OK, I’m now officially coo-coo over this book. I’ve finished the fourth tale and have started giving the whole thing a nice going-over. In these days of advertising overkill, everything a writer writes about his own work always sounds like promotion. Since I couldn’t promote myself out of a wet paper cliché, I’m confident you won’t take this the wrong way. But I freaking love this book. Half the reason I write is to entertain myself when I read it. Yes, I care what other people think, but if I never found out what they think, I’d be OK. (I have chickens and cheetos, I’ll live.) So, Four Tales is tickling me pink. But that is only half the news.

The other half of the news is, I have found the most amazing illustrator. All the images in the book will be highly stylized, old-school pen and ink. I’ve been a lover of the Joseph Jacobs fairy tale books forever and I wanted to find an illustrator as good as John D. Batten, who worked on many of Jacob’s most famous books. And after many an hour of research, I have found someone and they have accepted my commission. I’m not going to say who it is quite yet, but they’re going to start work in the next couple of weeks. I tell ya, I cannot wait for this project to come to fruition and have this book in my grubby little hands. It’s all good, unless I die of happiness first.

“The Tooth” is almost done! It’s at the designer’s right now and I had my first glimpse of the interior layout and cover design yesterday. It looks spectacular! Dianna Little is again applying her uber-genius skills to my goofy words and David Anderson’s brilliant illustrations. It will be finished next week (March 7th) and it won’t be long after that that I can get my grubby little mitts on a hard copy.

On the writing front, I have been working on a new book that is dear to my eccentric little chicken heart. The working title is Four Tales. I always hate to classify these stories as fairy tales, as they have no fairies in them. They are old school bedtime stories that take place in the same universe as Hans Christian Anderson’s work, the Grimms Brothers collections, and The Thousands and One Nights.

Two of the tales have been published in magazines and one of them is a complete new rewrite of one that I wrote a few years ago. I guess you could almost call them mini-novellas, as a couple of the stories are over 8000 words. The idea is to print them in large type so that the munchkins can follow along and see the pictures. Yeah, there will be pictures. Old woodcut style pictures. Depending on the illustrator’s schedule, I expect this to be out in the next 12 months.

Hurrah! The Kindle edition of “The Cannibal Anaconda” came out today! You can nab it from the US, the UK, the German or the French Amazon stores. Don’t ask me why it isn’t in the Canadian store yet. I couldn’t tell you. Maybe it’s stuck at the border emptying its pockets of lint, Lego men and its farty wallet. In any case, you must go and buy it immediately and read it to all your digital children.

David is speedily working up the illustrations for my next book, “The Tooth”. It’s the tale of a girl whose tooth falls down the drain of her bathroom sink and her father’s valiant efforts to retrieve it – even if it means tearing up their entire house! Some parents, I tell ya, are they ever nice!

G.C. with the illustrious Laurie MacFayden

Big hugs and sincere thanks to all the friends and relations who attended the launch of The Cannibal Anaconda. To those who chose instead to go to the open mic at the Elephant and Castle and spew nutless 80s pop into the audience, well . . . you know who you are. I’m sorry the front row made you to pay for their dry cleaning. Whatever. I’m just saying, there was no spittle at my launch.

Yucking it up over the punch bowl

There was, however, cheese, chocolate, chips, peanut brittle and cherry pie. Oh, yeah, and the lovely Stella Artois made an appearance and what with all the reading and signing and gabbing, I couldn’t drink it all as planned. Sorry, hops gods, I’ll make it up to you at a later date.

With a first launch a body has no idea if anyone’s going to show up, so I was pleasantly surprised (read, relieved) when the place filled with a happy mix of well-wishers. Huge thanks to you all! The ship has been christened, the umbilicus has been cut, and the cockles, yeah . . . those randy cockles have been warmed.

People wondering, "What is wrong with his chin? Is that a butt?"

Save the Date!

Thursday, September 29^th,  2011, 7:00pm

His children call him baldie, his wife calls him constantly. Now you can call him author.

You are cordially invited to the launch of The Cannibal Anaconda, by G.C. McRae.

Greenwoods Bookshoppe
7925 – 104 Street
Edmonton, AB
(780) 439-2005

Ten years in conception, nine months in the making, this 32 page kids book is illustrated by the splendiferous, award-winning artist, David Anderson.

Come celebrate the launch of The Cannibal Anaconda, published by Bunky Mutt Books!  - With special guests, Stella Artois, Peanut
Noir and their munchkins.

I’m currently working on an audio recording of The Cannibal Anaconda. Wait! Don’t call the Grammys quite yet. I’ve laid down about 90% of the music so far and still have a long way to go. I’m in rehearsals for the vocals right now, but I have to tell you, after I warm up my voice, I’m ready for a nap. Like everyone else who has ever been shocked to hear themselves on record, I am shocked to hear myself on record. My voice sounds like Patrick Stewart armpit noises. Classy and commanding attention, just coming out the wrong part of the body.

Like half the geek planet, I have my own digital recording studio, where I spend endless hours teaching myself to cry with frustration. Thankfully, it’s all done very quietly with virtual instruments. I put on headphones and diligently move my mouse around, trying to make funky grooves with software made by other people who wear headphones and diligently move their mice around. After about half an hour, the crying begins. I suspect all digital recording studios are the same. Full of crying geeks, wet keyboards and not very much music.

As with all of my projects, I cannot wait for it to be done and the crying to come to an end. I’ve often thought I would like be one of those people who throw expensive things across the room when they get upset. Sadly, I have no expensive things to throw. This is my fondest hope when I win my Grammy. To buy expensive things and throw them when I get upset. A Grammy comes with cash doesn’t it?

Here’s the spanky cover for The Cannibal Anaconda, drawn by the illustrious David Anderson. The book is 8.5 x 8.5″, 32 pages, full color throughout. The cover and interior page design and layout was done by the fabulous Dianna Little.

Release date is September, 2011, available from Amazon.com.

I’ll have more info as we get closer to the release date. Now back to my chickens.