Marble madness

Debbie Huey, the writer/artist responsible for AdHouse Books' all-ages adventures Bumperboy Loses His Marbles and the just-released Bumperboy and the Loud, Loud Mountain took some time out of her weekend to chat with me about the origins of Bumperboy and Bumperpup, and their latest, weird adventure. You can read the whole thing over at Bam!Kapow! right here. Among the subjects covere is the weirdness of the stories:

I noticed when I was writing a review of Loud, Loud Mountain how, in simple prose synopsis, it seems really, really weird (What with the sentient mountains, armless, deaf marshmallow people, a slave labor soda operation). But when you're actually reading the book, it seems completely natural. Where did the idea for this particular story come from?

I feel the same way when people ask me about Bumperboy's stories! I always feel a bit strange when I describe things like borping, marble tournaments and a lonely mountain to complete strangers.

Again, I get most of my ideas from random doodles in my sketchbook. One time, on a late night road trip, I saw a silhouette of a mountain in the distance. All of a sudden, two distant lights (street lamps, perhaps?) matched up to the mountain perfectly to form eyes. That's when the idea of a living mountain popped into my head.

I recorded a sketch of the mountain with eyes in my sketchbook so that I could use it for a future story. So when it was time to start thinking of ideas for my next Bumperboy book, I flipped through my sketchbooks, and thought the mountain would make for a great story. This is also when I found my marshmallow guys, and incorporated them into the story as Grums.