Dragon Vet

Dragon Vet
by Dean W. Scott
Recommended Ages: 12+

Stephen has been apprenticed to Dr. James Wright, a veterinarian in a world that has horses and carriages, and also two moons, for what it's worth. And also (apparently) dragons. They're not a common sight these days, but when word reaches Dr. Wright that one is laying waste to a patch of countryside and a succession of heroic knights have been irritating it mightily – to their cost and that of surrounding settlements – he offers his aid to the very grumpy duke who rules the area. The duke reluctantly agrees to hold back his heroes for 10 days but threatens to punish Wright harshly if he makes matters worse. As it turns out, a little veterinary medicine settles the dragon's upset tummy, and the flying reptile leaves the area in peace.

So begins a remarkable series of veterinary adventures for a doctor, his apprentice, and assorted colleagues and friends, to whom legendary creatures seem to be attracted for some reason. They deal with a cockatrice infestation. They rehome a unicorn and her foal, frustrating the aims of several parties of hunters. They help people with magical, um, animal-related conditions who would become outcasts from society, or worse, if people knew. They befriend a strange, jackalope-like creature with powers that challenge Wright's understanding of reality. And they finally cross the kingdom to face the most dangerous monster of all – and I'm not talking about a hydra. I'm talking about a human being.

One thing that's interesting about this book is how it take a serious, veterinary look at mythological creatures and their ailments. It's sort of like All Creatures Great and Small with cryptids. The unicorn has foaling problems. The werewolf gets caught in a trap. The medusa's head snakes have a skin condition. But the human characters also come in for their share of compassionate attention, including a couple of folks who are, shall we say, touched in the head; and a married pair of women whose relationship features in a sermon right in line with the moral reeducation program currently underway. (That bit's a tad on-the-nose in a "very special afterschool presentation" kind of way.)

The writing is pretty good, I think, in spite of a number of grammatical stumbles that should have been caught in the book editing phase, not to mention an irritating alternation between smart and dumb quotes/apostrophes. It has about it the look, feel and heft of a self-published novel that wants just a little more polish, and a smaller page layout (the better to hold in the hand), to become a commercial hit. But again, I'll give it props for doing well by its characters, making cryptids seem like legitimate objects of veterinary science and sketching an effective dramatic shape, with a powerful climax.

I can find no information about either this book or author Dean W. Scott on Fantastic Fiction. Clearly, this doesn't mean they don't exist. The link on his name, above, is based on the assumption that the same Dean Scott who wrote this novel is also the veteran veterinarian who authored a number of scholarly articles, including "Stop Looking for Unicorns!" and "Veterinarians Are Cooler Than Physicians," which definitely sound like titles by an author who could also write this book. According to Amazon's list of books by Dean W. Scott, DVM(!), other titles by him include Vet School Survival Guide: Notes from a Back Row Student; a children's picture book called Callie with a cover illustration of a cow with a rainbow unicorn horn; a short story horror collection called The Deep End of Midnight; and a three-book set called The Lighter Side of Veterinary Medicine. His inside-the-back-cover blurb (which I just noticed this moment) also lists The Incomplete Dog Book: Nothing You Ever Wanted to Know About Dogs, the short story collection Something for Everyone and the illustrated children's book Cowabunga. Now you know.