Derrick Belanger's Blog: Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Ramblings of a Sherlockian - Posts Tagged "jeremy-brett"
Surprise Sherlockian Author Interview
Today marks the release of my first children's chapter book, The Amazing Airship Adventure: The Macdougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes Book #1. The book involves the brother and sister twin detective team of Emma and Jimmy MacDougall as they work with Sherlock Holmes in trying to stop a mad bomber from destroying London. I am the author of the book, and my brother, Brian Belanger, is the illustrator. Just for fun, Brian decided to turn the tables on me, and I was the one interviewed for this blog. I hope you enjoy seeing me giving the answers instead of asking the questions.
1) Growing up together, you and I always shared a lot of the same interests, especially H.P. Lovecraft, Alan Moore comics, Ray Harryhausen movies and so on. I don’t remember when you first discovered Arthur Conan Doyle, though --- when did that happen, and which story was the first to grab you?
I had enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories growing up, but the first one to really grab me was, fittingly, A Study in Scarlet, the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, when I was 14 years old. I chose the book out of a list of choices for an 8th grade mystery unit I was completing in my Language Arts class.
When I started reading the book, for the first half, I was immersed in Doyle’s London, a London as equally magical and breathtaking as that of Dickens. I got introduced to most of the major characters in the canon, and enjoyed the gruesome murder mystery, a story of bloody revenge.
Then suddenly, as the story builds to a climax, the audience runs into a brick wall as the narrative suddenly shifts to the American West in 1847. I had never read a book which was split in two halves that appeared to be two completely different stories. Then, in a brilliant move, the author brings the two stories together in a masterful weaving of plot. I thought Doyle had such faith in his readers, to throw us such a jarring twist and expect us to keep reading to the end. Of course I did, and began gobbling up all of his Holmes stories.
Now before I move onto the next question, I should add that I was hooked on Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories after reading A Study in Scarlet; however, I became hooked on Doyle’s writings a few years later. I was reading a random anthology of literature, the type where the stories are seemingly assembled because of who wrote them, not because of any cohesive theme. Smack in the middle of Shirley Jackson’s “Charles,” and Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Horror of the Heights.” When I read this story, I was stunned at the creativity of the writing, the imagination of the aerial world of beasts living above our heads. I didn’t know Doyle beyond his Sherlock Holmes stories. I was blown away and sought out any and all of his horror writings. This, in many ways, led to my two volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural. I wanted others, especially Sherlockians to know Doyle’s other stories and to see that some equalled his Holmes stories in literary merit and scholarly importance.
2) What made you decide to write specifically for children and young adults? I’m guessing that your daughters had something to do with it…
I’ve always wanted to write for readers of all ages. I wrote a novel a few years ago that was specifically aimed at a young adult audience; however, the book still needs extensive revision and may never see the light of day. Recently, I wrote The Amazing Airship Adventure because my oldest daughter, who is eight, asked me, “Daddy, who is Sherlock Holmes?” I told her about the character and as the conversation continued, we both thought it would be great if there was a child detective working with Sherlock Holmes. Eventually, that idea developed into the MacDougall Twins, ten year old detectives who live across the street from Sherlock Holmes and assist him on adventures. The book was specifically written to introduce children to the Sherlock Holmes characters so that as they get older they will want to seek out the original stories in the canon.
3) Most of the children’s literature I’ve read has the main characters randomly meeting some magical person, or discovering some new world by accident. The MacDougall Twins, on the other hand, deliberately use their wits and skills to solve their mysteries. What made you take this approach?
The audience for The MacDougall twins series is children, and I want my readers to feel empowered from the books. I specifically write the stories so that children can see that they are intelligent and often can see things that adults miss. This is why Holmes relied on the Baker Street Irregulars in the original stories, and why Holmes has great respect for Jimmy and Emma MacDougall. They are great detectives in their own right. To have the twins solve mysteries using magic takes away some of the power from my audience. Kids can’t take out a magic wand and save the world; however, they can save the world using their intelligence and bravery.
4) Will Jimmy and Emma be meeting anyone else from the Holmes stories, such as Irene Adler or Lord Baskerville? Will we see crossovers from Doyle’s other works, such as Professor Challenger?
Yes, they will. The second book of the series, Attack of the Violet Vampire, involves Inspector Lestrade and Toby, the dog who helped Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four. One of the joys of writing the MacDougall Twins is that I’m able to use characters from the canon as well as new characters such as Nolan the newsboy and Jimmy the cab driver, from the MacDougall Twins world. Both types of characters will continue to assist the twins as they solve mysteries. I may also use characters from other Doyle stories or their ancestors, say the grandson of Brigadier Gerard, depending on how the MacDougall mysteries develop.
5) And now, the Question Which You Dread Above All Others: if you were stranded on a deserted island, and could only take one Sherlock Holmes story with you, which one would it be?
Well, this has been called my meanest question, but I’ve had the advantage of asking this question to a number of Sherlockians, so I’ve had time to think this one out. There are so many wonderful and rich stories in the canon, but my overall favorite is “The Man With the Twisted Lip.” The story has that great way of starting with one narrative thread and then shifting into a completely different story. It also shows the sinister underbelly of London with Watson’s descent into the opium den searching for Isa Whitney, and it shows how one can work around the British class system, making a handsome salary as a beggar. To top it all off, you also have Mary Watson calling her husband James instead of John, a great puzzle we Sherlockians love to try to solve.
6) What’s your favorite post-Doyle take on Sherlock Holmes? A Study In Emerald? The Jeremy Brett BBC series? The Great Mouse Detective?
Now, this is a cruel question. There are so many post-Doyle takes on Holmes, there were even quite a number of pastiches written in Doyle’s life time, that I’m not sure if this one is answerable. To me, the greatest actor to play Holme was Jeremy Brett. He is Sherlock Holmes. When I read the stories, I hear his voice, so undoubtedly, Brett is the winner here.
But I’m not stopping there. There have been so many great post-Doyle stories. I’m still new to this world, and I’ve just scratched the surface. Kieran Lyne’s The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes is probably the best of the bunch I’ve read this year. Geri Schear’s A Biased Judgement is an equally excellent novel. The short stories of David Marcum also stand out as wonderful historical texts as well as fun pastiches. But if I had to choose one piece of writing, I’d go with Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald.” It perfectly blends the worlds of my two favorite authors, Lovecraft and Doyle, and it has one of the best twists I’ve ever read.
This answer could easily change as I delve more and more into the world of Sherlockian pastiches. I have about a half dozen pastiches in my “must read pile,” and that pile is ever expanding.
7) What are your future projects?
As I mentioned earlier, I’m working on the second MacDougall Twins book, Attack of the Violet Vampire. I’ve plotted the book, and I’m about halfway through the first draft. I’d like to see the book released in the Spring, but we’ll see how long it takes me to complete the book, plus you’ve got to illustrate it, so we’ll see if we make that goal.
I do have a story coming out in the spring of a non-Sherlockian nature. The book will be included in the anthology, My Peculiar Family, which is a science fiction/ horror collection specifically designed to benefit the podcast show Sci-Fi Saturday Night. My story, entitled "Pieces of Rosalee" falls in the horror category, but I was channeling O. Henry, so mystery readers will have something to enjoy as well.
Beyond those two projects, I have a number of possibilities. I’m speaking at the CCIRA Literacy conference in Denver in February. My session, How to Teach like Sherlock Holmes, is already full. If the talk is well received, I may go in the direction of turning the talk into a teacher’s guide. I’d also like to write a pastiche novel. I’ve got three different ideas wrestling in my mind, and I believe one is starting to beat the others; however, the other two are not down for the count. I’ll continue writing and see where my stories take me. After all, the thrill of writing is discovery.
Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.
Visit Derrick's Amazon Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...
1) Growing up together, you and I always shared a lot of the same interests, especially H.P. Lovecraft, Alan Moore comics, Ray Harryhausen movies and so on. I don’t remember when you first discovered Arthur Conan Doyle, though --- when did that happen, and which story was the first to grab you?
I had enjoyed Sherlock Holmes stories growing up, but the first one to really grab me was, fittingly, A Study in Scarlet, the very first Sherlock Holmes novel, when I was 14 years old. I chose the book out of a list of choices for an 8th grade mystery unit I was completing in my Language Arts class.
When I started reading the book, for the first half, I was immersed in Doyle’s London, a London as equally magical and breathtaking as that of Dickens. I got introduced to most of the major characters in the canon, and enjoyed the gruesome murder mystery, a story of bloody revenge.
Then suddenly, as the story builds to a climax, the audience runs into a brick wall as the narrative suddenly shifts to the American West in 1847. I had never read a book which was split in two halves that appeared to be two completely different stories. Then, in a brilliant move, the author brings the two stories together in a masterful weaving of plot. I thought Doyle had such faith in his readers, to throw us such a jarring twist and expect us to keep reading to the end. Of course I did, and began gobbling up all of his Holmes stories.
Now before I move onto the next question, I should add that I was hooked on Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories after reading A Study in Scarlet; however, I became hooked on Doyle’s writings a few years later. I was reading a random anthology of literature, the type where the stories are seemingly assembled because of who wrote them, not because of any cohesive theme. Smack in the middle of Shirley Jackson’s “Charles,” and Richard Connell’s “The Most Dangerous Game,” was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Horror of the Heights.” When I read this story, I was stunned at the creativity of the writing, the imagination of the aerial world of beasts living above our heads. I didn’t know Doyle beyond his Sherlock Holmes stories. I was blown away and sought out any and all of his horror writings. This, in many ways, led to my two volume anthology, A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural. I wanted others, especially Sherlockians to know Doyle’s other stories and to see that some equalled his Holmes stories in literary merit and scholarly importance.
2) What made you decide to write specifically for children and young adults? I’m guessing that your daughters had something to do with it…
I’ve always wanted to write for readers of all ages. I wrote a novel a few years ago that was specifically aimed at a young adult audience; however, the book still needs extensive revision and may never see the light of day. Recently, I wrote The Amazing Airship Adventure because my oldest daughter, who is eight, asked me, “Daddy, who is Sherlock Holmes?” I told her about the character and as the conversation continued, we both thought it would be great if there was a child detective working with Sherlock Holmes. Eventually, that idea developed into the MacDougall Twins, ten year old detectives who live across the street from Sherlock Holmes and assist him on adventures. The book was specifically written to introduce children to the Sherlock Holmes characters so that as they get older they will want to seek out the original stories in the canon.
3) Most of the children’s literature I’ve read has the main characters randomly meeting some magical person, or discovering some new world by accident. The MacDougall Twins, on the other hand, deliberately use their wits and skills to solve their mysteries. What made you take this approach?
The audience for The MacDougall twins series is children, and I want my readers to feel empowered from the books. I specifically write the stories so that children can see that they are intelligent and often can see things that adults miss. This is why Holmes relied on the Baker Street Irregulars in the original stories, and why Holmes has great respect for Jimmy and Emma MacDougall. They are great detectives in their own right. To have the twins solve mysteries using magic takes away some of the power from my audience. Kids can’t take out a magic wand and save the world; however, they can save the world using their intelligence and bravery.
4) Will Jimmy and Emma be meeting anyone else from the Holmes stories, such as Irene Adler or Lord Baskerville? Will we see crossovers from Doyle’s other works, such as Professor Challenger?
Yes, they will. The second book of the series, Attack of the Violet Vampire, involves Inspector Lestrade and Toby, the dog who helped Sherlock Holmes in The Sign of Four. One of the joys of writing the MacDougall Twins is that I’m able to use characters from the canon as well as new characters such as Nolan the newsboy and Jimmy the cab driver, from the MacDougall Twins world. Both types of characters will continue to assist the twins as they solve mysteries. I may also use characters from other Doyle stories or their ancestors, say the grandson of Brigadier Gerard, depending on how the MacDougall mysteries develop.
5) And now, the Question Which You Dread Above All Others: if you were stranded on a deserted island, and could only take one Sherlock Holmes story with you, which one would it be?
Well, this has been called my meanest question, but I’ve had the advantage of asking this question to a number of Sherlockians, so I’ve had time to think this one out. There are so many wonderful and rich stories in the canon, but my overall favorite is “The Man With the Twisted Lip.” The story has that great way of starting with one narrative thread and then shifting into a completely different story. It also shows the sinister underbelly of London with Watson’s descent into the opium den searching for Isa Whitney, and it shows how one can work around the British class system, making a handsome salary as a beggar. To top it all off, you also have Mary Watson calling her husband James instead of John, a great puzzle we Sherlockians love to try to solve.
6) What’s your favorite post-Doyle take on Sherlock Holmes? A Study In Emerald? The Jeremy Brett BBC series? The Great Mouse Detective?
Now, this is a cruel question. There are so many post-Doyle takes on Holmes, there were even quite a number of pastiches written in Doyle’s life time, that I’m not sure if this one is answerable. To me, the greatest actor to play Holme was Jeremy Brett. He is Sherlock Holmes. When I read the stories, I hear his voice, so undoubtedly, Brett is the winner here.
But I’m not stopping there. There have been so many great post-Doyle stories. I’m still new to this world, and I’ve just scratched the surface. Kieran Lyne’s The Last Confession of Sherlock Holmes is probably the best of the bunch I’ve read this year. Geri Schear’s A Biased Judgement is an equally excellent novel. The short stories of David Marcum also stand out as wonderful historical texts as well as fun pastiches. But if I had to choose one piece of writing, I’d go with Gaiman’s “A Study in Emerald.” It perfectly blends the worlds of my two favorite authors, Lovecraft and Doyle, and it has one of the best twists I’ve ever read.
This answer could easily change as I delve more and more into the world of Sherlockian pastiches. I have about a half dozen pastiches in my “must read pile,” and that pile is ever expanding.
7) What are your future projects?
As I mentioned earlier, I’m working on the second MacDougall Twins book, Attack of the Violet Vampire. I’ve plotted the book, and I’m about halfway through the first draft. I’d like to see the book released in the Spring, but we’ll see how long it takes me to complete the book, plus you’ve got to illustrate it, so we’ll see if we make that goal.
I do have a story coming out in the spring of a non-Sherlockian nature. The book will be included in the anthology, My Peculiar Family, which is a science fiction/ horror collection specifically designed to benefit the podcast show Sci-Fi Saturday Night. My story, entitled "Pieces of Rosalee" falls in the horror category, but I was channeling O. Henry, so mystery readers will have something to enjoy as well.
Beyond those two projects, I have a number of possibilities. I’m speaking at the CCIRA Literacy conference in Denver in February. My session, How to Teach like Sherlock Holmes, is already full. If the talk is well received, I may go in the direction of turning the talk into a teacher’s guide. I’d also like to write a pastiche novel. I’ve got three different ideas wrestling in my mind, and I believe one is starting to beat the others; however, the other two are not down for the count. I’ll continue writing and see where my stories take me. After all, the thrill of writing is discovery.
Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.
Visit Derrick's Amazon Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...
This Time it's an Illustrator Interview!!
Okay, so not only is this the first time I've interviewed an illustrator, it is also the first time I've interviewed my brother. We've actually been collaborating on and off for over twenty years (anyone remember the comic book?), and now we find ourselves in the realm of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Enjoy the interview and we'll let you determine which of us is Sherlock and which is Mycroft. Hopefully, you don't find either of us to be Moriarty.
1. You are part of a long line of artists who have visually brought Sherlock Holmes to life on the page. How did you go about capturing the look of the great detective for The Amazing Airship Adventure?
I thought, “what do I think of, when I think of what Holmes looks like”? Thin. Wiry. Severe. Professional. Analytical. Suit and tie. You know --- Jeremy Brett! I’d just finished watching the entire run of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes with Jeremy Brett, so that version of the character had, and still has, a major influence on my work on The MacDougall Twins. To me, it’s the one series that comes closest to realizing Doyle’s vision of Holmes and his world --- although there are many other fantastic adaptations out there.
I also had fun playing around with the look. I’m not Sydney Paget; my style tends to be very cartoony/caricaturish. So, my Holmes isn’t just thin, he’s impossibly thin. Oversized head --- although that probably comes from The Hound of the Baskervilles, where Dr. Mortimer goes on and on about how he loves the shape of Holmes’ skull. And if his eyes bulge right off of his face, so be it. This series is meant to be fun, and that includes the artwork, too! So there you go – my version looks like Guy Smiley mixed with Jack Skellington. Let the lawsuits begin.
2. You provided the cover illustrations for both volumes of A Study in Terror as well as all of the artwork for The Amazing Airship Adventure. Which piece of artwork was the most difficult for you to create? Which piece is your favorite?
The cover to the first volume of A Study in Terror was probably the most difficult, if only because it was unlike anything I’d ever drawn before. I knew right away that the cover had to reference "The Horror of the Heights." The image of a biplane soaring through the air, as dozens of hungry tendrils pulsed towards it… brrrr! I researched all sorts of images of planes from that time period, and sketched the artwork from the side and overhead views before settling on the finished piece. I also reread my reprints of EC Comics’ Aces High --- a five issue series with amazing artwork by Bernie Krigstein, Wally Wood, Jack Davis, etc; and especially George Evans.
I’m much better at drawing cartoon characters than I am at drawing machinery or buildings, so it’s always a challenge when your scripts call for a particular kind of horse-drawn carriage, or an airship, or a building. I’ll take a curve over a straight line any day! I welcome the challenge, though – it’s the only way to improve!
I recently finished a piece for the first chapter of The Attack of the Violet Vampire, where we see Mr. & Mrs. MacDougall sitting in a carriage. There’s nothing particularly detailed about that shot, but for some reason, it took me twice as long to complete that image as anything else I’ve ever done. Sometimes you’re firing on all cylinders; sometimes you’re just out of gas. Either way, the work still has to be done.
My favorite piece so far is the group shot of the MacDougalls, Holmes, Watson and Mrs. Hudson staring out of the window at an airship flying down Baker Street. I didn’t think that it was important to see the airship; to me, the story was happening in everyone’s reaction to this impossible flying machine. Holmes is the center image; analyzing every detail of the situation while everyone around him is either startled, astonished or outright terrified. I think that image works really well, and I thought it might be good to use as the front cover. Hey, it looks great on the back of the book!
Still… my favorite piece is the one I’ll draw tomorrow. That one’s always my favorite.
3. For A Study in Terror Volume 1, your article was an interview with Christopher Penczak on how there are a growing number of people in the world that have the same or similar spiritual beliefs as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. What most surprised you about your findings?
The thing that surprised me the most was that Chris agreed to be interviewed! He’s VERY busy with his writing, his ministry and his public speaking, so I was grateful that he was able to answer my questions.
What I really found surprising wasn’t so much about how spiritualism is still alive and well today – I mean, it’s all over the place. You can buy a Tarot card deck at Barnes & Noble, or a Ouija board at Toys R Us. There are people who don’t believe in any of that, but will still read their horoscopes online everyday, you know? No, it was learning how much Doyle’s beliefs cost him, both personally and professionally. By the end of his life, Doyle had been skewered in the press. An image I kept seeing was an editorial cartoon of Doyle with his head literally in the clouds. That was how people viewed the creator of Sherlock Holmes. His friendship with Harry Houdini suffered… it was very disheartening to read about this. We all want our heroes to have happy endings, but that’s not always the case.
4. Sydney Paget is the best known Sherlock Holmes artist because of his phenomenal work in The Strand. Is there another artist whose depiction of Sherlock Holmes you feel really admire? What makes their depiction stand out?
I always liked the way that Kevin O’Neill drew the great detective in the first volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen graphic novel series. Holmes just has a very brief appearance at the Reichenbach Falls with Professor Moriarity, but everything’s there – the physique, the clothing, the body language. O'Neill also does a great job with Moriarity and later on, with Mycroft Holmes. As a fan of comic book art, I like to wonder about how other artists would have portrayed Holmes. I’d think Eddie Campbell would be absolutely perfect for the job. His work on the graphic novel From Hell sets the standard for capturing Victorian England. Can you imagine a Sherlock Holmes as rendered by Berni Wrightson? Kelley Jones? Shawn McManus? Jae Lee? Dave Sim? Mike Mignola? I really could go on all day like this. Alan Davis and Paul Neary did a great job portraying a team up between a VERY old Sherlock Holmes and Batman…
I have to mention the graphic novel Baker Street: Honour Among Punks by Gary Reed and Guy Davis. It’s an alternate world setting, where Holmes and Watson are young female punks. The story’s a real departure from the canon, but the artwork still captures the spirit of the original Doyle work.
5. You may be an illustrator, but you still get the question. If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have one Sherlock Holmes story, which would it be and why?
That’s tricky. Part of the appeal of the Sherlock Holmes canon for me are the variety of the stories. When I read these adventures, I don’t just read one story, I’ll read a few in a row. It really gives the sense that you’re reading about someone’s life, and that we’re just getting the highlights as told to us by Watson.
That being said…. Hmmmm….
Okay. Although my favorite story is currently "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" (“You see it, Watson?”), I’d have to go with The Hound of the Baskervilles. First and foremost, if I’m stuck on that island, I’m not going to want a short story; I’m going to want a novel. Hound is a great novel – my favorite of the four that Doyle left us. It’s fun; it’s scary; it’s so atmospheric you can feel the chill of the moors seeping into your bones. It’s also a rare chance for Dr. Watson to show off his skills, as Holmes is absent for a good part of the story. This provides a real balance between these two friends and shows that not only is Watson a capable investigator in his own right, but that Holmes and Watson need not be joined at the hip to work together on a case.
I read a description of The Hound of the Baskervilles somewhere that talked about how this was the only mystery novel that even people who hate mystery novels will keep in their libraries. I think it’s a wonderful introduction to the series. You could do worse than having the Hound with you for company on that desert island.
6. What are your upcoming projects?
Currently, I’m illustrating Attack of the Violet Vampire (The MacDougall Twins Mysteries with Sherlock Holmes #2) and having a blast with that. Vampires, gaslight theatres and the return of Nolan the Newsboy --- you’ve gotta love it! Once that’s done, I’ll start on the next MacDougall Twins book, and the one after that, and the one after that… so long as you keep writing ‘em, I’ll keep drawing ‘em! There’s also a book of “monster poetry” I collaborated on a few years ago that I really want to see published in 2015… that’s my top priority, after Violet Vampire’s done, of course. I’ve also been asked to illustrate a sequel to H. G. Wells’ First Men In The Moon as well --- had great fun sketching out the Selenites the way Wells described them. Did you know, even Ray Harryhausen didn’t stick to the original version? I still love his take on them, though --- along with everything else he ever did.
Finally, when I’m between freelance projects and commissions, I’ll contribute new pieces to my site http://www.redbubble.com/people/zhahadun to make into t-shirts, posters, coffee mugs and all sorts of fun stuff.
Of course, I live in New England, so all of that comes after I shovel the driveway.
7. Any final thoughts?
Yes ---
- it’s been bizarre being interviewed by my own brother.
- I like to have old episodes of In Search Of playing in the background while I draw. The combination of Leonard Nimoy’s voice with that eerie seventies background music somehow puts me into creative overdrive.
- I really should be drawing now. Excuse me…
Derrick Belanger is the author of The Amazing Airship Adventure: The Macdougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes Book #1 and editor of the A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural anthology series. Currently both Brian and Derrick are working on the second McDougall Twins book, Attack of the Violet Vampire. You can see more of Brian's artwork at his website: http://www.redbubble.com/people/zhaha... can order our books from Derrick's Amazon page as well: http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange....
Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and Ramblings of a Sherlockian
Book Reviews, Author Interviews, and other writings by Author (and future Publisher) Derrick Belanger
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