You must be wondering why this book was dedicated to the great Austrian composer Franz Schubert, when there was no mention of his name whatsoever in the entire story. Well, that’s because most of this book was created during a nation-wide lockdown in my country from April to May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And being someone who cannot work without music, I had the magical tunes of Franz Schubert to accompany me throughout much of my entire journey, so he did have a role to play in the creation of this book!

Someone once said that if you don’t love Schubert, it is just a matter of time that you do. It’s true. During my younger days, I actually grew to dislike Schubert due largely to his over-popularized pieces like the impromptus and the moments-musical, which to me were too saccharine-sweet and not very stirring (not suitable for young people with a zest for life), and which probably overshadowed his more profound masterpieces like the piano sonatas. I accidentally chanced upon his ‘better’ but lesser-known music when I was listening to a 1994 live recital recording of his last piano sonata (D960) by the late Italian pianist Aldo Ciccolini on YouTube. I was instantly mesmerized by the music without even knowing that it was Schubert! As I listened more and read more about Schubert’s short and tragic life, my admiration for his music and the man himself grew. Despite being poor and destitute (Schubert didn’t even had any money to pay his rent when he was on his death bed), he never gave up on his music. On the contrary, Schubert’s oeuvre was astounding! He wrote more than 600 songs, and many of his most famous masterpieces (e.g. the Schwanengesang, Three Piano Pieces) were composed during the final months of his life when he was seriously ill.  Unfortunately, his works were relatively unknown to the world until decades after his death. An anecdote goes that Schubert had asked his publisher to publish his last three piano sonatas (now generally regarded as masterpieces in this genre), but his publisher refused no matter how much he pleaded. In fact, the sonatas weren’t published until ten years later, when even the person they were dedicated to (Hummel) had passed away! If not for the wonderful Schumann and the marvellous Franz Liszt who helped salvaged and publicised his works, Schubert’s music would have been lost to us forever.

Schubert’s music is often said to be very profound. It’s a difficult concept to grasp for something as commonplace and easily accessible as music, and different listeners may have a different take on it. But try listening to his Piano Sonata in A minor, D784 (the best recording being the one by Portuguese-Swiss pianist Maria Joao Pires, in my opinion), you may actually think that you are standing in a contemporary art museum gazing at some abstract installation art (not that installation art is at all profound, to begin with!) I also felt a special kindred spirit with this genius although he lived more than 200 years ago, in the way he persisted in his art despite not getting the recognition he craved. I’m inspired by him to not give up on my art too!

Some readers who had bought this book on Amazon had immediately asked for a refund. Though I was disappointed, I tried to figure out why. They had probably felt that the scenes with the snake and the dogs were a little too violent for kids. However, there are a great many children’s books out there depicting monsters and dragons 10 or 100 times bigger than the ones shown in my book. Alas, I guess the difference was that, unlike these dragons and monsters, the ones in my book were real.

But the reason why I have included them was because many scenes in this book were inspired by real life events. For a start, the empty town devoid of people was inspired by a trip I made to Italy in 1994, the year Italy made it to the Finals of the World Cup-and lost! I was in an Italian city (I can’t remember which one-was it Naples or Milan?) and the streets were literally deserted. We happened to be checked into a B&B which provided budget accommodation that came with a simple breakfast. As we woke up the next morning to check out, the inn keeper (who seemed to have spent the night on the couch) looked visibly irritated and sleep-deprived when we requested for our breakfast. He was so grouchy that we were actually contemplating going without the breakfast, though he did serve it in the end. Everything became clear only when we discovered that Italy had made it to the World Cup Finals but failed to clinch the trophy! This incident left a deep impression on me on how passionate the Italians were when it came to football (and life in general). It also taught us a valuable lesson-never visit Italy during the World Cup season, unless you are sure that they will win!

This book was actually produced over a span of 6-7 months, starting in early December 2019 (I remember producing the draft for the 2-page spread-where Annabelle and Theodore were lost in the city (pg 19-20)- in a cosy little room in Hotel Pacific Myeongdong, Seoul, Korea. The outside temperature was -10 Degree Celsius and I was blasting Scriabin from my mobile phone in the empty hotel room, wondering when if I would ever be able to finish this drawing before I headed home. So, the lockdowns in the following months that cities around the world were plunged into were a pure coincidence and did not provide inspiration for the setting of this story (the empty town that Annabelle and Theodore were lost in), as the dreaded ‘Wuhan Virus’ had only just appeared at that time.

Some of the other scenes were inspired by a trip to Greece back in 1995 during our Honeymoon. The first was the vast empty bus station shown in pg 11-12. It was based on a vague memory of the Bus Terminal B in Athens. I was so impressed by the bus station’s enormous maze of pillars that it reminded me of Minotaur’s Labyrinth in ancient Greek mythology. The pillars were so well aligned that a view from any angle would provide a great lesson on linear perspective and vanishing points. As I stood there, I couldn’t help but think of all the invisible vanishing lines in Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’.

The other ‘inspiration’ that came from our Greek Honeymoon was the final climactic part where Annabelle and Theodore were followed and surrounded by stray dogs. It was one of those terrific experiences that would have probably turned your honeymoon into your worst nightmare. After a grueling seasick journey (9 hours!) to the famous Santorini Island, we were finally treated to a magnificent panoramic view of a stunning sunset by Santorini’s incredible crater lake and of course, beautiful postcard blue-and-white houses that seemed to exist only on another planet. In fact, the gaping crater reminded me of the scene in Star Wars where the Millennium Falcon had a close shave with the Exogorth. The next morning, we decided to track on foot from the main town where we were staying, Fira, to the next town, Oia. It was within sight anyway, as far as we could see (literally!), so it shouldn’t be a big problem… or so we thought. How wrong we were. While the route was manageable, we quickly found ourselves being followed by a lone curious stray dog almost right from the start of our journey. At first it appeared to be nothing but a harmless dog- he’s just curious, that’s all- we thought. So we tried to hide somewhere and let the dog pass- hopefully it’d find something more interesting to follow instead of these two humans. Never did we expect that when we finally emerged from our hiding, the dog was still there! It had never left. At first it kept a distance but it slowly became bolder and bolder and started closing in on us. Slowly, this dog attracted the attention of other stray dogs in the neighbourhood who also started to follow us as well. It was a like a scene from the cultural revolution where the crowd grew larger and larger as it gathered momentum. They also started howling and barking so loudly that we started to fear for our lives! And all this while, from Fira to Oia, there was not a single soul to be seen (just like in the book)- all the windows were shut and the doors were closed. We were crying out loud for help but there was no one around who could help us. Meanwhile, more and more dogs appeared and their aggressiveness also reached a new level. This was exactly what I depicted in the book. Fortunately, we managed to reach Oia in time and at the first sight of a local provision shop, we quickly dashed in and hid behind the shelves in the shop. The shopkeeper was so amused and puzzled at our comical action. We explained what happened and asked her to help us hail for a cab. When the cab arrived, we quickly jumped straight in like circus acrobats and made our escape. As we looked out of the cab window, that very first dog that followed us was still staring fiercely at us (see pg 62 for an illustration of how the dog looked like!)

So you see, not the entire story were made up. Some of it were, of course, to fit into the story, like the Boa Constrictor and the Grandma. They somehow just came naturally as if they were meant to be part of the story. Some parts were inspired by real life events or objects that I chanced upon. For example, the Robot Butler was based on a little wind-up toy that I found when clearing my younger son’s piles of toys. It was a toy that I was reluctant to throw away, amongst the majority that I did (I’m actually quite a ‘thrower’), as it has a strange magical charm that reminds you of your own childhood. Also, this little toy actually still worked! That gave rise to an idea of a Robot Butler that was old and disowned, but still very useful! I had also wanted to portray a loyal and dutiful robot who always had his masters in mind by keeping the house in tip-top condition, waiting for their return one day (which of course was never to be). So far Ludwig the Robot Butler is one of my favourite creations. It had a jukebox that played music he liked, although he only had one track- Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, a favourite work of mine which I listened to over and over again on a cassette tape when I was a teenager. I still vividly remember the cover of the NAXOS recording featuring ‘Napoleon on his Throne’ by the French Neo-Classical painter Ingres, though the cassette tape itself is nowhere to be found. Like me, Ludwig likes to blast his music on his ear-phones when he is doing his work. But at the same time, he is also afraid to disturb others, because not everyone likes Beethoven. But alas, unfortunately, Ludwig didn’t seem to catch on for many readers. I hope to feature it again in some of my future books, perhaps even making him the central character in one of the books when a suitable story comes to mind.

There is another character/part in the book which may seem a little odd and out of the blue for many readers-namely, the Frogman. Why I included him in the story, while it may seem like a force-fit and out of sync with the rest of the story, was perhaps a sort of revolt against some reviewers of my other books (e.g. ‘A Family Dinner’) who decided that my books simply don’t make sense.

And also, why not? For one, this is my book, I can write or draw anything I want, as long as it doesn’t hurt or dishonour anyone or any community. Also, there is nothing racist or discriminatory in my books and I don’t use coarse or crude language (there are a great many best-sellers out there that are inundated with profanity from cover to cover!) Not to forget that this is a children’s book, and in the imaginative world of young children, anything is possible. Having said that, everyone is entitled to his or her views and is free to express them on any public platform. Fortunately, what doesn’t break you makes you stronger. I’m happy to say that I’m not longer so affected by negative reviews as to crumble or even contemplate giving up my career. You just take it in your stride, examine if there’s any value in the comments, learn from it and try to do better. Most of the time, unpleasant they may be, negative criticisms are those that actually have any real value, as they are the ones that really help you improve.

What a long post! I must quickly end off by mentioning another important source of inspiration for my work-other artists’ work! For those who are familiar with or love Classical Art, you may not find the pose of Ludwig the Robot Butler wrangling with the snake (and fighting off the dogs) unfamiliar. It’s the fabulous Classical sculpture group kept in the Louvre Museum known as the ‘Laocoon’!

Laocoon was a Trojan priest who warned the Trojans about the wooden horse was left behind by the Greeks. (The Trojans still fell for the trick nonetheless…) Athena, the Greeks’ guardian goddess, was infuriated and sent giant serpents to kill Laocoon and his two sons. This sculpture group depicts the poor Trojan priest and his two sons engaged in a mortal combat with the unholy beasts (Laocoon and his sons were killed in the end, unfortunately). It is amazing that such a complex sculpture group- with so many intricate components intertwined together- was created more than two thousand years ago! The figures were so life-like, with all the bulging muscles and protruding veins, expressions of pain and agony and powerful bodies contorted in different directions, that they looked like real people posing for a black and white photograph! I was always amazed by the incredible talent of these artists from antiquity, who went on to inspire great masters more well-known to us, like Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci. So when it came to the scene where Ludwig struggled with the Boa Constrictor, naturally I thought of the ‘Laocoon’. I borrowed the pose and made Ludwig stand in a position that resembles the mythological priest, but at a sharp angle seen from the perspective of little Theodore, just to create a bit of dramatic effect. I used the same pose again in the scene with the dogs- just to employ the tool of repetition in order to ‘close off’ the story and remind readers that this is the second time Ludwig had saved the day.

Another great artist whose work I drew lots of inspiration from was Dutch artist M.C. Escher. You may probably have felt a vague familiarity with the perpetual staircase in pg 19-20 that went round and round never-endingly, leading Annabelle and Theodore back to square one where she first started. It was inspired by Escher’s famous work ‘Penrose Stairs’.

I’ve always been fascinated by the work of M.C. Escher, starting from my University days when I did a lot of lithography. I even bought a very thick and expensive book cataloguing all his drawings and prints, probably from some Escher retrospective. In fact, you can easily tell where my fascination with repeated patterns and tessellations come from! Some of the lithographs which I did during my university days also reflected a strong influence by Escher- in the use of grainy textures and painstaking rendering of three-dimensional structures. While some critics like to write him off as an artist, saying that his work was more Math than Art and lacking in feeling and emotions, my love for his work has never diminished. If Escher’s work was more Math than Art, there must surely be something mesmerizing, surreal and mysterious in the world of Mathematics! (The funny thing is that nobody seems to write Leonardo Da Vinci off though his art had more elements of Math and Science than anyone else in history!)

I can go on and on but I must stop here. If you are still here, thank you for your patience. I hope you have enjoyed learning about all the thinking and creative processes that went behind the making of this book. For me, writing a book is one of the highest forms of artistic expression, as it is a coming together of many different skills: conceptualization, story-telling, drawing, painting, editing… even publicity and marketing! It is like writing a symphony- a tremendous and laborious undertaking that can consume you for months or even years! And the best part is, like the symphony, a book is written and controlled by only ONE person, and him or her alone– the writer. Nobody can tell him or her what to do. That’s what I like about what I do.