The Boy with the Tiger's Heart

 About a year ago I was lucky enough to be signed up by Hot Key Books (www.hotkeybooks.com}
who wanted to publish my story The Boy with the Tiger's Heart. I can't tell you how thrilling this is for me after years of writing stories and not only did they buy that but another book I'd written - The Dog Ray- which has been published in China and Taiwan but not in the U.K. So a double joy. I thought it about time I announced it as it will be published on 28th August. Fear not dear readers - I will remind you on this blog nearer the time. You can read about it on Hot Key's website. I am particularly thrilled by the cover design which I absolutely adore.

 Here is another potential cover design - The dog with the clown's nose.

 As you can see there's been a lot of extra lying around in the garden since the sun came out and I was drawn to removing the copious quantities of ground elder which is secretly strangling everything in the garden. The Dog Ray - (about a twelve year old girl who dies in a car crash and comes back to Earth as a dog but with the memories and attitudes she had as a girl - more about that next year when it will be published} - was encouraged by Beezle (beige dog) whose antics and musings on the world have been inspiring.
When the weather has a nip in the air I've taken to wearing my daughter's camel coloured duffle coat when I walk the dogs and it is exactly the same colour as Beezle. I feel I've morphed into a relative of his but hope that people looking at us don't think I'm doing that awful matching thing. You know when parents dress their children the same way as them. I remember when one of our girls was a baby she went to an event in a dark blue and white spotted dress with a matching hat. Her godfather happened to be there wearing a dark blue and white spotted shirt. Joyously he picked her up and carried her around - fortunately unaware of the comments of "Oh God look at that.How could they?"

 The angelica is towering up to the sky

 and this is the last of the tree peonies - but the border ones are about to open

Oooh - back to the book! There were many factors that inspired the writing of The Boy with the Tiger's Heart. One was a news story in America a few years back of a man who kept a quantity of exotic animals. {I gather there are more tigers held in captivity in USA than in the wild.} One day he let them all free then took his own life. It was a shocking story because the police slaughtered them all as they roamed around the countryside. Most of them endangered and extremely rare.
 One of the other factors in the writing of this story is my loathing of Health and Safety. I heard the other day that girls have been banned from wearing frilly socks to school incase they trip over them! Aaargh!

Here is the quote I've used at the beginning of the book.  I couldn't have summed it up better.

When all the dangerous cliffs are fenced off, all the trees that might fall on people are cut down, all of the insects that bite have been poisoned – and all of the grizzlies are dead because they are occasionally dangerous, the wilderness will not be made safe. Rather, the safety will have destroyed the wilderness.

                                         R.Yorke Edwards.