The Were Family Of Wolftown (a children's book unsuitable for children) is the newest book by Daniel Hodgson, and illustrated by Anthony Noble.
I honestly don't know if there could be a more bias book review than this one as I'm the author, but here it goes anyway.
The book is a sarcastic take on the children's genre that showcases a dark but genuine humour, memorable and original.
I wrote two books in 2019 and self published them both. The first was a collection of short stories (Tales of Beauty and the Macabre) that I moved forward with to test the waters of how to self publish and make sales (still learning the latter.)
I felt confident enough in the shorts because of the publication of my least favourite story I've ever written by one of my favourite magazines (Broken Pencil Magazine.)
I figure if a story I didn't care for can make $40 then the ones I'm most proud of would bring in the big bucks. A little over optimistic and naive but at least it's out there.
Allow me to keep some pride and say that the first book is still growing in popularity and has potential. Marketing is a real underestimated beast.
Before publishing the new book I needed to find an illustrator able to push boundaries and bend genre and bring to life images from my imagination.
I scoured illustrator pages on FaceBook and read nearly every blog on the internet about finding someone to bring your vision to reality. I read nightmare scenarios of being ripped off and stories of authors paying for something they couldn't use.
Dead set on moving forward, I filmed a quick video pitching that I was looking for an illustrator and let the talent come to me.
The response was fast and overwhelming to the point that I took the video down after about 15 minutes as I received enough illustrators pitching their work to choose from.
After careful consideration I decided that an artist named Anthony Noble would be the perfect match for the project.
I sent Anthony the manuscript and after the weekend he came back with a better version of the characters than I was thinking of. We agreed on a price and he got to work right away even while working a regular job and illustrating on the side. He was done everything I asked within a week and nailed the job.
The illustrations requested were almost ridiculous to ask someone to draw as the book takes place in a werewolf society. Asking someone to draw a perverted werewolf exposing himself to a child werewolf is almost embarrassing but pride and ego have no place when pitching your work.
The finished product is better than I pictured and I couldn't be more proud of this book.
It is a collection of 10 individual stories about the Were Family of Wolftown that combine to make an unforgettable experience that leaves you wanting more.