Q. How real are these tales?
A. Real enough. But fake enough. When I started developing this, the plan was to make it simply autobiographical, but I quickly decided that it needed more “creative freedom” than that. All characters have been carefully fictionalized from the real people they are based on: names, appearances, ages, distinguishing birthmarks, etc. Events have been fictionalized too: locations, dates, etc. No one’s privacy is being violated without their consent. Some of it is fantasy, or fabrication to make the pieces fit together better. It’s officially a work of fiction, and nothing in it should be assumed to be true. Even though it might be.
Q. How old are the characters? Isn’t some of this kiddie porn?
A. Absolutely not! Since this is a biographical story, the characters’ ages are all over the place. In some of the Tales, characters are under the age of 18. But there are no real people being exploited here – they’re just drawings – so it isn’t even close to being illegal under US law. (I can’t speak for the legal situation in other countries, especially those where the whole damn project would be unlawful.)
Q. Do you do commissions?
A. I usually work 100% digital, so I don’t sell “original art”. But if you like my illustration, and you’d like to see your idea visualized, I’d be happy to talk turkey with you about doing that. (Note: a lot of the art in the Tales isn’t by me, so make sure you’re talking to the right person.)
Q. Can I meet you?
A. Because the Tales are so very not-private, I compensate for that by keeping pretty private myself. I’m also not very good in crowds, so I don’t do conventions.
Q. Where can I buy JAQrabbit Tales books?
A. They aren’t available in print… yet.