Weird World Preface



THE PREMISE:
In some far-away, as-yet-undiscovered corner of the earth is the offbeat 
country of Weird World.  The ruler of this strange place is a cowardly wimp 
named Tim Hangschwartz, who seems to have constant problems.  His biggest 
problem concerns an evil green kangaroo named Krinklesnyde, who continually 
plots to depose Hangschwartz and run the country to suit his own sinister 
tastes.  Fortunately, Hangschwartz has two super-powered bodyguards, Mighty 
Milkshake and Muscles Mahogany, who manage to keep Krinklesnyde and Weird 
World's other villains in line.  The country has many other bizarre 
inhabitants who take part in the adventures there, of both the human and 
talking animal persuasion and some who defy any sort of scientific 
classification.

THE AUTHOR:
Tim Hollis lives near Birmingham, Alabama, and is currently a writer for the 
University Press of Mississippi.  The stories in the "Weird World" series 
were among his earliest writing efforts, as he began them at the age of 7, 
while he was still in elementary school.  Many characters were added and 
deleted over the years he churned out these stories for his fellow 
classmates, but he says that when he introduced the character of Muscles 
Mahogany in 1976, he was considerably ahead of his time, as muscular females 
were not nearly as common at that point in time.  Mahogany was based on two 
or three different acquaintances of Hollis's, most notably a sixth-grade girl 
who had only to flex her biceps to send the boys fleeing in terror.  Most of 
the other characters were totally fictional, as will be fairly obvious from 
the stories.

These tales are intended for an age group of roughly 7 to 14 years old, and 
even with his current work for the university press, Hollis continues to 
speak at elementary schools and introduce today's kids to these same 
characters that originated some 25 to 30 years ago.  If you should care to 
see the kind of writing he does professionally, you can check Amazon.com or 
BarnesandNoble.com for his two most recent books, DIXIE BEFORE DISNEY: 100 
YEARS OF ROADSIDE FUN and HI THERE, BOYS & GIRLS! AMERICA'S LOCAL CHILDREN'S 
TV PROGRAMS.