Meet Mr. Blend
—
Rumors suggest Mr. Blend rides a penny-farthing or that his home office houses skull-and-raven decor alongside an eighty-three-year-old typewriter.
Does he even own a penny-farthing? Unfortunately, the answers to those questions shall remain a most curious mystery. However ...
What can be said is that upon experiencing a prolonged bout of boredom, Mr. Blend decided to pack a small bag and use said penny-farthing to explore and document people, places, and miscellaneous oddities from each tiny township that adorned the mysterious landscape.
They were quaint communities, though seemingly located neither here nor there from the perspective of a map. And within them, he discovered mysterious circumstances, which he meticulously documented as inspiration.
But is that the whole story?
’Tis not, for his journey began in elementary school.
As a young kid, Mr. Blend was a voracious reader. From regular fiction to choose-your-own-adventure books, he consumed stories with a hunger for adventure.
In fact, he always kept a watchful eye on the small reading nook in the corner of his fifth-grade classroom, making sure he quickly finished the project at hand so he could snatch the best seat in the house whilst continuing The Hobbit, or There and Back Again; The Chronicles of Narnia; A Wrinkle in Time; or some other journey.
And creative writing was part of it.
Mr. Blend attributes his love of writing to a number of creative writing workshops taught in his elementary school. Small periods of time in which he and his classmates would craft tales of their own.
But he found one particular story, called Gory Story (written by a friend and read in class), particularly interesting.
Sure, the playfully macabre elements were fun--what kid wouldn’t enjoy that in the early 80s? But it was the excitement of a story created from imagination, listening to it unfold, curious about would happen next--that is what truly captivated him. Those were, in many ways, the best times of his childhood. And eventually, they served as a guide for his career.
(Mr. Blend’s higher education was obtained at none other than the Ghastlyville Academy for Wordsmithery.)
About Mr. Blend’s Illustrator
To give his books and stories an assortment of visual accents, Mr. Blend decided to work with none other than Rogustus Lockewood: a rather odd illustrator about whom very little is known.
Some say that curious name is merely a nom de plume for Mr. Blend, regarding drawing.
Others claim to have observed Mr. Lockewood procuring fresh drawing ink and dip pens in the nowhere-near-famous artisan alleyway of the even lesser known Ghastlyton Village.
Rather large publishers--they’re all much taller than the average publisher--weekend sleuths, and embarrassingly bad photographers are all prowling the countryside to learn more.
(Only Mr. Lockewood’s hat was available for portrait photography)
“What's wrong with weird? Weird's like the nuts in my cookies. It's the nuts that make things interesting!”
Florence Zimmerman, from the movie The House with a Clock in Its Walls
(Mr. Blend’s home office)
(The other side of his home office)
(Ok, it’s true: Mr. Blend’s office does have some skull-and-raven decor—or is it a crow? Can you see it?)
