Tag: dogs

Countdown to Publication Day: The Proof Copy

NPDP Proof copy

Lest my dear blogging friends are feeling somewhat neglected of late, I’ve been lost in another dimension ruled by Canis sapiens.

This has made a change from fighting giant inter-dimensional woodlice (pill bugs) in a girls boarding school, as in my science fantasy novel Desiccation.

Please bear with me a little longer, while I finish checking through the proof copy of Noah Padgett and the Dog-People, which is an upper-middle grade crossover children’s  fantasy novel.

It’s quirky, of course!

Recently, when I suggested it was time that I wrote something straight-genre and non-quirky,  a few people reacted along the lines of  “being normal is just not you“. I’m hoping they meant this as a compliment.

Under acknowledgements in my canine novel, it says, “Thank you to my husband, Victor, for designing the book cover and surviving the experience”. In fact we only had one argument (not that heated) about the choice of font and its size; especially the latter, when it started out too small to read easily as an online thumbnail image.

My official launch will be in the early part of September. I will confirm the date shortly, plus whet your appetites with a preview of the blurb.

My Sick Computer Has Gone to the Vets;-)

This morning my computer went to the veterinary hospital. That’s what I told my dog anyway. How else does a person explain to her chief supervisor — Ms Labrador — the removal of such an important fixture from the house?

This is my interpretation of how our conversation went.

Dog: “My vet is a woman. That nice smiling man at the door who‘s come to collect your sickly PC can’t be a vet.”

Me: “Remember we met Mrs PC Fixit yesterday. She told us she needed to take my computer to the surgery for full diagnostics and treatment. You washed her face as your seal of approval.”

Dog: “What if this man at the door doesn’t bring your computer back?‘

Me: “Of course he will. It‘s the same as when you were an in-patient at the vets after that Alsatian bit you and the poison needed draining out of the wound. You were there overnight and then allowed home.”

Dog: “But will the PC be in pain and have stitches that need cleaning twice daily with a stinky pink liquid that smells of hospital?

Me: “No, but it will be dusted more regularly and I won’t ever again go fiddling with code in its terminal, giving it a mega dose of worms.”

Dog: “Will it need worming tablets once a quarter?”

Me: “Talking of tablets — thank heavens for small mercies. At least while I‘m computer-less I can still actively engage with the blogging community via my Asus tablet.”

Dog: “That explains it. Your PC is sick because it gave birth to a puppy out of the wrong orifice.”

Me: “Ms Labrador, I think your ears need cleaning. I did not say an**.”