Gryphon Wings & Tiger Tails

Wrath of the Gryphonwind is here!

2012-01-03T20:46:00.000-06:00

It's finally here! Wrath of the Gryphonwind is now for sale at Amazon in a print edition! Wrath of the Gryphonwind is a gay-themed steampunk young adult novel with gryphons and dragons and a werewolf and...well, here's what it's about!

Young inventor Owen Pyke would rather build mechanical men and steam-powered potato peelers than become an armored, gryphon-riding knight of the sky. But joining the Gryphonwind guild is Owen’s only ticket out of the orphanage. Together with his beloved bond-gryphon Odrynn, Owen and his fellow Gryphonwind cadets train for aerial battle in the war to end faun slavery in the south. After Owen angers his faun friend By’yalt’r by flirting with By’yalt’r’s boyfriend Eryk, the faun disappears and Owen is suspected of harming him. Owen must quickly find out what happened to By’yalt’r while avoiding the violent anger of the faun’s bond-gryphon, along with a private detective hiding a terrifying secret and a nosy reporter who might be a werewolf. But an unsavory man follows Owen to stop the boy from uncovering the truth. And the angry Gryphonwind armies of the southern protectorates are drawing ever closer to the great city of Port Cedryssene...

Sounds like fun, doesn't it? There's plenty of action and excitement to enjoy! And check out the great cover art by April Danaher! Keep an eye open for Wrath of the Gryphonwind in Kindle and e-reader editions, coming soon! But you can get the print edition now. Enjoy!

Wrath of the Gryphonwind at Amazon.com

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UPDATE: Wrath of the Gryphonwind is now available in a Kindle edition! I'll have the version for other e-readers up soon, too.

And Weren’t You in Love When You Were Young?

2011-12-30T18:15:00.000-06:00

More good writing news to end the year! I just learned that my story “And Weren’t You in Love When You Were Young?” has been accepted by Etopia Press and will be issued by them soon as an e-book. Based on a classic tale of love and tragedy, “And Weren’t You in Love When You Were Young?” is about fifteen-year-old Todd Laurino, who falls hard for fellow high school student Adrian Ginneo. But Adrian cannot come to grips with being gay, and his blind rejection of Todd’s love devastates the boy and nearly destroys Adrian’s best friend. I’ll post an update when the story is published. This is one of those wonderful tales that I always want so very much to find a good home, and it has. I’m very happy about this!

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"Chang'd Innocence" Is Up!

2011-12-20T20:32:00.000-06:00

Wow, that was fast! "Chang'd Innocence" is now up at Aphelion Webzine! As I described previously, "Chang'd Innocence" is a mysterious/sinister/ beautiful/harrowing tale of innocence violated and the nightmare that innocence can bring upon wrongdoers. The journey of a mysterious, violated girl and her protectors through the dark night/nightmare/fright there streets of New York City carries you past shapeshifters and vampires and werewolves, and policemen who are not entirely living anymore.

Shapeshifter Zefiryn Piotrowicz was raped at age twelve by a stranger who destroyed her family to acquire the strength of Zefiryn’s magic. Two years later a disgraced Shakespeare professor and a kidnapped lawyer help runaway Zefiryn sort through New York’s monsters of the night to find her attacker, and take revenge.

This is a haunting tale, full of loss/longing/betrayal/love, which always seem to arrive together/forever, don't they? Enjoy the story, and always be careful of the innocence you do wrong to -- it springs up/wings up/fights up/flights up in many unexpected places.

"Chang'd Innocence" at Aphelion Webzine

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"Chang’d Innocence" is coming

2011-12-05T22:30:00.009-06:00

My story "Chang'd Innocence" will be published this month at Aphelion Webzine. "Chang'd Innocence" is a mysterious/sinister/beautiful/harrowing tale of innocence violated and the nightmare innocence can bring upon wrongdoers. The journey of a mysterious, violated girl and her protectors through the dark night/nightmare/fright there streets of New York City carries you past shapeshifters and vampires and werewolves, and policemen who are not entirely living anymore.

Shapeshifter Zefiryn Piotrowicz was raped at age twelve by a stranger who destroyed her family to acquire the strength of Zefiryn’s magic. Two years later a disgraced Shakespeare professor and a kidnapped lawyer help runaway Zefiryn sort through New York’s monsters of the night to find her attacker, and take revenge.

I'll post an update here when "Chang'd Innocence" is published at Aphelion. Until then, be careful of the innocence you do wrong to -- it springs up/wings up/fights up/flights up in many unexpected places.

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Wrath of the Gryphonwind Cover Update

2011-11-27T22:43:00.008-06:00

Artwork by April Danaher for Wrath of the Gryphonwind

Wow. Just...wow!

April Danaher has really outdone herself here. I love this! The characters, the colors, the whole atmosphere of the work is amazing! She really captured the boys (Owen and By'yalt'r) and the gryphon (Odrynn) so well! I get so tickled when I see something I created in words become pictures in someone else's hands.

Wrath of the Gryphonwind will be ready to read before you know it! Stay tuned for further updates.

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Wrath of the Gryphonwind Coming Soon!

2011-11-20T14:09:00.016-06:00

Artwork by April Danaher for Wrath of the Gryphonwind

My YA fantasy novel Wrath of the Gryphonwind is nearing completion! It has young warrior knights flying into battle on armored gryphons and a gay teen love triangle and a murder mystery and...well, here's the description I wrote for it:

Young inventor Owen Pyke would rather build mechanical men and steam-powered potato peelers than become an armored, gryphon-riding knight of the sky. But joining the Gryphonwind guild is Owen’s only ticket out of the orphanage. Together with his beloved bond-gryphon Odrynn, Owen and his fellow Gryphonwind cadets train for aerial battle in the war to end faun slavery in the south. After Owen angers his faun friend By’yalt’r by flirting with By’yalt’r’s boyfriend Eryk, the faun disappears and Owen is suspected of harming him. Owen must quickly find out what happened to By’yalt’r while avoiding the violent anger of the faun’s bond-gryphon, along with a private detective hiding a terrifying secret and a nosy reporter who might be a werewolf. But an unsavory man follows Owen to stop the boy from uncovering the truth. And the angry Gryphonwind armies of the southern protectorates are drawing ever closer to the great city of Port Cedryssene...

I'm very excited about this one! But one thing I'm even more excited about is the cover art being created for it by April Danaher. April is an extremely talented artist, and those of you who follow the Ponies (you know who you are!) probably know her excellent work already from her DeviantArt page. The drawing above is the cover of the book prior to being painted in full color. Here's another sketch April made of the characters in my novel.

I love the concepts and the dynamism of her line drawings. Stay tuned for more information and a look at the finished cover for Wrath of the Gryphonwind!

BONUS PONY PIC: Here's one of my favorite Pony pictures by April, which was one of the pictures that convinced me she was the right artist for this project. I simply love this work!

"Summer Fun," by littletiger488

April's DeviantArt Page (littletiger488)
April's Website

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"Flight" and "Tiger Stone" are coming!

2011-11-19T15:11:00.006-06:00

Thanks to the lovely ladies who run Gypsy Shadow Publishing, my stories "Flight" and "Tiger Stone" will be published by them later this year or early next year!

"Flight" is the story of a boy named Ogaleesha who is trapped in a summer of hell on his grandparents’ Wyoming ranch when he meets a boy who can fly. The boy, part of a hidden tribe of people like him, forces Ogaleesha to face a terrifying fact about his grandparents’ past and an inescapable personal truth, one that will change the stubborn Ogaleesha's life forever.

"Tiger Stone" is a noir detective fantasy in which private eye Kimball Glock hunts for a stolen diamond through the jazz-magic streets of postwar New York City. Kimball uncovers the stone in the teeth of a shapeshifting tiger-boy who hides from a witch bent on the child’s enslavement. Tough guy Kimball is shattered by his selfish betrayal of the boy before being swept by magic both dark and light into a final battle for the weretiger’s soul.

I'll post updates as the stories are published. Thanks to Denise and Charlotte at Gypsy Shadow for giving these stories a home!

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They do not belong to you.

2011-11-13T09:43:00.002-06:00

(I almost feel as if I should apologize for this in advance. Almost. But I won’t. I warn you, this piece is rough. I hope perhaps you’ll finish it with some idea of the pain that gave birth to this essay/blog post/emotional rant. Just don’t forget it if you do read it. Don’t forget them.)

Let’s get one thing clear right off the bat. Jerry Sandusky is a rapist, and the people around him who did nothing while children were being raped are enablers at best and co-conspirators at worst. The full extent of the law should and likely will be thrown at them. I wonder if Sandusky will use the excuse that he cares about kids. That’s bullshit. Anyone who cares about kids wouldn’t hurt them the way he did, with threats and coercion and force. That’s not caring; that’s predation. There’s no excuse for causing that kind of hurt, ever.

That has to be said first, because that is not why I’m writing this.

I’m going to skip over my thoughts on a voyeuristic country that hates child abuse but seems so anxious to hear about it; a hypocritical populace that despises child molesters but can’t get enough of the sordid details on Oprah or TV newsmagazines and such. We’ve all heard the details about the boy in the shower, and it’s as if we can’t wait for that boy and others to come forward and tell us the rest (I listen to NPR and the other evening, believe me, they could hardly contain their anticipation). At this moment (5:29 p.m. central time on 11/12/11), there are over 31,000 articles about the Penn State case on the Google News aggregator. That’s staggering. And it’s sickening. But I’ll spare you that opinion, because that is also not why I’m writing this.

I’m writing this because of a misplaced fury. I’m writing this because I’m tired of the smugness, the certainty, the assuredness of those who think they’re not culpable. I’m writing this because the other day I read a news commentator who described the rape of that young boy in the shower as the “most heinous act” one could commit against a child. But you know what? I think torturing and murdering a child are far worse. And the family homes of America are filled with parents and guardians who do just that (at least the torture part), and we fail to get outraged. We look the other way because “that’s just the way people discipline kids.”

No, I think the betrayal that occurs when a parent turns vicious on you and beats the living shit out of you is far worse. (In my case, it was for being an incorrigible girly-boy.) That is torture far worse than anything physical because you know what? The betrayal of a child’s love by a parent is far worse than any physical torture. It’s a torture that, for lack of a better concept, affects the very soul of the child, the very innermost sense of self and love and happiness that belongs to that boy or girl. The boy in the shower with the rapist Sandusky may have felt betrayed by a trusted and respected friend, but he didn’t have to feel the immensely deep and heart-shattering betrayal of his own father lashing out violently at him.

You may disagree with me if you wish. But you had better have some good goddamn backup for your opinion, because I LIVED THAT TORTURE AS A CHILD. I’m not going into details here about my father’s repeated beatings of me. But I will say this: the day my father died was the happiest day of my childhood.

I remember it as vividly as if it happened yesterday, being awakened early in the morning by a ringing telephone and asking my mother who had called. She told me the news. I went back to bed and cuddled up under the covers with a little smile on my face and repeated to myself, over and over, “I’ll never be beaten again; I’ll never be beaten again.”

I was saying that mantra about my father. MY FATHER. You think that what happens when a child is raped is worse than the depths of betrayal felt by child whose parent turns against him? I invite you to think clearly about this. I am so sick of the rage people express over cases like the one that kicked off this post, but seem to think nothing of it when parents rip out their children’s hearts and stomp on them repeatedly. We don’t treat children as lives in this country, we treat them as possessions. Why else would a threat to one’s child and a threat to one’s car elicit similar reactions from many parents in this country?

I know; many of you hate the sort of abuse I speak of as much as what happened to the boy in the shower. But get some goddamned perspective, people. The mob mentality surrounding the Penn State case is sickening. You’re castigating the enablers at Penn State because their betrayal and failures hit too close to home; because experiences like I had probably go on in your neighborhoods all of the time, if not in your own homes. You pillory the sexual abusers because you know if the spotlight was ever turned on you and/or your neighbors and extended family, you would not likely survive the revelations. Could you live with yourself if I and everyone else in the world had a window into your relationship with your child when no one else was looking? I wonder. I wonder because I know I grew up in circumstances which could not have borne that light. And honestly, what happened to me wasn’t anywhere near as bad as some of the other horrifying tales I’ve heard.

If this all seems too harsh, too widespread in its accusation, it’s because when you grow up as an abused child you begin to suspect all of the adults around you as colluding with your abuser. That’s what I believed: they all know. They all know daddies beat their boys with so much hatred and fury. It’s the secret of the adult world; that kids are there for adults to punish and hurt as they please. They all know.

Try growing up with that fundamental idea of society stuck in your mind. It’ll fuck you up big time.

I’ve gone on long enough, but one more thing needs to be said before I go. Get a grip, people. And, as I ranted on another occasion when sanctimony threatened to overrule decency and acts of actual benefit to others, go find some way to help kids who are in trouble NOW. And realize that the sensational cases, the ones that make the evening news and get splattered all over the Internet, don’t even begin to scratch the surface of the horrors that children have to live through. Somewhere in this country, a child cried himself to sleep tonight the same way I once did. And that is one child too many. And YOU need to stop your self-righteous, feel-good, “goddamn, I’m better than that fucking child molester” bullshit and make this world a better place for kids. Goddamn fucking NOW. Children are not your possessions. They are their own LIVES.

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Beware of the unicorns!

2011-11-12T13:04:00.008-06:00

"Rainbows & Unicorns" is now available from Aeon Press Books in a volume called Transtories. This anthology looks to be chock full of great stories! My story "Rainbows & Unicorns" is a sweet fairy tale with blood splattered all over it, in which a gang of hurt kids encounters a brand of helpful magic that, for some people, turns into a nightmare. I will leave it for you to discover why it fits perfectly in an anthology involving stories that in some way are based on the word "trans".

Transtories is available in both print and electronic editions. Read it, and be very careful that you never harm those who are protected by unicorns. Enjoy!

Transtories, from Aeon Press Books

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"Snow, Glass, Apples" -- by Neil Gaiman

2011-10-31T19:41:00.005-05:00

It's just another version of the Snow White tale. How creepy can it be?

You'll want to be locking that door, by the way.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Illustration by Julie Dillon.

"Snow, Glass, Apples" -- by Neil Gaiman

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Once Again, HOORAY FOR BOYS WHO WANT TO BE GIRLS!

2011-10-27T19:29:00.013-05:00

Seven-year-old Bobby Montoya identifies as a girl and wants to join the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts won't let him. His mother, Felisha Archuleta, thinks the organization is being ridiculous.

Archuleta says that Bobby identifies as a girl and she doesn't have a problem with it: "He's been doing this since he was about 2 years old. He's loved girl stuff, so we just let him dress how he wants, as long as he's happy." Bobby himself told CNN, "It's like hurting my heart. It hurts me and my mom both. Somebody told me I couldn't like girl stuff."

Fortunately, Bobby's mother and grandmother are telling Bobby that it's okay to like girl stuff! It's about time people figured out that girly-boys, however they grow up to be, shouldn't be shunned, discouraged, shamed, teased, beaten, or otherwise just because they're different. My life would have been a lot better had the adults around me, when I was a girly-boy, understood this.

Here's a great video about Bobby. All I can say is, just like with Livvy James, when I was a kid I would have killed for those fecking GORGEOUS boots Bobby is wearing!

My girly-boy story is here. I still miss that black cat costume an awful lot...

"Transgender Boy Tries To Join Girl Scouts, Rejected Because Of 'Boy Parts'" (Gothamist)

BTW, Bobby likes My Little Pony, so on top of everything else he totally rocks!

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An American Classic

2011-10-24T20:07:00.005-05:00

I first read this book many years ago on a business trip, one of those things you have to endure where you want some sort of engrossing novel to carry you away from the bullshit of a job you hate (and traveling with the company owner, too) and one of those nerve-wracking times when you have to be “on” all the time because you’re surrounded by clients who are all morons anyway, and you have to be nice to them. I was on board a plane reading the opening scenes of American Gods that take place on a plane. Not that it had anything to do with the novel, but I remember watching what was almost a mugging on a Baltimore street from my hotel room late one night while I read this book. Fascinating, as if the world had become weirdly in-tune and out-of-order from the normal and usual, as if tendrils of the novel wormed their way out of the pages and into the ether.

I finished American Gods well after that trip ended, and when I closed its pages I was startled by an unbidden thought: “That was one of the most satisfying books I have ever read.” And I meant it. Every moment spent reading American Gods had been worth it, every hour with it an hour much more than well-spent. How often can you say that about any book? The works of Shakespeare and Homer; the utterly perfect characters and situations of Stephen King’s masterpiece, The Shining; the overwhelming too-muchness and diamond-flaw perfection of my favorite novel, Les Misérables. Not many others. Not many others at all.

The edition of American Gods I read years ago was the “standard edition,” I guess we could say. I started reading it again recently in the above pictured, Tenth Anniversary edition, with text restored by the brilliant Neil Gaiman. I’m already hooked again. Read this. It’s worth every minute of your time. Very little written today is this goddamned excellent.

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Psychotic Puck

2011-10-23T14:30:00.011-05:00

Puck has wandered into the outline for my next novel and wants to take it over. I continue to resist his insurrection, but plan on finding a good and proper place for him in it. I figured I’d better catch up on Puck’s most famous literary appearance and re-read (and re-view) A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’ve always wanted to see this old 1935 adaptation of Shakespeare’s play and I finally watched it last night. What about Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of Puck?

He’s completely deranged and psychotic. It’s amazing.

I was intrigued by this quip from Amazon.com about Rooney’s performance:

The other actors are decidedly varied, and they tend to be overwhelmed by the production design. Not so Mickey Rooney, whose performance as Puck is a feral, antic act of imagination (he was 14 during filming); picture a boy raised by wolves who somehow memorized Shakespeare. His Puck growls and screams and mocks the drama of the other characters, a little postmodern imp before his time. (Critic David Thomson called this Puck "truly inhuman, one of the cinema's most arresting pieces of magic").

“A boy raised by wolves who somehow memorized Shakespeare.” That is amazingly accurate. Rooney’s portrayal of Puck is legendary – he’s off-the-wall, annoying, magnificent, profound, silly, and magnetic. His laugh is one of the three greatest film laughs I have ever heard, along with Tom Hulce as Mozart in Amadeus and Heath Ledger as The Joker. In fact, give Mickey Rooney’s Puck a knife and make him malevolent, and he instantly becomes Ledger’s psychotic villain from The Dark Knight.

I enjoyed this all more than I expected to. Definitely worth hunting down.

Here’s Gore Vidal introducing AMND on TCM. There’s a brief clip of Mickey Rooney in this with just a touch of that insane laugh of his. Pay attention to what Vidal says that Tennessee Williams once told him about Mickey Rooney.

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Totally Awesome OPERA KID!

2011-10-18T21:54:00.009-05:00

THIS KID IS AWESOME! Nine-year-old Aiden Sagerman loves opera and he wants to find other kids who love opera. He's not having much luck, though.

Most kids think of operas as long, boring plays that are in some language they don't know. Other kids think of operas as good chances to get some sleep. Still other kids think of operas as both. And then there are kids like me; kids who like opera, kids who understand the plot.

A lot of kids misunderstand opera. Once I told a friend the plot of "Die Walkure." I knew it was the kind of thing he might enjoy. As soon as I told him it was an opera, he stopped listening and tried to change the subject. That's what has happened with everyone else.

There are so many reasons why I like opera: the complex plots, the amazing music, the interesting characters, the battle scenes and just the stories themselves. I really don't understand why other kids don't like it. What idiot came up with the idea that operas were boring for children?

Reading his commentary is one thing, but you have to hear him deliver it for the full effect. Cripes, three-fourths of the adults out there couldn't deliver a short commentary with this much expression and feeling. Dang it, I think I see now why Aiden loves opera...

Good luck, kid! Eventually the opera lovers all find each other somehow.

"Opera Kid: Nine-year-old Aiden Sagerman likes opera, and he's not kidding." (KQED Radio)

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Hooray for boys who want to be girls!

2011-10-06T20:04:00.007-05:00

This is a fantastic article about a terrific girl, her beyond-awesome mom and dad, and how they defied bigots to help their child be who she needs to be. Naturally, the worst of the bigots are adults. The kids are all right.

‘None of the other children called me nasty names and the boys accepted me as a girl. A few of them kept calling me by my old boy’s name, but I didn’t mind because it takes time to get used to something new. I have a small group of close friends — all girls — who would look after me if anyone tried to pick on me, so I’m not worried. I have as much acceptance as I need.’

Read the whole thing for an inspiring look at a world that, small hard-won bit by small hard-won bit, is changing for the better.

"Why I let my son live as a girl: Mother of boy who returned to school in a skirt bravely tells her extraordinary story" (Daily Mail)

BONUS STORY! Here's a look at a sweet world where boys want to be girls, girls want to be boys, boys just want to love boys and girls just want to love girls, and bullies get their comeuppance!

"Gryphon and Tiger and the Boy Filled with Dreams"

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Wolf Note

2011-09-25T13:09:00.010-05:00

My novel Wolf Note is now available in an Amazon Kindle edition! This tale is an action-filled mystery with a werewolf private eye who falls in love with a beautiful and famous operatic soprano -- and then he discovers that someone is trying to kill her!

Private investigator Griffin Thorn must find out who wants to kill opera superstar Brianna Keller. Griffin becomes Brianna’s bodyguard after an unknown assailant attacks her, and his admiration of her talent quickly turns into love for her. Secretly, Griffin is a werewolf keeping one step ahead of bounty hunters dedicated to wiping out his kind. Orphaned as a boy, Griffin took bloody revenge on the hunter who killed his parents. Griffin thwarts another attack on Brianna and, with hard-nosed FBI agent Tarrant Cobb, tries to uncover the stalker’s identity before he strikes again. Brianna learns Griffin’s secret and falls in love with him anyway, but another deadly attempt to take the singer’s life nearly kills her children. With the puzzle unsolved, Griffin realizes his violent past might destroy his dream of staying with Brianna forever. But Griffin soon learns that in life, love, and murder, nothing is ever as it seems.

There's plenty of action and romance in this one! Wolf Note will soon be available in a print edition and in other e-reader editions. Get ready for some red-in-tooth-and-claw opera werewolf action! And it's just in time for the beginning of the new season of The Metropolitan Opera! Enjoy!

Wolf Note at Amazon.com

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Where the Wild Things Still Are; or, Children Are Beasts

2011-09-19T22:38:00.000-05:00

A delightful and acerbic look at children's books today from one of my heroes, the irrepressible Maurice Sendak. What's wrong with kids' books today? They're too goddamn nice!

When your work first appeared, it was considered to be new, something different. What were you doing that nobody else had done?

I was developing a child who I recognized as myself as a child, from my observations of other children around me in Brooklyn. We were wild creatures. We did things that were objectionable.

Max, to me, was a very average normal kid, but he upset a lot of people at the time. He yelled at his mother, he talked back to her, she deprived him of food and then gave it to him. Children who fight back, children who are full of excitement are the kind of children I like.

Max was a little beast, and we’re all little beasts. That was what was so novel.

More terrific observations about the cowards that were and are our parents from Mr. Sendak here. God, I love this man!

"On the Phone With Maurice Sendak" (The New York Times)

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Illustrations by Brian Ness

2011-09-18T11:41:00.002-05:00

Gryphon and Tiger are very excited that the fabulous Brian Ness created some beautiful drawings for their site! Brian is a terrific artist and his work captures the world of Gryphon and Tiger wonderfully.

Brian resides in Minnesota, though like me with Gryphon and Tiger, his real heart seems to reside in a place called Dandyland.

You can visit Dandyland and see even more of Brian’s lovely work here. If you're daring, Brian collects a fabulous treasure trove of wonders at this site, too!

I loaded a page of Brian's illustrations at my SmugMug page just so you could view Brian’s Gryphon & Tiger drawings in all their ginormous glory!

I first found Brian’s work on some of the stories at I’m from Driftwood, so poke around there and you’ll find some sweet surprises.

Gryphon and Tiger both want to say, “Thank you, Brian!” And they would like to offer Brian a freshly baked partridge popover and some hot chocolate.

Gryphon and Tiger Have Moved In!

2011-09-18T11:29:00.002-05:00

As you can see, our friends Gryphon and Tiger are in the process of moving their authorial establishment here! You can find tabs at the top of this blog that will tell you a little more about Gryphon and Tiger. You'll also find a page with links to the tales of their adventures! So settle in for some fun with Gryphon and Tiger. Here's some hot chocolate, and I think Tiger is just pulling fresh-baked cookies out of the oven. Enjoy!

The Gryphon & Tiger Story Co.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Valiant Girl

2011-09-18T11:01:00.002-05:00

Gryphon and Tiger hiked down from the mountains toward Town, carrying the bag stuffed with gold taken from the dragon they had slain. Gryphon and Tiger were not exactly taking the gold to Wizard with alacrity. The day was radiant, and Gryphon and Tiger walked slowly and laughed at the birds and stopped to smell some purple flowers, because Gryphon and Tiger had just become friends, and they didn’t want this precious time alone together to end.

But end it did with a flurry and a bustle and a burst of fallen autumn leaves. Onto the forest path tumbled a Girl of twelve, and her eyes were black and her curly hair was black, and her skin was the color of rich tea with just a little milk. Her clothes were ragged and colorful, and some bits of her clothing had fringe and other parts had beads, and she had leaves tangled in her hair. Girl nearly fell when she spilled onto the forest path from a ridge above, and then she looked around, glowered at Gryphon and Tiger, and raised to them a heavy sword that was much too big for her.

“Do you work for Wizard?” Girl said.

“Well, um,” said Tiger; but he was interrupted by Gryphon, who said, “No, we don’t,” because Gryphon knew right away that something was wrong.

“Good,” Girl said, “because I just escaped from Wizard, and I have to leave Town.”

“Escaped from Wizard?” Tiger said. “But everyone loves him!”

“Ha!” cried Girl. “You haven’t seen his secret dungeon under his Magic Tree where he keeps children locked in cages so he can turn us into beasts.”

This news made Tiger very unhappy, and he tugged on his tail a couple of times and stood closer to Gryphon.

“But where,” Tiger said to Girl, “are your parents?”

“Dad tried to save me,” Girl said, “but Wizard turned him into a manticore, and Dad had to go hide because he had become all big and scary.” Girl turned her head aside and shed one tear, which was enough for her. Then she said, “Mom lives in Town, but if I go back to her, Wizard will turn her into a troll.”

Gryphon said, “What does Wizard want to do to you?”

Girl cried, “He wants to turn me into a unicorn!”

Tiger tried to smile. “Unicorns are nice.”

“Yes,” Girl said, “they’re nice and pink and flowery and pretty, and I don’t wanna be one!” She waved her sword at Gryphon and Tiger to show how serious she was.

“How does Wizard change people?” Gryphon said.

“I dunno,” Girl said. “All I know is, it takes a lot of gold.”

Tiger cried a little bit then, for it was he who had asked Gryphon to help on the quest Wizard had given Tiger, to kill the dragon and take his gold. Tiger said to Girl, “We didn’t know.”

Gryphon comforted Tiger, and told Girl the truth. “Are there more children in Wizard’s dungeon?”

“Ye-e-e-eah,” said Girl, who was now suspicious of Gryphon and Tiger. “Lots.”

“Then,” Tiger said, “we must go rescue them.”

Gryphon and Tiger hid their bag of gold in the woods, since now they would never give it to Wizard. Then they walked with Girl out of the woods and into Town, toward Wizard’s Magic Tree. Along the way they stopped and bought a green scarf from a street vendor; and Tiger, who liked to make things, fashioned the scarf into a sling for Girl’s sword so her arms wouldn’t get so tired carrying the heavy weapon. Girl loved Tiger for that, but she was still suspicious of big and powerful Gryphon. Gryphon had black eyes, and Girl knew that creatures with black eyes, like her, had smart and busy brains. But while they all walked down the street past carriages and jugglers and traveling eggcup salesmen, a retinue of the King’s Knights rounded a corner and came toward our adventurers. The King’s Knights were proud and noble, but they were a little dim, and they might not have believed raggedy Girl’s tale of the evil Wizard and his dungeon, because Wizard might have sent the Knights to look for her. So while the Knights demanded that a hapless eggcup salesman show them his eggcup-selling license, Gryphon used his huge wings to shield Girl from the Knights’ view. Then Gryphon, Girl, and Tiger ducked behind a passing trolley and ran away. After that, Girl loved Gryphon, too.

Wizard’s Magic Tree was in the center of Town Park, down in a little valley shaped like a soup bowl. Few people ventured close to the Magic Tree since the valley rim was patrolled by little brown wriggly creatures that looked like moles but had teeth like sharks. But because Tiger had been there before, the mole-sharks let Tiger and Gryphon pass. Girl hid on Gryphon’s back underneath his folded wings so she wouldn’t be spotted.

Tiger shivered after they passed the mole-sharks. “Those little creatures are so ugly,” he said. “Why did we never realize that Wizard is evil?”

“The powerful ones have special magic,” Gryphon said, “and can fool people into thinking they’re good.”

Tiger thought Gryphon was very wise, and that made him feel a little warmer inside.

Magic Tree was one of those places that look small from the outside, but are really as big as palaces when you go through the door. When Gryphon and Tiger entered with hidden Girl, Wizard waited for them in his blue and silver Wizard robes and his blue and silver Wizard hat, while standing at his blue and gold cloth-covered magic-making table.

Wizard stroked his very long and silver Wizard beard. “Where,” he said with a sniff, “is my gold?”

Girl jumped up from under Gryphon’s wings, and stood as tall as she could atop Gryphon’s broad back. She thrust her sword out toward Wizard as if it weighed nothing at all.

“The only gold you’ll feel, evil Wizard,” Girl said, “will be the gold on the hilt of my sword!”

Gryphon’s long ears twitched, and any doubts he had were dispelled.

“I can hear children crying in your dungeon,” Gryphon said, “you evil, evil man.”

And so they fought, and there was much shouting and tussling and flashing of magic fireballs. The mole-sharks ran in to help Wizard with their greedy, dripping fangs, but Tiger took care of them one at a time by popping the monsters with his sharp tiger-teeth, and the wriggly little creatures’ bodies burst like bloody little balloons. Gryphon flew about the high-ceilinged chamber and batted back Wizard’s magic fireballs with his wings, and slashed at Wizard with his beak and claws. But it was Girl who was bravest of all. She sneaked under gryphon’s mighty, flapping wings, ran up to the distracted Wizard, and plunged her sword deep into his body. Girl never broke a promise, and indeed the only gold that Wizard felt that day was the cold hilt of Girl’s sword on his belly before he died.

A trio of very dim Knights waited outside the Magic Tree to arrest those who had attacked wise and good Wizard. But Gryphon held the Knights back while Tiger and Girl brought the newly-freed children up from Wizard’s dark dungeon.

Tiger never frowned, but right then he was very angry, and he ordered the Knights, “Take these children back to their proper homes!”

The Knights obeyed, though first they had to free the eggcup salesman whom they had arrested for not having the proper eggcup-selling papers.

Gryphon looked at Tiger, gave his new friend a sad smile, and said, “Your fine clothes are all bloody and dirty.”

Tiger smiled, and nuzzled Gryphon’s beak with his muzzle. “That’s okay,” Tiger said, “because I’m with you.”

Girl giggled at them because to her, there was nothing sillier than being in love.

Gryphon, Tiger, and Girl went back for their bag of gold, and divided the coins three ways. Then Gryphon and Tiger took Girl home, and there was much happiness even before Girl’s Dad showed up. He was no longer a manticore, for Wizard’s evil spell had worn off when Wizard died. Dad hugged his Girl, saw her gold, and being a very practical sort of Dad, he reached at once for the newspaper to find his family a nice, new home.

Gryphon and Tiger hugged, and said good-night, and each went to their own homes. Gryphon and Tiger both got in trouble, for despite bringing home gold and slaying Gold Dragon and vanquishing Wizard and freeing the children, the new friends had missed a day of school without permission, and the Dean of Polytechnic Academy was very upset. Mr. and Mrs. Tiger were understanding, and only sent Tiger to bed early and without dessert. But Mr. and Mrs. Gryphon were fiercely angry, which is simply normal for gryphons, and they made poor Gryphon take out the trash every night for a week; for, you see, taking out the trash is the thing gryphons hate to do most.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Big Solstice Blizzard

2011-09-18T10:54:00.003-05:00

Winter Solstice was without question the happiest time of year in Town. All the Townsfolk bought presents to wrap in colorful paper and ribbon, and decorated trees with bright newfangled alchemical lights and shiny glass balls, and baked gingerbread critters with cinnamon drop eyes and mittens made of frosting. This year, Eagle’s famous partridge popover recipe appeared in the Town Chronicle, and soon no partridge within fifty miles of Town was safe. Children practiced their Solstice carols and watched the night skies with impatient and longing gazes for the arrival of Jolly Red Elf. As day broke on Solstice Eve, Townsfolk rushed out to run errands and buy last-minute presents and stuff their faces with quiche and rumballs. Everyone looked forward to spending the longest night of the year at home with their families, and the children were so excited that Jolly Red Elf was finally coming!

This year, however, catastrophe struck.

Gryphon and Tiger spent Solstice Eve afternoon shopping for presents. A light snow started falling right after lunchtime while small children were still a little woozy from their rumballs. Tiger saw the snow and danced for joy because he loved snow, especially on Solstice. Gryphon did not like how snow accumulated so quickly on his huge wings, but it made him glad to see Tiger so happy on their first Solstice together, so he didn’t complain.

The snow kept falling harder and harder. After buying the last of their presents, Gryphon and Tiger went to Tiger’s home to wrap gifts and bake partridge popovers, and Mr. and Mrs. Tiger made the boys some hot chocolate. Mrs. Tiger was still a bit frightened of Gryphon’s enormous size, but she overcame her fear and handed Gryphon directly his steaming mug of hot chocolate. Tiger gave his mother a huge hug, and told her she was very brave.

Outside the windows, the snow kept falling.

And falling.

And the wind blew, and more snow fell.

Soon the pudding and pickle carts were having trouble maneuvering down the snowy streets, and the King’s Dim Knights’ hot water bottles started to freeze. The evening paperboy, who was very small, wandered into a snowbank and got lost, and when he finally dug his way out of the snow he was on the other side of Town.

When it was full dark outside and Gryphon was getting ready to go to his own home, Girl burst through the front door of the Tigers’ apartment without even knocking. No one scolded Girl for this because they all knew that was just the way Girl did things.

“Gryphon and Tiger,” Girl cried. “It’s terrible! The snow won’t let up and the zeppelins are grounded and the trains have stopped running, and Jolly Red Elf can’t make it through even with his eight flying rhinos! And he’s bringing me a new stone to sharpen my sword, and my own rock-climbing gear so I can go to the troll caves and keep the trolls in line! Jolly Red Elf can’t cancel Solstice!”

Gryphon and Tiger were both fifteen, and felt they were a little too old to be worried about Solstice presents from Jolly Red Elf. But Girl was twelve and it was important to her, not to mention to every other child who lived in Town.

“Where,” Gryphon asked, “is Jolly Red Elf right now?”

“Oh, it’s dreadful,” Girl cried, and it must have been so because Girl usually never fretted at anything. “Jolly Red Elf’s eight flying rhinos saw the zeppelins huddling around the tall silver zeppelin tower atop Town Central Station, and the rhinos thought the zeppelins were great big beautiful girl rhinos!”

Tiger blinked his gold eyes. “They did?”

Girl nodded. “I think the rhinos had snow in their eyes. Anyway, Jolly Red Elf in his sleigh tried to keep his rhinos from nuzzling the zeppelins, and before you could say pickled pepper partridge popovers, the eight flying rhinos crashed into a snowbank in the street next to Town Central Station! And now the rhinos are too cold to fly!”

Tiger smiled at Gryphon and said, “You know what this means, don’t you?”

Gryphon sighed and groaned. “I’m gonna get snow all over my wings again, right?”

The snow was falling so hard that Gryphon couldn’t fly; so with Tiger and Girl he slogged through the snow in the streets of Town to get to Town Central Station.

They found something of a fluffy kerfuffle at the Station, for Jolly Red Elf, in a desperate bid to keep his grounded and snowbanked rhinos warm, had waylaid eight of the King’s Dim Knights and stolen their hot water bottles.

“Oh dear,” said Jolly Red Elf while he fussed around his rhinos. “ ’Tis the night before Solstice and here I am quivering, with my poor rhinos all snowbound and blue, and quite shivering!”

The eight King’s Knights kept chasing Jolly Red Elf, and the Knights clattered and rattled because their rucksacks were filled with silverware they had stolen from the King’s castle to give to their wives as Solstice presents. (The Knights’ horses had already bucked off the Knights hours before and run off, because the horses were tired of getting their rumps stuck by forks.) But Jolly Red Elf kept moving from snorting rhino to snorting rhino, trying to warm them with the hot water bottles. The Knights kept slipping in the snow and couldn’t catch Jolly Red Elf, who was very nimble for a round little man.

Gryphon waved at Jolly Red Elf. “Hallo!” Gryphon said. “You look like you need help.”

Jolly Red Elf looked up with his twinkling eyes, and then sneezed hard enough that the twinkle went away for a few moments. Then Jolly Red Elf said, “It’s Gryphon and Tiger, the heroes of Town! The workers’ kids love them, but think me a clown.”

Tiger ran after the waddling Jolly Red Elf, who was dressed in red pantaloons and a red coat and a red turban, and had a red nose and red ears, and red eyes from too many rumballs; but his beard and his hair were silvery white.

“Jolly Red Elf,” Tiger cried. “We’ll watch your rhinos for you while you finish delivering presents to the children of Town!”

“I’m sure I can’t do that,” Jolly Red Elf said, “I’m a fair labor boss; and if a rhino got sick, ’twould be a sad, sorry loss.”

Girl leaped over a snowbank, tugged hard on Jolly Red Elf’s sleeve, and actually got him to stop moving. Behind Jolly Red Elf, all eight King’s Knights stopped short, and fell in a pile into a snowbank.

“Jolly Red Elf?” Girl said while she blinked her big, dark, pleading eyes.

Jolly Red Elf smiled, and his face glowed like a jolly red ball. “Why, isn’t it Girl! Such a sweet lovely child! I hear that you’re brave, quite adventurous, and wild!”

“Jolly Red Elf?” Girl said. “Stop talking like that. Seriously.”

Jolly Red Elf cleared his throat. “As you say, if you wish, my dear Girl! The children of the workers are the red stars of the worl—…er, um…future!”

“Good work, pops,” Girl said. “Look, let’s give the presents to these silly Knights back there and let them deliver the gifts to Town’s children while you take care of your rhinos.”

Jolly Red Elf leaned over and whispered to Girl, “D’ya think we can trust them?”

Girl said, “Why, did somebody bust ’em?”

“Well, you hear how they’re rattling.”

“Not over your natter… Aw, fer cryin’ out loud,” Girl cried. “Now you’ve got me doing it!”

“Ho-ho-ho,” laughed Jolly Red Elf. “Ha-ha-ha! Ho-ho-ho-ha-ha-ha!” And he kept on laughing until Girl gave him her most serious look from under her wild, dark curls, and put her hand on the pommel of her sword.

“Um, yes,” Jolly Red Elf said. “Girl, I like your idea! The strong legs and backs of the soldiers of the proletariat put to good use, for a change!”

Gryphon whispered to Tiger, “And I always thought they called him ‘Red’ because of his clothes.”

Tiger chuckled, while Girl helped Jolly Red Elf distribute the presents to the King’s Dim Knights. The Knights stood tall and swore they would not stop until every Solstice gift was safely delivered to its child. In fact, the Knights were filled with so much resolve that they forgot to ask for their hot water bottles back.

So off the Knights marched through the heavy snow, and their boots crunched and their rucksacks teetered and their toybags tottered and their legs trembled, and before long the King’s Knights slipped and tripped and fell. But they bravely stood up, brushed themselves off, and set out all over again, marching further and further down the street. Once more they slipped and tripped and fell, but again they regained their footing and soldiered on. Just as they were about to round a corner and disappear from view, the Knights slipped and tripped and fell again.

This time the Knights began crying, and refused to go any further.

“These Knights are hopeless,” Girl cried. “What are we gonna do?”

No one had a chance to reply because right then, from out of the side streets, Girl’s best friend Blue Girl came hiking through the snow. She was followed by Black Cat Boy and his great friend Fuzzy Bear Boy, and even Eagle, who swooped in and dropped her dear friend Boy into a snowbank, which gave Boy the giggles. Eagle helped the children gather up the presents from the Dim Knights, and took the gifts back to Jolly Red Elf.

“That’s it,” Jolly Red Elf cried. “Solstice is finished! My rhinos are freezing, and I feel quite diminish— ”

“Mr. Elf?” Girl said very sternly.

“Ah, um, yes. Sorry.”

Girl got an idea and ran off down one of the side streets. The snow was still falling in big fluffy flakes, and the rhinos were all covered with a white fluffy blanket. Gryphon shook snow out of his wings amidst his own miniature blizzard.

“I could fly,” Eagle said, “and drop off presents as I go.”

“But,” Jolly Red Elf said, “that takes bags and lists and boxes galore; and you’ve got but two sharp-taloned feet, no more.”

Under his breath, Gryphon said to Tiger, “I hope Girl gets back quickly.”

Tiger said to Jolly Red Elf, “My cousins in Town Zoological Gardens might help us carry the presents. Tigers love snow!”

“The tigers might eat the children,” Gryphon said.

“Not if every child leaves out meat for them,” Tiger said.

Girl came back at last, leading a very irate and frustrated horse through the still-falling snow.

“Surly Horse!” Tiger cried. “Oh no, Girl, you didn’t steal Town Constable’s horse, did you?”

“Nope,” Girl said. “Town Constable let me borrow him!”

Surly Horse snorted. “Lucky for you, Girl, that he thought you were kidding with that s— ”

“Shh!” Girl said, and quickly put her sword away.

Jolly Red Elf cheered. “Hook the horse to the sleigh, while I watch my rhinos! Deliver all the gifts safely, and swiftly, and, um…uh…”

“Quick,” Girl said, “let’s get outta here before he finds a rhyme for ‘rhinos’!”

And soon Townsfolk heard a commotion pass by in the snow. They looked out of their windows and, in the pure white snow-covered streets, they saw what came to be known as The Great Town Solstice Blizzard Parade.

Gryphon marched through the snow leading the way, while Eagle scouted overhead since she didn’t mind getting snow on her wings when she flew. Tiger rode in the sleigh and held the reins of Surly Horse, who complained that the sleigh was much too heavy, and it was really too nasty out for anyone to expect Solstice presents to be delivered, and really, the selfish and greedy children of Town should just learn to do without. Girl came next, leading the eight tigers from Town Zoological Gardens. Each tiger carried a sack of presents, and the big cats romped and roared joyously in the thick falling snow. Down each street the parade marched, and Blue Girl, Black Cat Boy, Fuzzy Bear Boy, and Boy delivered presents to each house along the way. Very nice Townsfolk gave fresh meat to the tigers, which made the tigers extremely happy as tigers love nothing better than fresh meat. Townsfolk gave mugs of hot chocolate to the children, and between houses Girl walked very close to Blue Girl, and Black Cat Boy held hands with Fuzzy Bear Boy, and Gryphon nuzzled Tiger, and Boy watched everyone in love and sighed. Soon the snowbanks were so high that Townsfolk could barely see the parade in the street, so the Townsfolk stood on their stoops and sang Solstice carols to keep the gift-deliverers company. The snowfall grew lighter and, finally, just as the last snowflake fell and the first rosy light of a new day peeked through the clouds in the east, the exhausted marchers delivered the very last present to the very last house at the very edge of Town.

But no one had time to be tired, for all of Town burst out in joy!

The city bells rang and the Townsfolk came outdoors, and hot chocolate and eggnog and hot spiced cider flowed. Children shrieked with happiness over their presents, and the tigers roared, and everyone sang. Girl took Surly Horse back to Town Constable, and even Surly Horse smiled for a moment — but only a moment — when he saw the big bag of oats that Jolly Red Elf had left for him. In fact, the only unhappy people in Town were the eight Dim Knights, whose wives bashed the Knights over the heads with their rucksacks of used silverware, and made the Knights return the stolen stuff at once. Not only did the King look sternly at the Dim Knights, but the poor Knights had to requisition new hot water bottles since Jolly Red Elf’s frigid rhinos refused to give theirs back.

At last, all the Townsfolk went home to eat their Solstice feasts. Tiger’s family went over to Gryphon’s home for a combined feast, and Mrs. Tiger and Mrs. Gryphon got along so famously that Mrs. Tiger was never frightened of gryphons again.

After the feast everyone was sleepy, so they all napped in the Gryphon family’s great room; except for Gryphon, who invited Tiger to his room, and there the boys slept together for the first time in the very same bed, like spoons.

The rhinos soon moved into Town Zoological Gardens and declared they were through delivering Solstice presents during blizzards. So now, each Solstice Eve, Jolly Red Elf borrows the Zoo’s tigers, who are actually disappointed if there’s no blizzard to play in while they deliver presents, because tigers love romping in fresh snow almost as much as they love eating fresh meat. And next to the milk and cookies for Jolly Red Elf, the children of Town always leave out a big, juicy chunk of meat for the tigers.

This is exactly how it happened, and it is not at all true that Jolly Red Elf once had eight tiny reindeer that got eaten by the tigers, as some very mean people say. Admittedly, there was once almost a horrible accident, which is why Jolly Red Elf’s better-known cousin still refuses to speak to him, to this very day.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Vanishing Books

2011-09-18T10:54:00.002-05:00

One day, not long after Harvest Festival, Gryphon and Tiger went to Town Library because they needed new books to fuel new dreams. On the way they saw their good friend Eagle, who had taken her friend Boy to the Library and left him there while she did some shopping. Eagle loved books too, but she was too big to fit through Town Library’s big brass doors.

Gryphon and Tiger opened the big brass doors of Town Library, and entered. The Library had a very high ceiling, and stacks and stacks of books that climbed very high toward the skylight in the roof. People had to climb ladders to reach some of the books, and the ladders slid laterally on long steels tracks, clackity-clack; and the whole place smelled of rich paper and woolen blankets and cups of hot tea on cold winter days.

But all was not well in Town Library, for Gryphon and Tiger found their friend Boy wandering among some rarely visited and closely packed bookshelves near the back of the Library. Boy was ten, and had pretty blue eyes and long blond hair, and his clothes were very dainty, and he was very proud of them. But today his clothes were askew and his hair was mussed, and tears fell from his pretty blue eyes.

Tiger gave Boy a hug. “What’s the matter?”

“All of my favorite books have vanished,” Boy said. “The one where the brave girl finds the stolen gold and kills the evil dragon, and the one where the brave girl beats the miserable mean prince at jousting and becomes Queen of all the realm, and the one where the dreamy boy becomes friends with unicorns and they work a magic spell on him, and he gets to become a girl.”

“Maybe someone else,” Gryphon said, “has checked out these books.”

“Yes,” Tiger said to Boy, “there might be other dreamy girly-boys who want to read those books, too.”

“No,” said Boy, “the books aren’t checked out. I asked Town Librarian, whose son is named Darien, what sort of barbarian would steal such fine books.”

Tiger said, “Someone perhaps opposed to librarians?”

Gryphon said, “In that case, I’d look for a mean libertarian.”

Boy shook his head. “Here’s a clue I found.” And Boy showed Gryphon and Tiger a page from one of his favorite books. The page had been ripped from the binding without any care and then been chewed up. The marks of very large teeth left holes in the page.

“Those are the marks of wolf teeth,” Gryphon said.

“Why would a wolf eat books?” Tiger said.

“Let’s set a trap and find out,” Gryphon said.

The three friends ventured deeper into the Library, past where a sign on a rope said, “Don’t go;” where the oldest of old books were stored and waited and hoped that someday someone might want to read them again. The light between the old, dusty shelves was dim, and Gryphon said it was the perfect place for a wolf to hide.

Tiger was fretful. “Do we have to use my favorite book as bait? That’s the one where the bad boy is sent to his room and then goes to a place where he finds wild things.”

“This book-eating wolf has taste,” Gryphon said, “and only eats quality books.”

Gryphon, Tiger, and Boy set the trap and then hid very close by to wait. Before long they heard the slow thump of big padded feet, and the harsh hiss of hot steamy breath, and the slurpy-delicious licking of black lips by a long pink tongue.

Gryphon, Tiger, and Boy popped out just in time, because the wolf was about to eat Tiger’s favorite book.

“Stop!” Tiger cried.

The wolf cringed back. “Don’t hurt me!”

“You’re not a very brave wolf,” Tiger said. “Who are you?”

“And why,” Boy said, “have you eaten all of my favorite books?”

“I’m Book Wolf,” the wolf said, “and I eat books because I love to be filled with lovely dreams.”

“But Book Wolf,” Tiger said, “you’re supposed to read books, not eat them.”

“Are you sure?” Book Wolf said. “Those two words sound very much alike.”

“Positive,” said Tiger.

Book Wolf shook his big furry head. “Maybe I’m just dyspeptic.”

“Dyslexic,” Boy said.

“That’s what I said,” Book Wolf said.

Gryphon said to Book Wolf, “You’re not from Town, are you?”

“No,” Book Wolf said. “A wizard from Little Farm Village brought me here so I could eat all of the best books in Town Library!”

“What wizard?” Tiger said.

“Follow me,” Book Wolf said, “and I’ll show you.” And Book Wolf led Gryphon, Tiger, and Boy back even further in the Library, where the books were very dusty. The books were so old that they didn’t even have those funny little numbers that librarians put on book spines so children can find the books they love.

Book Wolf took Gryphon, Tiger, and Boy to a room that was very small but also very, very tall, and it had its own skylight high above. But the skylight had been painted over with grey paint, and the walls of the tall room were painted over with more grey paint. On the shelves were books that were so old and boring they had turned grey, too. In between the shelves in the center of the room stood a man in long grey robes with long grey hair and a long grey beard, and on top of his head sat a pointed grey cap. He stood over a table with a toy village atop it, with little toy children on the toy village streets. The village was grey and the streets were grey, and the man was using his magic wand, topped with a cobwebby grey star, to turn each of the colorful little village children grey, one by one.

“So that’s what’s wrong,” Gryphon whispered to his friends. “It’s Wizard Dreameater.”

“Are you sure?” whispered Book Wolf. “I could swear he told me his name was Wizard Eggbeater.”

Boy shivered, and said, “Who’s Wizard Dreameater?”

“Wizard Dreameater is a very small wizard,” Gryphon said, “with a very small mind filled with lots and lots of very small rules he thinks everyone should follow.”

“I bet he doesn’t like girly-boys,” Boy said.

Tiger shook his head. “Nor boy tigers who fall in love with boy gryphons.”

Wizard Dreameater looked up and said, “Who’s there?”

Gryphon, Tiger, and Book Wolf stepped forward into the grey light.

“They caught me, master,” Book Wolf said, and he hung his head bashfully.

“Worthless wolf,” snarled Wizard Dreameater. “You’re too fond of dreams! Once you had eaten all of the dangerous and good books in Town Library, I was going to make you grey, too!”

“But,” Book Wolf said, “I already have grey fur.”

This answer puzzled Wizard Dreameater, for it was far too complicated for his grey little mind to sort out.

Gryphon ruffled his wings in an irritated way and said to Wizard Dreameater, “What are you doing to all of our best books?”

“There are too many dreams in Town,” Wizard Dreameater said, “and too many children dreaming them. Dragons and pirates and wild things and wolves! And nobody in these books follows my rules! Why, see here; this horrible book has Little Red Riding Hood carrying a bottle of wine in her basket for Grandma!”

“How shocking!” said Gryphon, who of course didn’t mean it.

“How dreadful!” said Tiger, who didn’t mean it, either.

“How ridiculous,” said Boy, who meant it very much.

Book Wolf snickered behind his paw.

“These dreamy children,” Wizard Dreameater said, “must learn to live by the rules and stop dreaming all the time! If this keeps up, the children of Town will grow up to do what they want to do and not what I say they should do!”

“That’s not right!” shouted Boy, which startled Gryphon and Tiger, for Boy never, ever shouted. But Boy hated it when anyone threatened his dreams.

“The children of Town love dreams,” Tiger said to Wizard Dreameater, “because dreams tell us that life is more than grey little villages and grey little people.”

Wizard Dreameater shook his head, stood up as tall as he could, raised his magic wand with its cobwebby grey star, and proclaimed, “The One Way…is Grey!”

Boy was so upset that his lavender neckerchief had almost come untied. He stomped his foot and shouted at Wizard Dreameater, “You’re wrong! There’s more than your way to the world! And you can’t make us believe that grey is the truth!”

“It is!” cried Wizard Dreameater. “Come closer, Boy.”

Boy stepped away from Tiger’s side toward Wizard Dreameater.

“Be careful!” Tiger said to Boy.

Because he lived in a world wrapped in grey, Wizard Dreameater failed to see the shadow of worried Eagle pass over his grey-painted skylight.

“You,” Wizard Dreameater said to Boy, “are filled with dreams, and think that life can be any lovely thing that you want. And a vicious Eagle stole you from your loving Mother so you could live with Aunt, who even lets you be a girl sometimes!”

“My Mother tried to crush my dreams,” Boy cried, “but Eagle wouldn’t let her!”

“It is an abomination!” cried Wizard Dreameater. “Before long, boys like Gryphon and Tiger will want to get married! It is not the Grey Way!” Wizard Dreameater raised his grey and cobwebby wand, and shouted at Boy, “Prepare to become Grey, little fiend!”

Gryphon saw this and became enraged, which is a very dangerous thing to do to a gryphon. He shrieked and flared his wings wide, and prepared to attack Wizard Dreameater. But it was a mistake, for the room was so small that Gryphon’s wings got stuck, and pressed Tiger and Book Wolf so hard against the bookshelves that they couldn’t move.

Boy looked about with his wide blue eyes; he was alone.

Wizard Dreameater laughed so loud that he didn’t hear Eagle cry out far, far above Town Library.

“Ha-ha-ha!” said Wizard Dreameater. “Life never goes the way you think, Boy. That is why you must follow the rules!” And he prepared to fling a grey spell at Boy.

But with a crash, the skylight above shattered, and sunlight spilled into the room around a swift black shadow that belonged to Eagle, who had heard Gryphon’s shriek and then knew where to find her missing Boy. Gryphon freed his wings with a mighty pull and swept them about, and used his wings to protect his friends from the falling glass. Eagle dived down and knocked Wizard Dreameater off his feet, then grabbed him with her talons and slammed him up against a bookshelf.

Eagle snarled at Wizard Dreameater. “Don’t ever threaten my good friend,” she said, “the Boy filled with dreams.”

And with a swift move of her head, Eagle did something to Wizard Dreameater with her beak that we won’t describe except to say that when the wizard’s blood splattered over the grey books and the grey toy village and the grey toy children, the grey spells he had cast were lifted, and the tall little room was no longer grey. Book Wolf thought he even saw the little colorful toy children dance with joy. But Book Wolf shook his head and figured it was just an illusion caused by his dyspepsia.

Then Book Wolf hugged Eagle and thanked her for saving the eggs in Town Market, which confused them all until they overheard Book Wolf telling a reporter from the Town Chronicle about the horrible fate of Wizard Eggbeater.

Boy made sure the reporter got the correct name.

Book Wolf now guards Town Library and protects the books and their dreams, and watches over the children who read the books and then dream. Boy taught Book Wolf how to read books better so his dyspepsia didn’t make the letters dance around on the page so much. And Book Wolf now eats only dull and pretentious books, but every time he does, he rubs his sore tummy and says, “Those bad books give me dyslexia.”

Eagle donated new copies of Boy’s favorite books to Town Library, and Town Librarian had a new brass door built just for Eagle, because it would have been very expensive to repair the shattered skylight every time Eagle wanted to read a book.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Fuzzy Bear Boy

2011-09-18T10:54:00.001-05:00

Harvest Festival was approaching, and all the people of Town prepared for their bounteous Harvest Festival feasts. Good cheer abounded, though good cheer was sometimes forgotten over a cart vendor running out of chestnuts or sweet potatoes, and the King’s Dim Knights would have to break up the ensuing fight by slapping the adversaries with their hot water bottles.

One afternoon, Gryphon and Tiger went to visit their friend Eagle in her nest home deep in the forest north of Town, and they learned from her how to make her yummy partridge popovers. Both Gryphon and Tiger wanted to surprise their families by making the popovers for their Harvest feasts. Tiger was a very good cook and learned quickly how to make perfect partridge popovers. But Gryphon had a harder time of it, for his paws were so very big and the partridges were so very small. Gryphon became grumpy and Tiger gave him a hug, and told Gryphon that his popovers tasted better than the ones Tiger made, which was not only very sweet but true, as Gryphon had had to try harder.

When they returned to Town, Gryphon and Tiger saw Black Cat Boy slinking catlike down the street in his black catsuit. Black Cat Boy carried an armload of sweet potatoes and he was trying to go home, but he kept wandering off the sidewalk and bumping into lamp posts and dropping his sweet potatoes all over the place. Once Black Cat Boy almost got run over by a horse-drawn cart carrying jars of pickled-persimmon plum pudding. Black Cat Boy nearly bumped into Gambling Man, who was very mean and would have been very angry except that Gambling Man was too busy studying his Dragon Racing Form, and didn’t notice. A very impatient Dim Knight yelled at Black Cat Boy when the boy got in the Knight’s way, but Black Cat Boy seemed not to notice these things.

Gryphon and Tiger went up to Black Cat Boy and made sure his eyeglasses were in place, for Black Cat Boy had very bad eyes and often bumped into things if his glasses slid down his nose. But Black Cat Boy’s eyeglasses were in perfect working order, and even though he kept bumping into lamp posts and dropping his sweet potatoes, Black Cat Boy would not stop smiling.

Tiger made sure that the hood of Black Cat Boy’s black catsuit wasn’t too tight on his head, and then said, “Is everything okay, Black Cat Boy?”

Black Cat Boy grinned so wide that even his freckles looked happy. “Have you ever met Fuzzy Bear Boy?”

“No,” Tiger said; and Gryphon added, “Isn’t he the star ball boy for the Town Firebreathers?”

Black Cat Boy nodded and said, “He was buying sweet potatoes for his mom, too.”

Gryphon said, “So?” But Tiger waved his paw right in front of Black Cat Boy’s face, and even though his glasses were right where they should be, Black Cat Boy didn’t even blink.

Gryphon and Tiger saw this and said, “Ah.”

It was a week until the big Harvest Festival Dragonspike game between the Town Firebreathers and the Big City Spikewings. Black Cat Boy cared nothing for sports, but he learned everything he could about Dragonspike, which is a game with dragons and riders and three balls and very long racquets with netted baskets at their ends. Black Cat Boy bumped into things all day at Polytechnic Academy, but as soon as classes ended he ran to the school that Fuzzy Bear Boy attended, and followed him home. One evening, Black Cat Boy ran back to the place where Gryphon and Tiger helped build the Polytechnic Academy’s float for the Harvest Parade. Black Cat boy sighed, leaned up against Tiger, and said, “He talked to me!”

It was hopeless to try to get Black Cat Boy to stop bumping into things, for he was as smitten as a boy can be.

Fuzzy Bear Boy was eleven, the same age as Black Cat Boy, and he had green eyes and shaggy blond hair, and looked overall to be very cuddly and fuzzy. He not only liked being a boy very much, he also liked other boys very much, and the brave Gryphon and Tiger had made everyone in Town realize this was a good thing. Fuzzy Bear Boy loved being a ball boy for the Town Firebreathers, because ball boys were a very important part of a Dragonspike game; and besides he liked to run and feel the wind in his shaggy blond hair and the sun on his strong body. Fuzzy Bear Boy thought it was funny at first that Black Cat Boy followed him everywhere, because Black Cat Boy liked books and sitting still, and became easily winded if he ran anywhere. But Fuzzy Bear Boy liked having Black Cat Boy cheer him on during Dragonspike practice, and thought that the way Black Cat Boy admired him was adorable; and soon Fuzzy Bear Boy became very fond of Black Cat Boy.

One crisp afternoon after practice, Fuzzy Bear Boy bought Black Cat Boy an ice cream. Afterwards, Black Cat Boy bumped into so many lamp posts that Town Constable had Gryphon guide the boy home.

The day of the big game arrived, and everyone in Town poured into Town Coliseum, and the sharp white autumn sun made everyone’s bright colorful banners and bright happy smiles even brighter. The Town Firebreathers were favored to win by a large margin, and only someone with a mean heart like Gambling Man would bet against them. But everyone ignored Gambling Man, who wore dark glasses and a shiny green topcoat with a stained pink vest. Gambling Man smelled like spoiled fish salad and he kicked children who got in his way, because gambling was a very serious business.

Gryphon and Tiger were almost as clueless about Dragonspike as Black Cat Boy had been, but just for him they got tickets to the game, and all three friends sat right behind the Town Firebreathers’ bench. Black Cat Boy wore a yellow and purple ribbon around the neck of his black catsuit because those were the team colors, and he jumped and cheered so much that Gambling Man, who was sitting behind Black Cat Boy, almost kicked him. But Gryphon, who was so big he took up three seats, gave Gambling Man such a look that Gambling Man simply shut up, which made everyone around him happy while they waited for the game to begin.

But Black Cat Boy’s cheering grew quieter and quieter until he finally asked Tiger, “Where’s my Fuzzy Bear Boy?”

Gryphon and Tiger looked around at the cheering crowd and the excited dragons and the happy riders and the laughing ball boys, and the dancing bears and ballerinas who were about to perform the Town Anthem; but Fuzzy Bear Boy was not among them. The Town Firebreathers’ Coach was big and gruff, but he was worried too, and he sent another ball boy to go look for Fuzzy Bear Boy. The ball boy returned, and said Fuzzy Bear Boy was nowhere to be found.

Black Cat Boy was worried, and twisted the long fluffy tail of his black catsuit. Soon it was game time, and Coach pointed at Black Cat Boy.

“Can you,” Coach said to Black Cat Boy, “sub for Fuzzy Bear Boy?”

Black Cat Boy swallowed hard. “I’ve never played Dragonspike in my life!”

“It’s easy,” Coach said. “All you do is catch the balls when they go out of bounds and pass them back to the players on our team, just like Fuzzy Bear Boy does at practice.”

But Black Cat Boy was very nervous, and really he was no good at sports, and although he tried and tried because he knew Fuzzy Bear Boy would be proud of him, it wasn’t long before the Town Firebreathers were down by three goals.

Gambling Man chuckled at the score, but no one paid any attention to him.

Tiger worried about Black Cat Boy, and twisted his tail while he watched Black Cat Boy run frantically. The riders banked their dragons through the air and batted at the three balls with their racquets, and shouted at their dragons, who roared at their opponents. Gryphon was bored, and he watched the crowd and wondered about Fuzzy Bear Boy, who would sooner die than miss a game of Dragonspike. Finally Gryphon looked up to see if there were any clouds to watch, and instead he saw a big shadowy beast circling in the air high up over Town Coliseum.

“Tiger,” Gryphon said, “I think that’s Other Gryphon up there.”

Tiger looked up, too. “I think you’re right.”

“If Other Gryphon is around,” Gryphon said, “there’s something bad going on.” Gryphon waited for a time out to be called in the Dragonspike game, and then he stood and spread his huge eagle wings, and flew up into the sky.

Black Cat Boy nearly cried, for he thought Gryphon left because Black Cat Boy was ruining the game.

“It’s okay,” Tiger called out to Black Cat Boy. “Don’t flinch when the ball comes at you! Stand fast and catch it!”

Meanwhile, Gryphon flew higher and higher until Town Coliseum was just a tiny oval shape far down below. Before long, Gryphon recognized the ill-kept fur and feathers of Other Gryphon, who had a very bad reputation because he took gold from humans to do their dirty work for them. And as Gryphon got closer he saw, on top of Other Gryphon’s back, the cuddly and fuzzy shaggy blond head of —

“Fuzzy Bear Boy!” cried Gryphon. “Other Gryphon, what are you doing with him?”

Other Gryphon laughed, but it was a very mean laugh that felt like a grey cloud passing over the sun.

“Gambling Man has a bet on this game,” Other Gryphon said, “and he paid me to fly around with Fuzzy Bear Boy until the game is over. How bad is Town losing?”

“Bad,” Gryphon said. “This is a wicked thing you’re doing, Other Gryphon!”

“All the more reason,” Other Gryphon said, “why I enjoy doing it!”

“Gryphon, help me!” cried Fuzzy Bear Boy. “Other Gryphon snatched me right up from the sidewalk while I was walking to the Coliseum!”

“Hang on,” Gryphon ordered Fuzzy Bear Boy, and then he said to Other Gryphon, “You’ll pay for this!”

“No,” Other Gryphon said, “I’m getting paid for this! Ha-ha-ha!”

Gryphon reared back, swept in fast toward Other Gryphon, and began to fight.

Meanwhile a cheer rose from Town Coliseum, for Black Cat Boy had finally helped a player score a goal. Black Cat Boy wished Fuzzy Bear Boy could have seen it, and the thought nearly made him cry.

Far above the Coliseum, the two gryphons fought, and there was much shrieking and roaring and slashing. The people in the stands looked up, but the game was almost over and the Town Firebreathers were about to lose, so the crowd didn’t pay much attention to the gryphons fighting way up in the sky.

Gryphon slashed and clawed at Other Gryphon, and kept trying to reach around Other Gryphon’s head to snatch Fuzzy Bear Boy off Other Gryphon’s back. But Other Gryphon kept ducking away just in time.

“I beat you once,” Gryphon cried to Other Gryphon, “and I’ll beat you again!”

“Not today,” Other Gryphon said. “This time, they paid me more gold!”

“No one,” Gryphon said, “can pay you enough gold to defeat me!”

Fuzzy Bear Boy hung on tight to Other Gryphon’s tangled and dirty mane, and called out to Gryphon, “Is Black Cat Boy down there?”

“He’s…” Gryphon slashed at Other Gryphon. “Playing…” Gryphon shrieked at Other Gryphon. “Your…” Gryphon whapped Other Gryphon’s face. “Position!”

Fuzzy Bear Boy shook his head, for although he was falling in love with Black Cat Boy, he knew his adorable new friend was hopeless at sports.

Other Gryphon was bruised and bleeding and getting soundly beaten. Finally he decided Gryphon was right and he wasn’t being paid enough for this. So Other Gryphon bucked and jerked and rolled over twice, and knocked Fuzzy Bear Boy off his back.

“Gryphon,” cried Fuzzy Bear Boy as he fell, “help me!”

Gryphon took one last slash at Other Gryphon, and left a deep cut on Other Gryphon’s face. “If the boy dies, I’m coming after you,” said Gryphon, and then he dived down after Fuzzy Bear Boy.

There was less than a minute left in the Dragonspike game, and all over the field flew battling dragons and the three game balls. No one looked up to see the tumbling Fuzzy Bear Boy, nor could anyone hear him scream over the roar of the crowd. But Gryphon pumped his wings furiously and got closer and closer, and finally grabbed hold of Fuzzy Bear Boy’s arms just a few yards above the playing field. Gryphon swooped across the field in between battling dragons, and everyone in Town Coliseum cheered. Gryphon set Fuzzy Bear Boy down right next to Black Cat Boy, pulled Black Cat Boy away, and hollered, “Go, go, go!”

Fuzzy Bear Boy was tired and dirty, and he was covered with Other Gryphon’s blood and shorn fur and broken feathers. But he stepped into the game as if he’d been there for the whole thing, and very quickly he helped score three goals, and when the final whistle blew, the Town Firebreathers had won 21-20. The crowd cheered wildly and the band played brassily while Gryphon grabbed Gambling Man and threw him to the ground. Gryphon would have beaked out Gambling Man’s heart right then and there if Town Constable hadn’t stopped him. Then Town Constable arrested Gambling Man.

Gryphon laughed at Gambling Man and said, “Now you’re both wicked and poor!”

Down on the field amidst confetti and balloons and firecrackers and dancing dragons, Fuzzy Bear Boy and Black Cat Boy hugged each other very tightly, and didn’t move for a long, long time, and they both cried happy tears because they had thought they would never see each other again.

Finally, Fuzzy Bear Boy kissed Black Cat Boy, which nearly made Black Cat Boy faint. Then Fuzzy Bear Boy said to his friend, “C’mon, I’ll buy you an ice cream.”

Gryphon and Tiger watched the boys, and they smiled, and held hands; and Tiger said to Gryphon, “The best thing in the world is to have a friend who will always buy you an ice cream.”

Black Cat Boy never got anywhere near sports again, except to cheer for Fuzzy Bear Boy. He didn’t even want to play chess anymore, but Tiger convinced him that chess was still a good thing to play.

So Black Cat Boy played chess, and beat Tiger three times in a row.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Dim Knight Boy

2011-09-18T10:54:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the King’s Dim Knights came to Polytechnic Academy and gave a grand presentation about being King’s Knights and how exciting it was to have your own bright shiny armor and your own long sharp sword and your own fine dashing charger and your own hot water bottle in the color of your choice. Gryphon and Tiger were not very impressed by all this foofaraw, even before they became best friends and the heroes of their pretty little Town.

But Dim Knight Boy saw the shiny armor and long swords, and he fell very hard for the promise of becoming one of the King’s Knights; so, he signed up for their training program. Before long even the friends of Dim Knight Boy thought he had become insufferable, though his list of friends kept getting shorter by the day. The Dean of Polytechnic Academy had to constantly reprimand Dim Knight Boy for using his sword to hack the arms off the statues of the Academy’s founders, and for forcing the smaller students to polish his armor over and over until it gleamed.

One afternoon after the last class of the day, Gryphon and Tiger walked along the flagstone paths of the campus quad and laughed at each others’ jokes and tried to guess when the last of the valiant autumn leaves that still clung to the trees would let go and jump to the ground. The bite of cold autumn air under the bright sun felt good, and Gryphon and Tiger held hands while they walked. Then, without warning, Dim Knight Boy rattled up the path in a self-important strut, and stopped in front of Gryphon and Tiger.

Dim Knight Boy was fifteen, like Gryphon and Tiger, and his eyes were dull brown and his hair was dun and spiky. His ill-worn armor rattled because, at long last, he no longer had any friends left to help him put it on.

Dim Knight Boy puffed up his chest and announced to Gryphon and Tiger, “I am going to kill a dragon!”

Tiger rolled his big gold eyes, while Gryphon said to Dim Knight Boy, “Put your silly sword away before you hurt someone.”

Dim Knight Boy did what Gryphon told him, since Gryphon was bigger than anyone else at Polytechnic Academy, and sometimes had a temper.

“Why,” Tiger said to Dim Knight Boy, “are you going to kill a dragon?”

“Yes,” Gryphon said, “ever since Tiger and I slew Gold Dragon, the dragons in the mountains north of Town have left Town alone.”

“Because,” Dim Knight Boy said, “killing a dragon will prove that I am heroic and worthy of being in the King’s Knights Brigade.”

Gryphon said, “Why do we need to know this?”

Dim Knight Boy laughed heartily, as if Gryphon and Tiger were his friends. “Because, since you slew Gold Dragon, I am willing to let you help me slay my dragon, and when I become a King’s Knight you can both be my squires!”

Gryphon and Tiger really did know better than to laugh so hard right in someone’s face, but truly Dim Knight Boy deserved it; and besides, they couldn’t help themselves.

“We don’t need to prove how brave we are,” Tiger said to Dim Knight Boy. “You’ll have to kill your dragon on your own.”

Gryphon thought Dim Knight Boy looked pale all of a sudden, so Gryphon said to him, “Which dragon are you going to slay?”

Dim Knight Boy puffed out his shoulders and said, “Purple Dragon!”

“You’re kidding,” Tiger said.

“Purple Dragon is harmless,” Gryphon said, “and collects stuffed animals instead of gold coins, like other dragons do.”

“Still,” Dim Knight Boy said, “Purple Dragon is a dragon, and must be handled the way all dragons should be handled. I’ll slay Purple Dragon all by myself, and then I’ll be the best hero in Town, and then I’ll force you two to be my squires!” Dim Knight Boy pushed rudely past Gryphon and Tiger, announced, “I’m on my way to the Dragon Caves,” and proceeded on his way.

Tiger looked at Gryphon with his big gold eyes and said, “Purple Dragon has never hurt anyone. I don’t think he even knows how to defend himself against a knight, dim or not.”

Gryphon didn’t even need to ask. “We have to rescue him.”

Tiger grinned a very big grin, and gave Gryphon a kiss.

* * *

The cloudless afternoon sky was almost silver with autumn sunlight, and Purple Dragon sat in the mouth of his cave and sorted through his stuffed animal collection, which was the biggest in the kingdom. Purple Dragon had purple scales and purple paws and purple claws and a purple tongue, but his wings were a bright and happy shade of lavender. He suspected his fire-breath might even be purple too, but being a very peaceful dragon, Purple Dragon had never breathed fire in his life.

Purple Dragon looked up when he heard bustling footsteps running through the fallen leaves on the forest floor, heading right for his cave. Upon hearing intruders, most dragons roared. But Purple Dragon smiled, for even though he loved company, he rarely had visitors.

Girl and Blue Girl came bustling out of the woods and stood on the ridge across the yard in front of Purple Dragon’s cave. Both girls were out of breath.

“Girls!” Purple Dragon cried. “Oh, how splendid! We can have a tea party!”

“We don’t want any tea,” Girl said. “We came here to — ”

“Would you rather hold one of my stuffed animals?” Purple Dragon said.

“No!” Blue Girl said.

Purple Dragon squinted at the girls. “You are girls, right?”

“Yes,” Blue Girl said, “but we aren’t very girly girls.”

“We know some rather girly boys,” Girl said, “but that’s not why we’re here. Dim Knight Boy is coming to slay you, and he’s not very girly and he’s not very brave; he’s just really, really stupid! You have to hide, Purple Dragon!”

“Why, that’s perfectly silly,” Purple Dragon said. “I’ll just put up some tea and offer him a stuffed animal to play with instead.”

“But Purple Dragon,” Blue Girl said, “Gryphon and Tiger told us to come warn you while they delay Dim Knight Boy and try to get him lost in the woods.”

Most dragons would become very frightened at this news, for they all knew that Gryphon and Tiger feared no dragons and had actually slain Gold Dragon, the most vicious dragon that ever lived. But all Purple Dragon did was smile, and he said, “I’m going to need my big teapot to make enough tea for everyone!” And Purple Dragon rearranged his teddy bears for the tea party, and lined them up neatly in front of his cave.

Girl and Blue Girl ran up to Purple Dragon, and they tried pulling on his lavender wings and tugging on his purple horns, but Purple Dragon simply laughed and asked the girls to help him make tea.

Because Girl and Blue Girl wished they were boys, neither of them had ever made tea in her life. While they tried to explain this to Purple Dragon, he dusted off some very dusty stuffed mice that had gotten under the bed, and said, “Well, I don’t understand why anyone with any sense wouldn’t want to be a girl!”

Then from beyond the ridge came a slow clop-clopping of horse’s hooves on the forest path, and someone was grumbling about the trip, and someone else said, “Shut up.” Before Girl and Blue Girl cried out, Dim Knight Boy appeared atop the ridge on a horse, and his armor shone and his sword was long, though his horse was neither fine nor a charger, and in fact the horse rather grumbled about the whole thing.

Purple Dragon saw the knight and the armor and the sword, clapped his forepaws together happily, and cried, “Company! Where’s my teapot?”

Dim Knight Boy sat atop Surly Horse, who was surly because Dim Knight Boy’s ill-worn armor was chafing his hide. Plus, Surly Horse was really Town Constable’s horse, which Dim Knight Boy had borrowed from the front of Constable Station House without asking permission.

Surly Horse gave Dim Knight Boy a surly glance over his shoulder, and said in a surly tone, “Now you’re going to slay a dragon?”

“Stop complaining,” Dim Knight Boy said. “Someday they will sing of our heroism in song!”

“I would rather no one sang,” Surly Horse said, “and go back to my stable for a bag of oats.”

Dim Knight Boy ignored Surly Horse, raised his sword, and cried, “Prepare to die, wicked Purple Dragon!”

“Oh, nonsense,” Purple Dragon said. “It’s much too nice a day to die. Will Earl Grey do for tea?”

Dim Knight Boy had no use for tea, so he sat up in his saddle, spurred Surly Horse (who complained back), and charged!

It was a rather slow charge, for Surly Horse was not in the mood for this nonsense.

Purple Dragon looked with wide purple eyes at his upset visitor, and wondered what could possibly have gone wrong with his little, impromptu tea party. Dim Knight Boy kept on charging, and got closer and closer to Purple Dragon. But Dim Knight Boy didn’t reckon on Girl, who carried a bigger sword than he did. Girl jumped in front of Purple Dragon with her sword drawn, and Blue Girl joined Girl with her dagger at the ready.

Girl cried, “En garde, you stupid Dim Knight Boy!”

And they clashed with slashing steel and shouted with angry words. But Dim Knight Boy could not get past Girl and Blue Girl, who were both braver than he was and had nothing to prove. The girls were careful not to hurt Surly Horse because it wasn’t his fault. Purple Dragon watched the very exciting fight and cheered on the girls because, although he wasn’t totally sure, he suspected they were trying to protect him. But suddenly, a horrible thing happened.

Dim Knight Boy slashed at Girl and Blue Girl with his sword. The girls ducked safely away, but the sword sliced off the heads of the row of teddy bears sitting in front of Purple Dragon, waiting for tea.

That did it. Purple Dragon’s nose huffed frightful purple smoke, and Purple Dragon’s eyes glowed dangerous purple anger, and Purple Dragon started to rise on his massive purple feet with their deadly purple claws. And then — before anyone could do anything to stop him! — Purple Dragon snatched up his headless teddy bears and cried.

“They were just waiting for tea!” sobbed Purple Dragon.

“Ha!” cried Dim Knight Boy, for he saw that when Purple Dragon reached for his headless teddy bears, he accidentally knocked Girl and Blue Girl right off their feet, and the girls had dropped their weapons.

Dim Knight Boy declared to Purple Dragon, “Prepare to die, thou wicked, fire-breathing vermin!”

Purple Dragon’s tears only made his nose smoke harder, and the smoke stung his eyes and made him cry even more.

Then a shadow passed over the sun, and down from the sky swooped chocolate and gold wings, and nattily-attired orange and black stripes. It was Gryphon and Tiger, who had been delayed by a message from Town Constable about his missing horse. Tiger rode on Gryphon’s shoulders and held on tight while Gryphon flew down and knocked Dim Knight Boy off Surly Horse. Surly Horse turned and trotted back to Town at once, muttering all the way in a surly voice about those wretched King’s Dim Knights.

Meanwhile Gryphon landed, and Tiger leaped from Gryphon’s back to the ground. Girl and Blue Girl found their weapons, and all four of them approached Dim Knight Boy. But Dim Knight Boy stood up and swept his sword around him in a circle, threatening everyone.

“Don’t come near me,” cried Dim Knight Boy, “for I am brave, and I will slice to sandwich meat anyone who dares oppose me!”

Purple Dragon blinked tears out of his eyes and saw Dim Knight Boy waving about the awful sword that had beheaded his beloved bears. Purple Dragon set down his headless bears very gently, and then snatched the bad sword out of Dim Knight Boy’s hands. And Purple Dragon huffed, and Purple Dragon puffed, and for the very first time in his very purple life, Purple Dragon breathed fire!

It was a very, very little purple flame.

Dim Knight Boy saw the tiny little flame and said, “Ha!”

But then his sword, touched just for a second by the very little purple flame, melted on the spot.

Gryphon and Tiger cried out together, “The purple dragon-flame!”

And everyone was very respectful to Purple Dragon, except for Dim Knight Boy, who fell to his knees and cried. For, as every child in Town learns when they are very little, no dragon-flame is hotter and more destructive than the rarest of rare purple dragon-flame.

When this was explained to Purple Dragon, he shivered and said, “Well, very obviously I must never breathe fire again! It’s much too dangerous.”

Of course there was tea, and Tiger sewed the heads of the headless teddy bears back on, though he mixed up two of them and Purple Dragon almost cried until Tiger made them right again; and finally everyone said good-bye. Girl and Blue Girl promised to come back and visit Purple Dragon again, and they did, even though they hated stuffed animals almost as much as they hated tea parties.

The King’s Knights took a dim view of Dim Knight Boy and made him start his training all over again, and for months afterward the Knights’ armor shone brighter than any armor in the world because it was all polished by Dim Knight Boy, who was often as surly as the horse he had stolen. And he polished armor until he finally admitted that hard work and persistence always counted for more than bravery in the end.

Purple Dragon wound up hosting many tea parties because the other dragons in the forest wanted to know what the fearful dragon-killers Gryphon and Tiger were really like up close. None of the other dragons believed Purple Dragon when he told them the mighty dragon-slayers were really just two very sweet boys in love.

If you ask Purple Dragon very nicely, sometimes he will throw all caution to the wind and use his purple dragon-flame to heat up the tea. But he will only use a very tiny purple flame, or else the teapot will melt and spill hot tea on his stuffed animals, which makes Purple Dragon cry.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Black Cat Boy

2011-09-18T10:53:00.004-05:00

Halloween was just around the corner, and there wasn’t a person or critter in Town who didn’t love the spooky holiday. The people of Town assembled their fabulous costumes and bought candy and made treats for the children, and hung orange and black bunting from anything that didn’t move. The King was, however, forced to issue an edict requesting that Townsfolk made sure not to hang bunting from any of his Dim and Trembly Knights who might happen to be napping of an afternoon in Town Park.

On the fine afternoon the day before Halloween, when jack-o’lanterns grinned their yellow grins and the rust and yellow confetti of autumn leaves tumbled through the white bath of the sun, Gryphon and Tiger visited Town Zoological Gardens to see the animals. Being semi-beasts themselves, Gryphon and Tiger were admitted to Town Zoological Gardens for free, though they brought along meat to give to the big cats and birds of prey to show their love and appreciation.

A small cloud shadowed the day, as Gryphon and Tiger had had a little fight over their Halloween costumes that morning. Gryphon was going to be a big scary dragon, and he wanted Tiger to be a troll because trolls were “the ugliest things imaginable.” Tiger failed to see the humor in this, and the fight with Gryphon made him pout. Gryphon tried to explain that being an ugly troll was funny because Tiger was so cute and handsome, and besides it was just for Halloween and he didn’t mean anything by it. But Gryphon and Tiger were both fifteen, and boys, and of course their pride got in the way of their love.

Gryphon and Tiger approached the tiger habitat at the Zoo, and Tiger waved and chuffed at his walk-on-all-fours cousins. Suddenly Tiger was hit in the legs by a small, swift-moving black bundle of fur that wasn’t watching where it was going.

The black bundle of fur looked up with surprised eyes behind the black-frame glasses on his curious and round human face.

“I’m sorry,” the black bundle of fur cried, “but I have to get help!” And he almost ran away until Gryphon put his huge lion paw on the black bundle of fur’s shoulder.

“What’s all the fuss about,” Gryphon said to the black bundle of fur, “that you go rushing about bumping into my friend here?”

“I’m Black Cat Boy,” the black bundle of fur said, “although when I’m in my black catsuit I like to be a girl.”

This would have confused Gryphon and Tiger were they not already friends with such interesting people.

Black Cat Boy’s black catsuit covered all of his body with thick black fur, except for his face. Atop his head sat black triangle cat ears, and from his backside swept a fluffy black kitty-cat tail.

“I’m in a hurry,” Black Cat Boy said, “because I just heard a horrible thing!”

Tiger finished rubbing his knee where Black Cat Boy had run into him, and said, “What sort of horrible thing did you hear?”

Black Cat Boy talked while waving his arms and pointing with his fingers and twirling his body about in slinky girl-cat moves. “I was over there in the corner by the tiger fence,” Black Cat Boy said, “right beside those bushes. And I was talking to the tigers, arr-ROOM, arr-ROOM, and they were talking to me, arr-ROOM, arr-ROOM, and we were having a grand conversation about Halloween and how nice and cool autumn is, which is especially important to those of us who wear fur. And suddenly I heard an evil voice hidden in the bushes say, ‘Heh-heh-heh! Tomorrow night while everyone in Town is distracted with their trick-or-treating, I will kidnap these tigers and show everyone in Town that I’m the toughest guy of all!’ ”

Tiger was usually very placid, but when he heard the threat to his cousins he became angry. “Who,” Tiger said to Black Cat Boy, “swore to commit such a horrible deed?”

“I don’t know,” Black Cat Boy cried. “When I peeked into the bushes, the evil man was gone! I have to find the great Gryphon and Tiger for help, because I’m only eleven, and Gryphon and Tiger are the brave heroes who slew Gold Dragon and vanquished evil Wizard and rescued the children, and they even saved the silly shrieking Princess from the trolls!”

This announcement confused Gryphon and Tiger quite a bit, until Tiger bent down and poked Black Cat Boy’s glasses back into place atop the bridge of his nose.

“Oh!” Black Cat Boy blinked at Gryphon and Tiger. “You’re Gryphon and Tiger! I can’t see well with my glasses out of place because I have very bad eyes. Will you help me, Mr. Gryphon and Tiger?”

Tiger looked at Gryphon and said, “We must do something.”

Gryphon shrugged and sulked like fifteen-year-old boys sometimes do, except his shrugs and sulks were much bigger because he was a gryphon.

“But Tiger,” Gryphon said, “tomorrow’s Halloween!”

Though Tiger was also fifteen, he was usually more sensible than his best friend Gryphon, and Tiger said to Gryphon, “So?”

“I was gonna be a dragon tomorrow night,” Gryphon said, “and I’ve always wanted to be a dragon for Halloween. But I was always too shy.”

“He’s right,” Black Cat Boy said. “When I’m not wearing my catsuit, I hardly ever say a word. And the Dean of Polytechnic Academy won’t let me wear my catsuit to school, so everyone there thinks I’m shy.”

Gryphon gently patted Black Cat Boy on the head, but his paw was so huge that he nearly knocked Black Cat Boy out.

“But,” Gryphon said to Tiger, “now that I’ve met you I can relax and have fun and be myself.”

Tiger stamped his big foot-paw, which made Black Cat Boy jump.

“But Gryphon,” Tiger said, “some evil man wants to kidnap my cousins!”

All of the tigers at home in the Zoological Gardens’ tiger habitat roared.

Gryphon, being part lion and having Tiger for a boyfriend, was not fazed by tiger roars.

“They’re tigers,” Gryphon said to Tiger. “They’ll eat the evil man up!”

“Maybe not,” Black Cat Boy said. “The evil man chuckled and said he had a magic potion to put the tigers to sleep.”

“Yeah,” Gryphon said, “but…still…it’s Halloween.”

Tiger folded his arms across his chest. “Well,” he said to Gryphon, “first you wanted me to be an ugly troll, and now you want to let my cousins get kidnapped.”

Gryphon said, “But, Tiger — ”

“Just so you can go trick-or-treating,” Tiger said. “Well, go on! Be your silly dragon or whatever. Black Cat Boy and I will save my cousins.” And Tiger put his paw on Black Cat Boy’s shoulder, and led him away from Gryphon.

Gryphon watched Tiger walk away and he felt so bad he couldn’t think of anything to say. But his gryphon-pride overcame him, and made him turn and walk in the other direction, though one furtive tear did roll from his right eye down the feathers of his face.

* * *

For Halloween, Tiger decided to be something much better than a troll, and instead he was — a tiger!

It was Halloween night and Town Zoological Gardens were closed, and the only creatures in the Zoo who didn’t live there were Tiger and Black Cat Boy. Tiger had taken off all of his fine clothes, which is all he needed to do to look like his cousins. Black Cat Boy carried a long rope and walked very close to Tiger, because from over the park walls came ghostly moans and sinister chuckling, and sometimes even a blood-curdling scream, followed by the laughter and wails of small children.

Tiger made his cousins promise not to eat him, which they did with chuffs and moans since they couldn’t talk like Tiger. Then Tiger climbed over the fence into the tigers’ home.

“Don’t ever do this,” Tiger said to Black Cat Boy, “since you’re not a tiger.”

Black Cat Boy nodded, and hid in the bushes to wait. Tiger got down on all fours and sniffed at things on the ground, like his cousin-tigers would. He was still sad about his fight with Gryphon, but there was no time to think about that right then.

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes, and Black Cat Boy screamed. A big man came out of the bushes, and he was as ugly as a troll, but didn’t have the excuse for it. He held Black Cat Boy over his head, and laughed. Black Cat Boy dropped his rope.

“It’s Town Tough Guy,” Black Cat Boy cried. “Let me go!”

“Ha-ha-ha!” said Town Tough Guy to his captive. “Let you go? I am going to take all of these tigers away to my home, and put on my very own tiger Tough Guy show! Every night I will charge Townsfolk to come see me beat up these eight…er, nine tigers! And everyone will know I really am the toughest guy in Town!”

“Tiger,” Black Cat Boy cried, “help me!”

But Tiger was still on all fours, and dared not give away who he really was before he could think up a way to beat Town Tough Guy. Tiger would have simply leaped on Town Tough Guy, but he didn’t want Black Cat Boy to get hurt.

“Ha-ha-ha!” Town Tough Guy held Black Cat Boy up even higher. “Those tigers won’t help you! But I think I will let you go, pesky boy…to be the tigers’ dinner!”

And Town Tough Guy threw Black Cat Boy over the fence into the tigers’ home.

The four-footed tigers roared when Black Cat Boy hit the grassy ground, but Tiger scampered over and grabbed hold of him.

Then Town Tough Guy pulled out an ugly gun, which he thought showed everyone how brave and tough he was. He said, “This is my magic spell! I have potions in my gun to make the big kitties sleep! Heh-heh-heh!”

Tiger stood up, holding Black Cat Boy tight in his arms. He cried out to Town Tough Guy, “I won’t let you hurt these tigers!”

“Oh,” said Town Tough Guy, “no wonder I counted an extra tiger. It is the famous hero Tiger who rescues children from evil wizards and ugly trolls! But not this time, Mr. Tiger! I will cut off your head and mount it on my wall! Then no one can deny that I, defeater of wicked tigers, is truly the toughest guy in Town!” Town Tough Guy laughed, raised his gun, and pointed it right at Tiger.

Black Cat Boy sniffled and said to Tiger, “Thank you for helping the tigers, even though we failed.”

Tiger hugged Black Cat Boy and said, “I wish Gryphon were here.”

Then the night air was ripped by a huge, terrifying squawk-roar, just like a gryphon would make. But a dragon appeared instead, diving out of the night sky. The dragon shimmered in bronze and dark blue, and swept out of sky on blue and gold wings, and headed straight for Town Tough Guy. Yellow streaks like fire shot from the dragon’s snout, and there was another ear-splitting squawk-roar, and then the dragon shrieked, “Let those kitty-cats go!”

Town Tough Guy, who was deathly afraid of dragons, fainted.

Then the dragon landed next to Tiger and Black Cat Boy, and even Tiger was scared for a moment until he saw the dragon’s eyes.

“Gryphon!” Tiger cried. “You didn’t leave us!”

“Of course not,” Gryphon said. “Look, isn’t this the best costume ever? My mom sewed all of this satiny stuff and made the streamers to go on my wings! And look, see how I rigged this yellow fabric so it shoots out from my dragon-snout like fire, and…and…”

A few low growls were heard, and Gryphon, Tiger, and Black Cat Boy turned slowly to see eight quizzical and hungry tigers watching them.

“Maybe,” Black Cat Boy said, “we’d better go.”

Gryphon flew his friends out of the tigers’ home and landed on the ground outside the fence. Tiger made Gryphon take off his dragon-mask so they could share a very, very long kiss. Black Cat Boy giggled because Tiger forgot to put him down, and Black Cat Boy liked getting squished between the two bigger boys while they kissed.

Then all three of them went trick-or-treating, and Gryphon and Tiger let Black Cat Boy keep all of the candy they received. And the very next day they took fresh meat to Town Zoological Gardens for the tigers to eat.

Gryphon and Tiger were usually obedient students, but this time they stood up to the Dean of Polytechnic Academy, and Black Cat Boy got to wear his black catsuit to school every single day, where he slinked like a girl-cat and was very, very happy.

Wise Judge sentenced Town Tough Guy to a year of cleaning up animal poo at Town Zoological Gardens. The tigers always made sure to leave the greenest and stickiest poo just for Town Tough Guy to pick up.

And, believe me; it is very, very easy for tigers to make green and sticky poo.

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Gryphon and Tiger Learn the Truth About Stories

2011-09-18T10:53:00.003-05:00

One autumn Sunday when the air had turned cool but the sun was still warm, a picnic lunch was held on the beach near Town. Gryphon and Tiger hosted, and Eagle brought along Boy, who was dressed finely but was disappointed that the water was too cold for him to show off his new amethyst bathing suit. Girl and Blue Girl also came, and built sand castles, and then knocked them over, and made Boy cry when they threatened to knock over his sand castle. The girls felt bad about that, so they made it up to Boy by letting him decorate their hair with little live sand-crabs.

After the late lunch, the picnickers waited until twilight, and then Gryphon and Eagle flew Tiger and Boy up to the clifftops overlooking the beach to watch the sunset. They were far from the troll caves since Chief Troll hated Gryphon and Tiger and Girl, and swore revenge on them all for stealing his holiday dinner.

Girl and Blue Girl were not interested in sunsets, though they still had the wriggly sand-crabs tied in their hair because wriggly sand-crabs were very boyish. So the girls wandered north up the beach, holding hands. Tiger was a little concerned because he heard one of the girls mention trolls as they left.

“Will the girls be all right?” Tiger asked Gryphon.

“Hmpf,” Gryphon said. “Pity the poor trolls that run into those two.”

Eagle chuckled; she lay on the clifftop with Boy nestled against her breast. Gryphon and Tiger built a fire for their marshmallows, and sat next to each other very close.

Boy cuddled his favorite stuffed bear and said, “Tell me a story, Gryphon.”

“Me?” Gryphon said. “I can’t tell stories.”

“Yes, you can,” Tiger said. “Try.”

“Tell us,” said Boy, “about Girl and Blue Girl meeting a troll on the beach!”

Gryphon harrumphed, and fiddled with the kindling, and wanted to get out of it by saying he had to flint-start the fire. But Tiger, who was very practical, pulled a small box of phosphorus matches from his vest pocket, and Gryphon could delay no longer.

The story started on the beach, and Boy was in it, and Girl and Blue Girl saved him from being eaten by a shark in his amethyst bathing suit. Boy giggled, especially when Gryphon said Girl and Blue Girl hugged boy in-between them after they saved him, and said he was too handsome to drown.

“Pretty,” Boy said.

“Sorry,” Gryphon said. “Too pretty to drown.”

Boy hugged his bear, and snuggled closer to Eagle.

“Then,” Gryphon said, “Boy ran the girls off by chasing them with sand-crabs.”

Everything was silent except for the crackle of the newborn fire and the sound of chirping crickets.

“Um…” Tiger said.

“Er…” Eagle said.

“Uh…” Boy said.

“Oops,” Gryphon said. “The girls chased Boy off the beach with sand-crabs.”

“I ran to Eagle,” Boy said, “and she made me stop crying about the sand-crabs.”

“I baked him partridge popovers,” Eagle said.

Then Gryphon told how Girl and Blue Girl walked up the beach —

“Holding hands,” Boy said. “Don’t forget.”

— holding hands, and how night fell, and how the girls came across a trio of the King’s Dim Knights. The Knights were very sad because they had been robbed by trolls, who stole the Knights’ swords and horses and rabbit’s foot charms and hot water bottles. Girl placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and vowed to avenge the sad Knights, who were very grateful not to have to go after the trolls themselves. Blue Girl had a dagger, and she vowed to go wherever Girl should go.

Tiger passed roasted marshmallows to Boy and Eagle, and Boy said, “I want flowers and zeppelins.”

So Girl and Blue Girl left the sad Knights and followed the horse tracks up the beach. But soon the rising tide wiped out the horse prints, and the cliffs jutted into the sea.

“The trolls could not take the horses past those cliffs,” Blue Girl said.

“No,” Girl said, “but see where the cliffs shallow out just before? They could take a horse up there.”

So the girls climbed the hill, and atop the hill was a vast field of sweet-smelling flowers. Girl and Blue Girl didn’t care about flowers, for they preferred to wear wriggly sand-crabs in their hair. But the girls were very thoughtful, and each asked the other to remember to take back flowers for Boy.

“That was sweet of them to remember me,” Boy said.

“Then,” Gryphon said, “a zeppelin appeared overhead.”

“Where did it come from?” Boy said.

Gryphon thought for a moment, stuffed five roasted marshmallows into his yellow beak, and said, “Ih wah hust dear.”

“It was what?” Boy said.

“I think,” Tiger said, “he said, ‘It was just there.’ ”

“No,” Boy said. “There has to be a reason.”

Gryphon swallowed his marshmallows and said to Tiger, “I told you I’m no good at this.”

“Perhaps,” Tiger said, “the zeppelin is coming from Big City, up the coast, to deliver travelers to Town for a visit.”

“Yes,” Boy said, “that’s right.”

Girl and Blue Girl called up to the zeppelin, and the zeppelin pilot called back and asked if Girl were the famous Girl who had recently rescued Princess.

“Yes,” Girl cried, “and she was pink and frilly and shrieky and the whole thing was just dreadful! Until we dived into the sea and Princess swallowed a gallon of salt water.”

Gryphon chuckled. “Girl really liked diving into the sea. It made Princess shut up.”

Tiger said to Boy, “Princess is a very girly princess.”

Boy said, “I wish Princess and I could play together.”

“In the next story,” Gryphon said.

“There’ll be another story?” Boy said.

Gryphon shook his head, and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

Girl and Blue Girl asked the zeppelin pilot if he had seen any trolls, and he said yes, he had seen three trolls riding three fine horses of the kind the King’s Knights might ride, toward the north where the trolls’ caves are.

“But be careful,” the zeppelin pilot said, “for the trolls called up to us and swore that if they ever found Girl again, they would chop off her head!”

“Did they?” Girl said. “Ha! Let’s go find these head-chopping trolls, Blue Girl.”

“I wish,” Boy said, “I was brave like Girl.”

Girl and Blue Girl thanked the zeppelin pilot and marched on through the flowers. And then…and then…

“I don’t know,” Gryphon said. “The trolls, they’re on horses. The girls won’t catch up.”

“Unless,” Tiger said, “the trolls stop for supper.”

Girl and Blue Girl spotted a fire in the distance, and they sneaked closer, and they found the three trolls who had robbed the Dim Knights and made the Knights sad. The trolls were gathered round the campfire, roasting…

“Marshmallows,” Gryphon said.

“For supper?” Eagle said.

“Rabbits’ feet!” cried Boy.

“Pigeons,” suggested Tiger.

“Seagulls,” Gryphon said. “It was seagulls, definitely. Anyway…so the girls saw the trolls, um, roasting seagulls…and, um…”

“The girls took the sand-crabs out of their hair and threw them at the trolls,” Tiger said, “and the trolls screamed because they hate seafood.”

Boy giggled. “And Girl said to them, ‘You’ll never cut off my head!’ ”

“That’s right,” Eagle said.

Gryphon rolled his eyes. “Okay. And then…then there was a big fight and the girls rescued the Dim Knights’ fine horses, and Girl chopped off the head of one of the trolls, and the other two ran away with sand-crabs hanging by their pincers off the trolls’ warts. The End.”

“Um…” Eagle said.

“Was there blood?” Boy said.

“Yes,” Gryphon said, “but I didn’t want to scare you.”

“It’s okay if it’s bad guys’ blood,” Boy said.

Gryphon said, “And Girl got blood all over her hands while she chopped off the troll’s head, and she rubbed it on her face and Blue Girl’s face like warpaint.”

Boy shrieked, squealed “Eeeeeuuuw!”, and giggled.

“A bit rushed at the end,” Tiger said, “but very nice overall.”

“No, it wasn’t nice,” Gryphon said. “I’m no good at this.”

“Write your story down,” Tiger said. “It’s easier, sometimes.”

“My handwriting is atrocious,” Gryphon said.

“I’ll copy the stories over for you,” Tiger said. “I have very nice handwriting.”

Gryphon turned his eyes from the fire to look at Tiger.

“You would do that,” Gryphon said, “for me?”

“I would do anything for you,” Tiger said. And then Tiger did something.

Tiger rolled to his knees beside Gryphon, not caring if he got dirt on his fine trousers. Tiger leaned close to Gryphon, toward the soft place at the corner of Gryphon’s mouth just behind Gryphon’s beak, and very gently, for the very first time, Tiger kissed Gryphon.

Gryphon stopped breathing. “You kissed me.”

“Yes.” And Tiger kissed Gryphon again.

Gryphon felt like he was falling, and that the sky and the ground had traded places.

Then Gryphon said, “That was so…so very nice…Tiger.”

“You want to know the truth about stories?” Tiger said.

Gryphon nodded.

“Stories,” Tiger said, “are something you share with someone you love. And if your story is nice enough…it will come true.”

Gryphon said, “Do you have a story…Tiger?”

“Yes. And the next thing that happens in my story is…you kiss me.”

Gryphon barely heard Tiger, for all he could see were Tiger’s huge and beautiful gold eyes. But he heard, “kiss me,” and though it took a moment for eagle-beaked Gryphon to figure out how to kiss his Tiger, he did. And he kissed Tiger again. And then again.

Then Gryphon and Tiger cuddled close and watched the fire. Boy squeezed his bear, and sighed.

“I wanna share a story with someone,” Boy said. “Someone like Gryphon and Tiger.”

“You will, angel,” Eagle said. “Someday, you will.”

It was all very peaceful and beautiful, and everyone nearly fell asleep in happiness, but such marvelous moments never last. About a half-hour later there was whooping and cheering and jumping, and Girl and Blue Girl returned from their walk, and Blue Girl paused for only a moment to hand flowers to Boy, who sniffed them and thanked Blue Girl, and wished he had a boy of his own to give flowers to also. And then Girl and Blue Girl danced around the fire, and the firelight lit up their happy gold faces and the red marks of their warpaint, and Girl tossed the stinky troll’s head on the fire, and Girl and Blue Girl cheered while the head sizzled and burned.

“See?” Tiger said to Gryphon. “What did I tell you?”

“There’s another kiss, isn’t there?” said Gryphon, and whether Tiger planned another one or not, there was another kiss anyway.

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Gryphon and Tiger Trick the Trolls

2011-09-18T10:53:00.002-05:00

Crisp autumn arrived in Town, and leaves of red and gold and purple fell all across the campus of Polytechnic Academy. Acorns fell with clicks and pops on flagstone walks and bronze statues. Homecoming Festival approached, and the rumor on campus was that the Homecoming Dance would, for the very first time, have two Kings; namely the brave Gryphon and Tiger. The thought made Tiger nervous because he was shy despite his friendliness, and didn’t like to be stared at even when it was because people liked him.

It didn’t help poor Tiger’s nerves on the day when, right in the middle of classes, the King’s silver zeppelin, all sputtering and chattering engines, came to a halt above the quad. The King was lowered from his zeppelin on a golden chair, using a golden rope. All of the students, teachers, and deans rushed out to see what was going on, and everyone bowed their heads to their good and gracious King.

King scanned the assembled faces and said, in his best kingly voice, “Where are the famous Gryphon and Tiger?”

Gryphon tossed back his elegant mane and strode toward the King, while the crowd parted in front of him. Tiger walked alongside Gryphon, and his paws trembled.

“Are we in trouble?” Tiger asked Gryphon.

“I can’t imagine,” Gryphon said.

The King wanted Gryphon and Tiger for a mission; namely, to retrieve his lovely little daughter Princess, who had been carried off by trolls the night before.

Gryphon, being a gryphon, sometimes forgot his manners, and he asked the King, “Was there no guard at the castle?”

The King arched an eyebrow at Gryphon, but he had no time to be angry with a mere subject; and besides, the King was mighty frightened of gryphons.

“I had some Knights guarding my darling child,” King said, “but as you know, most of my Knights are dim and trembly.”

Tiger was more practical, and said to the King, “Where have the trolls taken your daughter?”

“Don’t be silly,” Gryphon said to Tiger. “They’re trolls, and trolls have no imagination. They simply took Princess to their caves.”

Tiger would have blushed if he didn’t have fur. “But the trolls’ caves are in cliffs that are very steep and hard to reach,” Tiger said, “and below the caves lay sharp rocks and crashing seas.”

The King said to Tiger, “Are you not brave enough, young hero?”

Tiger wrung his tail in his paws, and assured the King he was brave enough. But really, all Tiger wanted to do on this fine, crisp, sunny autumn day was to be alone with Gryphon while they held hands and counted the falling leaves.

Nonetheless, Tiger said to the King, “We’ll have Princess back by evening.”

“Very good,” said the King, and with a little twitch of his finger, the King’s golden chair was hauled by its golden rope back up to the silver zeppelin. The zeppelin’s engines huffed and puffed and rattled and chattered, and they turned the airship back toward the castle very quickly so the King could get home and make sure his Knights weren’t pilfering the silverware.

This time Gryphon and Tiger didn’t ask permission to leave school for the day, since everyone saw that were charged with a mission by the King.

No sooner had Gryphon and Tiger stepped out through the gates of the Polytechnic Academy and into the gold and red tree-lined streets than they were accosted by Girl. She no longer wore rags, but instead sported a sturdy outfit of brown leather pants and a loose white cambric shirt that had patterns of beads and trimmings of fringe. And Girl now had a proper leather scabbard for her sword, though she still had Tiger’s green scarf wrapped around her waist. Girl folded her arms and blocked the sidewalk, and though she was only twelve, she refused to give ground to Gryphon and Tiger.

“I saw the King’s zeppelin,” Girl said. “Where’s the adventure?”

No amount of dissuasion could make Girl relent, so Gryphon had her climb aboard his back. Tiger sat behind Girl, and they held on tight while Gryphon flew them to the cliffs by the sea, where the trolls lived. On the way, Tiger came up with an idea to fool the trolls, but it required that Girl give up her sword to Tiger and pretend to be helpless. Girl protested in language that both Gryphon and Tiger thought quite unbecoming a young lady, but neither of them dared point this out to her. But when Tiger assured Girl that her role in the rescue of Princess was the most dangerous job of all, Girl’s eyes lit up, and she nodded at once.

Gryphon landed atop the cliffs. Tiger looked all the way down at the crashing surf and jagged rocks, and he almost took hold of his tail for some nervous wringing. Girl jumped right off Gryphon’s back, landed two inches from the cliff edge overlooking the sharp rocks and foaming sea, and said to her friends, “Let’s get a move on, eh, fuzz-butts?”

Gryphon, Tiger, and Girl carefully picked their way down a narrow troll path on the cliff wall, and Tiger whimpered every time his foot kicked a small rock off the path to fall way, way, way down below. Soon our rescuers were confronted by a troll guard who hunkered down and stared at them with little yellow eyes in his bulbous green face. The troll waved his spear like a club, and took Gryphon, Tiger, and Girl to Chief Troll’s cave.

Chief Troll was squat and green and smelly, and had warts on his nose and warts on his chin and warts on his ears, and each wart had a single wiry hair growing out of it like a sickly potted plant. Girl almost laughed at Chief Troll before she remembered that she was supposed to be helpless, so she tried to look frightened, which was a very difficult thing for Girl to do.

Gryphon spoke to Chief Troll. “We hear you have a girl who might need a playmate.”

“She doesn’t need a playmate,” growled Chief Troll, “because we are going to roast her for our holiday dinner.” Chief Troll squinted at Girl. “But we can always use a second course!”

Girl had to use all of her smarts and strength to refrain from popping Chief Troll on his warty, runny nose.

Gryphon and Chief Troll sat down and played cards, and Gryphon pretended to want to win lots of Chief Troll’s gold, and he didn’t complain when Chief Troll changed the rules in the middle of a hand. Of course, Gryphon lost.

“Your Girl is mine!” cried Chief Troll.

Tiger stood beside Girl and wept profusely. Then he looked down at Girl and nudged her.

“Cry like you’re very upset,” Tiger whispered to Girl, and Girl did, even though the thing she hated most in the world was to cry.

Then Tiger gave Girl a hug and whispered to her, “Find Princess and be ready to escape with us when we return.”

Gryphon flew away from the troll caves carrying Tiger on his back, and the trolls laughed at them for losing their little friend to Chief Troll. “Don’t forget to bring us another girl for dessert!” cried one of the trolls. Then the trolls took Girl to meet Princess. The trolls had not locked Princess in, for they figured girls were too scared to escape along the sheer cliff wall overlooking the jagged rocks and the crashing sea.

Princess wore a pink fluffy dress with a pink fluffy bow in her curly blonde hair and pink fluffy satin rosettes on her pink satin shoes, which would have been fluffy too, except it was hard to walk in fluffy shoes. Princess was ten years old, and was busy trying to make a troll child’s doll look pretty by pasting dried flowers onto it.

Girl approached Princess, and Girl’s black curly hair was tangled, and she had dirt on her face and mud on her boots and scuff-marks on the knees of her brown leather pants. Princess stuck out her tongue at Girl and said, “I don’t play with stinky boys!”

Girl sighed; this was going to be much more difficult than she first thought.

Meanwhile, Gryphon and Tiger went to ask their wonderful friend Eagle for help. Eagle came with them at once, and flapped her huge wings while her white feathers with their russet and black arrow-shaped markings shone in the sun. Eagle showed Gryphon and Tiger how to fashion a flamethrower from a barrel of pitch, a hand-pump, and a nozzle.

“I’ll carry the barrel in my claws,” Eagle said to Tiger. “You ride on my back and shoot flames at the trolls.”

“I don’t want to roast trolls,” Tiger said.

“Just scare them, then,” Eagle said, “so Gryphon can rescue Girl and Princess.”

Gryphon shook his head, and said to Tiger, “You are being so contrary today.”

Tiger pouted because back in Town, all the autumn leaves were falling without him and Gryphon being there to catch them and run through them and roll through the leaf piles until, exhausted, Gryphon and Tiger would laugh and hold hands and say nothing at all.

Gryphon, Tiger, and Eagle waited until dusk, and then they flew to the troll caves. On the ledges in front of the many cave mouths, the trolls all bustled and swept, preparing for their holidays.

But Gryphon ruined the trolls’ holiday plans when he swept in and batted at the trolls with his claws extended. The trolls scattered away with grunts and shrieks. Tiger worked the flamethrower and was careful not to burn any trolls, because he didn’t want to hurt someone unless he absolutely had to. More trolls wobbled out of the caves and shook their fists and called our friends funny names, and threw their spears at the attackers. But trolls were very poor spear-throwers, and did no harm.

Tiger worried how they would find Girl and Princess, but he needn’t have bothered. Girl heard the fighting, grabbed Princess by the hand, and hauled the pink beribboned girl to the cave mouth. Princess took one look down at the twilight-ghostly crash of surf on the jagged rocks far below, and shrieked.

“Serves ya right,” Girl said to Princess, “for making me play with your stupid dolls!”

Gryphon turned and dived toward the cave where Girl waved and Princess shrieked. But Chief Troll appeared in the next cave mouth up from the girls’ cave, and he began to climb down the cliff wall toward them.

“No one,” cried Chief Troll, “is stealing my holiday dinner!”

Eagle swooped toward the cliff, just above Gryphon. She cried back to Tiger, “Let go of the nozzle!” Tiger let go of the nozzle, and Eagle threw the barrel of pitch at the cliff wall beside Chief Troll. The barrel exploded, and knocked Chief Troll off the wall.

“Oh, no!” Tiger cried, for the explosion also knocked Girl and Princess out of the cave mouth, and they tumbled down toward the jagged rocks and the crashing sea below.

Gryphon moved fast, and used his wings to thrust his body after the falling girls. He got there just in time and grabbed both girls to his chest, and then veered sharply away from the jagged rocks. But his momentum was too great, and Gryphon and the girls crashed into the sea.

“Gryphon!” cried Tiger. “Oh, no! Gryphon!”

Eagle banked down toward the sea to look for her dear friend. “Wait.”

“Eagle,” Tiger cried, “Gryphon can’t be gone! We never got to run through the autumn leaves together! And now we’ll never — ”

A huge splash threw seawater on Eagle and Tiger, and Gryphon burst out of the ocean carrying Girl and Princess. Gryphon shook his body wildly to throw off the water. Princess spat up seawater and shrieked. Girl tossed water out of her hair and cried, “That was the most fun I’ve ever had!”

Somehow Chief Troll managed not to get smashed on the jagged rocks, and he cursed and shook his fist at the heroes while they flew away, and Chief Troll grumbled that the trolls would now have to eat cold potted meat for their holidays.

Girl and Princess rode atop Gryphon, and Tiger rode on Eagle, as they flew to the King’s castle. Girl had really had enough of Princess’ shrieking, and used her green scarf to tie up Princess’ mouth.

The King gave gold to everyone for rescuing Princess, and Gryphon and Tiger received cheers when they returned to the Polytechnic Academy. The Dean offered Girl a place in the school, and though Girl felt she needed no education, she accepted. And she was partly right, for even though she was twelve, she was placed in the same class as Gryphon and Tiger, who were fifteen.

The next afternoon, Tiger chased Gryphon through a pile of fallen leaves, after which the boys curled up close together in the leaves, and slept.

At the Homecoming Dance, Gryphon and Tiger were voted Kings, and Girl was made an honorary Queen. But Girl refused to be Queen and so she traded titles with Tiger, who rather giggled when he was pronounced Homecoming Queen. Girl met another girl whose favorite color was blue, and Girl and Blue Girl danced together all night long.

Gryphon held his Tiger very close while they danced, and Tiger no longer felt the least bit contrary.

The King had almost been upset when he saw that Girl had gagged his precious Princess. But five noisy minutes after he removed the green scarf from Princess’ mouth, the King asked Girl if he could have the scarf back.

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Gryphon and Tiger and the Boy Filled with Dreams

2011-09-18T10:53:00.001-05:00

Gryphon and Tiger could not hide how they felt, and before long everyone in the stone halls of the Polytechnic Academy knew the two fifteen-year-old boys were in love. But Gryphon and Tiger weren’t teased, because everyone liked the dapper and happy Tiger, and nobody dared make fun of Gryphon, who was bigger than all of them, and had a temper. The wistful eyes of certain boys and girls in the Academy watched adoringly how Gryphon and Tiger adored each other, and soon formerly hidden couples took heart, and found the courage to hold hands.

Word spread quickly through Town about the bravery of Gryphon and Tiger. One evening a small delivery boy who was furred like a zebra gave a secret note to Tiger, and the next morning, Tiger showed it to Gryphon.

“A Mother needs our help,” Tiger said to Gryphon. “Her son has been kidnapped by a giant Eagle with red and black feathers.”

“That’s not possible,” Gryphon said. He was a little annoyed because even though all of Town knew how he and Tiger had slain Gold Dragon and vanquished evil Wizard, it was not easy being a hero, what with all of the tree-stranded kittens he had been begged to rescue in the past week. But Gryphon could not resist Tiger’s big, gold, imploring eyes, and so he agreed.

This time, Gryphon and Tiger got permission from the Dean of the Polytechnic Academy to take a day from school to rescue the missing Boy.

The secret note puzzled Gryphon, for he knew Eagle from when he was a small cub, and he remembered her as being very nice, and treasured the memory of the warm feeling he used to get when she baked her special partridge popovers just for him; because eagles and gryphons are all cousins once-removed. It was not like Eagle to go about kidnapping children, which was something the vanquished evil Wizard had once done.

Gryphon and Tiger rode a trolley to the north edge of Town, where they hiked into the dense forest of towering trees, toward the tall tree where Eagle lived. The day was sunny and the birds sang joyously, and ironically it was Gryphon who had to keep reminding the dewy-eyed Tiger that they were on a dangerous mission, and they should remain focused.

They found Eagle’s tree, and Gryphon flew Tiger up to Eagle’s nest. They found Eagle and Boy, and though Tiger was fretful that the secret note seemed true, Gryphon and Eagle shared a happy hug. Eagle was twice as big as Gryphon, and her white feathers bore swept patterns of striking russet and black arrows. Boy was ten and had blond hair that curled about his high, starched collar, with sapphire blue eyes and a nose as cute as a little pink gumball. Boy dressed even better than Tiger did, and had a fondness for touches of lavender color, which made Tiger jealous as lovely lavender went quite poorly with the copper-gold color of his fur.

Gryphon and Tiger settled into Eagle’s nest while Eagle served tea. Gryphon waited until the tea was poured and everyone had sugar before he spoke.

“This is not like you,” Gryphon said to Eagle. “Kidnapping children is an evil deed.”

Eagle slurped tea through her beak, and explained. “A year ago I had some chicks, and one of them was a poor flyer. One day while my chicks practiced flying, my sweet poor flyer fell out of the sky and was lost to his siblings. He landed beside a stream where a weeping Boy dressed in rags hid from his Mother. But Boy dried his tears when he saw my chick was in trouble, and he carefully carried my chick all the way home, right here to my tree.”

“We had cake to celebrate,” Boy said.

“Since then,” Eagle said, “Boy comes to me when he’s sad. His Mother makes him work like a slave and she teases his nice clothes, and she won’t let him play with his friends.”

“Why not?” Tiger said.

“My friends are all girls,” Boy said. “I like to dream, and my friends and I tell each other stories about kings and princes and dragons and trolls, and in my stories I’m hardly ever a boy.”

Eagle glowered her rust-gold eyes at Gryphon and Tiger, daring the youths to laugh at Boy’s dreams; but of course, Gryphon and Tiger understood.

“Boy has an Aunt,” Eagle said, “in Village, up the river. I’m taking him there to live. Aunt will let Boy be a child and play with whomever he wants, and if he wants to wear pretty things and become a girl someday, that’s okay, too.”

Boy sipped his tea, and smiled.

“Then we’ll help,” Gryphon said, and when he looked at Tiger and smiled in a sweet way that gryphons hardly ever do, Eagle knew she didn’t have to glower at Gryphon and Tiger ever again.

Boy rode Eagle’s back, and Tiger rode Gryphon’s back, as they all ascended into the air from Eagle’s nest. To the south, tall trees marched down to the edge of Town, while to the north the trees hiked up the mountains, over which lay the river valley, where Boy’s Aunt lived and toward which our friends flew.

But they had not flown very far when a loud shriek-roar pierced the gentle air, coming from behind them to the south. Gryphon’s fur and feathers immediately hackled up, and scared Tiger half to death.

“Another gryphon!” snarled Gryphon, and he swung about to face his foe, for the shriek-roar had been a challenge-call in gryphon-tongue. Approaching swiftly from Town was Other Gryphon, who had fire in his eyes and hate on his brow, and had a reputation for taking humans’ gold to do their dirty work. Atop Other Gryphon’s back rode a woman with long dark hair streaming haphazardly behind her, with a face if anything more hateful than the face of Other Gryphon.

Eagle came about to see what was happening, and from atop her back, Boy cried out, “Mother!”

Gryphon and Eagle feared for their riders, and did not move fast enough. Other Gryphon swept in, slashed at Eagle’s face with his claws, and then seized Boy off her back. Eagle cried out with blood in her eyes while she fell toward the treetops. Gryphon went after her, his beloved friend, while Other Gryphon escaped back to Town with Boy. Mother screeched triumphantly atop Other Gryphon’s back.

Eagle was stunned but grabbed hold of a tree, and she perched impatiently atop it while Tiger licked clean the wounds on her face. Then the three of them flew swiftly to Town under the noonday sun.

Eagle was curt and angry, and her eyes burned with fierce anger. “Do you two know how to fight?”

Gryphon nodded while Tiger, riding Gryphon, told Eagle about Gold Dragon and Wizard.

Eagle ruffled her feathers. “Boy saved my chick, and I will do anything to save him.”

They found the home where Boy lived with Mother on the northeast edge of Town. The house sagged with moldering beams and rat-eaten thatch. Only patchy grass grew in the dusty yard, where a weathered and wheel-less old carriage sat upon overturned apple crates. Boy was in rags again, with dirt on his pretty face, while he hauled water from the well to fearsome Mother standing in the doorway. He was crying.

Atop the roof-peak, watching the skies, sat Other Gryphon.

Gryphon did not hesitate. “Take Tiger!” he cried to Eagle, and she swooped in and snatched Tiger off Gryphon’s back with her talons. Poor Tiger was terrified, and held on tight while Eagle gently lowered him to the ground.

But no one was watching that, for the air was filled with the fur and feathers of two gryphons fighting. Gryphons are proud and jealous, and at times they hate nothing so much as other gryphons. Gryphon battled Other Gryphon, and the neighborhood shook with eagle shrieks and lion roars, and there was much slashing of claws and jabbing of beaks; and Tiger whimpered when he saw blood on Gryphon’s face. Eagle hovered in the air and stayed back, knowing that gryphon pride was greatest in their fighting prowess, and she didn’t dare take that pride from her dear friend Gryphon by interfering. A quartet of King’s Knights rode up on their fine horses, but being dim and a bit trembly under their polished armor, they pretended not to know which gryphon was good, and so they watched the battle while eating apples. Boys and girls drawn away from their games by the fight knew which gryphon was good, and they cheered him on.

Gryphon fought for his friends and for honor, while Other Gryphon only fought for money; and, truly, Other Gryphon was taking a tremendous beating from the young and powerful Gryphon. Other Gryphon finally shrieked a surrender-cry, and flew off like a frightened bunny would fly, if bunnies could fly. The laughter of merry children chased Other Gryphon far away. Tiger finally stopped wringing his tail, and cheered.

But it was not over, for Eagle looked down and saw Mother knock Boy down into the dirt, spilling his pail of water. Mother reached out to strike the fallen Boy again, but before she could she found enraged Eagle in her face.

Eagle hit the ground hard and skidded in the dirt, and thrust her beak out until it was but an inch from Mother’s face. Then Eagle ripped out an eagle-shriek that blew Mother off her feet, caused part of the old thatch roof to collapse, made the dim Knights drop their apples, and forced Town’s lively stock market to shutter early for the day.

Eagle’s words to Mother were nearly as loud as her shriek. “You’re attacking your own son!”

“He’s a sissy,” cried Mother. “A worthless little freak!”

Eagle’s next shriek halted rail and zeppelin traffic in and out of Town until the next day.

With two steps Eagle stood over Mother like a feathered gallows, and Eagle raised her beak. “You are no mother,” Eagle said. “Prepare to die!”

But Boy sat up and cried, “Eagle, no! She’s…she’s my mother!”

Gryphon and Tiger watched with their shoulders touching, and each shed a tear.

Eagle turned to Boy. “You love her still?”

Boy looked down at the dirt. “Yes…”

“She doesn’t deserve you.”

Boy nodded, and said nothing.

“Do you still,” Eagle said, “want to go live with Aunt?”

And Boy nodded again.

So Eagle explained to Mother how it would be, and Mother got angry and demanded to know who would do the chores.

Gryphon laughed. “Hire Other Gryphon to do that. I hear he’s available.”

So Boy, riding Eagle, and Tiger, riding Gryphon, flew to Village. Along the way Boy fretted, for he was still raggedy and dirty. But Aunt drew him a hot bath, and Boy came out to the picnic supper in the front yard wearing the fine new outfit that Aunt bought just for him, and already the girl from next door came over to play with him, and in Boy’s dreams he was always a girl.

Before she went home, Eagle promised to always watch over Boy in case Mother tried to steal him back again. Tiger nestled in Gryphon’s thick mane while they flew back to Town, and once he whispered, “I love you,” into Gryphon’s tall ears. That made Gryphon so happy he would have done a loop-the-loop, but he didn’t want to scare his wonderful Tiger, who was afraid of heights.

That evening, Tiger took flowers to his mother and kissed her pink nose, while Gryphon gave his mother a smothering, warm hug, and then took out the trash without her even having to ask him.

Return to Gryphon & Tiger Stories

Gryphon and Tiger and the Valiant Girl

2011-09-18T10:53:00.000-05:00

Gryphon and Tiger Find a Treasure More Valuable than Gold

2011-09-18T10:52:00.000-05:00

Tiger lived in a pretty little Town that sat in a kingdom ruled by a wise and merciful King. The sea bordered Town on one side, with mountains to the north and rolling hills to the south. Town bustled with people and mythical beasts and semi-beasts like Tiger, and one could always hear the clatter of trains or the hum of zeppelins carrying Townsfolk from place to place.

Tiger was fifteen years old, and he went to school in the ivy-covered halls of the Polytechnic Academy. He was handsome in a cute-ish sort of way and he liked to dress well, which was not always easy as his trousers and shirts and vests and ascots had to match appropriately with his white and copper-gold black striped fur. Tiger walked on his hind legs like most semi-beasts did. He was shy and dreamy and quiet, and therefore Tiger had few friends although his disposition was pleasant and helpful. But Tiger would have done anything in the world if he could become friends with one of his schoolfellows, the big and serious and sometimes kind of scary Gryphon.

It was when Town’s most powerful Wizard gave Tiger a chance to be brave that Tiger hit on an idea of how to make Gryphon his friend.

Everyone thought Wizard was good and judicious in his use of magic, and he must have spied some kernel of bravery within Tiger. One day Wizard summoned Tiger to his home, the Magic Tree in Town Park. When Tiger arrived, Wizard spoke.

Wizard wore his blue and silver Wizard robes and his blue and silver Wizard hat. “Tiger,” said Wizard, “north of Town lie the terrible Dragon Caves, where the giant winged lizards hide and plan ways to attack Town. Of all dragons, we most fear Gold Dragon, for he is the largest of his kind, and keeps for himself the greatest hoard of gold in the world. In my auguries I have seen a Townsperson kill Gold Dragon and take his gold.”

Tiger stood respectfully before Wizard’s blue and gold cloth-covered magic-making table and said, “Who performed this feat, Wizard?”

“You did, Tiger.”

So Tiger was charged with the quest to kill Gold Dragon, who liked to steal gold from Town’s tradespeople and sometimes ate one of their children just for fun. But Tiger didn’t believe he could achieve his task on his own, so before school the next day, Tiger screwed courage into his tail with his nervous paws, and dared speak to Gryphon for the very first time.

Gryphon was three times as big as Tiger and walked on all fours, but he used his forepaws as hands like all gryphons do. He wore no clothes over his magnificent chocolate and gold fur-and-feathered body, and when sunlight struck his enormous dark wings, gold sparks appeared to fly off the barbs of his feathers.

In class, Tiger liked to sit where he could always see Gryphon, and he wished and wished that Gryphon, just one time, might look at Tiger and smile. But Tiger never saw Gryphon look at him at all.

That morning, Gryphon frowned at Tiger when Tiger made bold to talk to him.

“Who,” Gryphon said to Tiger, “are you?”

Tiger trembled, and twisted his silk handkerchief in his paws. Talking to Gryphon meant so much to him! Tiger told Gryphon about his quest, and asked Gryphon if he would like to help.

“We’ll split the reward Wizard promised me,” Tiger said.

Gryphon lowered his sharp yellow beak close to Tiger’s face. “If I do more work, I want more gold.”

“Certainly,” Tiger said, though he would have given Gryphon all of his gold just to hear him say, “Yes.”

“When do we leave?” Gryphon said.

“Today,” Tiger said. “Right now, if you like.”

Gryphon nodded; he was Tiger’s age, and craved adventure. “I will enjoy missing a day of drowsy lectures and alchemical experiments to go chase after dragons.”

The heroes set off, marching toward the mountains north of Town. The morning streets were filled with busy Townsfolk going hither and thither on horse or on foot, with street-sweepers sweeping and cookware vendors vending and potholder and tea cozy carts rattling and fine ladies promenading, and the busy Townsfolk all turned to stare at the unusual couple. Tiger tried not to smile, though he was happy enough that his heart almost burst. Me, he thought, here I am, walking along with handsome Gryphon! But the Townsfolk shied away, fearful of gryphon’s size and power. Tiger’s heart pinched with a tiny grain of hurt, and he tried to ignore the fearful people.

Into the autumn-changing densely forested mountains hiked Gryphon and Tiger, and while they hiked, they talked. Each found that the other loved books and music and painting as much as he did. Only when Gryphon let Tiger climb onto his back to fly him across the raging rapids of a wide river did Tiger ask his companion, “But why don’t you fly all the way anyway instead of walking on the ground with me?”

“Because I want someone to talk to,” said Gryphon.

On the other side of the river they walked again, and Tiger recalled how no one, not even he, ever talked to Gryphon because everyone was so afraid of him.

Tiger let Gryphon walk ahead a few paces before he whispered, “I’m not afraid of you, Gryphon.”

Gryphon’s tall ears twitched, but he didn’t turn around.

Walking together again, Gryphon and Tiger soon heard the heavy clink of gold coins being counted, one by one. Only one dragon dared count his gold coins so everyone could hear, and that was Gold Dragon, and it was because Gold Dragon was big enough and fierce enough that he feared no other dragon in the world.

Gryphon and Tiger crouched low in the bushes, and crept toward the mouth of Gold Dragon’s cave. Gold Dragon’s body filled the maw of the cave entrance, and his long scaly body was as gold as autumn sun, and his huge leathery wings were as black as winter coal. Smoke rose in elegant curls from his nostrils, and when he smiled his yellow fangs shone like polished daggers. Gold Dragon stopped counting his gold, raised his long snout, and sniffed the air. Then he roared.

Gryphon and Tiger knew they were caught, and stood up on the small ridge in front of Gold Dragon’s cave.

“Who,” cried Gold Dragon, “has ventured into my forest and up to my cave to spy upon my wealth and then lay themselves out for my supper?”

Tiger forced himself not to wring his shaking paws together. “We are no spies,” he said, “and it is us who shall eat you for supper!”

“The people of Town,” Gryphon said, “are tired of your theft and butchery, Gold Dragon. We have come to kill you and take your gold!”

Gold Dragon, we must confess, had never laughed so hard in his life as he did right then.

“You, kill me?” said Gold Dragon. “Two different furry beasts, and one with pretensions of dragon-flight?”

“I fly like a lion,” Gryphon said.

“And I creep soft, like a cat,” Tiger said.

“And we both fight like heroes,” said the youths together.

Gold Dragon dropped his fistfuls of gold, which clattered and tinkled like Gold Dragon’s laugh. “Well, then. Come and get me, lads!”

Gryphon flapped his mighty wings and took to the air, and came at Gold Dragon from the sky with beak slashing and claws bared. Gold Dragon was still in his cave, and couldn’t spread his wings. Tiger, during the hike, had whittled a spear from a tree branch using his claws, and harried Gold Dragon from below with the sharp wooden point. Before long, Gryphon and Tiger learned that Gold Dragon’s blood was green.

Gold Dragon roared at his injuries, and breathed streams of fire that Gryphon and Tiger leaped and dodged. Together the youths kept Gold Dragon from exiting his cave, and for one moment it looked as if they were about to win.

But with a swoop of one giant-taloned paw, Gold Dragon broke Tiger’s spear and grabbed him up, and nearly crushed poor Tiger in his strong, bony fingers. Then Gold Dragon held Tiger daintily before his snout, dangling his victim from two pointed claws like a bracelet charm, and prepared to barbecue Tiger with fire-breath.

Tiger looked up at Gryphon, and he felt a cold knot in his heart. Gryphon hung in the air and watched, as if waiting for Gold Dragon to finish off Tiger. It was Tiger’s worst fear: that strong and solitary Gryphon, in need of no friends, planned to betray Tiger all along, and would keep all of the gold for himself.

Then Gryphon’s dark wings with sparks of gold spread wide, swooped around like a town dandy’s cloak, and dived down toward Tiger. Gryphon seized Tiger and pulled him away just as fire shot from Gold Dragon’s snout. Gryphon threw Tiger over his head and onto the thick mane that covered his shoulders.

“Hang on!” cried Gryphon to his friend.

Gryphon swept down again and again, and with his sharp claws he took out both of Gold Dragon’s eyes, and shredded Gold Dragon’s leathery black wings. Gold Dragon wailed and cursed, and lashed out and spat fire. Finally Gryphon seized hold of the underside of Gold Dragon’s neck. Tiger crawled forward up Gryphon’s shoulders, and together Gryphon and Tiger each delivered a kill-bite to the soft throat of unlucky Gold Dragon.

Gryphon landed next to Gold Dragon’s body and let Tiger climb off his back. Gryphon glared at Tiger with his black and gold eyes, and then he reached out and grabbed Tiger close to his warm chest in a long hug.

“I don’t understand,” Tiger said. “For a moment I thought you would let me die, and keep all of the gold for yourself.”

“Gold Dragon surprised me,” Gryphon said, “and for that moment I couldn’t decide whether to save you by grabbing you, or save you by killing Gold Dragon first. Then I saw your eyes and I knew.”

Tiger’s gold eyes gazed up at his new friend. “Knew what?”

Gryphon’s voice was no longer harsh. “I have waited so long for you to talk to me,” he said. “But I thought you didn’t care for me.”

“I…what…not care for you? I watch you all the time!”

“And I watch you too, when you’re not looking.”

“But you never talk to me!”

“And you?”

Tiger lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”

Gryphon held Tiger even closer in his dark gold fur. “I so love you, Tiger.”

Tiger freed his arms and pulled Gryphon closer. “I love you so too, Gryphon.”

Gryphon and Tiger held each other close for so very long that, when they headed back to Town, they almost forgot to fill their canvas bag with gold for Wizard.

Gryphon and Tiger didn’t really have Gold Dragon for supper, because dragon meat is very tough and gamy, and only very hungry coyotes will eat it. Which the coyotes did.

Return to Gryphon & Tiger Stories

"Straighten up your gay kids or find another agent!"

2011-09-13T20:18:00.008-05:00

Here's a great blog entry about a pair of writers who encountered trouble when a prospective agent demanded that they "write the gay away" -- i.e., remove the gay elements of one of their teen boy characters in a YA fantasy novel they had written. The writers stood their ground and wrote this excellent blog post alerting fellow writers and genre fiction fans to the problem, which appears to run pretty deep in the publishing industry. There's not much I can add to what the writers say or to some of the terrific comments that follow their post. This incident makes me anxious to finish my gay YA steampunk fantasy novel Wrath of the Gryphonwind and get it self-published. It also convinces me that I was correct to go ahead and publish WotG myself. Keep an eye here for updates on that novel, and go read some gay YA fiction! If you want to read something shorter than a novel, try one of my stories listed on the left side of this blog and enjoy!

"Authors Say Agents Try to “Straighten” Gay Characters in YA" -- Genreville

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Have an adventure this weekend!

2011-09-03T10:23:00.007-05:00

Need a good book to read for the Labor Day weekend? Try one of my novels, The Glasschanger's Child or Orphan Stone. The Glasschanger's Child is a contemporary fantasy with wizards and dragons, an opera-composing gryphon, and the the Greek god Pan. Orphan Stone is a science fiction adventure about a young girl battling furry pirates among the rings of Saturn. Follow the links for more details about the novels and where you can buy them. Enjoy!

Orphan Stone

The Glasschanger's Child

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This kid is AWESOME!

2011-07-27T13:07:00.005-05:00

Here's a terrific story about 12-year-old Grant Mower, who not only designs dresses but hopes to design a gown for First Lady Michelle Obama. Be sure to watch the video at the link; it's very cool. Here's to a kid who knows who he is and what he wants out of life at such a young age! And I hope the First Lady takes Grant up on his offer.

12-year-old boy designs dress for first lady Michelle Obama (KSL TV)

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My Little Sondheim!

2011-07-27T11:56:00.023-05:00

Okay, I confess -- I have become a fan of the latest incarnation of the My Little Pony TV show, called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. No, I haven't lost my mind. The show's popularity among adult men has taken the show's creators by complete surprise. We're called "bronies," and if you want more background on the topic, here's the famous Wired article about us. It's really very simple -- Lauren Faust, the force behind the show, trashed the saccharine sweetness of older My Little Pony shows and replaced it with sharper humor and the same girl-power sensibility she brought from her work with her husband Craig McCracken on his hit show, The Powerpuff Girls. (Faust also worked as an animator on two wonderful animated feature films, The Iron Giant (directed by Pixar veteran Brad Bird) and a forgotten treat, Cats Don't Dance (directed by Mark Dindal, who went on to direct Disney's hugely funny The Emperor's New Groove).) Faust has managed to make the new My Little Pony show innocent and fun without condescension or over-cuteness. It's more enjoyable than you might imagine, and yes, I cannot believe I am singing the praises of a TV show based on those silly toys from the 80s!

What does this have to do with the video above? Simply that I love semi-obscure references, in this case creating a parody (in the old-style sense) of a song by Stephen Sondheim for one of the episodes of MLP: FiM. The song was adapted by the show's composer, Daniel Ingram. I about fell out of my chair when I saw this! Not since I encountered the first semi-obscure Shakespeare reference in an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 have I been so tickled. The song above is derived from "Putting it Together," from Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize winning musical, Sunday in the Park with George (one of my two favorite musicals, along with West Side Story). I love the tribute, and wonder what Mr. Sondheim thinks about all this.

Here's the original song (above) included in this scene from Sunday in the Park with George, featuring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. The comments section on YouTube already has quips from bronies who've just discovered this; and yes, that is Brent Spiner in a portion of the scene.

And if you're interested, here's the complete episode of MLP: FiM (above) that contains the parody song. Enjoy! As Rainbow Dash would say, inclusion of Sondheim references instantly makes this show 20% cooler!

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P.S. Bonus video below! There are pony mashups, of course. This is the first thing I ever saw the ponies in, even before I caught up with the episodes of the show. It's a mashup of the trailer for The Dark Knight with images from MLP: FiM. And it ... is ... AWESOME!!!

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer!

2011-07-19T16:32:00.005-05:00

Is anyone else excited? I'm excited! I will probably explode from excitement before the year is out, but, yeah! I'm excited!

Seriously, I haven't looked forward to a movie this much since the days of the original Star Wars trilogy. And I expect Chris Nolan's flick to be much better than any of those! I've loved every movie I've seen by Nolan, particularly The Dark Knight and Inception.

The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Trailer at YouTube

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"Sinews of the Heart" is coming; or, The Furries Have Inherited the Earth!

2011-07-10T13:49:00.007-05:00

My short story/novella "Sinews of the Heart" will be published as an e-book next year by WolfSinger Publications! The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where human civilization has fallen in a war with anthropomorphs. A family of anthrotigers hiking across the Yellowstone Territory comes upon a hidden family of humans. Whether to kill the humans or let them go is a decision that has dire consequences for Nikki, a twelve-year-old anthrotiger, whose true identity her father refuses to acknowledge. It's a compelling story of coming-of-age, forgiveness, and the importance of being true to one's real self. Plus, it has furries!

"Sinews of the Heart" is one of my favorite tales, and I'm very happy that it has finally found a home. I'll post an update when the e-book becomes available.

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Drawing from here.

Justice for Living Children

2011-07-07T13:12:00.008-05:00

This is for everyone who is upset about the CAYLEE ANTHONY case.

That case is over. Our jury system has decided, rightly or wrongly, and it is a system we should prefer since I, for one, do not wish to live in a police state. I hope you feel the same way, too. We seem to have forgotten that many other murders, including that of children by their parents, occurred during the time since this crime was committed.

But if you feel bad for hurt kids, it is time for you to step up.

There are children out there now, ALIVE, who need your help. Children who have been kicked out of their homes for being gay. Children who have been raped and abused by their parents and protectors. Children dumped on the road for simply being a nuisance. Children who have run away because they simply could not take it any more.

These children aren't always pretty and they aren't always sweet. But they goddamn sure could use your help.

Give to The Trevor Project or to the Ali Forney Center. Or find a children's home or charity in your town and give. No money to give? Then donate time and work. GET OFF YOUR COMPLACENT BUTTS AND HELP THE CHILDREN WHO SUFFER TODAY.

Leaving your porch light on will help no one. DOING SOMETHING WILL.

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Photograph from here.

The Glasschanger's Child

2011-07-04T14:04:00.007-05:00

My novel The Glasschanger's Child is now available in an Amazon Kindle edition! This one is a contemporary fantasy-adventure tale with some fascinating characters and lots of interesting twists.

Young Ciar Allyn pleads to the heavens for news about her vanished father, but the only reply is a gold glass star given her by two mysterious faeries. Years later Ciar discovers the Fledglings, a free-spirited band of mytho-magic creatures seeking Ciar’s powerful star aboard their fantastic flying vessel Orpheus. Ciar learns that her father was secretly a glasschanger, a powerful wizard who left Earth to help the Fledglings save the throne of their home world, Klyrrok. Swept up in their quest, Ciar fights side-by-side with werewolves, a gryphon, a man made of blue glass, the goat-god Pan, an abrasive and well-armed guardian angel, and a world-famous opera singer who sometimes turns into a tiger. Together the Fledglings battle an evil wizard and his cheerfully sadistic henchmen to save Klyrrok’s true king. But only Ciar’s growing mastery of her newly discovered glasschanging powers can carry the Fledglings to final victory.

This novel is one of my favorite creations, and I hope you enjoy it!

The Glasschanger's Child is now available in a print-on-demand paperback edition (just follow the link to Amazon) and in other e-reader formats. Also, some independent bookstores have the print-on-demand paperback edition available, too. Check with your favorite book retailer!

The Glasschanger's Child at Amazon.com

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Siberian Siblings at Cedar Cove

2011-07-03T15:05:00.007-05:00

THIS VIDEO IS AWESOME! It comes from Cedar Cove, the park where I used to volunteer. Gunny and Sierra are littermates, and I love them both. Sierra especially was my sweetie during my days at the park! It is so awesome to work with these cats. Tigers are the most amazing and beautiful animals I have ever seen. I really miss them.

Look at how big those two tigers are in the video, and then check out how they looked when they were itty bitty little kitties! This picture was taken by Cedar Cove's founder, William Pottorff, who raised these cats himself. That's Sierra on the left looking up, while her brother Gunny figures he'd better get some eatin' done before his sister takes the rest!

Cedar Cove Feline Conservatory & Education Center

My animal pix at SmugMug, featuring thousands of pictures of Cedar Cove's cats!

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Founding Father

2011-06-25T00:47:00.005-05:00

Like the revolutionaries of our nation's past, this man took a bullet so that, today, our legislatures can peacefully pass laws that recognize the full humanity of gay people in New York State and in all of America. After all the bullshit, this is what it comes down to: we progress with determination, with pride, and with arguing, but in the end we do it peacefully.

Sometimes I feel like burning the buildings down. But that's not necessary tonight.

Tonight, Harvey Milk is smiling. Those of you who fought on the front lines for this victory are his inheritors. Be proud.

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Pictured: Harvey Milk's inauguration, January, 1978.

"Rainbows & Unicorns" is coming!

2011-06-04T14:17:00.007-05:00

My story "Rainbows & Unicorns" has been accepted by Aeon Press Books and will be published this fall in a volume called "Transtories". "Rainbows & Unicorns" is a sweet fairy tale with blood splattered all over it, in which a gang of hurt kids encounters a brand of helpful magic that, for some people, turns into a nightmare. I will leave it for you to discover why it fits perfectly in an anthology involving stories that in some way are based on the word "trans". I believe "Transtories" will be available in both print and electronic editions. I'll post an update when the story is published. Meanwhile, please check out the list to the left of my other published stories. Enjoy!

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Orphan Stone

2011-05-08T14:06:00.010-05:00

My novel Orphan Stone is now available in an Amazon Kindle edition! It's a novel I first wrote a few years ago and had no success placing through traditional channels, so I decided to try the self-publishing route and see what happens. Here's the description of Orphan Stone:

Erzsébet Warren doesn't let anything get in her way. It's been just a few months since Erzsébet was made an orphan when her father murdered the rest of her family. Now she wants to do something fun, like mining diamonds in the dangerous rings of Saturn. But Erzsébet doesn't anticipate that the place is crawling with hated chimera-boys, humans who genetically alter their bodies to become part animal. Nor does she count on a ship full of vicious pirates, who not only want to steal the miners' diamonds but also have a personal grudge against Erzsi. And least of all, she never thought she'd fall in love with a chimera-boy. Erzsébet's adventures rack up no end of trouble for both the daring diamond miners and the dissipate and deadly pirates. But when pirates try to take over the huge mining station, it's Erzsébet's cunning improvisations that help the outgunned miners fight back.

Orphan Stone is a rip-roaring adventure tale with lots of drama and humor. I hope you enjoy it!

Orphan Stone is now available in a print-on-demand paperback edition (just follow the link to Amazon) and in other e-reader formats. Also, some independent bookstores have the print-on-demand paperback edition available, too. Check with your favorite book retailer!

Orphan Stone at Amazon.com

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"The Yellow Bike"

2011-03-07T18:57:00.005-06:00

My story “The Yellow Bike” is now up at the Toasted Cheese Literary Journal website. The narrator is a high school boy who falls in love with another boy named Stefan, although Stefan doesn’t share the first boy’s feelings. When Stefan’s home life falls apart and he runs away, the boys’ friendship seems doomed. But an overnight trip to find Stefan teaches the narrator that their friendship matters more to the boy he loves than he thinks.

“The Yellow Bike” at Toasted Cheese Literary Journal

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The Revenge of Tatiana!

2011-03-01T21:17:00.009-06:00

As I always suspected, reports bear out that Tatiana the tiger was provoked by the youths the NY Post so delightfully dubbed the "Tiger Twits" before she escaped and TRACKED THEM DOWN THROUGH THE ZOO to attack them.

Do NOT get on a tiger's bad side -- they WILL remember!

RIP, Tatiana...

Feds release SF tiger attack documents

(AP) – Feb 12, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A female Siberian tiger killed in a hail of police gunfire after fatally mauling a man at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day 2007 likely was provoked into leaping and clawing out of its enclosure, a federal investigator said in documents obtained by The Associated Press.

The tiger named Tatiana killed 17-year-old Carlos Sousa Jr. and injured his friends, brothers Paul and Kulbir Dhaliwal, leaving claw marks etched in the asphalt and claw fragments in the bushes outside its pen. Claw marks were also discovered near the top of the enclosure wall, which was lower than federal safety standards dictate, showing that the big cat was able to get enough leverage to pull itself out.

"It appears the tiger was able to jump from the bottom of the dry moat to the top of the wall, and gain enough purchase over the top to pull herself out over the moat wall," wrote Laurie Gage, a tiger expert who investigated the scene for the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, or APHIS, which oversees the nation's zoos.

"With my knowledge of tiger behavior I cannot imagine a tiger trying to jump out of its enclosure unless it was provoked," Gage wrote in the Dec. 27, 2007 draft of her report.

That statement was stricken from the final version of the report because it was "irrelevant from an Animal Welfare Act enforcement standpoint," said David Sacks, a spokesman for APHIS. Whether or not the tiger was provoked has long been a point of contention.

After sitting with its prey for a short time, Gage wrote that Tatiana likely followed the Dhaliwals' blood trail for about 300 yards to where it resumed attacks. Photographs show blood-smeared asphalt where the tiger apparently dragged Sousa's body.

"After a kill, I find it interesting the tiger would leave a kill to go after something else unless there were a compelling reason," Gage wrote. "The tiger passed exhibits with warthogs . which it ignored as it followed (the blood trail?) of the two brothers to the Terrace Cafe outside the dining area."

The documents, provided to The AP more than three years after a Freedom of Information Act request, offer the first public glimpse into the findings of the APHIS investigation and details from the scene written by some of the officers who killed Tatiana.

Gage and inspector Michael Smith investigated the enclosure and zoo premises on Dec. 27, 2007.

In more than 65 years no other tiger had escaped from that enclosure. San Francisco Zoo officials now say the enclosure should have been safer.

"Nobody was there to witness it at that time of day, it was closing, just the people who were there and the tigers," said Lora LaMarca, a zoo spokeswoman. "We cannot prove the animal was provoked, and regardless of that, she was able to jump out which led to a whole series of renovations to that exhibit which makes sure this will never happen again."

USDA fined the zoo $1,875 for violations associated with the flaws in the tiger enclosure that allowed Tatiana to escape, and for one unrelated violation.

The USDA's findings show the tiger jumped from the moat right in front of an area where a path had been worn through plants meant to provide a sight barrier. According to the reports, the zoo complained that people often pushed through the plants and leaned over the enclosure, sometimes even putting their children on its rim.

USDA's investigators said they found "some sticks, foreign to the exhibit, and at least one pine cone inside the tiger exhibit indicating that someone may have thrown these items into the enclosure at the tigers."

The Dhaliwal brothers denied provoking the big cat, though Sousa's father told police that Paul Dhaliwal had admitted to being drunk and yelling and waving at the animal. Sousa's parents settled their wrongful death lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, and the brothers settled their lawsuit for a reported $900,000.

An attorney for Sousa's parents, Michael Cardoza, called the theory that the tiger was provoked "mere speculation" that would not hold up in court.

"Keep in mind these are animals, who knows why they do anything?" he said.

Once Tatiana found the Dhaliwals, she sat for a while near one of the bleeding brothers outside the zoo's Terrace Café.

When San Francisco police officer Daniel Kroos and his partner arrived at the café area, he saw the tiger and one of the Dhaliwals sitting near each other.

"At this time I saw the tiger pounce on top of the victim and maul him continuously for several seconds," Kroos wrote. "At this time I was not able to shoot the tiger without placing the victim in the field of fire and thereby placing the victim in further danger."

"It appeared to me the tiger was protecting its prey," said Office Scott Biggs, who was also among the first officers to respond.

After several seconds of mauling, Kroos said Tatiana stopped and headed in the direction of one of the officers.

"Fearing that the tiger was going to attack and kill Officer Biggs, or that the tiger might turn around and continue to maul the victim who could not move, I fired my department issued firearm an unknown amount of times at the tiger in an attempt to stop the threat of further attack," he said.

The officers continued to fire at the tiger, with one putting a final shot in the animal's head to ensure it was dead.

Associated Press Writer Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Original article here.

Photograph from here.

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"The Yellow Bike" is coming!

2011-02-09T19:46:00.005-06:00

I learned today that my story "The Yellow Bike" will be appearing in the March 2011 issue of the Toasted Cheese Literary Journal. Shakespeare warns it is mad to trust a boy’s love, but when you’re the boy and the boy you love has run away, you risk that love to prove Shakespeare wrong. "The Yellow Bike" is the story of that risk, and what the boy finds at that journey's end. It is a tale that resonates deeply with me. Keep an eye out; I'll post another note when the story goes up next month. Meanwhile, you can check out another story I wrote at Toasted Cheese called "Wolf Dreams." Enjoy!

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"My Tiger"

2011-02-06T11:54:00.012-06:00

"My Tiger" just went up at the Midwest Literary Magazine website, in their December, 2010 issue. It's the story of thirteen-year-old Anton Daniels, who knows his new friend Lucas Kade only through the Internet. But Lucas pledges to protect Anton from bullies who suspect Anton is gay, and when Anton is threatened, an act of violent revenge reveals Lucas's terrifying true identity.

"My Tiger" is at the link here -- you can use the page finder at the upper right (over the page) to get to the story quickly (it's on page 109). Enjoy the tale! And a million thanks to my good friend Danny, who gave me the idea for the story.

"My Tiger" at Midwest Literary Magazine

UPDATE: "My Tiger" also appears in the print anthology Winter Canons, available from Midwest Literary Magazine.

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Photograph from here.

Wrath of the Gryphonwind Update

2011-01-23T18:25:00.010-06:00

Today I finished the second draft of my latest novel, Wrath of the Gryphonwind. I like to write the first two drafts of my stories and novels in longhand and then type them into the computer. This novel has all kinds of adventure and drama, with warrior gryphons and a missing faun and a kid who just wants to find love, all wrapped up in the steampunk background of the glittering city of Port Cedryssene. If you have read my stories "Gryphonwind," "White Fire," "The Hot Bolt Kids," or "Freedom," you have already met some of the characters in the novel. I've created several new characters as well, including the aforementioned lovelorn kid who thinks he wants to be a soldier when what he really wants to be is an inventor. It will be a pretty fun ride, I hope. Anyway, now to let the novel rest for a short while and then on to the third draft! A writer's work is never done!

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"Blood Quarry"

2011-01-10T19:06:00.005-06:00

My unusual vampire tale "Blood Quarry" has just gone up at The Piker Press today! This is a story of a boy whose family is snatched from their campsite in the middle of the night by a tribe of bat-people -- anthro-bats who fly and live on blood. The boy goes after the kidnappers only to find friendship with a bat-kid his age in a relationship that soon brings about dire changes in the boy's life. Set in the magnificence of Yellowstone Park, "Blood Quarry" is an exciting and scary adventure tale. I hope you enjoy it!

"Blood Quarry" at The Piker Press

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"The New Boy's Kiss"

2010-12-04T13:57:00.006-06:00

My vampire tale "The New Boy's Kiss" is in the November 2010 issue of Collective Fallout, a gay-themed genre zine, and it's now available for purchase in both print and download editions. "The New Boy's Kiss" is the story of feisty gay teen Tucker Storm, who discovers that the boy he loves is turning into a vampire. As vampire tales go, it's the anti-Twilight -- bloody, hot, frightening, and queer. Enjoy the story! And you might want to lock your doors before bedtime tonight...

"The New Boy's Kiss," from Collective Fallout

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"Blood Quarry" is coming!

2010-12-02T18:36:00.009-06:00

I learned this week that my story "Blood Quarry" will appear at The Piker Press on January 10, 2011! This is a tale of a boy whose family is snatched from their campsite in the middle of the night by a tribe of bat-people -- anthro-bats who fly and live on blood. The boy goes after the kidnappers only to find friendship with a bat-kid his age, a relationship that soon brings about dire changes in the boy's life. Set in the magnificence of Yellowstone Park, "Blood Quarry" is an exciting and scary adventure tale. I'll let you know when the story goes up next month at The Piker Press!

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"You gotta give 'em hope."

2010-11-07T14:04:00.003-06:00

Harvey Milk speaking about giving hope to young gays. We've come such a long way since he spoke these words, but we still have a long way to go. This video is very, very cool and inspiring. You gotta give 'em hope!

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"The Hot Bolt Kids"

2010-10-07T18:39:00.005-05:00

My story “The Hot Bolt Kids” is now up at Aphelion Webzine! As the blurb at the website describes it, “The Hot Bolt Kids” is “a steampunk horror tale about sweatshop orphans, werewolves and a nosy reporter.” Oh, and I made the cover of the current issue (shown above), which makes me very happy. Follow the link and enjoy!

"The Hot Bolt Kids" at Aphelion Webzine

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"Freedom"

2010-09-27T18:08:00.004-05:00

My story "Freedom" is up today at The Piker Press! Set in the same world as my steampunk city Port Cedryssene, "Freedom" takes place on a Southern plantation where fauns are worked as slaves. A human boy of the plantation family falls in love with an enslaved faun, and with his cousin conspires to win -- or steal -- freedom for the faun boy he loves.

"Freedom" at The Piker Press

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It Gets Better - Dan Savage

2010-09-22T18:38:00.011-05:00

In response to the recent suicide of Billy Lucas, a fifteen-year-old Indiana teenager who was taunted for being gay, Dan Savage has launched a new initiative, the It Gets Better Project, to communicate to young gay kids that their lives are not hopeless despite the bigotry and hatred they may encounter in their communities and from their families and so-called friends. As Dan tells it:

"My heart breaks for the pain and torment you went through, Billy Lucas," a reader wrote after I posted about Billy Lucas to my blog. "I wish I could have told you that things get better." I had the same reaction: I wish I could have talked to this kid for five minutes. I wish I could have told Billy that it gets better. I wish I could have told him that, however bad things were, however isolated and alone he was, it gets better.

But gay adults aren't allowed to talk to these kids. Schools and churches don't bring us in to talk to teenagers who are being bullied. Many of these kids have homophobic parents who believe that they can prevent their gay children from growing up to be gay—or from ever coming out—by depriving them of information, resources, and positive role models.

Why are we waiting for permission to talk to these kids? We have the ability to talk directly to them right now. We don't have to wait for permission to let them know that it gets better. We can reach these kids. So here's what you can do, GBVWS: Make a video. Tell them it gets better. I've launched a channel on YouTube to host these videos. My normally camera-shy husband and I already posted one.

Watch the beautiful, funny, touching, and hope-filled video above, and then go to the YouTube page and see how you can submit your own video message to gay kids. It will be noticed. It is necessary. Dan Savage quotes the man himself: "You gotta give 'em hope," Harvey Milk said.

It Gets Better Project (YouTube)

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"We Used to Wait" by The Arcade Fire

2010-09-04T12:01:00.003-05:00

This creative video of the song "We Used to Wait" by The Arcade Fire is awesome, but the song itself is even awesomer! (Is "awesomer" a word? I declare it to be a word.) At the official website of the video, you can apparently (using Google Chrome) interact in some ways with the video -- I haven't tried that yet. Watch the video regardless, and use full screen and as high a resolution as you can -- there are a lot of little things going on here. And if you don't yet have the latest CD called The Suburbs by The Arcade Fire, get it now!

Arcade Fire - We Used To Wait (The Wilderness Downtown full experiment - HD 1080p) (YouTube)

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h/t Joe Jervis

Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Largo al factotum

2010-09-04T11:44:00.007-05:00

I found this terrific video of Dmitri Hvorostovsky singing "Largo al factotum" from Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) this past week. I looked it up for my friend Danny, who couldn't recall having heard this before -- but he recognized it when he heard this! Hvorostovsky is great in this performance, and the video has fabulous sound as well. Enjoy!

Dmitri Hvorostovsky - Largo al factotum (Japan 2005) HD (YouTube)

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Writing Update

2010-09-04T11:21:00.011-05:00

I used this picture for the visual appearance of Tucker Stone, the narrator of my story "The New Boy's Kiss," which will appear in the November issue of Collective Fallout.

More good writing news! First, the fourth and final part of my adventure tale "Flying Fox" went up this week at The Piker Press! Here's a link to part one of this exciting, fast moving tale of courage and survival. My story "Freedom" will go up at The Piker Press on September 20. (UPDATE: This one has been delayed until September 27.) One of the editors there, Sand Pilarski, really likes my work.

My werewolf murder tale, "The Hot Bolt Kids," set in my steampunk city Port Cedryssene, should go up at Aphelion Webzine any day now -- I'll post another update when it does.

I learned this past week that my contemporary vampire tale, "The New Boy's Kiss," will be published in the November issue of Collective Fallout, a journal of queer-themed short fiction, poetry, and art. This journal publishes both a print and a digital edition. "The New Boy's Kiss" is a tale of a gay kid who discovers that his boyfriend is becoming a vampire. It's the anti-"Twilight" -- bloody, hot, frightening, and queer. This is one story that I can't wait to see in print! UPDATE: An excerpt from "The New Boy's Kiss" is now available online at the Collective Fallout website.

Enjoy the tales, and please let me know what you think about them!

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EAR PLUGS, LOUISE!!!

2010-08-13T15:47:00.014-05:00

So we've all seen this, right?

Um-hmm. So what do I think?

You wanna know?

You REALLY wanna know?

At least she sounds better than Charlotte Church, but you can tell she’s been trained to do this like a trick – she can sing that one aria (and maybe a couple of others) because she’s listened to recordings and is imitating them. How can you tell? She sang two notes and I said, “Renée Fleming.” SHE’S JUST IMITATING RENÉE FLEMING’S RECORDINGS!!! Right down to some of the little things about Renée that some critics don’t like. Even Charlotte Church had better knowledge of the mechanics of how to sing (even though she couldn’t do it very well). And our 10-yr-old divette (can’t be bothered to remember her name) is gonna tear up her vocal cords before she’s twenty if she keeps singing things like “O mio babbino caro.” Heck, HANS BUCHHIERL knew more about singing than this girl does (and he did it far better, too). So I am unimpressed. Lil’ Miss Divette will have her fifteen minutes and when she turns 13 they’ll tart her up like they did with Charlotte Church after someone finally told her, “Honey, you ain’t no feckin’ Callas!” And we’ll all forget about her by the time she’s twenty, unless she implodes like Lindsay Lohan. I hope Lil’ Miss Divette’s stage mother is happy. Grump. I’m gonna go put on a Renée CD!

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P.S. Oh, Jackie darling, Renée Fleming called? She'd like her hair back.

Hans Buchhierl, best boy soprano ever. He could sing rings around Lil' Miss Divette. Freaking...RINGS!!!

Idiot's Kitchen

2010-08-13T13:44:00.005-05:00

Claudia White is one of my oldest friends! Er, I mean, she's been my friend for a long time!!! Anyway, we both love cooking and I'm very excited to introduce Claudia's new cooking blog, Idiot's Kitchen. Claudia uses lots of pictures along with detailed, step-by-step lessons about how to fix terrific meals! Her first recipe went up today: Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Sage, Green Beans with Caramelized Shallots and Couscous. I've had those pork chops before and they are awesome, so go check it out! Flute proficiency not required. Congratulations on a great blog, Claudia!

What I really wanna know is, who's gonna play Claudia in the movie?

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Come Fly with the FLYING FOX!

2010-08-09T17:50:00.007-05:00

My story “Flying Fox” is now up at The Piker Press! This adventure tale will be run in four parts, so check back for updates each Monday. It’s the story of a tenacious young girl with a unique way of getting to school who has to call on all of her skills and cunning to rescue her brother when danger threatens. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a wild ride with “Flying Fox”!

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Flying Fox Part 1
Flying Fox Part 2
Flying Fox Part 3
Flying Fox Part 4

"White Fire" is here!

2010-07-30T13:56:00.004-05:00

It's here! My story "White Fire" is now available for your consideration at Gypsy Shadow Publishing. "White Fire" is an adventure tale about a young faun who arrives in the glittering metropolis of Port Cedryssene just minutes before enraged gryphons attack the city. The faun escapes the slaughter in Port Cedryssene's train station knowing that one of the gryphons is after him, and in his quest for safety the faun finds another boy his age and falls in love. Please feel free to comment here with your opinions of the story!

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Coming Soon: White Fire

2010-07-22T19:08:00.007-05:00

Click on picture to enlarge.

Good news! My short story "White Fire" should be going up in the next couple of weeks at Gypsy Shadow Publishing! Here's a preview of the cover for the story. "White Fire" is an adventure tale about a young faun who arrives in the glittering metropolis of Port Cedryssene just minutes before enraged gryphons attack the city. The faun escapes the slaughter in Port Cedryssene's train station knowing that one of the gryphons is after him, and in his quest for safety the faun finds another boy his age and falls in love. I'll let everyone know when the story goes up at Gypsy Shadow.

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"How Caravaggio saw in the dark"

2010-07-19T18:56:00.006-05:00

A fascinating look at the recent growth in popularity of my favorite artist, Caravaggio:

But there is a more profound reason still for the fascination Caravaggio exerts over the 21st century: he carried out one of the most startling revolutions in the history of art, and one that still seems strangely modern. The visceral violence and eroticism of his work are only an aspect of the extraordinary realism he achieved. His painting was utterly different from that of his predecessors and contemporaries. It looks, to put it in modern terms, like a film noir. As David Hockney has put it: “He invented a black world that had not existed before, certainly not in Florence or Rome. Caravaggio invented Hollywood lighting.” And that resemblance may be no accident.

Much more vivid detail in the article itself, including discussion of a technique possibly used by Caravaggio to project images of his models onto the canvas that fell afoul of the anti-science Inquisition, with the Church banning books and burning heretics as a result.

Caravaggio lived quite a life – scandal! Murder! Gay sex! Someday Hollywood is going to tackle this one with (I hope) a director who can do it justice. Meanwhile, I should go see if Derek Jarman’s intelligent and fascinating film about Caravaggio is on DVD – it’s been years since I saw it.

“How Caravaggio saw in the dark” (The Telegraph)

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Coming Soon!

2010-07-18T12:59:00.005-05:00

My story "Flying Fox" will go up at The Piker Press on August 9!

The Arcade Fire has a new CD coming out on August 3, entitled The Suburbs.

Don't let any opera singers cover these tunes, okay?

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Answers About Gay Youth in New York from Kai Wright

2010-07-17T13:17:00.005-05:00

Author Kai Wright is an advocate for LGBT youth. He recently answered some questions on that topic in a three-part article in the New York Times. Lots of interesting and hope-inspiring comments. Like me, Wright believes strongly in reaching out to the next generation of gay youth:

Personally, I think out gay educators offer students wonderful opportunities to learn not just about diversity but also the critical thinking it fosters. There are obvious political challenges, which stretch past sexual orientation. Teachers from all walks of life are too often discouraged from bringing their full selves to the classroom, to my mind. But I won’t wade too deeply into education policy, lest I show how little I know.

More broadly, I’ll say that adults working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth consistently report their greatest challenge is people power: There just aren’t enough adults willing to enter into what are by any measure challenging relationships. The cross-generational communication challenges are enormous and filled with assumptions and misunderstandings on both sides. There’s just not a lot of trust between gay youth and adults, in part because there is so little contact between them.

In addition, the significant baggage many gay adults have with their own youth (who wants to go back there?) can make it difficult for some to step up to the challenge.

I particularly liked one of the questions, which was about the advantages of being a gay youth.

It’s not so much that being gay offers an advantage, but it opens doors to meet other remarkable, dynamic gay young people who are building healthy, exciting lives that never make it into the headlines or broadcasts.

I do believe there is something positive that, while not unique to gay youth, is at least a quintessential part of the gay experience: having to step forward and make an active choice about building the life you want rather than the one you’ve been told you should lead. The debate over whether sexual orientation is a choice makes this a delicate point, but it’s an important one nonetheless. You do, in fact, have a choice as a gay person, of any age. It’s the choice between living honestly versus trying to suppress or conceal your sexuality. In my opinion, society pushes hard against making the former choice, particularly if you’re a young person who is still materially (and emotionally) dependent on family. Even before getting to the external barriers, there are many internal ones: the fear of being singled out, of being alone, of taking a step with no idea about what comes next. Someone who nonetheless chooses to build the life that feels true to them has been through a remarkable rite of passage.

It is not an easy road being gay, and it certainly hasn't been easy for me as over the years I've wrestled with accepting that part of my being. But now that I've completely accepted myself as gay and am confident about being gay, as I was when I first became aware that I'm gay as a teenager, I often feel that I wouldn't want to be any other way. When you're gay you see the world differently, and I love knowing I can be honest and caring about guys without the fear and competition that straight men go through with each other. Anyway, check out all three parts of Kai Wright's Q&A; it's very good.

Answers About Gay Youth in New York (The New York Times):
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

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Remembering and Teaching Gay History

2010-07-01T19:25:00.004-05:00

Harvey Milk walking from the Castro to San Francisco City Hall on the day of his inauguration to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, January 8, 1978. (Photo by Danny Nicoletta)

Remembering our history via a blog post by Dan Zak. I’ve been recently reminded that the younger generation, the next group of gay youth to grow into their lives with more confidence than us older gays did, may not know the history of how we – and they – got here; how we arrived a point where past gay warriors have wrought for these inspiring young people a world that, though not yet perfect, is far better than it was three-four-five decades ago.

For a demographic that was once so twined with mortality, the gays have gotten good (or have they always been good?) at focusing on the now, the young, the ephemeral. Today’s gays — the gays of my generation, the millennials, the 20-somethings — are post-gay, or New Gay, loosed from the closet, free of the diving bell of AIDS-as-executioner, left to skirmish over (or ignore) petty legislative battles on a state-by-state or school-by-school basis. The “end of gay culture” has been journaled for nearly a generation now. What about gay history? Is that ending too? From Sappho to Prop 8, and then what? Now what? Yearly parades celebrating outrageousness, tempered by the tired yammerings of marriage defenders?

I want to remind these youth and teach them about the gay men and women who should be their heroes; I want these young gay people to know about and remember the struggles that came in the past, to learn about Harvey Milk and Harry Hay and the many others like them who faced down bigotry so entrenched in society that it took great leaps of imagination – and great courage – to take those first steps toward equality. The schools don’t yet teach this; it is up to us to make sure our history is passed along.

"On pride" (Dan Zak)

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(h/t Andrew Sullivan)

What They Always Tell Us, by Martin Wilson

2010-06-29T19:30:00.004-05:00

So, based on this comment by Brent, LGBT teen blogger extraordinaire…

Destinie and I spent our days in Borders and on Amazon.com looking for gay characters. The only ones we could find were the ones in the adult section (not that we were complaining! Have you read those steamy, passionate sex scenes? *Sigh*). I found one that seemed like what we were looking for. What They Always Tell Us by Martin Wilson. I read it. Then Destinie read it. We talked about. And cried about it. People really write about this stuff? I thought. It felt . . . great. Imagine that you are an alien on your own planet. And imagine you find out that there are more aliens, just like you, on your planet. And imagine what it would be like–to know that someone knows what it’s like. What you’re going through.

…I decided to start my exploration of this new LGBT YA world with the book he mentions by Martin Wilson.

I’m about 80 or so pages into it.

Damn it.

Goddamn it.

I simply love this book. Wilson captures everything about finding that first love perfectly. And I’ve started to tear up several times already from the sheer and utter sweetness of following Alex and his growing friendship with Nathen.

This book is utterly amazing. Read it. Yes, that means you.

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UPDATE: I’m now about 170 pages into What They Always Tell Us. For one thing, I’ve read plenty of “grown-up” novels that don’t have characters quite as vivid and real as Martin Wilson has created here. Second, the events of the story itself, what Alex goes through especially in his relationship with Nathen, so deeply affect me that I sometimes have to stop reading. I’m almost afraid to continue, as if I’m thinking, “This novel cannot keep up the same level of quality, can it?” It does. And finally, why wasn’t this book around when I was sixteen? This one is special, and utterly priceless.

Gay Teen Blogger Blasts School, Public Librarians

2010-06-28T18:36:00.003-05:00

An outstanding interview with Brent, the awesome author of the post on LGBT YA lit that I highlighted a couple of weeks ago. I love this bit:

How did it make you feel when your middle school librarian told you LGBT novels were inappropriate?
Can I cuss in this interview? I felt disgusted. And pissed at her.

Here's your chance to get it off your chest. Say something to her.
Get over it. Get over your prejudice. It doesn't matter. It's not your place to judge what kids should read based on your prejudices.

Read the whole thing; it’s well worth it.

"Gay Teen Blogger Blasts School, Public Librarians" (School Library Journal)

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"If a guy saves my ass, he sure as hell can look at it."

2010-06-24T19:11:00.008-05:00

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic offers a fascinating look at the current level of acceptance of gays in the military. You may be quite surprised at straight soldiers' attitudes, especially as one of Ambinder’s examples involves Special Forces. Plus, did we gays just lose an important end-DADT ally with McChrystal’s removal from command?*

Maybe McChrystal is unique in the special forces (SOF) community, but I tend to think not. In fact, having spent quite a bit of time recently with current and former special forces soldiers, I find that McChrystal's views on gays seem to be the rule rather than the exception. Given the traditional outline of the gays-in-the-military debate, one might think that the special forces soldiers, guys from traditional military families who spend unusual amounts of time in close quarters, would be the most opposed to having gays serve openly. My admittedly limited experience suggests that this is not the case. As one former member of a special missions unit put it to me recently, "It's really about competence. If you're competent, it doesn't matter who you are." And then, switching instantly from an analytical posture to a machismo mode, he said, "If a guy saves my ass, he sure as hell can look at it."

Read the rest; it actually offers hope.

*For the record, Obama really had no choice but to relieve McChrystal of his command. But one wonders what influence McChrystal may have had on the ongoing debate about DADT if he'd been able to stick around.

"McChrystal's Social Liberalism and the Integration of Gays in the Military" (The Atlantic)

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Books with gay themes for young readers take off

2010-06-23T19:24:00.004-05:00

Okay, so recently I started writing short stories featuring young gay people, thinking that the tales would be too quirky to get published but, what the hey. Well, so far one of these stories has been published and another one is on the way. A third very nearly got published, and I have high hopes for the gay teen vampire story the same editor is considering right now. Then last week we saw the excellent post from Brent about LGBT YA books. And I realized -- wait a minute. There are people actually doing this already. And the LGBT kids love it! (I had some positive feedback from a couple of them regarding my story "Wolf Dreams.") Anyway, here's a good overview of the entire phenomenon, kicking off from -- you guessed it -- Brent's excellent blog post from last week. Check it out -- I have to get back to writing more of these stories!

"Books with gay themes for young readers take off" (MercuryNews.com)

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Watching The Defectives, from Joe.My.God.

2010-06-21T19:29:00.006-05:00

Joe Jervis reposts this essay every June at his excellent blog, Joe.My.God. There is not a thing I can add to this; you just need to go over there and read it. Joe talks about gay culture and the assimilationists who want gays to drop what the assimilationists see as the excesses of pride parades. Joe's response: fuck that. This is a marvelously heartfelt piece. I hope Joe posts this every damned year – it’s outstanding.

Watching The Defectives (Joe.My.God.)

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The Fear Factor

2010-06-21T19:24:00.003-05:00

Here’s a look at the cowards who are too scared to go on the record as being against gay marriage. They’re scared? How do they think gays feel when we get bashed for walking down the street, for simply living our lives; when we’re murdered because some timid hetero is afraid of catching gay cooties from our close proximity; when gay kids get beaten and shot by their classmates? Violence and intimidation are no ways to respond to your political opponents, and any gay marriage proponents who engage in such behavior should stop, now. But let’s get one thing clear: this is a democracy, and the only thing secret about it is the ballot. Everything else requires the clear light of day so this country can find its way out of the morass of bigotry and prejudice saddled upon us since our founding. The anti-gay cowards can get back to us when THEY STOP MAKING GAYS AFRAID EVERY FUCKING DAY in some parts of this country.

“The Fear Factor: What happens to democracy when everyone's too scared to show up?” (Slate)

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Hopeless

2010-06-21T19:15:00.004-05:00

The Arcade Fire -- the real deal. Accept no substitutes.

Oh my FSM. This classical music blogger sums it up perfectly. A marvelous analysis of everything that is wrong with Renée Fleming’s new CD, Dark Hope.

The same mistakes are repeated all over the record – Band of Horses’ sparse ballad “No One’s Gonna Love You” is transformed into a half-hearted syrupy mess. Willy Mason’s naïve “Oxygen” becomes overworked with the addition of synthesized strings.

What do you think would happen if you tried to put these strings on one of Renée’s classical albums? How is it ok here? Is there a good reason to accept lower standards because it’s a rock record?

No, there is no good reason, and that’s what forms the glaring fault at the heart of this project. Compliments for Renée’s voice, but what the hell were they thinking with these arrangements? They’re timid and totally without character. As with any other cover of a song, the artist has to have a point in doing it in the first place – what are you trying to say that wasn’t said in the original? Somebody grabbed some indie tunes for Renée to sing and did nothing to make her versions count. Coming on the heels of what I consider one of Renée Fleming’s finest CDs (Verismo), Dark Hope is just embarrassing. The bright hope is that they won’t try this again.

“A hope in the dark: Renée Fleming’s rock album” (Proper Discord)

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"Flying Fox" will be coming your way soon!

2010-06-21T19:07:00.007-05:00

Good news arrived today – Sand Pilarski at The Piker Press has accepted my story “Flying Fox,” a tale inspired by the intrepid Daisy Mora of Columbia. Daisy travels to school each day on a zipline a quarter-mile above a river. The links below are my posts on this brave kid, and they include pictures, links, and a video of Daisy making the trip. Incredibly awesome! “Flying Fox” is a fun adventure tale, and it should go up at The Piker Press sometime in late July or early August.

Children take flying fox to school

Braver Than I Thought...

Fasten Your Seat Belts!

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What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols?

2010-06-20T15:41:00.004-05:00

Last week, NPR's Talk of the Nation did a segment on gay kids in public schools -- their experiences, fears, hopes, and what people are doing to help them. Here's a link to a recording of the segment along with a transcript. It's quite good, although some of what you will hear about what these kids have to go through I find terribly angering. If you want to look at the depths of shitty behavior amongst people who think they're far more righteous than the rest of us, look no further than the way gay kids get treated today. Here's an excerpt of what gays, and not just the kids, have to go through:

BRANDON (Caller): Hi. I am a queer teacher in Columbus, and the big thing I've noticed, the big problem that I have had, is I live in a state where it is still legal to fire someone for being gay.

So I cannot fully support my students who are going through the same troubles I went through in high school without risking my job and my livelihood. I cannot come to them without drawing attention to myself, and always worrying what will be the ramifications of that and what will ultimately be the lesson that they get from that - when they see someone helps them and then gets punished for it.

I so often have to support the right of students to say things in my classroom that I find abhorrent, that are insulting and discriminatory against me, but it's under this guise of every voice has a right to be said. But at the same time, I don't have the right to really give the ability for students who need the voice, who are so invisible, to have that safety without putting myself at risk.

Another excerpt focusing on the bigotry gay kids experience (emphasis mine):

While there are protections under the umbrella of Title 9 at the federal level, there are not non-discrimination protections for employment for LGBT people at the federal level. That's why we're trying to pass a law called ENDA. And in fact, in eight states in this country, there are laws that specifically prohibit positive discussions of homosexuality in public schools.

Now, these laws vary in terms of what they actually cover, but what we see in our research is that in laws - such as Arizona, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina and Texas, the effect of that law is that teachers in those states, whether they are LGBT or straight, are less likely to intervene when they witness anti-LGBT harassment and name-calling in their schools. And they also, sadly - in those states you are more likely to have students report that teachers themselves are making derogatory comments.

So the prohibition on positive comments is also seen as a license to say negative things themselves.

Nationwide, we have a problem with teachers not intervening when they witness this behavior. Eighty percent of LGBT students report that teachers who witness this behavior rarely or never intervene. And half of LGBT students report that they don't bother telling anyone when they face name-calling, harassment or assault at school because they don't think anything will be done.

There is hope, though -- the straight classmates of gay kids do learn when it's pointed out to them:

Just the other day, I was working with some students and there were a fair - I would say over half the class would go(ph), well, what's the big deal? It's OK. You know, whatever, kids are gay. And then there were others in the class - and this was so inspiring - they said, you know, I never realized when I said "that's so gay" that I was really hurting somebody. I'm not going to say that again. So I saw hope, and I see change.

Take time to read or listen to the whole thing. And keep in mind, you may well know one of these kids who are suffering from this and cannot tell anyone. What you say and how you act count for so much in their lives.

What's Life Like For Gay Kids In Public Schols? (Talk of the Nation, NPR)

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Renée Fleming's Dark Hope

2010-06-19T12:12:00.008-05:00

I finally found a chance to listen to Renée Fleming's new CD, Dark Hope. My opinion is divided. Renée's voice is perfect on this disc, both bluesy and beautiful in all the right ways and far surpassing her run at jazz and soft pop on her CD Haunted Heart, which wasn't bad at all. But she has found a better and more substantial voice for pop/rock music here. The Renée Fleming fan in me is very, very happy.

However, the arrangements of the songs on Dark Hope are a little too MOR for my taste -- the rock fan in me wants more energy and aggression. My keystone song on the CD is "Intervention," originally done by The Arcade Fire on their CD, Neon Bible. This is an angry song with huge operatic themes and emotions (see the video, which is well-accompanied by clips from Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin). Ironically, in the hands of the greatest active operatic soprano, this arrangement of "Intervention" fails to reach those emotional heights.

Renée Fleming, with that perfect voice, would be better served with more aggressive arrangements of all of these songs -- her delivery of the Letter Scene in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin has more emotional heft to it. So, my feelings about this CD are mixed. A missed opportunity in many ways. Renée delivered, but perhaps the fears of the producers kept the balance of the songs' imprint a bit too tame. Damn, this CD had the potential to be great.

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I’ll miss the Angus Burgers but I won’t miss the bigotry

2010-06-16T19:10:00.005-05:00

Well, this certainly is a rotten turn of events. McDonalds COO Don Thompson says, regarding the absolutely charming French McDonalds ad featuring the gay kid that went viral recently, “[T]hat commercial won’t show in the United States." Without irony, moments before he says this, as he preps us for that lovely declaration, he says, "I’ve never shied away from the fact that I’m a Christian. I have my own personal beliefs and I don’t impose those on anybody else."

Well, I have my own personal beliefs about where I spend my money for greasy fast food, and it will no longer be with McDonalds and their Christianist-bigot corporate staff. This article at The Edge Boston (from which the above quotes were taken) goes on to present a more rational look at how marketing and advertising should work in this era:

At Marketwatch.com, Thomas Kostigen wrote in his June 4 Ethics Watch column that the move’s reflection of "inclusive advertising" was as step in the right direction for a host of reasons.

"Companies should advertise to reach the largest number of customers for their products," Kostigen write. "Sexual orientation should just be another demographic in the mix, and just as with all the other groups, advertising should be done well. Yet there is a larger social responsibility when dealing with certain groups and minorities; a bigger, positive message can be had."

Kostigen went on to write that, "it’s important for companies to think beyond the aspect of commercialism and see the larger social benefit in advertising to, and hopefully attracting more customers based on minority status: they are in a subtle, powerful and effective way saying: ’It’s OK who you are. You are welcome here.’ "

I cannot get this quote, which I heard back when this story first broke, out of my head:

Though the ad has yet to air outside of France, the executive director of the Canadian equality group EGALE, Helen Kennedy, praised the spot, saying, "It’s very encouraging for gay youth to see themselves reflected in such mainstream media."

I can’t imagine how much a commercial like this would have meant to me back when I was the age of the boy in the ad. I can imagine how much it might mean to a gay teen in the U.S. today. To all the bigots out there: someday the citizens of this nation will look back on this period of religious-based hatred that you represent, and like your racist predecessors you will be covered with shame and reprobation.

As for Mickey D’s, I’ll miss the Angus Burgers but I won’t miss the bigotry.

"Gay-Positive French McDonald’s Ad Won’t Air in U.S." (The Edge Boston)

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Contested Will is a Great, nay, TREMENDOUS Book!

2010-06-16T19:04:00.003-05:00

I recently finished reading James Shaprio’s marvelous book, Contested Will. Michael Feingold writes in his terrific review of it at the Village Voice:

With sardonic aptness, James Shapiro, a Shakespeare scholar at Columbia, chooses Garrick's adoration as the starting point for his new book, Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare?, a rueful history of Shakespeare worship's darker side. For it seems that even in a field as narrow as dramatic poetry, once you declare that a god has walked the earth, satanic forces must instantly spring up to deny him. From Garrick's veneration of Shakespeare's unearthly powers, a counter-assumption was born: A lowly actor from a small-town background, like "the man from Stratford," could not possibly have written these extraordinary plays.

With even-handed compassion, Shapiro chronicles the slow but steady growth of this dark belief, from its first scholarly murmurs, circa 1800, to its current Internet burgeoning. Wisely, he declines to ridicule its preachers, instead weighing their various claims fairly, in lucid, uncontentious prose, saving for the final chapter his reasoned rebuttal of their basic assumption. Secure in his knowledge of Shakespeare's world, Shapiro feels no compulsion to pick quarrels with these cipher-hunters and conspiracy theorists, not even when their extravagance invents, for their authorial candidates, incestuous affairs with Queen Elizabeth. He takes no cheap shots at such easy targets.

Instead, cunningly, he makes his opponents' lives, not Shakespeare's, his principal subject, replacing their nitpicky disputes over unprovable biographical what-ifs with a fascinating, well-documented parade of literary eccentrics, displaying the torments that drive frustrated souls into revisionist mythmaking. Shapiro doesn't flinch even when the frustrated souls carry beloved names: Henry James, Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and Sigmund Freud are among those whose disbelief in Shakespeare's authorship he confronts, squarely and honorably.

Feingold follows this with a short summary of Shapiro’s case, and his concluding paragraph is pure gold. Read the review, and then read the book – it is very rewarding.

Note to my commenting Oxfordian fans: Please take issue with Mr. Shapiro, et al., and not me. They’re the ones you have to convince, because it is they who will have to convince me.

Contested Will Looks at the Nuts Who Think Shakespeare Didn't Write Shakespeare (The Village Voice)

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I'm in Ravenclaw House Myself...

2010-06-16T18:53:00.004-05:00

Congrats to my best friend for a gajillion years Claudia White, flute-player extraordinaire, who landed an awesome gig tonight playing for a whole host of celebrities and guests as part of an orchestra at the grand opening of the new Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios in Orlando. I understand author J.K. Rowling will be there along with the stars of the Harry Potter films, and the orchestra Claudia is playing in will be conducted by none other than John Williams! Woo!

The degree of separation between me and John Williams has now been reduced to one. This is exciting! I was a John Williams fan before anyone knew who he was. Seriously, do you know anyone who actually owned (I may still have it somewhere) the original soundtrack recording of The Towering Inferno? On LP?!? I credit Williams’ lush scores with introducing me to the world of great orchestral music, laying the groundwork for my later interest in classical music. A favorite JW score? Too many to mention, and he has had his ups and downs. But who of my generation can forget that day when we first sat down to watch some brand new space adventure flick called Star Wars, and Williams’ iconic theme tore out of the speakers and into our ears for the first time? You knew in two seconds this was going to be the best adventure of you life ‘til then. Currently, I’d have to rank JW’s score to Catch Me If You Can as one of his finest, mostly because the jazzy riffs were totally unexpected. One of my most enduring favorites by him has to be his score to Empire of the Sun, a very underrated classic from Steven Spielberg that introduced us to some kid named Christian Bale – wonder whatever became of him?

And J.K. Rowling herself? Don’t get me started. This is the woman who took fantastic tales that most people regard as children’s stories and made them respectable for everyone to read. Outside of the pleasures of the Harry Potter series itself, would we have Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book or China Miéville’s Un Lun Dun without HP’s success? The best writers have long known that if you want to write inventive stories with memorable characters, you write for young people – or the young-at-heart.

Anyway, congratulations once again to Claudia White, who has put up with more of my insanity than any reasonable person should. I toast thee with Maker's Mark!

Incidentally, there's a live web feed available here tonight and Friday morning.

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Gay Teen Pwns Gay-cist Librarians!

2010-06-15T19:12:00.005-05:00

This blog entry by Brent, a fifteen-year-old bibliophile who is also gay, brought tears to my eyes and made me want to jump for joy. With more and more confident gay kids like this, the world is certain to become a better place -- I dare any bigot to look into this young man's face and try to shame him. You can't. You...simply...can't.

When I set out to find more LGBT titles, I turned to my school’s library. Honestly? It was pathetic. There was not one single LGBT novel. But oh, of course the librarian went out of her way to buy books about gangs, drugs, and teen pregnancy. Like, for real, the people who actually do care about gangs, drugs, and teen sex sure as hell don’t read–they’re too busy (note: gangs, drugs, and teen sex. Yeah, they’re going to interrupt all that fabulous action to sit and read a good novel!). When I asked her about it, she replied, “This is a school library. If you are looking to read inappropriate titles, go to a book store.” Uhm, how in the hell is LGBT YA lit “inappropriate”?

I mean, think about it. Let it register: The librarian claimed LGBT novels were inappropriate, yet she approved of books that had heterosexual sex. Yeah, she was being gay-cist! It wasn’t until May of 2009 (my last month of attending that school) that she bought a book that mentioned gays. It was Ellen Hopkins’ Impulse. FINALLY!

.....

The world needs more librarians who serve the purpose of finding the right book to put in the right person’s lap. Not librarians who think that they can decide what’s “inappropriate” and what’s not, based on their personal prejudices. There are tons of gay teens, struggling to find a group to fit in. LGBT YA lit helps us find out that no, we aren’t alone and no, we aren’t worthless or disgusting. It helps us discover that we are part of a group. The LGBT group. Which is the group to be in. Tons of brilliant people, doing brilliant things, fighting for brilliant causes (Straight people with gay tendencies included).

Read the whole thing. Astonishing and wonderful! Check out Brent's own blog here.

"Gay teen blogger/book reviewer takes librarians to task over LGBT lit" (Pinched Nerves)

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h/t Andrew Sullivan

The Twinkle Takeover!

2010-06-14T19:33:00.007-05:00

This is such a fantastic article! The times, they are a-changin':

Is it finally okay to be a 13-year-old sissy? From the feather-cuffed, drama-filled Olympic figure-skating competitions to the unashamedly oddball high-school TV show Glee, being young and gay suddenly has a place in pop culture that isn’t cruel or tragic...Call them Twinkles: preteen boys who may not know they are gay yet, or may not want to say they are gay yet, but who have a gleam in their eye and a definite sensibility. Twinkles proudly prance, unashamedly emote, high-kick, jazz-hand, belt out “Paparazzi” with piano — everything a gay kid used to do in his bedroom with the door shut.

Ah, yes; I recall having the bedroom door shut at age eleven while I pranced around singing along with my Elton John records. Things aren't perfect yet for gay kids, but damn, it's great to see the good guys winning this. The bigots are on the run. Changing attitudes takes time, and I can't believe we aren't there yet, but we will get there. I know we will. Harvey Milk promised us we would.

The Twinkle Takeover: Gay (and Gay-Seeming) Boys on the TV and at the Mall (New York Magazine)

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The Shining

2010-06-08T19:32:00.004-05:00

“Wow, Stephen King remade my movie for TV. And it sucks.”

Here’s a look at the real-life inspiration that prodded Stephen King to pen his best novel ever, The Shining, on the 30th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s iconic film version of the story.

Built in 1909 by the high-rolling F. O. Stanley, co-inventor (with his twin brother, F. E.) of a steam-powered car known as the Stanley Steamer, the Stanley sits in lucid splendor, in Georgian incongruity, on the eastern rise of the Colorado Rockies. The hotel is welcoming and comfortable; the mountain air is thrilling. King stayed at the Stanley in 1974, the night before it shut down for the winter, and his muse was tickled. Old World fixtures and furnishings; a vibe of vanished gaiety, of cigar-chewing autocrats and good-time gals, parties and their orchestras, all sliding down into darkness, like the Titanic … And then the hauntings, for which the Stanley was already famous: paranormal poppings-in by domestics and scampering children, and also by the scandalous Lord Dunraven, who likes to goose ladies in the closet of Room 401.

In the hands of Stanley Kubrick, The Shining became the finest film adaptation of any of King’s works. I don’t care what King says; Kubrick drilled down to the dark essence of the characters and created something that, when tried by lesser filmmakers, doesn’t always work – an almost personal riff on someone else’s creation – but which in this case worked fantastically. I was a huge fan of the book (I first read it when I was 14) when Kubrick’s film was released in 1980, and I hated the movie. Thirteen years later I rented the video to give Kubrick another chance, and I discovered what a masterpiece it is. (The less said about the King-scripted TV remake, the better.)

How powerful is King’s book? A few years ago I was re-reading The Shining for the umpteenth time during my lunch break. I was on the Plaza in Kansas City at the Penguin Court on a brilliant, sunny spring day. People were enjoying their lunch, shoppers were strolling happily about, and children ran around the bronze penguin sculptures that give the court its name. In the book, little Danny Torrance, all by himself in the Overlook’s playground, crawls into those concrete rings buried in the snow. The snow falls in, blocking the open ends. And Danny realizes…there’s something in the rings with him!

A beautiful, sunny spring day, and my skin crawled right up my body with a shiver. I’d read that scene many times, but god, how well it still worked! If I ever write anything that brings a reader an emotional response half that enduring, I’ll be happy. The Shining is only one of two books that contained a moment which, when I first read it, made me almost literally crawl up the wall behind me with fear (the other was The Silence of the Lambs). I can’t tell you which scene it was; you’ll just have to find out for yourself. But it took place in room 217.

Kubrick’s film is a different animal and is great in different ways. In a book about Kubrick, I once read an excellent analysis that convincingly proposed Kubrick’s The Shining as a literal anti-thesis of his film 2001: A Space Odyssey, with a remarkable discussion of how the use of mirrors and mirror-images in The Shining (think of that lake in the opening shot, or what you see reflected in the mirrors along the hallway outside the ballroom) differentiates between the worlds of Jack Torrance’s sanity and insanity. The story of The Shining has become so well-known that I would love to see, like Shakespeare, many different directors tackle the material and give us their personal take on it. King needn’t fear, for his original novel will always retain its terrifying brilliance.

"A Killer Vacation" (The Atlantic)

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"How do they get to be that way?" Ebert on Race in America

2010-06-08T19:27:00.003-05:00

Somehow over the years I never noticed that Roger Ebert could write like this about topics other than movies – touching, insightful, heart-wrenching, angry. This column by him is about race, and it is about as emotionally devastating as anything I have every read. Ebert kicks off from the racist attacks on that school-wall mural in Arizona.

That brings me back around to the story of the school mural. I began up above by imagining I was a student in Prescott, Arizona, with my face being painted over. That was easy for me. What I cannot imagine is what it would be like to be one of those people driving past in their cars day after day and screaming hateful things out of the window. How do you get to that place in your life? Were you raised as a racist, or become one on your own? Yes, there was racism involved as my mother let the driver wait outside in the car, but my mother had not evolved past that point at that time. The hard-won social struggles of the 1960s and before have fundamentally altered the feelings most of us breathe, and we have evolved, and that is how America will survive. We are all in this together.

Ebert magnificently sums up everything I beleive about injustice in this country. The last two paragraphs of his essay will shred your heart.

“How do they get to be that way?” (Chicago Sun-Times)

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h/t Andrew Sullivan