Finnley McDougall’s boring schoolboy life in Seattle gets turned upside down when Great Uncle Hugh gives him a most unusual gift – a scruffy, rude, bad-tempered Scottish rock creature called Wullie who brings danger and disaster with him wherever he goes.From French snobs in fancy hotels, rusting barges on the Seattle waterfront, abandoned coalmines and flooded quarries in the Scottish hillsides filled with bullies, gangsters, slobbering dogs and weird food Finn is drawn into an evil plot that threatens to destroy everything he loves… including Edinburgh Castle.The only person who thinks that Finn is smart enough or brave enough to survive all this is his best friend and next door neighbor, Hadley Kobayashi, a girl who is wiser and tougher than Finn.
The Popular Girls
Human beings are social creatures. We like to feel we belong to something bigger than ourselves. We like to be part of a family or some other group that will protect us and support us either physically or emotionally. And… Continue reading “The Popular Girls”…
Pieter van der Donk
One of the things you learn as a writer is that it is always better to show your readers something rather than tell them about something. I never really give a clear physical description of Pieter van der Donk. He… Continue reading “Pieter van der Donk”…
Blackhope Scar – Overview
In this first book in the Wullie-The-Mahaar-Gome series we meet Finnley McDougall and Hadley Kobayashi, two best friends who live in a quiet neighborhood in Seattle and whose only problems in life revolve around dealing with their difficult parents and… Continue reading “Blackhope Scar – Overview”…
Munro
Early in the Blackhope Scar story when Great Uncle Hugh McDougall gives Finn the “very special Scottish paperweight” he also gives him a battered old book: Munro’s Scottish-English Dictionary: A compendium of old Scots words and slang phrases. Finn has… Continue reading “Munro”…
Stinky-The-Bog-Murtle
We meet this rude and smelly creature in Blackhope Scar when Finn described throwing his juggling balls at it in the tree at the bottom of Uncle Hugh’s garden in Tobermory (on the island of Mull off the west coast… Continue reading “Stinky-The-Bog-Murtle”…
Seattle – Nothing Stays The Same
One problem with writing about things in the real world is that nothing stays the same. People, places, and circumstances all change. But it is also fun to write about specific places and events that some readers can recognize or… Continue reading “Seattle – Nothing Stays The Same”…
Marie-Claire Blancmange
I have nothing against France. Honestly, I don’t. I’ve got some friends who are French, and they’re very nice. But Marie-Claire Blancmange is NOT nice. She is one of the villains in the first of the Wullie-The-Mahaar-Gome stories, Blackhope Scar. … Continue reading “Marie-Claire Blancmange”…
Bluebeard
We learn that Bluebeard is Wullie’s arch-enemy. He hates all humans, although he will work with crooks if he thinks it will help him defeat Wullie. This is how Finn first describes Bluebeard in the bowels of The Rusty Pelican… Continue reading “Bluebeard”…
Baldo-The-Bladderwort
Baldo is one of the scariest gomes that we meet in the Blackhope Scar story. He is a wild and cruel creature that has a vicious lobster spike on one of his hands that he uses as a weapon. It… Continue reading “Baldo-The-Bladderwort”…
Moray Place
At the very start of Part Two of Blackhope Scar Finn and his family get their first jet-lagged impression of Edinburgh when they arrive at the house that Great Uncle Hugh McDougall has rented for the summer. Moray Place really… Continue reading “Moray Place”…
How Bad Is Scottish Food?
I make fun of Scottish food in several places in these stories. In Blackhope Scar when Hadley’s flaky mother decides to try having oatmeal in the hotel dining room she is somewhat disappointed. Riversong Kobayashi has a very delicate sensibility.… Continue reading “How Bad Is Scottish Food?”…
Edinburgh Castle
When I describe real places in my stories I like to get the details right. I lived in Edinburgh for more than ten years and have visited Edinburgh Castle many times. It truly is an impressive and imposing structure. As… Continue reading “Edinburgh Castle”…
Midges
These tiny biting insects thrive everywhere in the Highlands of Scotland. Their real name is Culicoides impunctatus. It is the females of the species that bite to feed on blood to give themselves a good protein meal to help their… Continue reading “Midges”…
Big Sandy
Gomes live for a very, very, very long time (unless they get crushed or smashed into pieces that can’t be repaired…) and over the centuries they begin to adapt characteristics of the geographical area that they inhabit the most. They… Continue reading “Big Sandy”…
Gome Clans – Blackhope Scar
In Blackhope Scar we are introduced to a few of the different types of gome that inhabit Scotland: Bog Murtles I don’t know why I even started this list with Bog Murtles, because it is not entirely clear whether Bog… Continue reading “Gome Clans – Blackhope Scar”…
The Edinburgh Military Tattoo
The climax to the Blackhope Scar story takes place at Edinburgh Castle during the final performance of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. This annual event occurs every evening during the three week-long Edinburgh International Arts Festival. It is so popular that… Continue reading “The Edinburgh Military Tattoo”…
Mons Meg
This medieval cannon features prominently in the climax of the Blackhope Scar story. If you ever visit Edinburgh Castle you will see it there. Finn sees it for the first time in Chapter XLVI of Blackhope Scar: “Even in these… Continue reading “Mons Meg”…
Big Tek
We meet this unpleasant gome during the climax of the Blackhope Scar story under the vaults of Edinburgh Castle. This massive round gome is made of tektite which is a type of rock that was formed under tremendous heat (perhaps… Continue reading “Big Tek”…
Blackhope Scar – Minor Characters
Frank McCrone A miserable, unhelpful servant who “comes with the house” that Uncle Hugh rented for the summer. Bella McCrone Frank’s miserable, unhelpful, chain-smoking wife who does as little as possible except gossip with her friends. Nigel McCrone Frank and… Continue reading “Blackhope Scar – Minor Characters”…