The delivery that made me *squee*!

I had to do a brief blog post about this. I ordered a bunch of books from Book Depository, including one I've lusted after for years. What book is that?Dinotopia.Not quite what you expected *grin*, huh? I read Dinotopia nearly 20 years ago (and yes, I feel old now ;p) and fell utterly in love with it. I desperately wanted a copy but in NZ they were $40-$60 new and I could never find a copy in the stores when I finally had the cash saved up for it. That beautiful, glorious book is actually responsible for the Griffons in my book! It's so funny where inspiration comes from and I thought I might enlighten you guys on where some of my other ideas came from.Sasha and Nesha.These were the names of two wolves a character on a cartoon show used to have. I watched the show as a littlie. It stuck absolutely in my mind and I ALWAYS wanted two 'wolves' when I grew up (I ended up with two fur critters, Sable and the late Otis *grin*). This character (a man) also had a really neat weapon! Throwing stars that returned to his sleeve. So that cartoon gave me the name Nesha, inspired the name Loushka, and I borrowed his sleeve idea (couldn't resist, I always wanted it *hee*).The dragons and their ability to 'leap'.Nnelg is a throwback from my, My Little Pony days (anyone remember little Spike? I always liked him) and the teleporting idea was from the Unicorn ponies and the way they 'winked' in and out. I was so utterly obsessed with that show as a kid. I used to insist on my dad watching the episodes with me *hee*. I don't really like the new version they have out now… I'll have to hunt down an original version on DVD at some point. I really wish I'd kept some of the ponies I had. Especially my super pretty flutter pony. Ahh nostalgia.The idea of the big dragons and the lack of fire, well that just seemed sensible to me. If you can explain such thoughts as sensible ;p Also, Sito is directly inspired by my beautiful staffy Otis (reverse the name and what-do-you get…) and his personality, which was very larger than life (and cuddly!).So why Griffons?Eagles and lions are some of my favorite creatures. I am a Leo and that's always made the lion special to me. Eagles were the first animal I got really good at drawing and I think it must have been due to the documentaries my family was watching at the time. Every week on Sunday arvo/night there was a National Geographic documentary on the T.V and that cemented both mine and my brother's love of animals. From a young age my dream jobs varied from vet, to zoologist, to biologist, to paleontologist. Animals, extinct and current, are something that always fascinates me. Dinotopia presented dinosaurs in such an unusual and friendly light that it had me obsessing over the concepts for months. So when I was originally daydreaming while watching a storm gather over the Wellington harbor and the five Griffons landed around the four heroines in my daydream, it was totally natural. I could see them in their absolute glory. Hard, muscular wings with thick, wild manes and strong beaks and talons. The idea of communicating with them is very 'Dinotopian' too. They were such a clear, invigorating concept that it really is those five gorgeous characters that inspired me to actually put fingers to keys and begin typing what would eventually be, The Arrival.
Anyway, enough blabbing. I better get back into drafting.
Take care all!Nic The Arrival, available at at Amazon : Barnes&Noble : iTunes : Kobo : Smashwords (for those UK kindlers)Awakening available at Amazon : AmazonUK : Smashwords (in every e-format for Nooks/Sony/PDF readers)