Jump to content

Tears of the Dragon Boy


Mary

Recommended Posts

[Special Note: The new website is now live. As a result the links throughout this thread are invalid except for the latest posting to the thread. All of Ricky stories can now be found at Ricky]

When we were deciding how this site would look, one of the considerations was how fast we could put it together and how easy it would be to read.  So we were told up front that graphic images, special handwriting styles, and photos would not be able to be supported. 

 

And then Roland started talking about Ricky's "Tears of the Dragon Boy".  It had kept him up late after work one night.  So I went looking.  And I found this http://castleroland.net/library/chapter/ricky/totdb/totdb_totdb_001 -  That artwork stopped me cold. 

 

I immediately demanded we find a way to bring over at least it.  "Not now," I was told.  Later, Rilbur asked what I was talking about and I sent him the link to the image on Saber Peak.  Dead quite from him.  "Well, what do you think?"  "Shush, I agree, I can do it, but I am now reading, don't bother me!"  "But, but... " from Roland!  You are outvoted, we told him and within an hour the Rilbur had what we needed.

 

So, all the images you will be seeing are due to that incredible painting at the beginning of a fantasy story that pulls you in right away.  Ricky, once we get caught up, the staff here has you tagged for reading.  You are on my iPad and I am reading you when I can grab a few moments.

 

Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful gift with us.

 

Mary

Edited by Zach Caldwell
Link website notification
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, talk about impact. The cover art was done by an incredible artist and I'm proud to call him my friend. His name is Jordan Patchak

Here is his site but I confess I miss his blog

http://www.jordanpatchak.com/#work

my favorite is page 3 bottom right. It's titled "White Noise"

He is simply fantastic and I'm honored to have his art grace my cover.

 

Found his Blog again. http://jordanpatchak.blogspot.com/

 

Thanks so much Mary for going to bat for me on this one. I did notice there is no gallery in the profiles. I didn't even think about the cover art. Thanks Rolland for making the change. Again I'm honored.

Cheers,

John

aka ricky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

I do not have words to express my feelings.

The sorrow of the loss, the angry of the injustice, the sour taste of revenge, and at the very end, the exhilaration of the happy ending.

It gives us so many mixed emotions.

And yes that image it is beautiful.

Keep the good work Ricky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

 

I do not have words to express my feelings.

The sorrow of the loss, the angry of the injustice, the sour taste of revenge, and at the very end, the exhilaration of the happy ending.

It gives us so many mixed emotions.

And yes that image it is beautiful.

Keep the good work Ricky

 

Thanks so much. Again, I'm not sure why I'm not getting the ticklers when comments or reviews are left but I'm looking into it. Having said that, Thanks so much for the great comments. There's actually a story about the story. And I think it's time I shared it.

 

I've mentioned before that I am SO profoundly dyslexic that I use a screen reader to read to me as I read along. I woke up one morning with this storyline in my head. I just couldn't shake it. Now understand that before this moment I had probably read less than 10 books in my nearly fifty years of life at that moment. It was just too arduous. So I told my wife about the story. She is an avid syfy reader boasting a library of nearly five thousand books. Christ, she had a card system for it. So I told her the premise figuring that she might be able to take it and createa story from it. Her eyes got wide and she said, "I'd read it!"

 

Well that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. But she assured me that she couldn't do it. Se said she would almost certainly plagerize without even realizing it.

 

It wouldn't leave me alone. So I decided that I would just rough something out so that I could give it to a ghost writer someday who could do it justice. So I sat down and started to write. The second I touched the keyboard it took over. The family would bring me sandwiches and occasionally they would shove a drink on the corner of the desk. I didn't leave the keyboard until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. And when I opened my eyes again the story was already ramping up and I went back to the keyboard. It was only about three weeks later in excess of 400 pages that I stood up and announced that it was done. We lost about 40 pages in edits. And it took almost three years to get it edited to a point it was ready to be consumed.

 

It was then that I discovered Nifty and realized there was some scrumptious and some really awful stuff in the genre or gay porn. Having TOTDB under my belt I thought, Hell I can do better then this Jerk sheet I was reading. And that's when I started writing.

 

Ben Blue and the folks at Cody's world aided in making the final edits in TOTDB and the rest is history. The artist who did the cover art read it on Cody's world and contacted me and asked if he could do the cover art. I was flat blown away.

 

So I'm still relatively new at this and I still have to work hard to keep my dyslexia in check. But my stories have saved teen lives and even got me a most wonderful foster son who I am SO very proud of. And my stories brough him into my life.  So this story started a domino effect that has touched many lives. I know that "Roll Call" has empowered no less then 5 to come out to their support networks.

Now you know the REST of the story. Well . . . so far anyways. I'm not done.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Well, when i heard that the Readers Choice for this month was Tears of the Dragon Boy, i had to go back and re-read it.  damn! that's a good story.  As much as i hate to cry at stories, this one made me do it, and do it in a big way.  it's really a beautiful story, with more then enough action to keep me interested.  This is one that i also strongly recommend.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, when i heard that the Readers Choice for this month was Tears of the Dragon Boy, i had to go back and re-read it.  damn! that's a good story.  As much as i hate to cry at stories, this one made me do it, and do it in a big way.  it's really a beautiful story, with more then enough action to keep me interested.  This is one that i also strongly recommend.

Wow Emp . . . Er, I can call you that right? Well Emp. Thanks for those really great words. I'm wondering if I need to go back and read it again myself. I mean I cry at the drop of a hat and I don't remember too much well there was that one incident  that . . . oh, damn I guess there were a couple.

 

Anyways thanks so much for your beautiful review. :smiley-whacky115:

Your royalness . . . uhm, sir, your highness.

 

Oh and THANKS so much for the emoticons!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a great story!  I saw that it was the Readers Choice yesterday and had to start... I fell asleep at my laptop last night and just finished this morning. A great read and I look forward to a sequel!

Thank you! You made my day. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. My son is working with me on a sequel. We have a storyline and a few subplots. Next we'll look at the story arc. What happens when in the story. I've got about 40 pages written in the rough draft. So we do indeed intend on a sequel. It turns out my son is brilliant at storylines so I'm excited to write the next with him.

 

This story is in print if anyone wants hard copy through lulu or Amazon. Lulu is the cheapest. Or of course it's here for free. I'm not interested in the profit, just having it read. my profit on the hard copy is 50 cents. The rest is publishing and killing the trees. And they're getting really proud of those trees! I only mention it because some people just like to have the hard copy in their hands.

 

Thanks again for your great comments. I needed a smile today.

Cheers,

John

aka Ricky

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

With no synopsis posted I passed on this story then it showed up on readers choice I gave it a read and a very good read it is

You had me wondering about the title till the very end good job thanks

 

Thanks so much. I'll have to talk to Ken, a synopsis was provided. Not sure why it didn't make it and to be honest, I failed to notice. But I'm glad you had a night boring enough for you to try it and that you found some pleasure in it. I am indeed working on a sequel. Who knows . . .

 

Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to let me know you read it and enjoyed it. It means a lot to a new author like myself.  Ya, I've been writing for about 6 years now but I only have a fist full of stories and I'm still young in my knowledge of writing. But Each one gets better. SO thanks for the encouragement. Tears of The Dragon Boy is actually the very first thing I wrote.

Cheers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
  • 11 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...