Happy Monday!
Today begins the Week of Blogging About DOGS! I plan on doing a blog a day, each on a different aspect of the writing of the DOGS OF THE DROWNED CITY series, with a special emphasis on the first book, THE STORM, which comes out on APRIL 1ST!
Watch for Friday’s blog where I’ll announce a contest—you could win a signed copy of The Storm, an advanced copy of The Pack, and a special DOGS OF THE DROWNED CITY bookmark!
Today’s blog is all about the dogs of DOGS. They are, in order of appearance…
SHEP
Shep the German shepherd, the hero of DOGS, is a young dog who was rescued from a dog-fighting ring and adopted by a boy and his family. They live in an old apartment building in a city near the ocean, but more importantly, mere blocks away from Shep’s favorite place to play: the dog park!
Fun fact: The character of Shep was not always going to be a German shepherd. In my earliest notes, I thought my main character would be a pitt bull/boxer mix, or some other kind of young mutt. But as I thought more about my character, I knew he was a German shepherd. There’s something noble and fierce about the breed that resonated with the dog whose story of survival was developing in my imagination.
Shep was always, however, going to be a rescue from a dog fighting ring. I thought that as an escapee from a terrible life in the fight kennels, he would value his life as a pet in ways that other dogs–dogs like Zeus–would not understand.
ZEUS
Zeus the boxer is based on my parents’ dog…Zeus the boxer.
FRIZZLE
Frizzle the French bulldog is based on my best buddy, Peter the pug mutt.
Frizzle shares Peter’s tough-guy attitude, though my little buddy is more of a cough potato than rough-housing brigand.:) Frizzle may be a small dog, but he would never let that stop him from claiming the best perch in the park
KAZ
Kaz, Queen of the Wild Dogs, is a dog wholly formed in my imagination. I picture her as an all-black German shepherd mutt, maybe with some Rottweiler mixed in. She’s tough and wild and likes toying with her opponents before soundly defeating them in battle to defend her turf.
CALLIE
Callie the pug-mutt is based entirely on my little girldog Kerry,
who we think is a pug-Jack Russell terrier mix, or Jack Puggle terrier, as we call it. Callie is a young girldog who was also adopted from the shelter (do you see a trend here?;) and lives in the apartment next door to Shep’s. She is feisty and friendly and her nemesis is the Red Dot! When she appears on the fire escape outside Shep’s window, she leads Shep on the adventure of a lifetime.
Those are the first few dogs you’ll meet in THE STORM. I will write more blogs about the rest of Shep’s pack after the book is released. I can’t wait for you to meet them!
The next blog will be all about the Drowned City, the setting of the story. See you tomorrow!
