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Musings |
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'The
Dark Portal was my very first book. It began
as one tiny drawing of an albino runt who became
Oswald Chitter.
My desire was to make his world as convincing
and frightening as possible. I wanted the reader
to believe in these characters and fear for
them.
Before I even
began writing the first chapter, however, I
worked out the storylines for all three books.
This meant that I knew precisely who was going
to to survive and who was not! It also enabled
me to put in hints of what could happen later.
Many of the
characters (including the rats) were based on
friends of mine!
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The Characters
The Mice
Albert
Brown
Loving father and devoted husband.
Albert is a commonsensical mouse, not usually given
to rash actions.
Arthur
Brown
Fat and jolly, Arthur likes
a scrap, but always comes off worse.
Audrey
Brown
Tends to dream. She likes to
look her best and wears lace and ribbons. Audrey cannot
hold her tongue in an argument, and often says more
than she should.
Gwen
Brown
Gentle wife of Albert and caring
mother of Arthur and Audrey. Her love for her family
binds it together and keeps it strong.
Arabel
Chitter
Silly old gossip who gets on
the nerves of everyone in the skirtings.
Oswald
Chitter
Arabel's son is an albino runt.
Oswald is very weak and is not allowed to join in
some of the rougher games.
Piccadilly
A cheeky young mouse from the
city, Piccadilly has no parents and is very independent.
Thomas
Triton
A retired shipmouse. Thomas
is a heroic old salt - he does not suffer fools gladly.
William
Scuttle or "Twit"
Twit is a fieldmouse visiting
his mother's sister Arabel Chitter. Twit is an "innocent",
and does not have a bad word to say about anyone.
Eldritch
and Orfeo
Are brothers, and as bats see
far into the future. Bat advice is a very dangerous
thing to seek, for they tell you only fragments of
what they know.
The
Green Mouse
A mysterious figure in mouse
mythology. He is the spirit of Spring, and of new
life.
The
Rats
Madame
Akkikuyu
A black rat from Morocco. She
is a fortune-teller who wanders around selling potions
and charms to gullible customers.
Finn
A sly old worker - one of his
ears is missing, but he doesn't miss much.
Fletch
A dirty old rat with bad breath
and spots on his nose.
One-eyed
Jake
A popular rat who is threatening
to oust Morgan from office.
Jupiter
The great dark god of the sewers.
He lives in the dark portal and possesses awesome
powers. All fear him.
Leering
Macky
A rat with a terrible squint.
He and Vinegar Pete are old cronies.
Morgan
The Cornish piebald rat who
is Jupiter's lieutenant. Morgan trusts no-one, and
does all Jupiter's dirty work.
Skinner
A rat with a mousepeeler strapped
onto his stump of an arm.
Smiler
A strong giant of a rat who
works in the mine.
Vinegar
Pete
This rat never smiles. His face
is always sullen and he and Leering Macky mutter to
themselves.
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