Jane T Connolly

Story written by Jane T. Connolly, as imagined by Dan S. Terrell. Illustrated by Jane T. Connolly.

Jane T. Connolly has been interested in the fine arts since she was a child, when her favorite possession was a box of watercolors. As n adult, she worked for companies in New York City and Washington, DC, and for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on movie productions that were filmed on locations in England, Ireland, Spain, and Italy. Jane rediscovered her love for watercolors after settling in D.C. and took it up seriously, studying at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia. In her home studio, she creates beautifully executed and detailed paintings. On reading The Little Green Gnome in draft, she was inspired to create illustrations for the book so that readers would see what a Kobold family and their neighbors look like. Connolly has also painted illustrations for the second book in the series, The Green Witch, and the third, Mitzy and Blitzy.

Dan S. Terrell was a career Foreign Service Officer. He served with the Agency for International Development, Department of State, spending lengthy tours in Afghanistan and Indonesia, as well as temporary assignments in Africa, Asia and South America. He met and married his wife in Afghanistan, where her father served in the German Embassy. They visited Germany often, and since the fall of the Berlin Wall they took a particular liking to the former East, especially Leipzig and surrounding areas.Dan had three novellas in mind for a modern fairy tale trilogy called The Little German Gnome, The Green Witch and Mitzy and Blitzy. They take place in the Erzgebirge, (the Ore Mountains), of formerly East Germany. The first book in the series has been published in Germany in German, as Albrecht, der Kleine Kobold. Dan was unable to write the third due to declining health. Luckily, he told his sister and illustrator, Jane, about his ideas for Mitzy and Blitzy. Jane wrote Dan's story as a tribute to him. She hopes she has done him proud.