THE ZANY HISTORY of HORACE and HIS VAGRANT BEARS

PREFACE The Zany History of Horace Bear and His Vagrant Bears is the third and final book in the Horace Bear trilogy although in fact it acts both as a prequel and a partial sequel to the other ‘Bear’ books. Parts of the final phase of Horace’s life are recorded in his notes in the epilogue but much is also intentionally left for the reader to complete from his own imagination. The novel combines real-life historical events as a background with the fiction of Horace's own personal adventures. It traces Horace’s life as a very young bear identifying the mix of courage and impulsive foolhardiness that were to typify much of his life's adventures and activities so often embellished by a cheerful optimism that outweighed the more serious and realistic aspects of his own personal circumstances. Horace so often reveals a streak of genius creativity in his dealings and life situations which is often betrayed by either a streak of clumsy ineptitude or other factors such as changes in the course of history or new external situations that conspire to work against him. The tension between the two often creates humorous encounters or conflicts which bring him down to earth with a bump. However through all this he manages to steer a steady course to some success for himself and his fellow bears until external circumstances win the day and he and his friends and colleagues are forced to evacuate Planet Earth to start again on another distant planet, Sideria. Horace and the teddy bears leave a positive legacy behind them which is that whatever the situation facing us it is important to press on and attempt to find routes around obstacles in the way. In these times of international conflicts, a global pandemic and climate change it is vital to hold on to the direction that the bears point us towards.