Tammie Painter is the author of The Circus of Unusual Creatures series I have recently been binge reading. Not such a binge since there are only four books in the series so far. The narrator of the stories is Duncan, aka Brutus Fangwrath, Deadliest Dragon in the West. He loves omelets pretty much more than anything and drinks wine (and other alcoholic beverages) by the bucket. Duncan is one of the performers in Ely Zinzendorf’s Circus of Unusual Creatures (hence the title of the series). Zin, as most people call him, is a satyr with a heart of gold but a firm eye on the bottom line.
In Hoard it all Before, the first book in the series, Opening Day for the circus is ruined by the death of Duncan’s handler, Porter Kohl. Yes, Duncan is a “tame” dragon. In Duncan’s words, “We need a handler to motivate us to get us off our lethargic hindquarters.” Along with Duncan the dragon and Zin the satyr, you will meet:
- Fergus, the chain-smoking unicorn who is a sucker for a comfy lap;
- Flora, a centaur who is always pushing aroma therapy and various herbal remedies on anyone who will listen. She also does aura readings.
- and Boris, the head brownie in charge of the teams of brownies who do the cleaning and fixing for the circus.
as well as other creatures including a behemoth, shape-shifting squirrels, and plenty of others.
The other protagonist in this series is Cordelia Quinn who is accused of Porter’s death, partly because she has aspirations of being dragon-handler for Brutus Fangworth, the Deadliest Dragon in the West. So, getting rid of Porter puts her next in line as handler. Duncan, with the help of several of the other members of the circus team, have to solve the murder. Boris, the brownie leader, once worked for a detective so he is the titularly head of the investigation, though Duncan and the others do a lot more of the work.
The books are written in first person, past tense and involve some sort of crime detecting, mostly murder. One thing Tammie Painter does in the books, that put me off at first, was including interjections of people talking to Duncan as if they are looking over his shoulder as he writes the story. After I got used to it, I thought it a fun device. The first two books were my favorites. Now I’m off to read the fourth one in the series.
I am a retired community college mathematics professor with an interest in quantum physics, unified field theories, aliens, and great stories. I’ve been an avid reader of speculative fiction ever since I read A Wrinkle in Time when I was a kid. For the past many years (uh hm, we won’t put a number), I’ve made attempts at writing my own great stories, with mixed results. In his book Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction, Orson Scott Card describes four types of stories: the Milieu Story, the Idea Story, the Character Story, and the Event Story. Though all four of these concepts are important to a well-crafted tale, I find myself writing primarily Character stories. I enjoy exploring how characters develop with changing circumstances and how we can view social paradigms through a different lens. I also like to challenge myself to select a well-worn trope – young person going to magic school, first encounter of aliens and humans, etc. – and see if I can come up with a fresh take. Since joining the Speculative Fiction Writers Association, my writing has improved greatly. I’ve had two short stories published: “A Tea Story” in the e-zine Punk Noir, and “In the Dark” in the anthology Madam, Don’t Forget Your Sword: Tales of Companions, Sidekicks, and Minions edited by Helen Davis and Elizabeth Davis. I’ve served as Secretary for SpecFicWriters since January 2025.