Another Favorite Manga Series! & How It Influences My Current Graphic Novel!

I'm an intense re-reader. My favorite books I'll re-read dozens of times. Usually, every several months, I'll either read key/favorite volumes/issues in a long series or re-read a short series...

I re-read and skimmed through volumes 14-21 about two nights ago because I've been going through some stuff and things are already stressful and recent 'drama' was the icing on the cake. 

This week was "Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou/Jijō" often referred by its more popular abbreviated title "Kare Kano", or the English translation His and Her Circumstances, a 21-volume manga that became a woefully short TV anime series that probably only went to Volume 5!!! *still mad about this*

As I script my graphic novel/web comic "Summer to Winter", Kare Kano has influenced me on how I pace my story and how what starts out as a romantic comedy can still have elements of high drama, tragedy, and family saga.

Kare Kano starts out as a high school comedy, a teen star pupil ,Yukino, is riding on the praise, adoration, and adulation from her schoolmates, incurring jealousy in some, and biting envy in others. But she has a rival: a boy by the name of Soichiro who is considered the 'crown prince' of their grade and in the school. When his scores cause her to go to Second Place, she declares war on him and the two end up in a battle of grade school popularity, bringing in their respective fans, stalkers, and obsessed friends. The hijinks are over-the-top until you think it's going to get dark, and the series does get dark very fast... But NOT in the way one would expect. 

The series is a romantic comedy, as it also covers the romances of the secondary characters, Yukino's and Socihiro's HS friends and family members side-stories. But there is a darkness in the Soichiro character that is hinted at but becomes more apparent by Volume 13-14, and a lot goes downhill but with the humor still cropping up despite so many dark topics.

***

"Summer to Winter" appears to start off as a high school drama, but then flashes forward into the present with the protagonist(Yanina) at 25 meeting her teen crush and mean Math teacher, Mr. Dunlop. He's different now and this reignites her feelings into something more than the infatuation she felt as a girl.

The story veers into romance comedic territory with former teacher and student trying to navigate their feelings for one another, which veers into high family drama, social commentary with me also taking cues from Kare Kano with dwelling into the secondary characters' dramas and romances and the dark past involving Peter's(Mr. Dunlop) childhood and Yanina's constant flashbacks from childhood to adult present. 

Please continue to check out Summer to Winter on my Instagram! 

When the webcomic ends up on another platform, I will provide those links and details here on this ol' blog!

Again, take care, Dear Readers!

"Don't you draw any humans?"

I've always enjoyed drawing aliens and otherworldly mythic beings. And yet, I keep getting asked the same question over and over.

As I said on Twitter, random folks over the years keep asking, "But you draw animals all the time! Don't you [or] (can't) you draw humans?" 

*Me taking a deep sigh* 

Very well. Here's a human character with her furry alien lover. You're happy now?

From my working series 'Time Tiger: 4846 A.D.'

I call this piece "A Girl & Her Cat" (a play on the neverending 'A boy & his dog' media out there). 

This Caribbean-diaspora character and her alien partner are just some of the cast from my working-series titled Time Tiger Chronicles: 4846 A.D. 

These two have gone through multiple incarnations and their story has gone through several drafts and revisions, but now I think their new looks have forced more questions and the only way I can answer them is by rewriting their tale once again! 

My Deviantart is finally updated: 

➡️CopperSphinx on DeviantArt

and my artwork and story-related drafts are available firsthand on my Instagram: ➡️http://instagram.com/handdrawnbycarmenjr 

My mind goes a mile a minute

My science fiction story seems to be picking up steam as far as writing it. And since it will be an ongoing short story series, I realized last night I'll have to separate and categorize chunks and sections of it into story-arcs. And then give those story arcs actual titles. More to come. Stay Tuned... 

R.I.P. Martin H. Greenberg... Editor Extraordinaire

[Blogger's note: in this article, Here There Be Links! Click, if you dare]

Just learned tonight on Twitter that an editor I hold responsible for increasing and cementing my interest in the short story had died *three years ago*!

Martin H. Greenberg was his name, and if you were like me, in the 1990s on up, into speculative fiction AND a lover of the short story, you probably read any of his countless anthologies. That is, by himself or in a collaboration.

For instance, his "Cat Fantastic" series that he co-edited with one of my favorite authors Andre Norton.

I discovered the Cat Fantastic books in 11th grade when our high school had a book fair. I have been drawn to cats all my life. I often read cat-themed books, such as Andre Norton's "Breed To Come" and Tad Williams' "Tailchaser's Song" and that pretty much set me up.

Fast forward nine years later, and I published my first short story.

What does becoming a short story author have to do with Martin H. Greenberg? Well, school, especially in middle and high, English classes encouraged and commanded that the student read a variety of writing styles, the only way to be well-read in such a short time as a semester meant reading an English textbook anthology.

We have all read them, regardless of when we attended school. It is usually the thickest text we have in our book bag, and it will have samples of Shakespeare to Henry James to Virginia Woolf to James Joyce to Phyllis Wheatley. Yet, these stories could either touch us, enlighten us, or fill us with boredom.

The anthology is usually how many readers are introduced to new writers or get re-acquainted with old writers.

So, by the time I found that fateful book at my high school's book fair, I was already inundated by a public school system that had trained me to do much of my reading through short stories and by a variety of them, according to each anthology's theme.

There is a debt to be paid. One that I can never give to Mr. Martin H. Greenberg. I did not have a chance to speak with him, nor had I ever the inkling to communicate with him. What I did was keep buying the anthologies he edited.

Cat Fantastic II introduced me to many of the authors I now read, and to the further possibilities that exist within speculative fiction. I believe reading this anthology and others in the Cat Fantastic series made me a better reader, helped to mold me into a discriminating reader, and inspired me to become a writer and a better one at that.

So Thank You, Mr. Greenberg. I owe you much.

A Happy Discovery....by accident!

Ser*en*dip*i*ty - n. faculty of making happy discoveries by accident. ser*en*dip'i*tous adj. ser*en*dip'tous*ly adv.
(The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus - Second Edition-Berkley second edition/July 2001)
~~~~~~

There was a mall in the Skylake area, just several blocks and a 20-minute drive from my house during the mid 1980s to the mid 1990s.

As a little girl, my parents would frequent this mall for various reasons, as it wasn't our closest mall, (the 163rd Mall gets that distinction) and particularly the go-to store where my mom bought her sewing tools, kits, thread and needles. I think it also sold yarn.

Whether it was next door, or a section of the sewing shop, my eight year-old self flipped through a table rack of books, and it is here I discovered a gem.

by Stephen Cosgrove/Illus. by Robin James - Goodreads(c)

Serendipity(c)

A thin paperback with a unicorn foal and a tantalizing title. When it came time for us to leave, I asked mom if she would buy it for me, and she did.

The book was read by the time she drove us home. The story was short, had the most luscious illustrations ever, new words to learn, and a bittersweet ending. 

I remembered getting teary-eyed. I re-read it numerous times after until the staples became loose and the spine a little beaten.

Hungry for what I thought was a one-time deal, I placed the book in a respected spot so I could always access it. Imagine my delight and surprise that the two-legged, magenta dragon that was the adorable logo meant it was a series?

Serendipity(c)

Hungry for more, and disappointed that I could not find others, except for "Poppyseed" - circumstances and not returning to the store, nor able to remember the name, - I learned what 'Serendipity' meant, but couldn't remember that this was the actual series' name... Eventually, I forgot about the delightful books, until I rediscovered them in 5th grade. 

Cosgrove/James(c) 

Even in the Catholic school I attended for a short period, we had a library in the class and there were a variety of books: from Black Beauty to Oliver Twist, some French children's books, and a handful of Serendipity's books! I read "Trapper", "Leo the Lop", title book "Serendipity", and others that memory fails to recall. 

I made it a point to collect the series (I'm in my late 30s, and haven't scratched the surface), but life and other books got in the way... And then I re-rediscovered the series again online.

Cosgrove/James(c)

Serendipity(r) is just like its name: wonderful tales with strong moral messages, reminding me of a longer-length Aesopic fable.

And the art! Ah, the illustrations done mostly by the incredible Robin James are so lush, and so fixated! You fall in love with the large, doe-like eyes of the characters: both real and mythical.

The reader can probably count every blade of grass in the fields, count every flowers' petal, see the tendons in the horses, the equine characters are drawn quite lovingly realistic, and at the same time, whimsical - many of the animals in the Serendipity(r) series are drawn more anatomically correct than many other children's books to the point I believe these books inspired me to draw animals better. 

I've recently re-re-rediscovered these books! 

Serendipity(r) helped to formulate the childhood for many of us during the 80s. I'm honored that I was one of those original fans and am excited to read the newer titles, especially now that early readers came together and begged for more stories.

Serendipity(r) has now come under a new imprint/publisher and online shopping/reviewing has made the books easier to locate and purchase!

A happy discovery indeed....

~~~~~~~

P.S. Goodreads.com and many other online retailers such as BarnesandNoble.com, Abebooks.com, Alibris, Half.com, etc. sell the Serendipity(r) Books - both early and new editions - Give them a try, and do us older fans a favor.. Introduce these wonderful tales and characters to a new generation.

Just a thought...[Addendum]

How I enjoy stories where the supernatural world affects the natural world, and how I employ this in my epic fantasy cat stories!
I learned this technique from David Eddings*(Please read my April 2021 Post titled 'Our Heroes Are Actually Monster) when I read his fabulous Belgariad series!