For some reason I feel wayyyy more self-conscious posting a story of mine that has song lyrics in it than I do either posting my own original fiction in general or releasing my actual music, but here's a chapter of The Dragon Racer that is exactly that, featuring my attempt to squeeze as many lesbian innuendoes as I could into a song intended for the 'mass market'

The Bigger Picture from The Imperial City

Terrence Angre gives his thoughts on the IL season opener.

  TERRENCE ANGRE
  Wolf Sports Senior Imperial League Correspondent

The headlines from the first race of the IL season have all – quite rightly – been about the impressive debuts by this year's three rookie riders. It's too early to write the book on them, but Niki Coro and Lyonne Ertku clearly demonstrated the potential that brought Lautern to invest in them so heavily, and Phoebe Tenryuu's dramatic and controversial race to seventh certainly kept the race interesting as a spectacle.

But one race does not a season make. Rookie debuts are often flashes in the pan, because at the start of the season while the competitive order is settling there are more opportunities for a standout performance. I expect we'll see all three rookies drop back down the field over the next few races. They will not be the real championship contenders.

Terrence being typically staid and deflationary about the weekend's excitement

Rookies Shine but Andoal Dominates – Imperial Palace review

Sara Hymnia reports on the events of the season opener.

  SARA HYMNIA
  Wolf Sports Imperial League Correspondent

Feran Andoal and Corredeira scored a statement win in the opening race of the IL season at the Imperial Palace. Under bright, sunny skies, the two-time champion flew almost unchallenged from start to finish, showing every sign of continuing his title-winning form from last year. Temisia handled their strategy beautifully, waiting out all their opponents for the perch stop phase and never once relinquishing the lead.

After the race, Andoal downplayed his dominance, saying, "One race is not a championship, especially the first race of the season. We have a lot of work still to do, but this is of course the best possible start." He praised his new team's preparations; "I knew I could trust them to tell me what I needed to know, and they trusted me to run the race my way, and so we won."

Behind Andoal, Nikita Coro, riding Incandesia for Lautern, got zir season off to a great start too. Proving that zir qualifying performance was no fluke, ze used Incandesia's strength and wingspan to push Andoal hard in the first half of the race, which gave zir a comfortable cushion against a late surge by Lucia Aelschu, who finished third on Olympia. Coro's silver medal is the best performance by a rookie on their debut since Aelschu in 1445.

Sara's report on the first race of the season! Phoebe's already up to some Shenanigans

hey guess what, there's actual dragon racing in the novel about dragon racing now

only took like four weeks...