GENRE: ADVENTURE
SETTING: 1977, LOUISANIA
RATING: ALL AGES
FINISHED: YES
PUBLISHED: NO
SPECIAL CATAHOULA WHO IS DEAF. CLICK ON
HER PICTURE TO VISIT HER WEBSITE. BAYBE'S
SITE IS PRODUCED AND MANAGED BY MY
FRIEND NANCY WHO HAS BEEN A TERRIFIC
HELP TO ME ON THE CATAHOULA PROJECT.
special dog is on a mission..a mission
to find a new home. Meet Jasper, a
Catahoula Leopard dog with a big
heart, and big determination. It has
been nearly a year since his former
owner past away, and Jasper finds
himself on the road, trying to find his
place in life. After hitching a ride on a
chicken truck, the Catahoula finds
himself at a lonely roadside grocery
called Ma B's, nestled in the dense
swamplands. There he discovers
Katie, a young girl who instantly falls
in love with him, and Jasper's feeling
is more than mutual. But there is one
problem, Katie's mother thinks the
Catahoula belongs to someone else
because of the locket his former
owner placed around his neck. Soon,
against Katie's heart filled wishes, her
and her mother leave Jasper behind
at Ma B's. After they leave, Jasper
finds a red handkerchief lying in the
parking lot with a familiar name
written upon it. 'Katie" The
Catahoula takes it up in his mouth
and vows to find her again and prove
to her mother that he is a stray.
Problem number two, how will he
ever do that? It isn't long that Jasper
discovers a frog named Artemus
sitting along the back edge of the
parking lot in the swamp. He is a bit
of a strange one, but when he finds
out Jasper's predicament, he offers a
solution, visit the Swamp Gypsy, an
old woman who supposedly lives
deep in the swamp and knows all
things. Jasper is doubtful, but
determined. So with no further ideas,
the Catahoula lets Artemus lead him
to the Swamp Gypsy. Sounds so
simple. From here the story takes
you on Jasper and Art's wild journey
through the haunted Great
Crawdaddy Swamp, where they
meet new faces, get lost, battle with
danger, and begin to unlock the
unknown mysteries behind Jasper's
mystical cypress locket hanging from
his neck. Join them on their adventure
as they keep their heads fixed to the
most important thing, find the Gypsy.
For with the Gypsy lies Jasper's last
hope to find Katie again.
the Blue-Tail legacy. I wrote it in the
course of about one year, quite a bit
faster than I wrote Kentucky Moon,
but it is a little shorter. The complete
(long-hand version) was finished on
Wednesday, January the 15th 2003 at
8:30 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the
Newark Public Library( Wow, talk
about specific) When writing your 2nd
novel, you face a bit of hardship. Is it
going to be as good as the 1st? How
will I possibly get through another
book? But once you place yourself
where you need to be, its all smooth
sailing. You write faster, learn from
previous mistakes, and soon enough
your almost convinced that its better
than your 1st. Now how did this story
come about? Well, I had purchased a
dog breed encyclopedia from the mall
one day. I was using it for research on
"Kentucky Moon" because there were
a few coonhound breeds I needed to
know things about. While thumbing
through the book I stumbled upon the
most interesting looking dog I had ever
seen. I read the breed name
"Catahoula Leopard Dog" I was
facinated...So pure a breed, yet so
rugged and abstract. Of course I read
the whole page on them and before
you knew it I was already cooking up
all these ideas for a story before I had
even left the mall. A story of a
Catahoula trapped in a swamp with a
frog for a buddy was all I really
had...but it soon evolved, and now its
finished. Strange. Its amazing to me
that by simply looking up info for
another book I found the basis for the
next story in the Legacy. Coincidence?
Of course not. This book is best
looked upon as an animated visual.
What I mean when I say that is when
you read it, picturing the story comes
so much easier when you imagine it as
a cartoon. That is how I wrote it, and
how I'm illustrating it. An animated,
Cajun adventure.
Lynrd Sknyrd:/ Swamp Music
Charlie Daniels Band:/ Drinkin' My Baby Goodbye
Mary Chapin Carpenter:/ Twist & Shout
System of a Down:/ Peephole
White Zombie:/ Blood, Milk, & Sky
George Strait:/ Adalina
Garth Brooks:/ Baton Rouge
concept art for
Catahoula
