In The Beginning...

The Haunted House of Dracula

    Prologue  

     In a darkened circular room a single source of light shines above a round-table. Thirteen high back arm chairs evenly spaced encircle the table. On the table in front of each chair is a place setting, not for dining but items to be used for a meeting. Pens, paper, hand blotters, and a circular device are at each seat. The round wall encompassing the room raises up to an invisible ceiling shrouded in darkness. There are thirteen doors evenly placed along the wall, each one shrouded in a unique design.
     From one of the doors, a woman enters and pauses. She is dressed in a cowled cape. She looks around the empty room. She calls out to no one there.

     And so begin the amazing "Adventures of Booh and Babbot"

Children's Books Are New To Me

For the last four years, I have been writing short detective adventure books. The Jonas Watcher series has a small following and it has been well received on Amazon, other online distributors, and Goodreads. There are four published books and I have eight more in the pipeline in various stages of development. The eBook of the first story, "The Case of the Running Bag" is free at all online distributors. If you haven't read my books, here is a way to become familiar with my storytelling style at no expense.

I started working on a new series that was a outside of my comfort zone. I left 1930's noir detective adventures for Victorian spy adventures with a woman heroine. I have just recently put the first book, "M'Lady's Gentlemen" in my new series "In Her Majesty's Service" up for presale to be released on July 14, 2018.

Story Description:

As Victorian society's latest celebrity and confidant of Prince Albert; Douglas Souter appears to be above reproach, until the rumor, “He cheats at cards!”

The Ministry of Foreign and Domestic Affairs doesn't get involved in such an incidental accusation, but Douglas Souter has the ear of the Prince Consort. Lord Melbourne personally requests Sir Alfred to look into the matter. Reluctantly Sir Alfred assigns the only agent he has who's qualified for the endeavor; Lady Agatha Wingate, the token woman spy.

Lady Agatha knows she's considered nothing more than a novelty in the spy agency, but she's determined to prove that women can be of value.

Then the simple request becomes more sinister.

Lady Agatha discovers Douglas Souter is much more than a roguish card cheat. She uncovers a darker plot to destabilize England's government. Lady Agatha's races to save a friend and ends up fighting for her own life. To survive, she will need all her training and maybe the help from a few good gentlemen.


"M'Lady's Gentlemen" has an illustration for each chapter and a woman in England had first responded to do the work. Later, I was contacted by an Illustrator in the Philippines who was also interested in doing the illustrations. Since I had already promised the woman from England... I looked at Lara's portfolio and felt she might be right for another project I wanted to do;  a series called "The Adventures of Booh and Babbot", the first book being "The Haunted House of Dracula". I gave her some initial assignments to see if she was up for doing the work. She excelled.

Based on her artwork I decided to alter my initial audience for a younger one. So I need help. I need some beta readers who understand what is appropriate for middle-grade readers and what might also appeal to the younger age group within the YA audience.

If you are interested, you can reply here or email me at grposchman@gmail.com use subject Beta Reader. I will email out details. 

Thank you for those of you who respond. 

Yes, Master, up yours, Master

     How often we wish we could say those very words. I guess it depends upon who is the "Master". But who can you count on to be so expressive?

Gustav Feldman

     Clearly, it would be someone with gumption. He would have to have a sharp mind. He would be sly like a fox. He would have the capacity to juggle multiple entanglements, keeping each one separated mentally while physically he would have the capacity to carry the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
     Or... He could be a sneaky, guy who constantly talks under his breath, simply biding his time until someone comes along to relieve him of his burden. Someone like Gustav Feldman.
     He is afraid of his own shadow, sometimes. He has a good heart. He has been a family retainer for generations. He isn't incompetent, just methodical. And as he goes about the daily tasks, he can be heard mumbling under his breath, "Yes, Master, Up Yours Master, I shall do as I am commanded, Master.

More To Come, Master...      he, he, he...

And here it is. I have had time to sleep and to let my imagination think about Gustav, and... Nothing. So I had some coffee and took a look at Lara's color rendition of Gustav and I could hear Peter Lorre's voice in my head. What a great combination. What combination? Think "Young Frankenstein" and "The Raven" from 1963. This is a marriage of Marty Feldman and Peter Lorre and their child is Gustav Feldman. Thank you, Lara, another character's backstory is percolating and for those who wonder about the inspiration, Here it is.

Coming up next: 

She is an undocumented Cook from Mexico.
Her name is Consuela Maria Montoya  

She is sharp of tongue and of tooth. 

She loves Gustav and the taste 

of "ICE" agents.

More To Come...

Did I mention that Gustav was a Werewolf, well he is. All the members of the household of Dracula's Haunted House are Children of the Night in one form or another. Here Gustav could be looking out the window and noticing it is a full moon. Oh, Gustav has the hots for Consuela also.

To Be Continued...                    

        

A Good Noir Story Needs a Great Femme Fatale

In the opening of Booh and Babbott in "The Haunted House of Dracula," we will come across a young Romani woman who is calling upon the Guardian Watchers for help.  She talks to them from a sacred place and she is one of the children, so the Guardian Watchers decide to help her.

When one calls upon the Guardian Watchers for help, there are two things that the caller must always remember; one, they work within their own sense of help, which can be more than mysterious; two, they have an odd sense of humour and when they provide help, they can be a bit impish.

"The Haunted House of Dracula" should be seen as a Noir story with tongue firmly planted in cheek. I am hoping to reach a younger audience while I also appeal to an adult audience also. I hope to draw the younger audience into stories that take complex problems and provide an entertaining story which exposes a message without being preachy. I hope to appeal to an older audience with humour and enough sophistication enwrapped with colorful illustrations to entertain them.

With every good Noir story, we need a Femme Fatale, but in this case, just who is she, and what is her agenda. Lara Calleja has provided me with the character I was looking for.

 While the typical Femme Fatale is blonde, cool, married, and hales from the right side of the tracks, Sarafina is dark, red-headed, fiery, and a member of a special Romani Clan. Her story: She has inherited a mansion from an uncle who moved to Los Angeles from Romania. She has been warned not to take possession even though there is a hidden treasure there. She decides to seek out help from a private detective agency.

Both she and the men she meets are in for a surprise. She is not entirely all she seems. But that's okay because neither are the two she meets.  The Guardian Watchers are gathering around, grabbing the popcorn, and sitting down to see what they have wrought.


Booh and Babbot are gentlemen cleaners working in a private detectives office. While cleaning they come across a manual on how to be a private detective. Then they come across a machine for making business cards.

Bartholomew Hardgrove

&

Jonathan Babbot

Detectives at Large

Meet Sarafina, she is Romani, gifted in many ways, and when she meets Booh and Babbot, well you'll just have to wait and see.

There Is More To Come...          

Moving An Illustrated Book Up In My Priorities

Her Name is Lara Calleja, and she is an Illustrator who applied for one job without knowing there was another one. That is the great thing about the internet, you can find talented people all over the world, even in  Legazpi, Albay. If you don't know where it is, look it up. I asked her to do a couple of sketches for me and a scene. She came through with amazing results. But judge for yourself.

Meet Bartholomew Orenthal Orfeo Hardgrove, yes I finally settled on this name for Booh. For those of you, who like me are older than dirt you may see a resemblance to Lou Costello. While this is not Lou Costello, the familial possibilities are there. Lara looked at images I had, I gave her some additional information and she gave me Booh.

Now meet Jonathan Valpone Babbot. Yes, his middle name is Italian for Fox. There are a number of differences between Booh & Babbot and Abbot and Costello. Booh is an innocent with a good heart but he is not quite dull as Costello was presented. Babbot is a man in search of a fortune, he is sly as a fox, but his devotion to Booh is unbreakable. Now the only thing I needed to do was create more than just a game, I needed a story that would launch this pair into stardom.

I decided to pay homage "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein", only no Frankenstein Monster. I needed a haunted house, vampires, a Femme Fatale, a mystery, some ghosts, and a traveling Zombie. Now I needed two twists, How to put my two reluctant heroes into harm's way and a Twist at the end. Lara put my duo into a graveyard for me. She has done six more character sketches which she will be coloring in for me. For now, you'll just have to be satisfied with the Graveyard scene.

To Be Continued...          

Finding An Illustrator, Sometimes It's Kismet

The argument within my imagination with Booh and Babbot sent me to the internet. I had a great backstory and several ideas for adventure games highlighting Booh and Babbot as reluctant heroes. They were two underdogs, and everyone loves an underdog. They insisted on being visual which unfortunately highlighted my shortcoming as an artist or illustrator. Internet, here I come.

I found Cartoon Solutions. There were a number of elements that I could use in creating a graphic novel or an Illustrated book. I investigated the site and looked for images that I could buy and use in my effort to bring the Adventures of Booh and Babbot to life. Cartoon Solutions also added new life to my web cartoon series "In the Kingdom" that also suffered from my inability to draw. But that's another story and it will have its own blog.  To the right is an updated version of the outside of the haunted house. The rich blues appealed to me and I was okay with the scene that was created using layers. Remember I have some skill in image manipulation and I hoped I could create scenes using the various layers present in the haunted house image. Cartoon Solutions also offered a limited interior of the haunted house. Again I would be able to manipulate layers to create additional rooms. Next, I needed Booh and Babbot.

Booh

Babbot

 Cartoon Solutions had a number of characters available and I found two that were reasonably accurate for what I was looking for. My major concern was the characters were older than what I was hoping for. I thought I might be able to adjust the individual features and develop them into younger characters. Though at the time this was not a priority.

I was finishing the second draft of the book "M'Lady's Gentlemen" which is the first book in the "In Her Majesty's Service" series. It is a book with illustrations rather than an Illustrated Book. The first is a story that is enhanced with images to help tell the story, but the narrative the main source of the story. In an Illustrated Book, the images becomean intrgal part of the storytelling.

I have always loved books with illustrations and I have always wanted to create one. So for "M'Lady's Gentlemen" I bit the bullet and went searching for an illustrator. Through "Good Reads". Two responded and I contacted the first and looked through her online portfolio. I informed the second illustrator that I needed to see how the first one would work out. Then Kismet set in...

To Be Continued...

How Does An Illustrated Book Come To Life?

The Haunted House of Dracula started out life as a potential for a third-person adventure game. I developed multiple levels of gameplay. It started in an office where my reluctant heroes were working as Gentlemen Cleaners. The gameplay was set up that the object to achieve was to; find a beginner's guide to being a Private Detective, find a machine and the supplies to make business cards for a Private Detective, and finally to create cards for themselves.  That would trigger the arrival of a Femme Fatale with a story about inheriting a mansion that had a buried treasure but it was haunted. Booh was smitten with the lady and Babbot with the potential for treasure. 

Bartholomew Hamilton

Jonathan Babbot

I started using Unity and iClone as tools to create my adventure game.
As can be seen from the images that appear the page, poor Booh and Babbot never had a chance. My artistic skills consisted of trying to create characters using iClone, badly and manipulating them in PaintShopPro.

Please note that in a former life I was a very good Programmer Analyst Hacker. I was also an excellent writer for storyline development. I was and am a lousy artist. I can manipulate images with PaintShopPro and do a pretty decent job, but I was not up to the level I needed for the quality of the game I wanted to produce.

I turned my writing talent to creating the "Jonas Watcher Detective Adventure Series". I have written and published four short novels that have been relatively successful. I am not yet in James Patterson's league financially but I'm working on it. I have a half dozen additional stories for Jonas Watcher. Add to that I have just finished the rough draft of the first book in a new series, the book, "M'Lady's Gentlemen" and the series is "In Her Majesty's Service " circa Victorian England in the mid-nineteenth century

Things were moving along just fine when Booh and Babbot raised their heads and said to my imagination, "Why can't we have a book?" I had no answer...

To Be Continued...