'Dog Days' Finds a Fan Already

Only a week or two since its release, Chaz & Frang's first foray into children's books has picked up a jolly nice 4/5 star review on amazon.com from a reader.

Here's the full review.

We were very unsure how a book intended for kids, and which relied heavily upon its interior illustrations, would fare on the Kindle platform. If this is anything to go by then we ought not to have worried unduly, although it has now got Chaz thinking about whether he should expand the text for future edition in order to embellish the story...

'Dog Days' Are Here...and on Kindle

Fenriswulf Books have just released their first publication for younger readers - an illustrated piece that's been kicking around for a couple of years now. 'Dog Days' is a collaboration written by Chaz and with illustrations by Frang, and in outstanding proof that truth can be much stranger than fiction, Chaz actually dreamt the entire book one night. As a result, the book is rather whimsical, featuring the little-known dogs of the gods who gave their names to our days of the week.

The original illustrations by Frang were all produced in colour for what was to be a large format kids' board book, and if the Kindle edition does okay then the print version may well still appear in future.

The obligatory free promo has been running since the 31st October and closes at midnight (~ish) on November 4th, PST, so if you're very quick you might just be able to grab another freebie.

US Readers get it here
UK Readers can get it here

'Lochglen' Issue 3 Nears Completion

Despite various obstacles and a couple of urgent personal commissions, Chaz has been racing through drawing and scripting pages for Issue 3 of the Scottish comedy/drama series, with only one page left to complete. That amounts to seven completed pages in four weeks - (but not achieved without a whole lot of corner-cutting, copy+paste, and digital trickery to produce the best-looking results in the quickest possible time). As there will be at the very least another one, if not two or even three issues to go yet, we've acknowledged that speed is of the essence to get a project like this finished and out there in a reasonable timeframe. The work has its fans and the next step will be to see how it shapes up on Kindle (although we reckon the lettering - in 6-point OneStrikeScript - will be a tad small for some devices). Chaz's complicated script is taking its own time to develop fully, but the effort's starting to pay off. At this rate, Issue 3 will be out in print and digital format in the next couple of weeks - well ahead of schedule (for once).

In any case, here's the sort-of probably almost-finished front cover artwork by Chaz and Frang for the forthcoming issue 3 featuring - Dr. Mackenzie, Mr MacFaddyen and the eponymous sword with all its jokey nudge-nudge-wink connotations.

News, updates an' a' that at the dedicated home page: http://swordoflochglen.blogspot.com

Highland Flings

Chaz has now updated the slightly neglected 'Sword of Lochglen' webpage. As work on issue 3 rolls on, there's a new Origins of... page describing the influences which helped to create the series; new sample pages from Issue 3 in the Sample Art section - and a finished full-colour rough of the proposed cover to Issue 3 in the Cover Art gallery.

Currently, February/March 2012 looks like the most likely time for the release of Issue 3, entitled 'Tyrants & Teuchters'. ('What's a 'Teuchter' when he's at home?' our non-Scots readers may cry. Here's an online definition.)


A romantic moment as illustrated by Frang for Issue 3.

The Wish & the Will: A New Angle

While Chaz continues to puzzle over the finer details of Episode 4 (which will most definitely not be entitled 'A New Hope'). here's a visual sample of the forthcoming episode, courtesy of Mr. Frang.

Chaz commissioned Frang this year to produce a few pieces of artwork for the series, focusing mainly on architecture and aircraft design. As various forms of flying machine are integral to the books, and Chaz was never much of an aeronautics engineer, he was curious to see what Mr. Frang would come up with - and this one-man, hand-held flying device really caught his imagination:



We think this one ought to be filed under 'steampunk', even while Chaz has since refused to use that term any longer in connection with WatW.

As always, the first 3 episodes are still available for download from the banner links upon this very web page.

The Sword of Lochglen continues...

Chaz & Frang's surreal Scottish satire sees the release of Issue 2, both in print and in downloadable digital format. Wherein our hero William Stanley MacFaddyen realises he has fallen hopelessly in love with his tutor, Dr. Jeanette Mackenzie, and finds a finds a serious obstruction to his romantic ambitions in the form of her stoic and snobbish husband, Gregor.

Deciding to use the grim facts of his life as fuel for his fantasy fiction, MacFaddyen casts those around him as the heroes and villains in his epic novel, 'The Sword of Lochglen'. As reality begins to blur, life begins to get very complicated indeed...

You can pick up a copy of Issue 1 or 2, or read more, at the Lochglen homepage.