David Seow's Blog, page 31

Saturday Night Out Book Geeks

Last month Myra suggested that we read Benjamin Alire Saenz's award-winning book Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe for this month's book discussion, so on my next trip to Kinokuniya I picked up a copy.

For this month's meeting we met at a Mexican restaurant because the book's about a pair of Mexican teens and our sole Mexican member Adan had a craving for authentic Mexican food.


L to R: Ken, Benjamin, Jay, Adan, Felicia, Amelia, Myra
So Benjamin kindly made the reservations at a Mexican restaurant and we were set.  Amelia and Myra were already there when Ken and I arrived, and we immediately dug into Myra's bowl of nachos. OK, I  did so without asking. Hey, don't judge me, I was hungry.

It was Ben's and Jay's first SNOBGs meeting, so I was on relatively good behaviour. As some people -names won't be mentioned -have told me to never give people the full 'David Seow Experience' on first meeting. So I didn't. At least I don't think I did.

With most of our members there--Catherine  was in Perth for Book Week, and Emma's  still in the UK--we ordered our respective dinners. And one by one, everyone's dinner arrived except mine.

I wondered why it was taking so long for my order, but then it turned out that someone -who I shall not name- mistakenly took my dinner because she totally forgot what she had ordered. This was quickly rectified when her order arrived and my dinner was returned with two bites taken out of it! What? My first thought was: You just molested my Mexican meal. Ok, that's a huge overreaction. I tend to overreact when I'm hungry.

With the proper meals in their respective places, we began the book discussion. The last time I went through a book this quickly was when I read The Kite Runner.

Like that book, Aristotle and Dante is perfectly paced, the characters are realistically annoying and endearing at turns and there's an unexpected twist at the end that had most of us blindsided. OK, the ladies weren't blindsided. Let's just say that you'll find the secrets of the universe in the most unexpected places.

I don't want to say too much about the book because I don't want to give too much away. You should go buy it as it's not available in the library and there are a few copies left at Kinokuniya. Buy it, people! Oh and Happy Birthday, Felicia.



My unmolested kahlua chocolate mousse

Storytime at Gracefields

Today I headed down to Gracefields kindergarten for storytime with Soefara and Aquilah from Epigram. There were over 80 boisterous kids and it's a lot of fun. Here are some pics from our story-telling session. Thanks, Gracefields.

Blow A Kiss

Conflict, riots, shootings, man-made disasters, natural disasters, let's face it the world's not a very happy place of late to say the least. That's why I think my book Blow A Kiss seems very timely right now and as I'm not republishing it, I'm going to share it here with all of you. 

I wrote it about eight years ago and it was first published five years ago but it's no longer available in print. I found a perfect piece of music to go along with it and no copright infringement was intended. The tune is Always and Always ©John Williams from the soundtrack of Stepmom.  So though I'm not perfect and most of the time I'm a grumpy so and so...I'm sending this out to everyone with wishes for peace, love and happiness. Hope I don't sound too sappy.

The Lion Dance is Dancing its way to the Printers

I've spent the last two days poring over the final layout of the latest Sam, Sebbie and Di-Di-Di book The Lion Dance and I'll be headed to Epigram Books for a final look at the proofs by the end of the week. Hopefully the book will be on the bookshelves by the end of the month. Anyway, here's a sneak peak of the cover.

A Day with the Duchess Review in Little Magazine

There's always room for new parenting magazines in town and the latest is Little Magazine, which just hit the bookshelves this month. Luckily for me, they kindly reviewed A Day with the Duchess. Thanks, guys! Now, what are you waiting for? Pick up a copy of the magazine today!

Duffy the Donkey pt 2

"Eat him," said Darwin, prodding Duffy with his hoof. "He's far tastier than I am. Just look at how soft he is." He said, poking Duffy's stomach.  "He's nice, soft and so delicious. I'm too strong and have too many muscles. Just look at this," he said, flexing his leg muscles.   "I'd be too tough to eat. My muscles would get stuck in
your teeth and then you'd get cavities and all your teeth would fall
out.  And you wouldn't want that, would you?" 
The wolves looked at Darwin and then Duffy and they all rolled on the ground
with laughter.  "He won't do at all," they said. "If we eat him, he'll give us a stomach ache for days."
“But…but…” Darwin protested, but it was no use.  Before he could utter another word, the wolves pounced on Darwin, gobbling him up within minutes.


Duffy hobbled away as fast as he could but that
wasn't very fast at all. And when he could walk no farther, he
stopped at a large meadow and fell fast asleep.  He awoke to find a fat man man grabbing him by the neck and saying, "I've got you!" Duffy brayed in panic as the man lifted him up, his legs kicking furiously. 

"Oh, sush your noise," said the man.  "I'm Mumfar, the great animal trader. Perhaps you've heard of me?"  Duffy shook his head. "Well, here's my card," said Mumfar, whipping out a card and shoving it into Duffy's mouth.  Duffy couldn't read since he was a donkey, but the card was very delicious and he swallowed it 
in one gulp.
  "I'm very famous, you know. I'm the best animal merchant in the world.   If  you ever want to be put in a zoo or be served up as the main dish at  a wonderful banquet, I'm the man you should call.”


"I'm donkey meat," Duffy gulped.  He brayed loudly because he didn't want to be sold to a zoo or served as a main dish at a banquet.    "Oh do be quiet. I have extra special
plans for you.   I'm going to present you to the king as a birthday
gift.  He's always wanted a creature like you. You'll live in a fine
palace and have a wonderful life. And I shall be well-rewarded."


"Hmmm," Duffy thought.  "Why has the king always wanted a donkey like me? Maybe I'm meant to do something wonderful at the palace. Mum did say I was extra special."  So Duffy agreed to be the king’s birthday gift and Mumfar stuffed him in a cage, covered it with a thin linen cloth, and then brought him to the palace for the King's birthday party.
Duffy peered through the small holes in the linen and was amazed at the scene before him - hundreds of people, lining up to present the King with magnificent birthday presents. 


They carried platters of gold and silver and precious stones. Mumfar huffed. "Ha the king has hundreds of jewels and piles of gold and silver. You'll be the best gift by far."Finally, it was time for Mumfar to present Duffy to the king.
 The King was not in a very good mood as he had not gotten the one thing he wanted the most for his birthday.
"Your Majesty, let me present this wonderful gift for you.”
“It better not be jewels, or gold or silver,” the King snapped. “Or else!”
Mumfar laughed…. “Haahaaa, I, Mumfar the great animal trader wouldn’t even consider that.  It's an animal you've always wanted.”
The King's face lit up with excitement and he clapped his hands with glee. “Yes, Yes, you shall be well rewarded for this,” he told Mumfar. “Where is it? Where is it?” he asked looking around with great excitement.


To be continued....

Duffy the Donkey

As an author, I have come to realise that some of my stories will be published and some may not, but that doesn't mean those stories should remain in the deepest recesses of my computer hard drive, but they should be shared...even if it means just sharing them on my blog for free. I believe there was a reason I was given each story to write and it doesn't matter how many people it reaches....As long as it touches one person, then it will have done its job.

So from now on I will be sharing stories for free on my blog. The first story is Duffy the Donkey. I was inspired to write it by hand many years ago and like most of my stories I don't know where they will go or how they will end. This particular story was written at a time in my life when I was feeling particularly lost and directionless. I felt my writing would not get me anywhere and I was incredibly frustrated. That's not to say that I still don't feel lost or directionless at times, like most of us do, but I'm trying to get some perspective. I hope you enjoy this story which will be uploaded in installments.


Duffy the Donkey ©Text By David Seow, 2008 

A long time ago, there lived a famous donkey farmer who bred the biggest, strongest and finest donkeys anyone had ever seen. People would travel for miles around just to buy one of his magnificent animals, but no one ever wanted to buy Duffy.

Duffy was the scruffiest donkey on his farm.  He had a shaggy coat, an unruly mane and a tangled tail.  He was also crossed-eyed and bow-legged. So this meant that Duffy was terribly clumsy and terribly clumsy donkeys were not very useful at all.

All the other donkeys were big, strong and had shiny coats.  They could carry heavy loads, help farmers plough their fields, and they could even take part in the famous donkey races - this is way before anyone ever thought of racing horses.   But Duffy couldn’t do any of those things.
"What's wrong with me? Why can't I be like the other donkeys?” asked Duffy as tears streamed down his furry cheeks.  "Now, now,” said his mother as she gently nuzzled him. “Why do you want to be like those others?” They are all the same. But you, you're extra extra special and you’re going to do something wonderful someday, just wait and see.”   



But Duffy didn't think he was special or that he would ever do anything wonderful, not as long as he stayed on the farm. So that night, when everyone was asleep, he decided to run away. Now running away wasn't very easy, especially since he was cross-eyed, bow-legged and very clumsy.  After bumping into bales of hay, the stable door, the trough and every thing in his path, he finally stumbled off the farm.

He walked for miles and miles on a long winding road before he came across a big, fine strong donkey named Darwin.

He was glad to have some company on this dark, scaryand lonely night, but Darwin snorted, “You're the sorriest donkey I've ever met.Please don't walk too close too me.  I don't want to
be seen with something like you. I have a reputation. I don't mix with riff-raff."
He was about to trot off when suddenly a pack of hungry wolves surrounded them.


To Be Continued...

A Visit to Corporation Primary

Last Friday, Denise, Kelvin and I made a quick stop to Corporation Primary School for a story reading to primary three students.

The kids all agreed that I was a genius, but that was after I asked them to say that I was. Of course I had to reward them with stickers. 

I brought my elephant puppet, Ella with me for my reading of Emma's Elephant. The kids always think it's funny to see a grown man toting around an elephant puppet. As mentioned, my reading was interrupted by several announcements over the PA system.


Once that was done, I immediately launched into reading A Day with the Duchess. Then it was time for the treasure hunt that Denise and I had planned. Thank goodness we had enough prizes for the winners.

Thanks to my fantastic distributors Denise and Kelvin of Closetful of Books for arranging yet another great visit.

Artwork for The Lion Dance

My wonderful illustrator, Soefara keeps out-doing herself. These are her latest pieces from our upcoming book, The Lion Dance.

A Fun Day with the Kids and Teachers of EtonHouse Preschool

Today Soefara, Denise and I headed on down to EtonHouse for a visit and boy did we have a  lot of fun. The principal, Gabrielle, met Soefara and me at the entrance and led us up to the classes we would be visiting: The K2 Bandicoots and the K2 Kangaroos.



I have to say that the kids were brilliant, so smart and a lot better behaved than I was at their age,  or even  now!  After reading If I Were a Blue Kangaroo and At the Night Safari, I discussed what you need to write a story: characters, setting, and plot, while Soefara talked about how she transforms the words of a story into pictures.



Then it was time for the kids to come up with a story of their own. We decided they would write about a character named Ferjerbert.  



The Bandicoots decided that Ferjerbert was a six-year
-old space alien monster with a pet named Flubber who got stuck 
on a very sticky moon.

Soefara's sketch of me reading to the K2 Kangaroos

The K2 Kangaroos had a different idea of who Ferjerbert was. They said that he was a 100-year-old boy with a space alien head and a dinosaur tail who loved eating curry rice ice cream. Yum! He crashed landed on the moon after the rockets on his space ship fell off!


Then two kids from Bandicoot shared their stories about Ferjerbert. Some kids said the moon was sticky because it was made of caramel. I thought this was brilliant! One of the kids, Nico, said that when Ferjerbert and Flubber got stuck on the sticky moon, Ferjerbert tickled Flubber until Flubber burst into tears of laughter and the tears washed away the stickiness! Genius!

Two kids from Kangaroo shared their original stories about a Princess party and a trip to the beach. The stories were amazing! I also have to say I was very impressed by K2 student Eito's drawings. He's so good and he's only five! And his friend Bun does a great job too! 

At the end of the session we handed out stickers to everyone and the two kids who shared their stories received limited edition paper dolls from our latest book, A Day with the Duchess. Thank you to the kids and teachers of EtonHouse for a wonderful morning! Let's do it again!