Over the past few months, I’ve been previewing material in the pipeline regarding a very special project that kicks off in September. As you can see that project is the Lisa’s Legacy Trilogy. The box set not only contains Lisa’s Story, but a book called Prelude that precedes Lisa’s Story as well as a book entitled The Last Leaf which comes after it. Prelude and The Last Leaf are both being published as stand alone books as well.
I’ll be posting more on both of those books individually, but right now I’d like to talk a little about how they came to be. A good friend of mine made a suggestion that there ought to be a book that picks up after Lisa’s Story showing how the lives of Les and Summer have fared. I thought about that for a bit and then began thinking about Lisa’s beginnings in the strip and how, as a character, she’s opened doors for me in my work. As a writer you don’t always want to settle for easy because I think that your best work lies outside your comfort zone, and Lisa made me pay attention to my impulses to do more ambitious work. It all started when Lisa’s became pregnant in high school. Les wasn’t the father, but he did become her birthing partner and best friend. This relationship, after many trials and tribulations, led eventually to their marriage. Following Lisa’s Story, I realized that Lisa was still opening doors for me and allowing me to explore new territory with her ubiquitous presence in the the lives of Les and Summer.
So with the publication of Prelude and The Last Leaf , the books together provide a context for Lisa’s Story within the full tapestry of Lisa’s life. They also provide, for me, a collection of work that represents some of my best.
As a bonus for purchasing the box set, it will also provide readers access to a digital chapbook that you can download called Summer’s Story, which tells the story of her birth which took place between parts one and two of Lisa’s Story. All of the above books are now available on the Books page on this site.