About 1/3 of the conversation between my wife and I is us talking in the voice of our adorable pooch, Bowser. (Most-dog owning couples are like that, right?)
Years ago, in our first apartment together, Bowser was especially fascinated by the door that connected our unit to the hallway. I would speak for him in this little British boy’s voice. He would go on about the wonders of The Magic Door and saw my wife and I as wizards who had the power to open the door and produce delicious food at will.
It got me thinking that the dog of an actual wizard might have trouble distinguishing between standard human powers and real magic. It made me laugh and, as a life long dog lover, I’d always dreamed of writing a funny novel about the loyalty, humor, and beauty of dogs.
I thought of a dog called Nosewise, who would be owned by the famous wizard Merlin. Like all dogs, he would enjoy learning to Sit! Stay! and Fetch! But when he saw Merlin practicing magic with his apprentice, Morgana, and casting fireballs, levitating objects and weaving cloaks of invisibility, he’d wonder why Merlin hadn’t taught him such tricks.
I loved the idea of setting the story in the familiar Arthurian legend because seeing things from a magic wielding dog’s point of view was very silly, and it was helpful to have some touchstones the reader would be knowledgeable about.
I was bowled over when I first saw the cover art created by our illustrator, Dave Phillips. It was funny, exciting, and epic...and I wanted to see it move. I have a background in 2-D animation and whipped up a little animation test. It was so fun to do that I commissioned Dave to create five more pieces of full color illustrations, and after a few months of intense work, I produced the full book trailer.
This book has been my biggest labor of love, and I hope readers enjoy reading it as much as I have loved writing it.
"All of my books have been inspired by my life. My first novel, The Bully Book, is a a comic mystery taken directly from my experiences being bullied in 6th grade. My second, The Zoo at the Edge of the World, is a fantasy prompted by my lifelong obsession with animals. And my newest book, The Wizard's Dog, is what I imagine my lovely dog, Bowser, would be like if he was granted magic powers. Life has enriched my books, and these books have vastly enriched my life."
For fans of The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom comes an offbeat, comedic spin on the Excalibur legend told from the point of view of a talking dog who wants to be a magician!
Meet Nosewise. He’s spunky. He’s curious. And he’s a dog who can’t understand why his pack mates Merlin and Morgana spend all day practicing magic tricks. If it’s a trick they want, he’s the dog to ask! He can already Sit!, Stay!, and Roll Over!
But there’s no way Nosewise is Stay!ing when his master and best friend, Merlin, is kidnapped. There’s nothing Nosewise won’t do to get Merlin back, even if it means facing the strange Fae people and their magic-eating worms, or tangling with the mysterious Sword in the Stone. But it may take more than sniffing out a spell to do it!
Nosewise’s hilarious escapades and steadfast loyalty get him and his companions through King Arthur’s Dark Ages.
My dog talked to my daughters, and occasionally texts them now that they are out of the house, so that seems completely reasonable to me!
ReplyDelete