User blog:Logo1999/My story of three Arthur fans

I've been working on these two books for quite a while now, but they still need some work.

Set between July 1998 and September 2000, Joseph Velneks is a Latvian-American teenage Arthur fan living in New Bern, North Carolina with his family and his friends Jerry and Oscar; Oscar is Estonian-American and has been living in the US a year longer than Joseph, so as "Baltic brothers" they understand each other well. They play in a punk band that Joseph founded, and just like Arthur, they all play in the school orchestra as well. Jerry plays the serpent, Joseph the double bass and Oscar the viol. The two other band members and non-Arthur fans are also in it, and play the cornet and the bass clarinet. Jerry's favorite character is Buster, Joseph's is Molly and Oscar's - being based off me - is Fern as he can relate a lot to her, just like me. His absolute favorite animals, though, are poodles (and he also states that Prunella is one of his favorite characters besides Fern)

Oscar and Joseph have both been passionately watching Arthur from the start (Joseph has taped every original airing since 1996!) but Jerry hesitated at first as it was a kid's show. The two are finally able to convince him in January 1997 through an invitation to the original airing of "Meek For A Week/World's Greatest Gleeper" and he is hooked after that. (This info is revealed in the prequel, set between 1/97 and 7/98)

On the night before his graduation, Joseph also has a strange dream about Arthur which you can read about here: http://theslumsofelwood.forumotion.com/t1502-my-yet-unpublished-tribute-to-arthur-fans

The epilogue of the prequel is set in October 2005, when the band visits the then-new Arthur exhibit at the Boston Children's Museum. Several exhibits, including the character cutouts at the entry, the movie theater, the subway and the Reads' kitchen are described in detail. References to "DW the Picky Eater" are also made when the band is in the kitchen.

And of course, there are a lot of references to the show, like these:

Quote:

"Joseph loved spinach, and couldn't understand why so many kids - including Camilla - hated it. "I won't eat it," she said and winked at Joseph. Thundering her fist on the table, she exclaimed "I...hate...spinach!"'

- Joseph sleeps with a Buster plush, and gets the Actimates D.W. for Christmas.

- His science teacher, Mr. Sandworth, was loosely based off Ratburn.

- On his way to college, he sings a shorter version of the Ballad of Buster Baxter.

- The Estonian-language daily strip that Oscar draws (life at a literal dog school) occasionally makes references to Arthur. Usually characters cameo, but sometimes other things are referenced as well. I'll describe it in detail.

- And lastly, as an unwritten fact, Joseph punk-covered several Arthur songs with Oscar and Jerry at the (fictious) 2006 ArthurCon in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania. (they previously went there in 2001, but as regular visitors)

I drew several accessory pictures relating to these scenes, and will post them here. Will keep you all updated...