Storyhounds

Some people think sighthounds are only good for hunting little fluffy bunnies, but this isn’t the case. Pearl and I would rather leave the bunnies to enjoy their lives on the dunes around Three Cliffs Bay while we stay home and nap on the furniture.

As I’ve explained before, we’re far from idle while we’re ‘asleep’. I’ve already told you a bit about our dreamwalks in Fairyland, and another place we like to visit is the Land of Story. This is where all stories grow, and it’s where we do our real hunting, sniffing out stories for Annabelle.

If only you authors could see yourselves when you’re working! Did you know you have psychic tentacles that feel their way into Storyland in search of the best tales? You can’t see them, but we can. So many of you are writing books now that Storyland is becoming a positive tangle of human tentacles fighting over the best ingredients. This is why Annabelle needs our help.

Storyland is a chaotic sort of place at the best of times, because it contains everything you can imagine and more besides. The Fantasy Farm overlaps Fairyland itself and sometimes it’s hard to tell which creatures belong where.

It was here we discovered the Delphinae and the Sloyds.

The Delphinae are mermaid-like nature spirits who look after the dolphins. They have their work cut out, as the sea is full of hazards – tuna nets, ghost fishing gear, toxic waste and unscrupulous humans.

In spite of this the Delphinae are high-spirited, playful creatures who love to make music and sing. Their voices are literally out of this world.

The Sloyds are another matter. They are ravenous monsters made of plankton that has gone viral and become possessed by evil spirits, intoxicated by the bad chemicals in the sea. The chemicals act like a mixture of fast food and steroids, pumping up the plankton and turning the spirits who care for it into demonic forces intent on wiping out all marine life and any unsuspecting humans who wander into their territory.

We found these bizarre beings when Annabelle was writing her book The Slapstyx. The villain of the story was making billions of dollars selling his disgusting detergent, which was full of bad chemicals that ended up in the sea.

Annabelle wanted to show how this was affecting sea life, so we brought her the Sloyds, who had grown monstrous on their diet of chemical junk food, and the Delphinae, who were trying to protect their beloved dolphins from these ravenous creatures.

Who says we’re only good for hunting little fluffy bunnies?