Lester the jester has been caught by a dragon and it’s no joke! Will he escape the clutches of this wily reptile? Will he recover from the shame of being trapped like a princess in a tower? And which side of a dragon does have the most scales? Find out in July’s issue of Countdown.
I was delighted to see that Lester made the cover this month, with fabulous pictures by Greg Holfeld.
Gosh it’s a nice feeling when you get your copy of The School Magazine in the post and find your story made the front cover! Here is Bisco the lion (formerly Bisco the cat) on the cover of June’s issue of Blast Off. He is coming to terms with his purr absconding. It all gets fixed up though … with the help of a little magic.
And the wonderous illustrations by Christopher Nielsen are pretty magical too!
Some stories seem to take forever to find their vibe. That was what happened with The Witch’s Bathmat. It tells of a cranky witch who has taken a set on her neighbours.
It turns out though that Hetty, the witch, is actually lonely and quite shy. Perhaps that’s why she took so long to write. I am very pleased to see her finally appear in print in May’s edition of Blast Off, illustrated by the mighty pen of Aśka.
Have you ever shared a vehicle with a smelly dog? These poor commuters are all fleeing from a bus for that very reason. They are part of Anna Bron’s fantastic illustrations for my story Stinky Sid, which appeared in The School Magazine’s June issue of Blast Off.
Do you know a dog that’s very brave as long as they’re safe behind their gate? That’s Buster. He appeared in The School Magazine in June’s issue of Countdown. The ferocious illustrations are by Jake A Minton. Just look at that snarling mutt – I’d be terrified, wouldn’t you?
This is Ripper Rhino and he is June’s Employee of the Month for providing a comforting presence during times of gloom.
May’s honours are shared by Leggy and Peggy, the millipedes, for their consistently positive outlook on life. Don’t worry if you can’t tell which one is Leggy and which is Peggy, they can’t either.
There was no employee of the month in April. Everyone was very bad, lazy and cunning. I did not wish to reward such behaviour, so here’s a picture of some flowers instead.
Here is ‘The Surplus C’. It’s a poem, written by me. I wish I could also take credit for the fabulous illustrations. They are by the very talented Christopher Nielsen. The poem appeared in March’s Blast Off.
Tiger is an old friend of mine. He’s been with me for over twenty years now. For a while he lived at the bottom of a fish tank and I’d have to scrub the algae off him every now and then. I never asked why he made this lifestyle choice. I expect he had his reasons. Later he went to stay with the model farm animals but I think he always knew he was a little too good for them.
Tiger is always willing to act as a still life model and I have several portraits of him. This one has captured the fine predatory glare in his eye. I don’t quite know what happened about the ears though, perhaps they twitched as I was drawing them.