Imagine an artist who loves
humor. Assume that same artist enjoyed reading fantasy novels. Now suppose you have read this kind of a list before. You’ll
know what I’m about to say next.
That’s right. Painting
the cover for Return to Ukoo was more fun than roping greased monkeys in a jungle rodeo.
The dragon depicted is full
of color in the story. Those colors are difficult to see in the painting, but they’re there. Look closely at the tips
and tops of the wings and the highlight on the dragon’s back. But the main color is purple. Why a purple dragon?
The idea behind the color
scheme came from the dreams of the protagonist, Dale, who sees dragons when he’s sleeping.
I see strange things in
my sleep too, and my personal color code of dreams is this. If I’m having a horrible nightmare it comes in digital color,
more perfect than reality. A dream involving puppies, babies, or other snuggly creatures, tends to be full of blue skies and
green lawns. Lucid dreams, well, those include anything I want.
And dragon dreams are bizarre
shades of color, whatever the dragons want. In this case, my imagination told me that the dragon dream just so happened to
be a lovely shade of violet.
Thanks to Don Hurst, for
fulfilling his own dreams and writing this novel. In that accomplishment he happened to make my dreams come true too. I love
books, art and dragons. How many people get to have all their favorite things converge into one project?
So kudos to Don. And to Dale Hern who yells at his alarm clock,
“I’m awake. Can’t you see that?” I say, don’t be so sure.
Deana Hoover
