GERTRUDE DEE MARPLOT
Gertrude Dee Marplot, W.W Marplot’s great-granddaughter, has taken great care to edit these tales from their mysterious origins and disorganized shape for the enjoyment of fans of fantasy and adventure.
From Gertrude
“There I was, an ordinary college girl, a Biological Sciences freshman and overwhelmed with classwork when it fell on me to start publishing fantasy books. Why? For one reason: I have a long line of descent from some interesting people who know a lot of stories.
Most of them are dead, and buried, in the old country. Whereas I am a normal American suburban woman now out of college and not much of a story teller. But I am organized, so I agreed to help one my ancestors who is very much live, though old – my mother’s father’s father, Welkin Westicotter Marplot, Professor of Comparative Evolutionary Philology, something that has nothing to do with living things. I met him once, when I was very young, and pointed that out. I liked frogs at the time.
But my Great-Granddad – off in Scotland – was a great, thought eccentric, penpal for me while growing up, and to get me to read – and stop with the worm collecting – he would send me his “Professor Papers” (my name for them) that he said were stories about stories but looked to me only like a dictionary of huge words randomly arranged. When I was 13 or so, I asked my Great-Granddad to send me something that I could actually read, something a normal girl would like, and over time it arrived: big boxes with modern stories but in many pieces. And with very little explanation! I finally convinced him to get a computer and email so we could communicate faster and more often. He wouldn’t want me to say much more, but he did help me get the papers in order.”
“There I was, an ordinary college girl, a Biological Sciences freshman and overwhelmed with classwork when it fell on me to start publishing fantasy books. Why? For one reason: I have a long line of descent from some interesting people who know a lot of stories.
Most of them are dead, and buried, in the old country. Whereas I am a normal American suburban woman now out of college and not much of a story teller. But I am organized, so I agreed to help one my ancestors who is very much live, though old – my mother’s father’s father, Welkin Westicotter Marplot, Professor of Comparative Evolutionary Philology, something that has nothing to do with living things. I met him once, when I was very young, and pointed that out. I liked frogs at the time.
But my Great-Granddad – off in Scotland – was a great, thought eccentric, penpal for me while growing up, and to get me to read – and stop with the worm collecting – he would send me his “Professor Papers” (my name for them) that he said were stories about stories but looked to me only like a dictionary of huge words randomly arranged. When I was 13 or so, I asked my Great-Granddad to send me something that I could actually read, something a normal girl would like, and over time it arrived: big boxes with modern stories but in many pieces. And with very little explanation! I finally convinced him to get a computer and email so we could communicate faster and more often. He wouldn’t want me to say much more, but he did help me get the papers in order.”