The Shaman of Spud, rocking out on his electric lute.

A quick word about the gorgeous artwork produced by Victor Rivas for my new verse novel Prince Puggly of Spud and the Kingdom of Spiff. He recently posted his final artwork for the latter on his flickr photostream—and they are amazing!

(Backstory: Way back in 2007 the people at Penguin showed me some of Victor’s work and asked if I would like him to do the drawings for Zorgamazoo. I took one look and replied with a resounding yes.)

Victor’s illustrations for Zorgamazoo lift the book to another level, but here, with Puggly, he outdid himself. Check these out:

Princess Frannie of Spiff has a slug problem.

“Her Dickens, her Brontë, her Austen, her Poe / As her father decreed, they all had to go.”

Granny O’Bungleton, scribbling away in her alcove. What could she be writing?

Wonderful stuff. There’re more of these posted in Victor’s gallery, along with samples of his extremely diverse output.

Thank you, Victor, always a pleasure!