Rascal Redux: The Sequel: New Assignment Pages 1-6

 

P. 1: John Wins

P. 2: Journey to Miami

P. 3: The Offer

P. 4: The (Initially Incredulous & Hostile) Reaction to the Offer.

P. 5: Christina's Whining.

P. John and the Paperclip

All layout by mohabe art of Burkina Faso, Africa.

All coloring and shading by hartdrawss of deviant Art.

The girls had quit being FBI informants after the end of the first book but they decide, upon further reflection, to give John, their FBI handler, one more chance.

I know, I know; once a whining princess, always a whining princess.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: Camilo Enters pages 3-6

P. 3: Camilo Boards the Sailboat.

P. 4: No More Cuba

P. 5: Arrival in the Florda Keys

P. 6: Camilo Meets Emily And Monica

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

For those of you unfamiliar with Camilo and his story, he was head of the Cuban guerilla army; the three commanders were Fidel, Raul & Che respectively. The real Camilo opposed the turn toward communism; I am using him here fictively. For those who desire a good history of the Cuban Revolution, I recommend Tad Szulc's biography "Fidel: A Critical Portrait."

Here is a link to my book online.

Paradise Regained: Arrival in London pages 13 & 14

P. 13: The Puppy Dog Eyes Meet Michael or The Immovable Object Has Met the Irresistible Force & Mayhem Ensues

P. 14: Michael's Role

Yes, every dog has his day, but Sim hasn't met her match. Yet.

All artwork, layout & coloring by ponymaan of deviant Art.

Here is a link to the book online.

 

Paradise Regained: Arrival in London pages 11 & 12

P. 11: Slapping Sim Around (Only Theoretically) or Don't You Wish

P. 12: Confrontation

All artwork, layout & coloring by ponymaan of deviant Art.

Is this getting out of hand? Yeah, very much so. Sometimes breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

 Here is a link to the book online.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: New Moon Pages 11 & 12

 

P. 11: More Arial Confessions

P. 12: Catty Calls Arial

All artwork, layout & coloring by larienne of dA.

Do they have phones in space? Well, maybe...

O.K., I guess I should explain about the 'last DSP mess': the previous habitable world in this storyline was a disaster of epic proportions because of the way the planet was supposed to be terraformed. Every DSP (Deep Space Probe) in the fleet was recalled to it and it was like too many cooks spoil the soup. Anyhoo, Arial isn't supposed to say what she did because the whole thing now is classified and top secret and all that. I differ from NASA in my belief that there are actually very few Earth-like planets running around out there; I mean, I understand why they're saying what they are but I simply don't happen to agree.

Here is a link to the book online.

Paradise Regained: Arrival in London Pp. 8, 9 & 10

 

P. 8: Early Breakfast Inventory in the Training Facility

P. 9: Breakfast Menu

P. 10: Sim & The Newspaper

All artwork, layout & coloring by ponymaan of deviant Art.

Looks like Don (aka Harold or Harry) still hasn't learned his lesson about diet and exercise but he soon will. After all, a new start means a new beginning.

And yes, Michael and Doofus are set to become best friends. Soon they will be playing poker together; want to guess who wins?

Remember, in the novel Carolyn is writing this and she's not afraid of Disney; not one little bit.

Here is a link to the book online.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: Camilo Cienfuegos Enters, Pages 1 & 2

 

P. 1: Last Day in Cuba

P. 2: Enter the Sailor (Monica's Father).

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

When you gotta go, you gotta go. You may as well go in style. 

This part is toward the end of the book, when the action jumps ahead ten years, whereas the moon business is really what little plot there is in the main body of the novel. Aboard Deep Space Probe 187, his parents' old ship, Marshall (the kid in the first panel) works with one other telephone representative (Nathan, his supervisor, one of the C-class [C for cargo] personnel who help get the new moon there and who with his girlfriend decide to stay), selling spots in various pony act-outs (from the third book, a manga actually, titled A World Full of Lobsters) in the various theme parks on the new planet and moon. During this time period, Marshall's parents, Walt & Chely, are on another planet trying to terraform it, but it's very difficult because it's a frozen world (think Europa in Jupiter's orbit) and they're working under the ice sheet, attempting to construct shelters where colonists could live. The latter is the fifth book in this series, Desire and Decision (that's from a line in "Lolita", something like "Desire and decision: the two things that make a live world."), which I set aside so I could do more work on Marci & Rascal. Camilo (who comes in handy as a worker because he's a big guy; on the island [in the South Pacific, where "Paradise Lost" takes place, where Carolyn & John crash-land the space shuttle Lexington at the end of "Paradise Regained"] he was a chicken farmer because their replicator won't do eggs, for some strange reason) & Monica figure prominently in that book also, as They Are On The Wrong Side Of History.

Here is a link to the book online.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: New Moon Pages 9 & 10

 

P. 9: John & Catty

P. 10: The Scene of the Crime

All artwork, layout & coloring by larienne of dA.

This is one of the subplots of the book, that Carolyn & John's relationship is on the rocks because of all the time Carolyn & Brandy have spent together (notice Arial and Brandy don't say anything when Carolyn & John have their little exchange here because the former know John for what he is). For a while John is quite the ladies' man but then he wises up and realizes that what he and Carolyn have is too intense to just throw away. Also Walt, their son, and later their grandson Marshall, who will appear in a later section of the book currently under construction by another (ahem) artist, so stay tuned.

Here is a link to the book online.

Paradise Regained: Arrival in London pages 5, 6 & 7

P. 5: Doofus Backstory

P. 6: Michael Is Not Amused

P. 7: The Training Facility
All artwork, layout & coloring by Ponymaan of dA.

Reminder: Don's new code name is Harold or Harry. S.B. stands for Sim Baby.

Here is a link to the book online.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: New Moon pages 7 & 8

 

P. 7: Tom's Favor

P. 8: Catty's Profile

All artwork, layout & coloring by larienne of dA.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: New Moon pages 5 & 6

 

P. 5: Enter Tom

P. 6: Catty Backstory

All artwork, layout & coloring by larienne of dA.

Yes, another character in this story to keep track of. Wait until they get the moon there; then there'll be even more.

Here is a link to the book online.

Rascal Redux: New Chapter pages 1-4

 

P. 1: Late Night Confessions

P. 2: Marci & Julie Talk

P. 3: Christina Rebukes Her Bodyguards While Natasha Arrives

P. 4: Meanwhile, At the Next Table Over...

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

Nothing takes place in a vacuum.

Christina is a princess and future queen in an unnamed European country (I'm thinking Navarre because of Love's Labour's Lost) while Marci & Julie are her bodyguards. She is being trained incognito because her parents, the current king and queen of her country, worry about her and are concerned for her safety (she's an only child and her cousin will ascend the throne if something happens to her). All of them met in the first book (this is the sequel) because Christina was a prisoner (of sorts) in the castle where she had been living and trapped in a bell jar Sylvia Plath-type of existence. Natasha doesn't realize it yet but she's in over her head. She's overlooking Rascal because she's distracted by the princess and her two bodyguards, but she hasn't been told that yet. Sometimes the best place to hide something is in plain sight.

The Lady Who Loved Lightning: New Moon pages 1-4

 

P. 1: A New Moon For A New Planet

P. 2: Chely Likes Them Big

P. 3: Arial Weighs In

P. 4: Arial 'Fesses Up

All artwork, layout & coloring by larienne of dA.

The story here is that all the characters from "Paradise Lost" (or most of them, anyway) have moved out into space and are mapping and cataloging the Milky Way galaxy. Walt & Chely, aboard Deep Space Probe 187 (a small two-- or three--person ship, see first panel of "Enter Camilo" above), find an Earth-like planet beyond Rigel and the crew of Carolyn's J-class start terraforming the new world. But the six-hour days there are throwing off everyone's sleep cycles so Walt & Chely concoct this new scheme to slow down the planet's rotation. Kind of sort of like how our moon (which is so much bigger than other moons, compared to Earth) was supposedly acquired by something the size of Mars coming by at just the right time, hitting the Earth at just the right angle to settle down into orbit.

Anyway, that's my rant for the day; sorry for the soapbox.

P.S. More to come from this artist so stay tuned! Finally, I found someone who can draw Arial. You don't know what a trial it's been. A trial and a trail of broken tears.

Here is a link to the book online.

Paradise Regained: Carolyn's Fan Fiction: Arrival in London Pages 1-4

P. 1: First Glimpse.

P.2: Bathroom Detail

P. 3: And Here is Michael! 

P.4: Don & the Car; And Here's Doofus!

All artwork, layout & coloring by Ponymaan of dA.

Carolyn is going through a very stressful time in her life so she writes this to escape from her shuttle training (actually she just had a bad dream about Francois, her family's chef whom she had a crush on and never really got over, that she's trying to forget) so she sits down to pen this. I guess therapy does take many different forms.

I realize the projection here is complex, but no more so that Chaucer making himself a character who goes on the pilgrimage along with all the other funky pilgrims to Canterbury in his Tales. 

Oh, and about the names: Sim and Don are getting new identities (Sarah & Harold, the latter sometimes Harry). Kind of sort of like the Barbra Streisand character in What's Up, Doc? who keeps calling the Ryan O'Neal character Steve when his name is really Howard. I know, really obscure, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.

Here is a link to the book online.

Rascal Redux: The Sequel pages 6 & 7

 

P. 6: Confrontation Diffused

P. 7: Christina & Julie Take A Shower While Marci & Natasha...?

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

Rascal Redux: The Sequel Pages 4 & 5

 

P. 4: Marci X Natasha

P. 5: Confrontation

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

Rascal Redux: The Sequel Pages 1-3 (In Medias Res)

 

P. 1: After Party Epilog

P. 2: Complications

P. 3: The Next Day.

All artwork, layout & coloring by mohabe art of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) in Africa.

For all of you diehard Marci & Rascal fans, obviously much has happened since we last left our intrepid heroes at last twilight, ill met by moonlight, but not in that movie (Henry V, dir. by Sir Kenneth Branagh) thank Christ, by jolly and by Jove, by folly and by queen's cove consort! The three former private detectives, Christina, Julie & Marci, are now FBI cadets in training at Quantico, VA. The new girl, Natasha, doesn't yet know about the true natures of either Rascal or Christina, either fairies or mortal, but she is beginning to suspect that all is not as it appears to be. She will soon receive more than she bargained for when the truth about the 'dog' and the princess is revealed, in tongues both swollen and seductive. Marci is trying her best to maintain Rascal's perfunctory prosaic domestic status but it's getting more and more difficult, as time goes by. As you see, when two lovers woo, they still say, "I love you." The fundamental things apply; no matter what the future brings.

                                           P.S. More to come so stay tuned!

Ten Little Ponies page 13

 P. 13: Game Time

All artwork, layout & coloring courtesy of Julie of France.