Blog — The Lost In Dreams Universe

‘The Squashbuckler Diaries’ are the daily tales of Joy Shelley’s Life in the Dream. The ‘Lost in Dreams’ books will tell the story of what happens to her at ages 6, 9, 12, 15, and so on. The diaries tell us what happens before, after, and between the books.

All in Told by Grampa Walt

Jul 28
Jul 28 S02E263 Hugh, Part 1, The Colin Rules

Age: 7.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“Nightmare Man is in one of the tunnels,” Master Mind says suddenly, standing on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.

Suzy and I are on the porch. Joy is asleep. Justin and Charlie should fall asleep and appear in the Dream still a few hours from now. Colin lives in London but falls asleep around 1 or 2 AM his time. Madelyn, Amahle, and Yumio often appear in the Dream before him, living in South Africa, France, and Japan.

“I will ask him what he wants.”

I get up. “I’ll join you.” I’m always glad to join whatever’s going on. This dream world is the New World for me. I can’t get enough of it. “Suzy?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 27
Jul 27 S02E262 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 9, The Dream Vs. The Waking World

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“Of course you’re free,” Justin tells Joy. “You’re more free here than any kid I know in the waking world. Isn’t she, Charlie?”

Joy looks at Charlie expectantly.

“Uhhh…” Charlie is taking this question too seriously. “Sure, she’s free. But I got TV in the waking world. I can see cartoons and–”

“Yeah, yeah,” Justin interrupts him. “But you don’t have adventures in the waking world like we do here, right?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 27
Jul 27 S02E261 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 8, Comforting Joy

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

We are back on top of Justin’s Shroom when Joy suddenly starts talking about everything that’s happened, what Charlie said and what Suzy explained to her.

As she explains, Justin leads Joy back into the tunnel, past the plank, and onto the deck of Bonny’s Revenge.

“Oh my goodness,” he tells her. “That is awful. I never thought about it.”

“Is she right, Dad? Am I that different? Can I never have kids?”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 26
Jul 26 S02E260 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 7, Dad to the Rescuel

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Justin and Colin are on top of Big Ben, right underneath the tunnel, so Suzy and I can hear everything: The explosions, the destruction caused by the tentacle monster, and Joy calling out for her father.

“Joy! Look out!” Charlie shouts as a 3-meter tentacle heads their way.

Justin follows Charlie’s voice and looks down from Master Mind to the streets, and he sees Joy and Charlie just as Charlie clings to her like a human shield, and a rock appears all around them. Hopefully there is air to breathe within that rock.

“Joy! Oh, my god!” Justin yells “Colin! Colin! Stop!” he grabs Colin. “You’re having a nightmare! None of this is real!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 26
Jul 26 S02E259 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 6, The Girl Who Needs Her Father

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Master Mind grabs Suzy and me and activates his permanent jetpack. He flies us to Colin’s Shroom, next-door to Justin’s Shroom. Joy had already landed and gone into the tunnel, and Charlie, flying on his own, is right behind her.

We follow her in, Master Mind rushing forward.

“Dad!” I hear her yell. “Dad!”

As I go around the tunne’s bend, I see her standing on the edge of the tunnel. “He can’t hear me!” she tells Charlie. “Dad! Dad!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 25
Jul 25 S02E258 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 5, Facts are Facts

Age: 0, Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Joy is devastated. It is heart-wrenching to see her feel so bad.

She pushes Suzy away when Suzy reaches to hug her.

Charlie stands there, not knowing what to do. He’s not saying anything, he’s not moving, he’s just looking at her.

Joy sobs uncontrollably.

I don’t know what to do.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 25
Jul 25 S02E257 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 4, Joy’s Legacy

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

When Charlie tries to explain what he means, Joy is so upset that I stop that discussion immediately. “We need your Dad,” I say.

But that doesn’t help. Justin can’t hear us and none of us dares even lean into Colin’s dream.

“I know who can explain this,” I tell Joy. “We’re going to Grandma Suzy.”

We leave Justin to play in Colin’s dream and go back to his dream.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 23
Jul 23 S02E256 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 3, Memories

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

It’s been an hour now of the tentacle monster throwing Justin and Colin all around the city.

Colin is busy running, and Justin is busy… not using weapons he can create to stop himself from being beaten.

We watch from the tunnel, Joy, Charlie, Master Mind and I. Joy is growing impatient. “He’s not using any powers!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 23
Jul 23 S02E255 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 2, The Tentacle Monster

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

We can only watch from afar as Justin descends into a version of London that comes from horror stories. Joy and Charlie are seated on the edge of the tunnel that leads into this dream, the edge of one of the suns that shine into this world. Their legs are well within the dream, taking no risk. I lean on the round wall behind them, peering in. Master Mind stands next to me, watching Justin as well as Joy. He will stop her if she tries to get into Colin’s dream.

Justin lands next to Colin. A laser cannon appears on his arm, and he fires it at the tentacle that is chasing Colin.

Up here we don’t even hear the cannon fire.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 21
Jul 21 S02E254 Colin’s Nightmares, Part 1

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Colin’s nightmares are dark and terrible, ones that Joy could never survive.

Joy wishes to come along, and Justin relents only as much as allowing her and Charlie to sit in one of the tunnels and look down into the dream.

“You may not ever, ever, ever set foot inside Colin’s dream! It will kill you!” he says.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 21
Jul 21 S02E253 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 8, The Weapons

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

At my helpless shouts for help, Justin comes running out of the house.

“Oh my god!” he stops in the pathway leading up to Bonny’s Revenge as soon as he sees Joy and the kids looking at weapons in the weapons cabinet. “Joy! No weapons! No one touch the weapons!”

Angela comes out running.

“Justin, what’s–Holy shit! Dad, Mom, there’s a huge ship parked outside your house!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 20
Jul 20 S02E252 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 7, When Children Play

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Joy’s face grows red a bit. Her games, the ones famously confiscated during the lava god adventure, are not, uh, for kids. Suddenly, her face lights up. “I have a pirate ship!”

“No you don’t!” Tommy says immediately.

“Yuh-huh, she does!” Charlie helps.

“Wanna see?”

“You don’t!”

“Want to see my pirate ship, Grace?” Joy asks her.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 20
Jul 20 S02E251 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 6, Fart Face

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

Justin opens the door. Joy hides behind Charlie.

Suzy looks at Walt. “It doesn’t matter. We haven’t seen her in months, so you better be excited to see her!”

Angela is in the doorway, holding 4-year-old Grace in her hands.

Suzy’s right. It doesn’t matter what happened or who Ethan is. I haven’t seen my daughter in months. In my mind, she’s still a teenager. What a woman she’d become!

“What’s up, fart-face?” Angela asks Justin.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 14
Jul 14 S02E250 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 5, Take Two

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“I don’t want to do it!” Joy crosses her arms.

Once we’ve all gotten over the shock of who Ethan is, Justin suggests we try meeting his sister and her two sons. Again. He wouldn’t be able to summon Ethan again, because Joy made sure to turn him permanent before killing him. But at this point no one wants to see him anyway.

“It’s not up to you,” Justin tells her. “She’s my sister. She’s your aunt. She’s family. You’re going to meet Angela. And you’re going to meet your two nephews, because they’re super cute.”

“I won’t do it! I’ll kill them!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 14
Jul 14 S02E249 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 4, Ethan

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“Ethan can’t be evil,” Suzy says. “You got that wrong.”

“I looked into his eyes,” Joy says. “I looked into his eyes when he tried to kill me once. Then twice. And I looked into his eyes when he killed Charlie’s dad.” Charlie looks down with sadness in his eyes. “He was happy to kill. He wanted to kill everyone in his dream!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 13
Jul 13 S02E248 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 3, Angela

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“What the fuck is going on!” Angela demands from Justin.

“Angela, Angela, calm down,” I tell her.

“Dad, shut up!” Angela shouts at me. “Justin, your daughter stabbed Ethan! He turned to dust like a vampire! You high fived her! Justin!”

Justin is thinking. So much has happened.

“Your husband is a killer!” Joy shouts at Angela. Joy doesn’t need time to think. “I killed him like he deserved!”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 13
Jul 13 S02E247 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 2, Psycopath

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

I am so staggered by the fact that Joy, my granddaughter, just stabbed my son-in-law in the heart that I can hardly think.

Tommy is screaming. Grace is crying. Angela keeps whispering, “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit.” And I can’t see any of the rest, since my eyes are blurry.

“Joy-what-Joy-what-Joy-what–” Justin is saying.

I try to look at Joy with the long kitchen knife, the murder weapon, as she stands there in the door to our home, framed in that door.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 12
Jul 12 S02E246 Meet Justin’s Family, Part 1, Death in the Family

Age: 6.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“This is exciting!” Suzy says, as excited as I’ve seen her since we met Joy six months ago. “I’m so excited! Walt, aren’t you excited?”

We’re all standing in the living room in Suzy’s and my home: Suzy, me, Joy, Justin, and Charlie. Master Mind is waiting outside on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, docked just a few meters away.

“Very excited.”

“Right,” Justin claps his hands once. “We’re going to do this the way we do it in the real…I mean, in the waking world.”

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 12
Jul 12 S02E245 Back to Toronto Planet, Part 2, Crossing the Road

Age: 8.5, Told by Grampa Walt

“You know we’ve never actually crossed a road? Like a road-road?” Justin stands with Joy in front of the Royal Ontario Museum on Toronto Planet. All we have to do now is cross the road.

When Justin arrived, he woke Joy up, and was on board for the idea of going to see a museum.

“Look left, right, left, right,” Justin explains to her. Suzy and I stand behind them patiently. Master Mind stands to the side.

[Click on the title to read the entire diary entry!]

Jul 11
Jul 11 S02E244 Back to Toronto Planet, Part 1, Navigation

Age: 8.5, Told by Grampa Walt

We are back in Toronto. Not the Toronto in the waking world, of course, but the Toronto Justin dreamed up and that Joy had made permanent. It’s an exact replica, except that it is in Justin's dream, and, yes, it is located, oddly enough, on a planet called Planet Toronto.

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