Chet The Dog

Posts Tagged ‘the Valley’

Jet! (More)

Many thanks to Shelagh Newton for sending us this on Jet, Chet’s November friend of the month:

“Hi, I’m Jet, and I’m very excited to be chosen this month by my best buddy Chet! I met my Mom 5 years ago and found out that I love going to the dog park and meeting up with my friends there. Mom says I am the best boy ever and I get a pupaccino on the way home! I love riding in our car; I sit up straight and tall, the pawfect professional!

We live in the Valley in Arizona too! Our Vet Dr Ryan says I’m about 9 years old but Mom says I have the energy of a puppy. Mom laughs out loud when she reads the adventures of Chet and Bernie. Maybe there is a Slim Jim coming my way!”

 

 

What’s In A Name?

Mrs. Publicist: Past time for this month’s What’s In A Name, where Peter Abrahams aka Spencer Quinn discusses a character name from one of his books. Pete, we’ve never done place names. You make up a lot of places – the Valley, say, in the Chet and Bernie mysteries, 0r –

Pete: Or St. Roch in the Bowser and Birdie middle-grade series!

Mrs. P: Which, I should point out, adults with fake ID are also reading. Tell us about naming St. Roch.

Pete: Well, Birdie and her family live in bayou country, so I wanted something French. And St. Roch is the patron saint of dogs. The series is narrated by Bowser. And while there is a St. Roch section of New Orleans, there’s no St. Roch in Louisiana.

Mrs. P: So – a perfect storm.

Pete: I think of it as a perfect calm.

Mrs. P: See you next month for another edition of What’s In A Name. Maybe the readers have a suggestion.

West World Dog Show

Coming up, and in the Valley! The barn hunt part sounds like fun!

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/scottsdale/2015/02/20/reasons-catch-westworld-dog-show/23759065/

What’s In A Name?

Ms. Publicist: Fifteenth of the month and therefore time for What’s In A Name. What’ll it be this month, Spence?

Spencer Quinn: How about “The Valley?” The Valley is the huge urban area surrounded by vast desert where Chet and Bernie live. The residents call it the Valley – the way the residents of Phoenix do – so that’s how Chet thinks of it.

Ms. P: So Chet and Bernie live in Phoenix?

SQ: Not exactly. They live in an imaginary southwestern city that resembles Phoenix although the vibe might be a little more Tucson-like. I wanted that combination for Chet, the contrast of the urban and the wild, and I think most readers thought: Arizona. But when I do signings in the L.A. area they all think it’s their valley.

Ms. P.: Chet finally does learn the facts.

SQ: Yes. In the Sound and the Furry, book six in the series, there’s this passage:

The wiry dude squinted down at Bernie. Then he laughed. “You’re not from around here.”

“True,” said Bernie.

“Where you from?”

“Arizona.”

Ha! We were from Arizona? I’d wondered about that.

Ms. P.: Thanks, Spence. See you next month!