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"I have combined my love and passion for intense activity and various art mediums to make a living and live a life fulfilled. The great outdoors is my church and the flora and fauna is the choir. I paint while trail running and hiking (sometimes at the same time) in the wide and beautiful canvas of the Southwest. I use Masonite boards and carry all materials on my back. When I paint, I am focusing on capturing the spirit and then releasing the energy within a subject. On my trail running and painting adventures the combined activities provide an unparalleled nirvana-like state, one where pragmatic thinking and intuitiveness flow effortlessly." - Bruce Katlin
As a writer, I have published my first novel Birds Like Us, The Pi Phillecroix Story about a flightless pigeon born into a very famous family of French fliers who walks from Paris to the UK to try and save her beloved father’s life. I am currently working on my second novel. My eclectic background also includes acting, writing, directing and producing for theatre and film. I have over fifteen years' experience as a learning and development professional.
Birds Like Us, The Pi Phillecroix Story
Pi Phillecroix, daughter and only offspring of Piette and Paul Phillecroix V attempts to survive a world that preys on the weak and vulnerable when she leaves the protection of her Paris home and journeys to the shores of England to find a cure for her dying father. Flightless, she bears the expectations of seventeen centuries of France’s most heroic and decorated flying families. Can one little bird bear the expectations of seventeen centuries?
The Phillecroix’ have long been respected the world over for their daring and flying excellence. Each and every member of their lineage has devoted their lives to flock and country. The tragedy is that Pi, the last and only progeny of these decorated heroes, cannot fly. Intelligent, loving, virtuous, enormously devoted and reverential to mother and father, Pi bears the weight of her parents’ disappointment when they learn that the family’s tradition of flying excellence has ended. At a time when most young birds frolic and play in and around the fountains of the Tuileries, Pi relegates herself to a small corner of the family nest atop the l'Arc de Triomphe in order to hide her handicap and escape endless torment from the arrondissement’s teenage birds. When her war-decorated and beloved father becomes seriously ill, Pi steals away in the middle of the night to walk from Paris to England in an attempt to find Dr. Allbewell, the only one who may have the powers to save his life. Flightless, Pi makes her way on two scrawny pink feet, north to Normandy.
During her journey she uncovers a host of characters that sometimes halt and other times hasten her journey with a blend of cruelness and helpfulness. Gervaise, an angelic force of wisdom rescues Pi from the throes of two sadistic Starlings; Etienne, a Giant Sea Fish helps Pi navigate the river Seine; Quick Jac Carlson a short-tempered, red-bellied woodpecker strangles her in an attempt to prevent her from seeking a night’s refuge; and Big Fella, a humble stallion who befriends and carries Pi to Cherbourg are just a few of the multifarious characters that drive this colorful and eclectic narrative. Readers from ages twelve and older will identify with Pi’s journey and feelings of inadequacy, the ridicule she has to endure for being ‘different,’ and ultimately the courage she exhibits in facing her fears one step at a time.