The Sneeze that Blew the Balloon Man down

The author was raised in Houston, Texas with weekends on the water of Galveston Bay. Literature and poetry were a thread that ran from early childhood until the present. Peter and the Wolf and Peter Pan were the author's early favorites resulting in a lifelong appreciation of fantasy and Russian literature. After a B.A. in literature from University of Texas at Austin, work in the oilfield introduced him to his wife of 44 years and enabled a twelve year period working internationally, primarily in Spain, Scotland and The Netherlands. Family and work limited any writing to journal entries and technical papers, but storytelling to entertain the children and their friends refined the creation of characters and stories. The arrival of grandchildren revived the storytelling and retirement provided the time to write. The author and his wife now split their time between Houston and High Springs Florida.

Catherine Bendig has been illustrating stories since the age of 5, with 'Tom Goes to Sea' and 'The Hedgehog Family'. The compulsion to draw and paint developed into both a BFA in Fine Arts, Painting and then an MFA in computer animation. After a career in multimedia, engineering animation and computer coding to pay the bills, at last the opportunity to go back to the roots, drawing and painting by hand. The style comes from the love of children, animals, birds, plants, and the curious society of human beings.