Tag Archives: mystery

Day 2: PandaWriMo and Giving Tuesday

… from Inspector Panda!

Today has been decreed Giving Tuesday (really, who comes up with these names for things?) and putting my curmudgeonly leanings aside, I’m pretty sure that it is always better to give than receive (really?) especially when you are giving to pandas! With this in mind, I am donating $1 to Pandas International  for each copy of the Panda Chronicles series books and Pandamorphosis that sell today, December 2nd, 2014.  It’s a great excuse to stock up on any of the Panda Chronicles books you might not have yet and buy them as presents for all your friends and relations! I appreciate your support and so do the pandas.

After all, without pandas, there could be no panda satire.

And now, we continue with…

The Case of the Picturesque Panda!

This case is not what it seems....

This case is not what it seems….

And for those of you who are looking for something really special for the panda lover in your life, prints from Pandamorphosis are now available through The Gratitude Gallery of Fine Balance Imaging on beyootiful Whidbey Island! Who could resist these pandas?

Who could resist pandas in the refrigerator?

Who could resist pandas in the refrigerator?

16 images in a variety of sizes are available! Check them out today!

See you tomorrow, and thanks for being generous bears! If Pandas International is not your cup of Boo Tea, think about who that might be, and give what you can, whether it’s your dollars, your time, or your kindness. The world needs lots more of the latter two.

Bob T. Panda

A Sense of Deja Vu…

…wait, haven’t we been here before? or did we never leave? What with all the cake and partying amongst the younger set of pandas, we can hardly keep our hero’s whereabouts in our minds.  Mr. Wu traveled undercover to the National Zoo and the National Gallery to see if Babette’s (alleged) painting was there, but it was not to be found.

Hey! Are we being followed?

Hey! Are we being followed?

Art historicallizing makes me hungry too, not to mention sleepy. And who is that mysterious figure on the right? Is there some duplicity at work here? How will Inspector Panda and Mr Wu find the right museum with Babette’s (alleged) painting? How will they get there? Tune in next week for our next exciting episode of Inspector Panda and the Case of the Picturesque Panda!

Meanwhile, on the Pandamorphosis front,  it is now available on the Kindle as well as through iBooks. I’m a lover of print books, but I know that you more modern types like to have books on those little machines.  If you bought Pandmorphosis via Amazon as a print book, you can get it for your Kindle for only 99 cents. And if you want to access the books all in one spot, you can head over to my book page here! OK, enough with the commercials!

I hope you have all recovered from the cuteness overload that was Princess Pinky’s Birthday party.  Many thanks to my on the scene panda friends in Washington DC, who shared their fabulous pictures of the fuzzy birthday girl. Huzzah!

Be the (slightly sticky) Bear!
Bob T. Panda

The Case of the Picturesque Panda: Our story so far…

There has been great rejoicing in Panda-ville this week! Panda triplets have been born in China and three weeks later all are still surviving. Princess Pinky Bao Bao’s 1st birthday approaches, the Atlanta Meihem sisters have turned one year old, as has Bai Yun’s great granddaughter, Princess Dumpling, resident of Taipei. And let us not forget Mr. Wu who has just turned two!

Not only that, I am up to Episode 10 in Inspector Panda’s mystery! Huzzah! In honor of all the Panda happiness going around, I am going to post the ENTIRE SERIES SO FAR, so that you don’t have to go linking about, possibly missing an episode or three along the way.

So, without further ado, here’s Inspector Panda (start nourish music soundtrack here:)

If "trouble" ever had a proper name, that name is Babette de Panda...

If “trouble” ever had a proper name, that name is Babette de Panda…

When a panda has a problem, you know where to turn...Inspector Panda, I presume.

When a panda has a problem, you know where to turn…Inspector Panda, I presume.

...and so the story begins...

…and so the story begins…

...of a young panda's arrival in France, and all that followed...

…of a young panda’s arrival in France, and all that followed…

Why DOES Mr Wu have a piece of tape on his right ear?

Why DOES Mr Wu have a piece of tape on his right ear?

Let's see who stayed awake during art history classes!

Let’s see who stayed awake during art history classes!

Oh, that Mr Wu is a clever little bear! Is Madame du Panda trying to pull a fast one?

Oh, that Mr Wu is a clever little bear! Is Madame du Panda trying to pull a fast one?

Is this plot thickening, or what?

Is this plot thickening, or what?

I don't know about you, but I think this document is VERY suspicious!

I don’t know about you, but I think this document is VERY suspicious!

Mr Wu observes an interesting detail....

Mr Wu observes an interesting detail….

Mr Wu is still skeptical of Babette's story...

Mr Wu is still skeptical of Babette’s story…

"fuggedabout the bleeping tape!"

“fuggedabout the bleeping tape!”

Oh that Babette!

Oh that Babette!

Inspector Panda: the bear with the clues...

Inspector Panda: the bear with the clues…

The search for clues begins...

The search for clues begins…

...but Mr Wu still has a lot to learn when it comes to detecting.

…but Mr Wu still has a lot to learn when it comes to detecting.

Many thanks to panda fans who are enjoying and sharing panda satire around the inter-webs! Keep up the good work. Also a sincere pandy welcome to Anna and hubby Patrick, new Panda Chronicle fans that I met whilst at a family wedding on Whidbey Island last weekend.  Yes! That’s you!

See you all on Friday (of the fabulous furry variety!) when we have a special tribute to Pinky, in celebration of her upcoming birthday! Huzzah!

Be the Bear!
Bob T. Panda

Voices in my head…

…and they are all calling for cake in little squeaky panda cub voices.

Oh! um..hi….I didn’t see you there. I was reading a special guest post from C. Hope Clark, a writer that I admire more than I can say. She recently offered to write a post for me and as usual, she nailed it right on the head.  If I hadn’t given in to the panda voices in my head seven years ago, we wouldn’t be here now. It’s much better that I listened to those voices, rather than the ones that told me what I wanted to do with my life was too hard to succeed at, and besides, you’re just not exceptional enough.

BTW, the next installment of Inspector Panda’s Case of the Picturesque Panda follows this guest post.

Hope and her trusted advisors

Hope and her trusted advisors

That Inner Voice

By C. Hope Clark

Justine Musk earned celebrity status publishing three books, marrying and divorcing billionaire Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, and creating a remarkable blog. She believes in “the artist in you, the rebel, the visionary . . . The wounded hero . . . (and) the beautiful freak.”

She references the inner, safe voice that tends to take over the true voice of an artist. For instance, you dream about story. The scenes play in your head. You yearn for luscious hours to engross yourself in the tale. Then that other voice nudges you, reminding you about bills to pay, obligations to others, and limited time for such a pie-in-the-sky project. The odds are against you anyway, it whispers.

Be What You Wish . . . Not

As youngsters, we are told we can be anything we wish. However, something happens when we approach adulthood, and our dreams of being astronauts, presidents, magicians or authors still cling to us. Authority figures step in and warn us to be reasonable, that we aren’t children anymore. We’re told to pick a sensible occupation. That’s when we adopt our safe voice. That’s when many of our dreams die.

As a science and math enthusiast in high school, I also became editor of the yearbook. I declined  a journalism scholarship, opting for a science major, because writing wasn’t as grounded as a career in science. While my education led me to a good career, catapulting me into experiences that I write about, what if I’d followed my child-like love for words and ignored voices telling me to take the safer path?

Voices of Authority Mean Well, But . . .

Writers are mostly introverted and more prone to listen at an early age to those voices of authority. We’re less confrontational, and while we’re still under the power of parents, teachers, ministers and mentors, we tend to do what we’re told. While those authorities mean well, they often squash our inner creative spirit as we age. Creativity turns into what they think are frivolous desires to tell stories, paint pictures, or dance. Since we yearn for validation, we move on to those less frowned upon paths. We forget to please ourselves first.

We push our deep longings away in the name of manners and doing the right thing, then later we learn to do the same when we become mother, spouse, employee, boss, catholic, protestant, republican, democrat, or other title.

Fairy Dust and Pirate Ships Disappear

In the middle of that growing-up we lose touch with fairies, pirates, mysteries, Prince Charming romance, sci-fi adventure and secret agents. If we’re lucky, however, somewhere along the way we remember how to pretend, and we return to storytelling. Those are the great novelists.

Sharon Sala  has written over eighty books. She states, “…people who write fiction are simply people who did not lose their childhood ability to pretend.” If we refuse to forget what it was like being a child, we can draw upon those memories for imagery. An adult who can feel joy, anguish, love and enthusiasm with the raw abandon of a child has a gift.

That Child Still Lives

As writer, you have the luxury of thinking deep. That also gives you the ability to recall sweet watermelon at your grandmother’s picnic table in August, a hot cinnamon jawbreaker on your tongue, the squishy mud under your feet at the lake, the smell of crayons on the first day of school. Your child’s voice can still be heard . . . if you sit still and listen hard enough.

BIO

C. Hope Clark draws on growing up in the South when painting the characters in her Carolina Slade Mystery Series, and that can mean some crazy antics and sayings. You’ll find her books available anywhere books are sold. www.chopeclark.com  Hope is also editor of FundsforWriters.com, chosen by Writer’s Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 14 years. www.fundsforwriters.com

"Settings so real that you'll sleep with the light on for a week."

“Settings so real that you’ll sleep with the light on for a week.”

And while we are in mystery mode…

When a panda has a problem, you know where to turn...Inspector Panda, I presume.

When a panda has a problem, you know where to turn…Inspector Panda, I presume.

Celebrating the publication of Pandamorphosis, a wordless picture book…with pandas…lots of pandas!
Thanks again to C. Hope Clark for visiting the pandas with some astute thoughts for anyone that might have misplaced their childhood dreams.

Be the Bear,
Bob T. Panda

Inspector Panda in His Feature Debut

I know, I know, I’ve been promising this for a long time, but what with one panda then another, and Princess Pinky being so. very. insistent. that it is all about her, what’s a panda satirist to do? And I might add, I do have a few other things on my plate besides writing and drawing panda cartoons all day. (subliminal message…buy….more….books….)

Anyway, at long last, I am starting Inspector Panda’s epic (I hope) saga, starring Robert Thelonious Panda as Inspector Panda, Mr. Wu as his erstwhile assistant, and Babette de Panda as the troubled and troubling femme fatale!

(Special note to Princess Pinky: while this story is NOT about the Highway closing hacker incident, that case is still open, and Inspector Panda never closes a case unsolved.  Just sayin, ‘kay?)

If "trouble" ever had a proper name, that name is Babette de Panda...

If “trouble” ever had a proper name, that name is Babette de Panda…

As a rather geeky illustrator/cartoonist side note, I decided to make a switch from using technical pens for my drawings, to old fashioned dip pens.  I’m thinking that I can get a much more expressive  and varied line with them.  Just part of my evolution as a comics artist. (plus then I get to buy some new stuff in the art catalogues. Huzzah!)

Be the Bear and Panda On!
Bob T. Panda (not to be confused with Robert Thelonious Panda)