Brooke Bolander - Where the River Turns to Concrete (The Book of Dragons, 2020)

Charles de Lint või “Ameerika jumalad”, aga inimeseks muudetud draakonga. Kes inimesena on hiiglaslik ja tugev ja kelle tööks on inimesi töödelda või surnuks peksta ja kes ei mäleta midagi oma minevikust. Kuid minevik hakkab ta peakolusse tagasi imbuma ja mees (draakon?) avastab end maailmast, kus inimesteks muudetud üleloomulikud vaimud teevad tema abil räpast tööd.

Parajalt segane kirjeldus loost, aga omal moel sama südamlik kui Ken Liu lugu - minevik ja läheduse avastamine ja sellest ilma jäämine. Igati noir õhustik, veidi ühes voolus Daniel Abrahami inimdraakoni jutuga.

“Dave threw his hands up in the universal chill the hell out position. “I’m sorry, did the boss send us here to chat with the old bag or kill her? What the hell are you so upset for all of a sudden?”It was a great question. Like most questions, Joe didn’t have an answer. He felt … weird. Not that Maria was dead, Dave seemed fine. Joe was a hundred miles west of fine in a bus headed east. It had just pulled past the city limit of Gut-Churning Anxiety in a cloud of exhaust and the next stop was someplace he desperately did not want to think about. He could see the happy life he had managed to scrape together receding in the rear-view mirror.” (lk 121)