George Goodwin, Dragon Slayer: A Scouting Legend (Order of the Dragon Slayer, 1, Band 1) - Hardcover

Lee, Candace; Newman, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0593602757 ISBN 13: 9780593602751

Verlag: Waterbrook Press (A Division of Random House Inc), 2026

Inhaltsangabe

The world’s most legendary dragon slayer, St. George, gets a bold, modern reimagining in this explosive beginning to the Order of the Dragon Slayer series—launching a ragtag band of Scouts into a hidden world of ancient beasts, buried secrets, and destinies forged in dragon fire.

“Warning: This adventure is full of danger. It’s got dragons and death, coal mines and cold-blooded killers, treasure and true love—the stuff legends are made of. But even more dangerous are the kids in this tale. They’re tough. They’re brave. And they’re exactly the kind of heroes our world needs.” —from the foreword by Chief World Scouting Ambassador Bear Grylls

Everyone in Big Mountain, West Virginia, knows entering the coal mines is strictly forbidden. But twelve-year-old George Goodwin knows something more—deep underground lies a treasure that could save his town and clear his father’s name.

When his Scouting troop heads out for a weekend camping trip, George secretly recruits his best friends, Skunks and Artie, on a quest to find proof. But their plans unravel when they collide with George’s camera-wielding nemesis, Clementine, and her pageant-queen sister, Flo—and the motley crew is pulled into the adventure of a lifetime.

They’ll need every ounce of courage—and every trick in the Scouting handbook—to survive! Collapsing tunnels. Ruthless thieves. Dynamite traps. And a fire-breathing monster with a hunger to devour mankind . . . starting with them!

Full of unexpected thrills, rebellious hope, and laugh-out-loud humor, New York Times bestselling authors Candace Lee and Eric Newman deliver a blazing new adventure starring an unlikely hero who’s about to become the next great legend.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Eric Newman writes big stories for brave hearts. His work spans Emmy-winning TV series, bestselling novels, and feature films, with credits across Disney, NBCUniversal, Sony Pictures, and Penguin Random House. He served as a writer and executive producer on Bear Grylls’s global adventure series Refugee, Renegade, Redeemer, helped bring The Quest to Disney+, co-wrote the New York Times and USA Today bestseller Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café, and produced more than thirty episodes of the VeggieTales franchise. Along with his fellow Story Slayer, Candace Lee, Eric co-created the Order of the Dragon Slayer series with a bold vision to inspire young men and women to be prepared—mentally, physically, and spiritually—to slay life’s dragons. Eric lives in Oklahoma with his wife, Heather, and their two dragon slayers, Zander and Zelda.

Candace Lee is on a mission to spark wonder—and slay a few dragons along the way—through books, film, TV, and music. Over the past decade, she’s worked as a writer and producer, bringing to life everything from Emmy-winning series for Disney+ to epic concert films with Andrea Bocelli. She’s penned songs for VeggieTales, helped bring Max Lucado’s beloved stories to the big screen, and teamed up with Bear Grylls to deliver daring adventures to a worldwide audience. As a novelist, Candace co-authored the New York Times and USA Today bestseller Miracle at the Higher Grounds Café. Now she’s writing stories for young readers with bold imaginations and courageous hearts. An NYU Tisch alum, Candace calls Tulsa, Oklahoma, home, where she lives with her husband Andrew Carlson, chaplain to first responders and the Oklahoma legislature, and their two young sons, who bring a wealth of story-worthy adventures.

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Chapter 1

Into the Hellmouth

George gripped the rusty ladder on the back of the coal train. His fingers ached, and his palms were sweaty, but he couldn’t let go. Not yet.

Gritting his teeth, he scaled the metal rungs, then anchored himself with the crook of his arm. A hot, sticky breeze tousled his hair as the train moved along the winding path of the New River, which slithered below the mountain range like a giant snake.

The steel wheels screeched as the train slowed to a near stop at the center of an abandoned coal town. Rotting wooden rail ties passed beneath George’s dingy hiking boots. Clickety-clack! Clickety-clack! This was his chance.

He filled his lungs with air, hoping he’d live long enough to never tell this tale to his mother—and jumped!

As his feet reunited with the still, solid ground, he took a tumble, rolling into a tangle of thick shrubs. He’d made it! But what about his sidekick? He unzipped his backpack to reveal a lemon-colored bird fluttering her wings inside the tiny makeshift cage he’d built after watching a tutorial online. The chicken wire and zip ties had survived the fall, and luckily, his little sister’s pet canary had too.

“Attagirl, Moonshine!” George said. Annabelle would never forgive him if he killed her bird.

Instead of zipping Moonshine back into the stuffy darkness of his bag, George pulled the wonky cage out and cradled it close to his chest as he began to hike through the Appalachian forest with its towering trees. After all he’d put her through, the little bird deserved a few breaths of fresh air. It was the least he could do—plus it gave his conscience a bit of relief.

“Whatcha doing in there, George?” his mom had shouted through the thin walls of their trailer home earlier that afternoon.

“Um . . . some Scouting stuff,” George lied as he packed his supplies.

“That’s great!” she answered, her voice bright and hopeful. “I know your friends will be happy to see you again.”

Lying was the one thing that used to make George’s daddy madder than a hornet. His father had loved that George was such a terrible liar. His face would always scrunch up in this funny, painful way as if the words passing through his lips were as sour as a spoonful of vinegar. But only hours ago, the false words had come out quick and easy.

George Goodwin wasn’t known to be a rule breaker, yet here he was, lying, trespassing, train hopping, and bird-napping. He hardly recognized himself!

George had dark brown eyes, a head of thick, wavy hair, and an appetite for adventure. Just like his daddy. His skinny rib cage held a heart that ached for justice. Just like his momma. It was a mix of these inner qualities, plus the recent terrible events, that had lured him into this top-secret mission in the early days of summer. For months, he’d been planning to do the one thing all West Virginia kids knew they shouldn’t do: break into a coal mine.

Against the law? Check.

Deadly? Check.

This was especially true for the Hellerman Brothers’ Mine. The whole town—probably even the whole state—knew that place was cursed. Going inside wasn’t just asking for trouble; it was wishing for death. And George knew that better than most.

But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures.

As he wove through the crooked gravestones of an old cemetery along the edge of the deserted town, Moonshine’s happy chirps pierced the silent, somber scene. Rotting homes and shops sagged into ancient green hills, while the white steeple of a long-forgotten church pointed to the sky like a bony finger.

“Spooky, ain’t it?” George whispered.

Small towns used to thrive in these mountains, but more and more they’d emptied, as if some big, angry monster had chased everyone away. It started with the coal mines shutting down. Jobs got scarce, and folks began seeking their fortune in bigger cities with bigger opportunities. And with the people gone, the hungry green wilderness had devoured the churches, main streets, and neighborhoods, leaving only the bones of homes mummified in a blanket of kudzu vines and dark forest.

Could his town be next?

Most folks thought so. But not George’s father. Joe Goodwin had believed in a bright future for Big Mountain, brighter than anyone could imagine.

And that was precisely what had led to his death in the Hellerman Brothers’ Mine.

When he’d spoken about the treasure he’d found there, a treasure so big it could save their town, nobody had believed him. They all said he was chasing fool’s gold. Not George, though. He believed his daddy all the way to the bitter end, and now he was determined to silence the naysayers for good, even if that meant going back to the place where it all went wrong.

Out of nowhere, the forest stopped. This was it. George had arrived at Big Mountain’s ground zero. His footsteps crunched over singed tree branches. Even months later, the air still smelled like ash. A scrap of metal in the debris caught his eye. He crouched and flipped it over.

STAY OUT! STAY ALIVE!

His stomach turned as Moonshine let out another cheery chirp.

“You’re lucky you can’t read,” he said, kicking aside the metal marker. He didn’t need another sign to warn him about the danger of coal mines. He was surrounded by signs. Every holiday, every Scout meeting, every family dinner. George was reminded every moment of every day. People go into mines, and sometimes they never come out.

“But we’ll be all right, Moonshine,” he whispered—more to himself than the bird—before climbing atop a boulder for a better view of the valley below.

It had taken months for him to work up the courage, but he was finally staring down the entrance of the mine where his father died. From that opening, a river of destruction had flowed out, as if the mountain itself had spewed fire and brimstone from the depths of the earth. Even the padlocked metal gate barring the entrance looked like a mouth full of crooked teeth.

No wonder folks in town called it the Hellmouth!

The explosion had transformed this vibrant holler into a valley of black death. Ash and brush clumped together in massive mounds, creating unnatural shapes on the forest floor. Toppled chestnuts, their ancient trunks eaten away by relentless flames, scattered the scene like fallen soldiers. There was something heavy in the air, quiet but not peaceful. No singing birds. No scampering squirrels. Not even chirping crickets. There was nothing alive. Nothing but George and Moonshine.

The destruction was so great that a handful of miners had been hired to seal the mines, and in a few short weeks, this century-old mining operation would be shut down for good.

George stood at the edge of the old coal mine, his fists clenched so tight his nails dug into his palms. The entrance gaped like a mouth ready to swallow him whole. This was where it had all ended. His father’s life. His family’s future. All buried beneath layers of rock, soot, and secrets that no one seemed willing to uncover.

“I’m not afraid of you,” he declared, though his voice cracked under the weight of the lie.

The Hellmouth remained silent. But the memories roared in his ears—his father’s laughter, his mother’s tears, the whispers from townsfolk who thought George couldn’t hear.

“Poor boy lost his dad to greed. Digging for diamonds where there weren’t any.”

They were wrong. George knew they were wrong.

“I’ll...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Waterbrook Press (A Division of Random House Inc)
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2026
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0593602757
• ISBN 13: 9780593602751
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar