The Haunting of Ace (Post 127)
The Haunting of Ace (1987), is a ghost story told in the first person by Poodle McAlister who is, as she puts it, "a dog of mixed breed". Poodle recounts how she was getting old, and after an accident she suddenly felt young again. Her pleasure in this dims when she realises her family is ignoring her. Not only that, but they bring a new young dog named Ace and instal him in HER kennel. Ace knows she's there and after initial resentment and some bad behaviour, Poodle decides she'll run away... after she educates Ace. Of course, she decides not to run. There's plenty of room in the kennel for two, especially if one of them is see-through.
I was invited to submit a fantasy story about a dog. The catch was, I had two days to do it. I wrote two stories. This is one of them. The other was The Year and a Day Dog (post 94). I offered both, and this is the one that was accepted. It's quite special to me in another way too. Poodle is based on Poddy, the dog of my childhood. Poddy was in fact an Australian Terrier. Ace is based on Ace the first, the dog of my children's childhood. He was a cocker spaniel whereas the Ace of this story is a setter. The real dogs never met, as Poddy died several years before Ace was born, but I had them in mind while writing. We've had three dogs called Ace, and three have shown up in books I've written or co-written. That's not quite as bizarre as it seems, since two of them were from the same series "world". One is Jack Russell's mother from the Jack Russell series and the other a little dog adopted by James and Stamp from Pup Patrol.
About the Blog
I was invited to submit a fantasy story about a dog. The catch was, I had two days to do it. I wrote two stories. This is one of them. The other was The Year and a Day Dog (post 94). I offered both, and this is the one that was accepted. It's quite special to me in another way too. Poodle is based on Poddy, the dog of my childhood. Poddy was in fact an Australian Terrier. Ace is based on Ace the first, the dog of my children's childhood. He was a cocker spaniel whereas the Ace of this story is a setter. The real dogs never met, as Poddy died several years before Ace was born, but I had them in mind while writing. We've had three dogs called Ace, and three have shown up in books I've written or co-written. That's not quite as bizarre as it seems, since two of them were from the same series "world". One is Jack Russell's mother from the Jack Russell series and the other a little dog adopted by James and Stamp from Pup Patrol.
About the Blog
Sally is Sally Odgers; author, manuscript assessor, editor, anthologist and reader. She runs http://www.affordablemanuscriptassessments.com and Prints Charming Books. (Sally is me, by the way, and I am lots of other things too, but these are the relevant ones for now.)
The goal for 2017 is to write a post a day profiling the background behind one of my books; how it came to be written, what it's about, and any things of note that happened along the way. If you're an author, an aspiring author, a reader or just someone who enjoys windows into worlds, you might find this fun. The books are not in any special order, but will be assigned approximate dates, and pictures, where they exist. If you enjoyed a post, or want to ask about any of my books or my manuscript assessment service, leave me a message.
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