I hand kind of forgotten about this, but “Fangbone” was
originally named “Bonesword.” When I pitched the “third grade barbarian” idea
to my editor, he really liked it, but said that the name didn’t work. He was worried that it would read as “Bones
Word” as opposed to “Bone Sword.” He
sent me off to come up with another name, and after putting together some words
that I liked, “Fangbone” showed up.
If I remember, I wanted his sword, which was made of bone, to
play a part in the narrative, but that didn’t end up going anywhere. Bill’s name was a no-brainer. I just needed a simple, one-syllable boys’
name that was very common.
This was one of the very first drawings for this idea that I
made, and I like the loose watercolor.
Last night I was reading your book “Fangbone: Third Grade Barbarian”to my six-year-old son. Everything was going rather smooth until we got to the gloobus sequence. I trust you know what I am referring to here. Once I got to the part where Fangbone was retelling the legend of a hero who managed to survive in a desert by eating his and his camel’s…uh…gloobus, my son was done for. There was a moment of silence where what I had just read registered in his brain and then he was off to the races. He started laughing his head off and got up on his bed and started jumping up and down. 10 minutes later I had to put the book away as we weren’t getting any closer to sleep. Strange, I thought reading before bed was supposed to be soothing and help your child get ready for sleep. Your book has had the opposite effect. I hope you sleep well at night now knowing this.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Randolph Carter
P.S. My son thoroughly enjoyed “Goodnight Goon” when he was younger. I sincerely hope you continue to create and publish books. You’ve got two big fans here. Your sense of humor is wonderful and really resonates with us.
I recall having other concerns about that original name...
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