Short Version:

Mid-size Version: “Panda Apples” is a book about a young bear named Owen whose second cousin, Panda, comes to visit. Panda seems like a mild-mannered boy, but whenever he eats his fruity snack at the end of the day, things go… well, a little bit crazy.

The book may or may not be an allegory to the tendency of certain members of society to blame violence and/or anarchy on certain activities (say, visual entertainment of an interactive nature). Regardless, it is dedicated to a man you may have heard about, named Jack T, who is my hero. Ahem.

Long Version:  Those of you who have been around this blog since before it got silly [cough hack sputter -ed.] may remember back in the summer of 2006, I talked about a book called “Panda Apples”.  You may also remember that the book was not actually released “real soon now” as promised.

While I won’t get into why it wasn’t done (on the advice of my attorney, and because I’m plum out of chainsaws), I will say this: good writing takes time.  And mine does too.

Thusly, I present to you a collaboration between myself and the formidable Mr Len Peralta of Jawbone Radio and Monster By Mail.  Len is, I am sure you can tell by the thumbnail, quite genius with a pen, and he has vastly improved my meagre story with some of the most whimsical artwork you will ever see.  [we have no idea what "whimsical" means -ed.]

Both Len and I hope you very much enjoy the book, and if you do, be sure to tell everyone you know.  The book is downloadable under a Creative Commons Share-Alike Non-Commercial license, and also available in papery form from Lulu.com.

P.S.  If you are interested in translating the book into your local language, drop me a line and I will send you the RTF source.  I’ll try and remember to upload the actual file when I get back from my trip on a flying deathtrap.