“Over the years that we have followed Bret Stephenson's work, it is evident that he has gone into one of the most difficult areas in our immature culture: The lack of a grounded and effective passage to manhood for adolescent boys. Scholars such as Campbell and Jung have pointed out that this absence leaves the psyche open to self-initiation--but often in destructive or pathological ways. Slaying the Dragon thus steps into a cultural and existential gulf, to help the lost young heroes of our world and time find their way out of the labyrinth, their luminous shamanic path through the zone of perils, their personal "path with heart" (Even as this book seems to us Bret Stephenson's "path with heart".
Stephenson makes it clear that the rewards are equal to the difficulty of travel in this cultural "no-man's land.” The way is littered with the lost young souls wearing labels such as ADHD, Autism, Oppositional-defiance, "Youth at Risk," (if not downright criminal sociopaths who murder their schoolmates). Stephenson's work shows that it takes not only guidance and mentorship, but extraordinary personal courage, and access to the time honored mythic maps (the "Hero's Journey", the "Shamanic Initiation”) to thread such a zone of perils.
This book fills an important psychological and mythological need of our time. Parents, Counselors and Educators could all profit by its commonsense and timeless wisdom. Stephenson takes the reader through this zone with expertise, compassion and some darned good storytelling!”

--Stephen Larsen, Ph.D. and Robin Larsen Ph.D
(Stephen Larsen is Professor Emeritus of Psychology (SUNY) and the author of THE SHAMAN'S DOORWAY and THE MYTHIC IMAGINATION, and with Robin, A FIRE IN THE MIND: THE LIFE OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL-THE AUTHORIZED BIOGRAPHY, and THE FASHIONING OF ANGELS, PARTNERSHIP AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE. The Larsens co-direct the Center for Symbolic Studies, a 501 (c) (3) that works with Youth at Risk, as well as many educational programs for young artists, dancers and athletes.