Thought you might enjoy some of the music I listened to while creating my young adult fantasy novel, The Daring Young Man.

I wanted to post Devotchka's song Ruthless, but I couldn't find it on YouTube, so here's their The Clockwise Witness, which fits the bill too!

For Markie Thuthis, here's Last Night at the Jetty by Panda Bear.

Yay - the day I've worked so hard for is here. Dante Delgado is out in the world and off to live his life.

Now you can read all about Dante's adventures (and misadventures) with The Mumbo Jumbo Circus!

Available in ebook and paperback.

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If you're new to The Mumbo Jumbo Circus, the ebook of The Mumbo Jumbo Circus Volume 1, is on sale now for $0.99 at all the above locations!

Get started reading about the fantastical goings on beneath the magical Ringmaster's Big Top.

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Do you remember back in May when I designed sets and props for a local ballet production of Alice in Wonderland? Well I've indulged in a bit of set-designing again, this time for Contra Costa Ballet's Story of the Nutcracker. They needed to replace an aging backdrop for Act Two and asked me to help.

This beloved long-running production is narrated and is geared toward small children. My challenges were to produce a design that melded with the existing design for Act One and all of the costumes as well as appeal to little kids.

Here is my design at 1/4" to 1' scale.

Here is the actual drop in production.
The colors are more intense than in my painting, but the kids in the audience loved it. There were many oohs and ahhs when the curtain went up.

The drop was 60'wide, too big to be painted on the stretchers, so it was done on the floor of one of the theaters.

Here it is finished at dress rehearsal with the candy cane legs.The show was wonderful as always.

And last but not least, here is my little sugarplum in a costume appearance for San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker at opening night. She's a student at the San Francisco Ballet School and was recently laid up with a stress fracture. She's back to work now and was eager to be a part of the show in whatever way she could. The highlight of her evening was when a little girl asked, "Are you a princess?" Her fellow dancer answered, "Yes. Yes, she is."

Do you have plans to see a traditional holiday show this season?