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 The Red Dragon

Jan 4
Jan 4 #187: In the Land of the Giants, Part 4: Okay, No Problem

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

She moaned and stretched her body on the giant leaf she had been lying on, in the giant forest, in the Land of the Giants. Bonny’s Revenge had been swatted like a fly by Ymir the Angry Giant, while Dragon Little and Dragon Father were still in it. It had been too fast for me to do swoop in and save her. And it was a miracle she hadn’t died.

I would not like to see her die, but I did think and still do that it may save her years of pain in which she would wish she was dead.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Jan 2
Jan 2 #186: In the Land of Giants, Part 3: The Search for Joy

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Bonny’s Revenge hung above the forest in the giant’s world. Dragon Father, now visibly panicked, was looking over the wooden railing and calling, “Joy! Joy!” at the forest.

Not only did he not know where she was, he did not know if she was alive or dead.

He ran from side to side futilely, until he spotted Ymir the Giant, who had swatted them in the first place.

Dragon Father’s face twisted.

“Go away!” he said.

Ymir the Giant disappeared.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Jan 1
Jan 1 #185: In the Land of the Giants, Part 2: Justin's Return

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little lay unconscious in the forest of the giants and did not move. My sharp dragon ears could her breathing from my hiding place, kilometers above her. My sharp dragon eyes could see between the leaves how her chest was rising and falling with slow breaths.

She was alive and lying on top of a leaf bigger than an entire body, between blades of grass three times as higher as her.

[Told by The Red Dragon]

Dec 30
Dec 30 #184: In the Land of the Giants, Part 1

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little was only four and a half years old when she and her father flew into The Land of the Giants.

Dragon Father had never dreamed of something so different. The villains had always been more or less his size or smaller. But in this land, each giant as bigger than me, ten stories high at least.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 29
Dec 29 #183: A Fun Day

Age: 5, Told by The Red Dragon

“We’re not fighting bad guys today!” Dragon Father announced to Dragon Little during breakfast. Dragon Little was five years old at the time. “Today, we have a fun day!”

And they did. Dragon Little and Dragon Father bounced on the trampoline stairs for hours: up to the sky, then back down.

They went to the fair in the clouds and ate ice cream.

They took Bonny’s Revenge to race against other flying pirate ships and won.

And towards the end of the day they parachuted from one of the cities in the skies.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 28
Dec 28 #182: Learning Sword-Fighting, Part 2: Learning to Lose

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

“To win in the end,” he said more slowly, “you have to lose well in the beginning. Lose really well. Lose and be happy about it. Here,” he threw her the small sword. She caught it without effort. “I’ll show you.”

They both stood in front of each other, swords drawn.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 26
Dec 26 #181: Learning Sword-Fighting, Part 1

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

“Defend yourself!” Dragon Father slammed his right leg forward on the deck of Bonny’s Revenge, his right arm gripping his sword tightly in front of him.

“Defend yourself!” Dragon Little, now only 2 years old, slammed her right leg forward , and gripped her own sword (a much smaller sword) in a fighting position against her father.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 23
Dec 23 #180: If I Only Had a Heart...

Age: 5.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dec 18
Dec 18 #179: No Time to Sneeze!

Age: 5, Told by The Red Dragon

Once again, Dragon Father disappeared in the middle of an adventure and did not return. He had gone back to the waking world, and Dragon Little, now five years old, the toughest and cutest human I have ever met in my long life, was stranded on the planet of Big Boss Planet.

Big Boss Lawyer’s minions captured her and brought her to their leader.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 15
Dec 15 #178: Spinning

Age: 4, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little, now only four years old, stood up and faced him. Then she twirled around as fast as she could and looked at her father.

She smiled. He smiled back.

“Now do that three, four, five times, as much as you can! And then try to keep standing straight!”

Dragon Little shrugged.

She spun around herself once, twice, three times… and at number six, she stopped, and immediately fell sideways on the metal prison floor.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 13
Dec 13 #177: Spicy Meatball Pizza

Age: 5.5, Told by The Red Dragon

“Ah! What did you do! What is thaaaaaat!” She opened her mouth and waved wind into her mouth. “Ahhhh! Ahhhh!”

“Oh, my god! Was that too spicy?” She was running and jumping from side to side on the ship and he was running after her.

“Ahhhhh!”

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 12
Dec 12 #176: Pirates in Dresses

Age: 5, Told by The Red Dragon

It was the second time in three years that Dragon Father had the idea of making Dragon Little, his little Joy, put on a dress. The first time, when she had been two years old, did not go well. I have told you of this earlier.

A dress appeared in Dragon Father’s hand while Dragon Little ate her breakfast.

“That does not look comfortable,” she said.

“It’s very comfortable,” he assured her.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 11
Dec 11 #175: Joy Screams for Ice Cream

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

“Dad, I want ice cream.”

“I’m not going to get you ice cream. We’re in the middle of an adventure.”

“I want ice cream! Just make ice cream appear!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Joy. I can’t make things appear and disappear. And I will not stop the chase just to get you ice cream.”

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 10
Dec 10 #174: Not Alone

Age: 3.5, Told by The Red Dragon

It was only an hour after her father had disappeared. As always, when he vanished, most of the world went with him.

Most of the stars blinked out. The winds stopped. The cities in the clouds disappeared. The villains they had fought had all vanished with him. Only a few things remained: The ocean, Bonny’s Revenge, the moon, Mars, the two suns, and a few other stars and planets. And, of course, Dragon Little, who was only a 3 and a half year old girl at the time.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 9
Dec 9 #173: Death, Part 9: The Kiss

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

“Hey, Red!”

It was Dragon Little’s voice. The noise of my wings coming out of the ocean must have woken her.

I could see her small 3-year-old face look at me through her cabin’s window.

“Yes, my sweet Dragon Little?” I said softly. For, after all, since due to my circumstances I could not give birth, I liked to think this little human child as my own daughter.

“Come here,” she said.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 8
Dec 8 #172: Death, Part 8: The Dragon's Story

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

“All right, little one. I will tell you a real story. It ist a story that happened to me once. Do you remember that I had captors? Captors who told me what to do and who beat me when I refused?”

Dragon Little nodded. She and her father freed me from them, after all, less than a year earlier. That ist how we had met.

“Well… There was a time when I had met a friend. Not a dragon friend, like me. And not a human friend, like you. But a friend. And I liked him very much. He promised he would rescue me. But of course that would be a very hard task.

“Then, one day, my captors found out about him. They caught him. And they ordered me - me! - to kill him with my fire.”

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 5
Dec 5 #171: Death, Part 7: A Frank Conversation

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

I carried Dragon Little on my head as we flew back to Bonny’s Revenge.

The pirate ship she lived on was resting on the ocean under the two suns, where we had left it. I came to a stop in the water right next it, careful not to case even a wave that would stir the ship.

I leaned my head forward and 3-year-old Dragon Little, the girl her father called Joy, walked across my nose, and leapt unto the deck.

“That was fun! Let’s do it again!” she said.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 2
Dec 2 #170: Death, Part 6: Death Is Final... Sometimes

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

“Dragon Little… sometimes creatures or aliens you fight and die - sometimes those do come back.”

She turned around to look at me, her eyes crinkling. “They do come back?”

“Well… they can… not always.” If your father dreams that they do, I wanted to add. But she was not yet prepared to know she was living in a dream.

“Then why doesn’t Mary come back, Red?” she asked, and her voice was so innocent. I was sad to break some of that innocence. But it had to be done.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Dec 1
Dec 1 #169: Death, Part 5: Licking Ice Cream with a Dragon

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

He came back a minute later, holding an ice cream cone as high as the mast on Bonny’s Revenge. Above it was a mountain of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

“That’s the spirit,” I told him.

“Yaaaaaaiiiii!” Dragon Little jumped up and down.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]

Nov 28
Nov 28 #168: Death, Part 4: Riding a Dragon

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

I swooped up. “Whoa!” Dragon Little said, held tighter, and laughed.

I swooped down. “Yeee hawww!” Dragon Father shouted.

I spun and whirled and they laughed and laughed.

It was a magical feeling to fly free, to have anyone ride me of my own free will. It was sheer joy. And, perhaps, I forgot my own troubles a bit, too. I forgot to be worried that those I was running away from might one day find Dragon Father’s dream.

[Click on the title to read the entire post!]