Birth Announcement–THREE PAWS

I am delighted to pre-Announce the imminent arrival of my new book, “THREE PAWS,” due January 21, 2017.  It’s a children’s book, ages 9-12, though my pal (and proof reader) Sheryl Karas thinks it might work for older kid’s, perhaps even YA.

Here’s the link to the landing page:  THREE PAWS

And here’s the preliminary blurb:

What would happen to the creatures of the forest if humans disappeared?  At first, the animals might go on living as they have always done.  But what if a mysterious event occurred, and they began to change, to become something more than they were?  “Three Paws” is the first book of SHARP TEETH, FLAT TEETH, an animal fantasy that tells the stories of the Fur Clans that evolve in the Woods Beyond the Broken Lands.  Follow the adventures of Three Paws the beaver, Flitter the pack rat, Shot-in-the-Butt the bear, Snaggletooth the cougar and all the animals who gather near Blue Rock to form a new society, the Covenant of Good Manners.

Scientists tell us that we can never know what goes on inside an animal’s mind, and even though  I learned that “fact” when I studied animal psychology in college, I never stopped wondering what animals think?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if they could speak and tell us?  Of course, animals don’t have the kind of lips, tongue, and vocal cords to form human words.  How would they communicate?  Telepathy?  A sensory language of physical signs and scent, howls and chatters, huffs and chirps?

One clear, cold night, with a full moon shining above the hills of northern California, the Sky Turns Green (the mysterious event). Overwhelming pulsations reverberate through the forest, firestorms roar back and forth across the land.  Many animals are killed, others sicken and die, but the ones who survive gradually discover astonishing new powers: self-awareness, heightened intelligence, and the ability to communicate with each other.  SHARP TEETH, FLAT TEETH is my deep bow of respect to this imaginary animal world.  The stories are uplifting, challenging, exciting,  and ultimately meant to blow your mind.

You should begin with “Three Paws,” the story of a beaver, too young to know about the steel traps left behind by human trappers.