Dear Reader…
Wednesday, February 14 is Valentine’s Day – a day for showing those you care about your love. I want to let you know that I love Pam. I’m one of the main characters, along with Kay “KC” Carson, in her new fantasy epic-journey series, The Chronicles of Eldershire. If you’ve not met me before, you may be surprised to learn that I am an owl. Pam has written about me and I’ve shared news here before (Mr Scruffy – The Muse or Mr Scruffy’s News – July) and she enjoys having me speak with her or sit near her writing desk. I enjoy watching her write.
The book I star in is The Owl, the Sword, & the Efil Stone and is finally being published. It won’t be long and I’ll be real in the minds of Pam’s readers. I can’t wait for you to meet me and to read the story of Eldershire.
The excitement around Hobbit’s Bend is growing as the anticipation builds for the arrival of the paperback copies (an eBook will be available on Amazon on or about February 23, too). We’ll be having a book signing the end of February. In the mean time, I am sharing what Pam told me of how the idea for the new series, The Chronicles of Eldershire came about:
“The Owl, the Sword, & the Efil Stone is Book One of The Chronicles of Eldershire and is an introduction to the land of Eldershire and its many inhabitants, like you Mr Scruffy. I’ve put information about the new book, and a concordance, Words of Eldershire, to help readers with pronunciations and meanings of terms, names, and places they will read. As the series grows, words will be added to this listing. In addition, if you’re like me, you will enjoy looking at the map of Eldershire to learn more about the setting of the series.”
Mr Scruffy here: “At some point, Pam said she plans to add more information and background of various characters.”
Mr Scruffy winking at you: “I bet, if you leave a comment and ask, you can get Pam to tell you other things about the series, too. Back to Pam’s story.”
“The story of KC and Eldershire has been over forty-five years in the making. I put it away right after I graduated from high school, and then worked on it again about the time I found out I was pregnant with our daughter, Julie, which was fall of 1979. Then, around 2005 or so, I became friends with someone who became a special writing colleague. In 2009, Rosa and I attended a writing conference where I shared the early chapters of this story. It failed drastically. My writing and creativity came to a halt. Rosa encouraged me to trudge forward. After writing four books (a memoir and a thriller trilogy), I decided I’d think about writing Kay’s story once more.
One day, on my way to an audio recording of The Fire Within, I saw on the side of the road a lone bowler hat. It had a daisy hanging out of its brim. I thought how strange and considered turning around to take pictures of it, but I was running late for my studio appointment. Driving on down the interstate, to my left I saw a tall, black witch’s hat lying in the median. It was flapping in the wind. It looked like it was waving at me. Nukpana Fraener came into my mind’s eye. The witch’s hat was in a bad location to get a picture, but I thought I might be able to get a picture of the bowler hat. I called Julie and asked her to try to get a picture; I went to my recording session.
Six hours later, I started for home. Checking with Julie, she said she couldn’t find the hat. There was no picture. The interstate traffic was not crowded driving home, so I was able to look as I drove by where I saw the witch’s hat; I thought I would see it. It was gone. My hopes were dashed that I’d find the bowler hat. Driving closer to where I had seen the bowler hat, I was hesitant to look. There it was lying exactly where it had been earlier that morning.
I pulled over, parked, and got several pictures.”
Here is a picture of the bowler hat Pam saw that day:
“The truism, ‘If I knew then what I know now,’ came to mind as the shutter clicked. Kay’s story began to form in my mind coupled with the magic of a hat and the evil of a witch.”
The rest came to life in Pam’s first book of this series and more will be told in the remaining books to come. If you are interested in Eldershire and KC’s future, follow Pam, sign up her V. I. P. Reader newsletter, or join her Facebook Author page to learn about Pam’s writing journey and future publications.
Thank you, readers, for your support, for reading my words, and, if you enjoyed it, share this story with others.
Read on!
Mr Scruffy
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