Have you ever wanted more? Original and alive with the rhythms of jazz, this is a story of hot city streets, stalking reptiles and soaring dreams from the author of Idiot Pride and Flyboy and the Invisible.

Have you ever wanted to be lost?

Sassy Piero had no idea she did until one smouldering summer night she and her older brother, Bobby, heard the sound of jazz. They snuck down the fire-escape, into the backstreets of the city and found a band of not-quite-right people, the Firebreakers, descendants of dragons, singing, calling, to all storms.

They were a doorway, a promise, a journey.

But to pursue them, Sassy will have to face their dangers, their challenges. To learn their music she will have to leave her brother and father behind.

And what of Bobby? He's a Real Boy. No way is he going to do anything other than lose himself in punk and grimy rock'n'roll.

Hot Nights, Cool Dragons is an adventure. A story about paths taken, paths not taken, and the conflict between passion and love.

A colour-drenched new novel from Matt Zurbo, the author of Idiot Pride and Flyboy and the Invisible.

SHORTLISTED 2004: Aurealis Award in the Young Adult Novel category.