THE CRIMSON CRYSTAL CORUNDUM CRABAPPLES OF COURAGE. A tree just beyond our back door grows crabapples about the size of marbles. The scarlet spheres freeze, remaining on the tree all winter, and I enjoy watching the squirrels and cardinals nibbling them. When water clings to the apples or ice glazes them, it looks like we have a treeful of sparkling rubies. You know, as I write this, artistic inspiration stirs within me. If this were THE CRIMSON CRYSTAL CORUNDUM CRABAPPLES OF COURAGE, a fantasy novel for young readers, the squirrel would be Nutwit, a loveable but dim-witted rodent. By eating a crimson corundum, he acquires the courage to accompany Yo Spree, a young shepherd, and Tipsy, Yos unsteady sheltie, on their quest to recover the scepter of Haagen Dazs that will aid Yo in reclaiming the ancestral throne of Folnar. I do see some problems in this early draft. Not too many children will know that the ruby is a corundum with a hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale, even assuming they know what the Mohs scale is. And I dont think even a squirrels teeth could crack a ruby. Of course, Nutwit could swallow it like a pill, washing it down with a vial of the Fluid of Fluency from the Simpering Springs, which would give him the gift of human speech as a bonus, but Im afraid it would just go right through like the peach pits your lab swallows. Still, these are loose ends which I can tie up. The ideas are coming thick and fast now. Guess whos going to be up very late tonight.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Feb 2014 22:59:53 +0000
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