Salamanders of the Silk Road — Christopher Smith

Prester John is a legend. He's a relic of medieval folklore, a character from a series of garbled tales that span eras and continents like an epic game of telephone. He inhabits a world stuffed full of Cyclopes and malevolent rivers, rocs and gryphons and sciapods--and salamanders.

Now, he's an unemployed surreal estate agent headed down to a mildew-infested beach house off the coast of Florida, where he can brood over his past--and seek a way out of his endless existence.