We have some news!

 I've been incredibly busy, or I would have been here by now. But yes, we have some Companion Dragons news!

Earlier this month, I was contacted via email by Pro Se head honcho Tommy Hancock, and attached to that message was a galley draft for the next Lazlo book! That means it is nearing the time to publish it. So I got right down to work on that and knocked it out in a day. I've been dying for one of those to come out again.

This one is titled: LAZLO AT HOME. Yeah, that was the best descriptor I could come up with and it's the title of one of the stories within. This one is a four story anthology, all written by Your's Truly. The stories in order are: LAZLO AT HOME, AMBASSADOR LAZLO, FINDERS KEEPERS, & THUNDER BOOMERS AND GULLY WASHERS. In each tale, our intrepid little blue dragon familiar is learning how to live and manage his position as a helper in a magical household while making friends and having some fun along the way. Yet Lazlo is still rather naive, and like most youngsters of any kind, he's sometimes forgetful and often tempted to do things that can get him in a boatload of trouble. Plus he hasn't quite managed human language in its entirety, which can lead to some interesting misunderstandings. Yet Lazlo is plucky and determined, and he has a good heart, so he manages to bumble his way through whatever has to be accomplished.

These have been fun stories to write, and I actually enjoyed rereading them for the first time in about 4-1/2 years. I found myself chuckling here and there, and there are some somber and scary moments throughout as well. These are suitable for all ages, any child old enough to be read to really—and plenty of adults seem to enjoy them as well. This was my hope when we first started talking about putting the dragon stories into books, because I wanted them to be something that most of the family could enjoy. I read to my boys when they were young, and we shared books I loved as a child as well as things they chose for themselves. They now read to my younger grandchildren, and the oldest grandson is a reader too. We all loved the Harry Potter books and movies, where the magical world came to life and there was so much richness of detail involved. We also enjoyed J.R. R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, C. S. Lewis' Narnia series, and Kenneth Grahame's Wind in the Willows stories. I wanted Companion Dragons Tales to be memorable like those, where you want to go back and revisit that mystical place over and over again, and can't wait to share it with the next generation. I'm hoping that's how readers feel about these stories too.

I have no idea when LAZLO AT HOME will be out, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be in time for holiday shopping. You know, 2020 has been a real stinker of a year for most of us, with little in the way of good news and all sorts of cataclysmic stuff going on. There's nothing that makes the ugliness out there go away for a while like a book that can transport you to a place and time where when things go wrong, they somehow get fixed and leave you feeling better at the end. I think we all could use a little of that right now. Hunkering down with a good read and shutting out the screaming headlines, in-your-face social network opinions, and continual news bulletins is far healthier than a lot of things we could be doing. Our kids feel that stress too. These are books that can be passed around the family, or safely read aloud. Educators will tell you, kids need to read more and the best way to set an example for that is to be a reader yourself. We used to do family reading time in the evenings after snacks were eaten, teeth were brushed, and jammies were on, and my kids really enjoyed that. It helped them settle before bed. We had a lot less stress back then than we're all facing now. It's something to think about, no matter what it is you enjoy reading.

I will let you know right here when the book does come out, as well as on my Facebook and Twitter accounts. So stay tuned CDT fans, there's more to come.

~Nancy