Lord Of The Wings in Scotland

Yes you do read it correctly. A dragon trained in the Highlands to defeat the French during the Napoleonic wars is to become the next blockbuster hero of the Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson called Lord Of The Wings.

The man behind the Lord Of The Rings and King Kong has obtained the rights to a series of fantasy novels by Naomi Novik, a little-known American writer who features Scotland heavily in her debut work. Set in the British Isles, Scotland and China, Novik's novels are set to receive a multi- million-dollar makeover in line with the scale and profile of Jackson's previous projects.

Set in the time of the Napoleonic wars, with a fantasy element of airforce dragons and aviators, Novik's first book sets key chapters around Loch Laggan - also the setting for hit BBC series Monarch Of The Glen. In Novik's first novel, His Majesty's Dragon, Loch Laggan - between Kingussie and Fort William - is the site of the training camp where Laurence and the dragon, Temeraire, train for battle. Last night, Novik, 33, revealed that Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens and the castle would feature in her fourth book of the series, due out early next year.

Jackson's involvement could mean a boost for Scotland's tourism and film industries. Scotland grossed £6m worth of global publicity following the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code earlier this year.