging when it's done the right way. Although Little Tiger's tale was crafted from simple ingredients, the themes come from the collective unconscious, which are heightened when presented in their simplest forms. For me, blindly revealing what's already there in our shared human mythology isn't as interesting as peeling back the layers of the journey a character takes toward that revelation."
