SALTY POD

That charming scalawag, Phil Johnson, proprietor of the salty piratical podcast, Under The Crossbones, interviewed me last year about my contributions to pirate lore, Alias Hook, and The Witch From the Sea.

Last week, he reached the milestone of Episode 100! And he generously invited me to participate in the celebration with a brief update on what I've been up to since.

And I wasn't the only one. This graphic hints at some of the novelists, historians, and musicians he's had on the air who are filling him in on what's new with their various swashbuckling enterprises.

So, hoist the colors, and let's wish Phil fair winds and fortune for his next 100 episodes!

SHIPSHAPE

Okay, this image has nothing to do with my book!

There is no moment when candle smoke rises up in the shape of a sailing ship to lure Tory out to sea. (Although, maybe there should have been — if only I'd thought of it!)

This is just a random image I found while cruising the cyberseas, which I posted on my Pinterest page for The Witch.

But isn't it cool!

It captures perfectly the spirit of adventure and romance, along with the dark undercurrent of longing, that inspires Tory's adventures!

(Sadly, I have no idea where this image comes from, but I'll post the info if I ever find out.)

ALL DOLLED UP

Those who follow me in my day job as a movie critic know that I have a thing about dolls.

On Oscar Night, I have been known to dress up Barbies as the Best Actress nominees.

But as a writer of fiction, I love to create doll versions of my characters.

Finding the dolls at the Goodwill or junk shops, making appropriate clothes for them, and, okay, adulterating them as necessary (facial hair, etc.), is the next best thing to writing them, for me.

There's something so cool about seeing them in 3D!

So here are the dolls I did for The Witch From the Sea. It took me forever to find a brown-eyed doll with the appropriate skin tone for Tory, and a brown-eyed male doll with rooted hair (not painted-on) for Jack.

(Although I had to but some extra doll hair and add his sailor's pony-tail myself.)

The Matty doll was a gift. Rooted blond hair and sky-blue eyes, he came in the original Disney/Mattel Beauty and the Beast set; this was the doll under the Beast outfit!

It's funny that I had to deconstruct a Beast doll to get my Matty — since my next novel is actually about Beast!

(Beast: A Tale of Love and Revenge, coming from Candlewick, March 6, 2018.)

But that's another blog!