Planet of the Eggs #Comicbook Series Publishes a New Issue!

Coolness alert! My guests today are the writer and illustrator team who create Planet of the Eggs, a dinosaur-themed comic book series. Peggy Bechko and Charlene Sorensen stopped by to discuss their process.

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Welcome to Eggland!
by Peggy Bechko and Charlene Sorensen

Peggy Bechko, frequently published author (genres including Romance, SciFi and Western) and optioned screenwriter teamed up with long time friend and former health insurance industry denizen, Charlene Sorensen to bring the world a new world...Eggland.

Friends for many years, Peggy was ready to embark on a whole new venture - comics!

And Charlene was ready to stretch her creative wings.

Together they created the new Planet Of The Eggs Comic Book series. The first in this 'eggciting' adventure across time, space and who-knows-what, Cracked Open, introduced the Six Eggs of Legend and was followed by the second Grimoire: Book of spells, the third, Mummified Egg and the fourth Eruption (the first of a two part adventure).  There are many adventures yet left to tell.

The writing/illustrating team, living in the foothills of the high mountains just five minutes apart, is geared up, creating the second in the two part adventure Eruption and Saving Dot. and have reached a point where one can read the other's mind. Even artistic disagreements are arrived at simultaneously. They spend two to three days a week together, creating jointly and time apart creating illustrations, working on their newsletter and pondering what might come next for the well-armed eggs.

For Peggy, an author who’d always created alone previously, what happens when things change? When the career takes yet another turn (most careers have many of those turns) and life hands this writer a new direction and simultaneously a writing partner?

With a great writing partner, things pop and sizzle as never before. We end each other’s sentences and marvel at one another’s ideas. Effortless. Satisfying. Fun! It gives us chills!

And I guess one would call what we do, creating more than simply writing. We created our own project, a new comic series called Planet Of The Eggs. We learned new software, created story lines, wrote scripts, designed characters from scratch and pulled the whole thing together in an ‘indy’ published comic es, not to mention creating designs for our Café Press Planet Of The Eggs Shop. It was a learning curve the size of Mt. Everest, but it was a great climb. We work side-by-side two days a week and separately the rest of the time sending ideas, created comic characters and other bits and pieces back and forth via email. We’ve learned much about getting our work out there for people to enjoy. It’s a wonder we actually sleep. Actually it’s not clear that Charlene does.

Peggy and Charlene envision a long life for the Six Eggs of Legend as they move between the worlds, superpowers evolving, and fight the forces of evil to save Eggland. And a long and happy partnership in the creation.

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Learn more about Peggy, Charlene, and Planet of the Eggs on the official website or subscribe to their newsletter.

Purchase Planet of the Eggs: CRACKED OPEN on Amazon. 

Purchase Planet of the Eggs: ERUPTION on Amazon.

Guest Blogger Elaine Ouston's new MG fantasy novel

Elaine Ouston’s new fantasy novel, Captured, for ages 10+, is the second book in The Mystery of Nida Valley series. The series is about a hidden valley full of ancient animals, dinosaurs, and much more. Elaine describes her book, as well as her wonderful promo idea to help educate kids about
"megafauna".

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The story begins when fourteen-year-old Meg Sealy, her friend Amanda, and her older cousin Jaiden stumble upon a secret valley where time stands still. The three friends are thrust into a dangerous world of magic, time travel, and creatures they believed extinct. They learn that it is their destiny to use their new magic skills to join the fight to save the valley from an evil break-away order, bent on exploitation. Meg discovers she is to become the next leader of the magic order that protects the valley and its creatures. But undercover villains in the valley try to stop her from doing so. Many life-threatening events occur as she and her friends fight to save the animals from extinction.

I am often asked how dinosaurs and real animals that existed over 40,000 years ago became the basis for a fantasy novel. I came across the megafauna when I was researching animals for another book. They fascinated me, as I had never learnt about them at school.


I asked a group of children what they knew about these creatures and discovered that they had no knowledge of them. Their interest in hearing about the animals, fueled my desire to write the story, and so I began in earnest. Some of the questions the children asked during our discussion shaped the story. For instance, ‘Did they live with the dinosaurs?’ and from a very cute 4 year-old, ‘Were there dragons too?’ So I decided to include the three groups, megafauna, dinosaurs, and mythical animals. It is a strange mix and it was interesting coming up with a way to make the valley’s creatures credible. (Well, as credible as fantasy has to be). Fantasy has always been my first choice to read so it was natural for me to write in that genre.


I wanted the book to be entertaining as well educational. So I trawled the internet and libraries for accurate information. I found what I needed in books, and Museums and University websites. I have recorded the sources on the inside page of the book and on the cards. So any reader can do follow-up research, or any librarian or teacher can confirm the information. 

I realised as I wrote the story, that even though I described the animals in as much details as I could, the readers would still have no idea what these magnificent creatures looked like. To include colour drawings in the book would make the printing too costly, so I decided the create collector cards. I commissioned an artist, Aaron Pocock, to draw the animals from images I found on museum websites and in a book, The Magafauna of Australia, by Danielle Clode. 


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Learn more about Elaine Ouston and the novels in this series by visiting her website.


The books in the Mystery of Nida Valley series Amazon and elsewhere online. In Australia, they can be ordered from your local bookstore through Dennis Jones and Associates. 


The packs of cards and signed paperbacks can be purchased at http://morrispublishingaustralia.com