I began this yarn in the winter of 1824, confined to my bedchamber by a vicious resurgence of my gout. Luckily this was just the opportunity to make a really solid start into my life's work: The Complete Adventures of the Gentleman Pups. Well, as I progressed page after page I found myself feeling dissatisfied with the pups' crime-solving antics. Indeed, Brandy and Randy were excellent characters, rounded and emotionally resonant, but they seemed to be, as my housekeeper Mrs. Mutt put it, "A pair of queer gents."
You can imagine my consternation!
Seeking inspiration I turned to opium, which triggered a swift resurgence of the sleeping sickness which I contracted while watching Congo. When I awoke three weeks later I knew what I had to do. In one single evening, using only one blue biro, I sketched out the first episode of my reinvented Gentleman Pups, now Urban Pupz. Gone were the monocles and pipes of Brandy and Randy, in came the dark nihilism and street-smarts of Skinny Pup and Insolent Pup.
People have asked me if either of these characters represent me? Yes! Skinny Pup is me in a bad mood. Insolent Pup is me before I turned 15 and entered the aforementioned and all-pervasive bad mood.
And then I suffered a devastating resurgence of my breakfast!