Thursday, May 16, 2019

The Seven Sisters: My Children's Novella

Several years ago I wrote a children's novella inspired by a 1984 TV show. The first episode from the Canadian animation company, Nelvana, was terrific, but unfortunately, Hasbro, that owned the copyright, decided the rest of the show should be written and animated by a company that came much more cheaply.

The result was inconsistent animation such as characters not only changing colors between scenes but also voices. Beloved characters would be permanently removed from the storyline when Hasbro wanted to sell new toys in the line.

So, I thought to myself, how would I write a cartoon series if I was more interested in storytelling than selling product?

The result was The Seven Sisters, a fairy tale about seven young girls transformed into ponies by a vengeful witch and then sealed away by a merciful wizard who granted them amnesia so they would not remember they were once human.

And then time passed waiting for somebody who would undertake the quest to turn them back into humans.

It took me over a year to write the novella, and it was accepted by a publisher who immediately went belly up. I then sat on the book for years and was about to self publish when My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was released. Even though my book was radically different in tone, plot, setting, and characters, I didn't want people thinking it was only a My Little Pony fanfic, so I sat on the book some more until 2014 when I decided to self publish it anyway.

I also commissioned pictures for the book, and I found the perfect illustrator in Jordan Peacock whose fantasy unicorn illustrations have always delighted me. I was not disappointed at all. Here are two of my favorites:



You can buy your own copy at almost any online bookstore, Amazon being the most prominent. All I ask is that if you enjoy the book or have enjoyed The Seven Sisters in the past, a review is gold and will help me share it with many others. Thanks!





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