I Tutus: The Son of Heaven, Book One

A bungling anthropologist accidentally transports himself back 2,000 years into the consciousness of a Chinese pug, entering into the captivating world of…I, Tutus, a dazzlingly original “bottom-up” view of the age-old drama of man and dog. A female puppy presented to the hapless 11-year-old Chinese Emperor Pingdi (The Son of Heaven), our heroine happily settles into the luxurious and indulgent life of the eunuchs and teenage concubines of the Imperial Palace. By dint of her pluck, beauty, and “supernatural” abilities, she becomes the court favorite. But, caught up in a murderous power struggle between the all-powerful Wang Mang and the Emperor’s family, she is abducted and abandoned. Rescued by a cantankerous merchant family, she embarks on a perilous journey across the forbidding Silk Road, enduring withering heat, sandstorms, bandits, and the madcap schemes and endless yarn-spinning of her companions. Hers is a journey that will one day lead to the gates of Rome.