Going to the Dogs

It's been a busy week. Grace had a doctor's appointment to get her botox shot -- which she gets in her back, for recurring pain. Now that the weather had gotten milder, we've been working on our garden. And Grace has been laboring to finish her Author's Information page for her publisher, who needs it to publicize her novel, Visible Signs.

And me? I've signed -- or rather, am just about to sign -- a contract for a two-book deal with Readict.

Readict is an iPhone-based app with which users can download chunks of a published work. Think serialized novels, in the mode of Charles Dickens, whose stuff was serialized in newspapers prior to being published in book form.

My two books -- The Bohemian Magician and Time-Lost High -- will be coded for Readict. Bohemian, for which I did literally years of research, was originally published in 2017, but cut loose by the publisher from their list after I refused to write the sequel, The Legacy of Sycorax, to their direction. My position on that was, if the book's going to have my name on it, it'll be written the way I wish it to be written. They wanted me to feature Richard the Lionhearted as the main character, rather than Marie the Nuisance. Yes, she was (probably) a real person. And well-named. But I like Marie and have no interest in Richard.

Anyway, in Sycorax I am referencing Oz, The Tempest (hence the use of the name Sycorax), and Gulliver's Travels. I've got it about half written, and it would have been completed by now had I not had that run-in with my former publisher. Duke Guilhem IX, the main character in The Bohemian Magician, was Eleanor of Aquitaine's grandfather. My conceit for him is that in his youth, he accidentally did a good turn for a drunken fairy -- and was designated a fairy friend. Ever afterwards, the fae are attracted to him -- in fact they won't leave him alone, and they cause him way more trouble than they're worth... Like Guilhem, who was an ancestor of hers, Marie is also a fairy friend, and can't shake the little buggers.

The other book in question, Time-Lost High, is a young adult science fiction novel, and the first of at least two and possible three. Here's the blurb i was using for PitMad: When their highschool is flung into prehistory, popular athlete Rick & friends - including aspiring actress Latoya & science nerd Wes - strive to return to the 21st century while battling dinos, thieves & a sociopathic teacher.

So, you know -- teeenagers and dinosaurs. What's not to like? Both books are complete. I'll keep you posted as to when they are released.

Oh yes -- in case you think that this hasn't really been that much of a busy week, let me add that I also drew a single-panel gag cartoon for a dog rescue organization. (How's that for a clever tie-in to the title of this installment?)

This week's graphic is a wholly digital astrological image. I can't remember who this was done for, as a matter of fact, but it seems to date from 2004. I think it was a book cover, but in all honesty I do not recall.