Author's tabbies star in her fiction
Bill
Otersen illustrates the kitty detective story for kids
By Cara Boruch-Dolan • DEMOCRAT
WRITER • April 20, 2010
Tallahassee is chock-full of
lawyers.
But there are two feline legal
eagles many residents may not know about. Louis and Phred are orange tabby cats
who are the main characters in Tracy Horenbein's new children's book series
"Orange and Orange, Attorneys at Paw."
"Book One: The Case of the
Missing Catnip" is a fictional tale of cats who dress in suits, watch CNN
(the Cat News Network) and solve cases at the "paw" firm.
Horenbein, an animal lover who works
for the lobbying firm Florida Consultants, used her own orange tabby cats, as
well as some of her friends' cats, as the inspiration for the main characters.
She thought their antics were too amusing to pass up.
"It started out as a joke my
husband and I shared around the house. Seeing the two cats together, we would
always say 'Oh, there goes Orange and Orange'," she said. "The story
wrote itself."
"Orange and Orange" is
Horenbein's first self-published book.
"My whole life, my teachers and
friends have told me I need to pursue writing because it's the only thing I do
well," Horenbein said.
Horenbein's creative track record
belies that statement. Under the name Tracy Horn, she has been involved in the
local music scene for many years, playing in such bands as Gothic Playground
and performing as Ish! She currently plays guitar in local band Fantome.
To help develop the story visually
in the first "Orange and Orange" installment, Horenbein turned to
local graphic artist/illustrator/cartoonist/cat lover Bill Otersen, who created
the Tallahassee comics icon Mister Stupid, which ran as a wildly popular strip
in the Florida Flambeau from 1982 to 1987.
"As a cat owner myself, it was
easy to anthropomorphize the cat lawyers and develop the story," Otersen
said. "After I met with Tracy, I wrote out the scenes that most interested
me on index cards and then culled them down until I had 11. The way I worked the
illustrations, I drew them at 150 percent greater than print size and then
pinned the black-and-white drawings to the wall so I could look at them while I
did the illustrations and inked them and then added color.
"I really like how the book
turned out. After it was all over, I told Tracy that Elton John wouldn't have
been anything without Bernie Taupin — and that I was Elton John to her Bernie
Taupin.
Otersen isn't the only one who likes
"Orange and Orange." The book, which has a $5 price tag, has sold
more than 100 copies, with no advertising other than word of mouth. It's
available at The Naturally Healthy Pet Shop, Novey Animal Hospital and Cross
Creek Animal Clinic, as well as at the website www.attorneysatpaw.com.
"The book's a hoot. Even though
it's considered a kids book, everyone at the clinic has gotten a kick out of
it", said Walker Paramore of Cross Creek Animal Clinic.
A portion of the profits from book
sales will be donated to local animal rescue organizations and to Jim
Croushorn, a Tallahassseean who rescues feral cats. Copies will also be
available for purchase at the 9th Annual Tails and Trails 5K, 10K and 1-mile
runs May 1 across from the Tallahassee Animal Service Center on Easterwood
Drive. All proceeds from book sales that day will go to the Animal Service
Center.
Horenbein is already working on the
second installment of the series, which has the working title
"Mewtations." Horenbein promises it'll be out of this world — the
plot finds Louis and Phred tackling a sci-fi-themed case.
Assistant
features editor Kati Schardl contributed to this story.
