The Dylan & Dougall adventures
Dylan and Dougall inhabit a castle in the far northwest of the Princelings Realms. Dylan is such a character that he needed his own story. Not only did I write a Christmas story starring him for the website, it was then published in the first BookElves Anthology. Then I needed to write one to feature Dougall for the second BookElves book.
These are definitely short chapter books for (middle grade) readers aged 8-12.
Then I worked out how the pair got involved with the main Princelings of the East saga. I’d written a short story for the A to Z Challenge called X Marks the Spot, in which Dylan finds a map. That ended up as the hinge for the story in Princelings book 8 – rescuing an exiled Prince and restoring him to his rightful inheritance. That is Dylan’s intention, anyway. A noble mission, in which he stars, because he always does.
Then after that, I wanted to do a fundraiser for the community of the Isle of Ulva, so I wrote the third chapter book. And that turned out to give me a key plot point in the 9th Princelings book (where Dylan also turns up for a while).
And then came Deirdre
I’d had the three Dylan and Dougall books out for a while as novellas, but I wanted to get a girl in there somewhere. Naturally her name had to begin with D, but she’s not a relative. Instead, she’s a best friend, daughter of the local smith, and keen to have adventures like Dylan does.
A #writephoto prompt inspired me to create an adventure for her, and this expanded into a fourth story featuring Dylan, Dougall and the girl herself as the heroine.
Then I rewrote the other three adventures to give Deirdre an increasing role in them.
In 2021 I published these as the Messenger Misadventures, since it is Dylan, as the castle’s messenger, who drives them all.
They are illustrated, as with the Princelings series, but some of these are colourised. To print the books in colour makes a big price difference. The version available at Amazon and other retail stores is in monochrome. If you’d prefer the coloured versions, buy direct from Blurb, as shown on my Bookstore page.
There are also some short stories starring Dylan, Dougall and my other guinea pigs as themselves, getting up to mischief as they leave their cages. Some of them are in the anthology Critters and Crises. Some are yet to leave this blog. And there will be more…