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.

Apr 25
Apr 25 #258: To the Rescue!

Age: 5.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little was almost six years old when Dragon Father was captured by the evil Big Bad Wolf and his lackeys.

Dragon Little and Dragon Father had separated in an attempt to slip past the Big Bad Wolf’s defenses in the forests and steal back the Ball of Light that he had stolen from Princess Red Riding Hood.

The Big Bad Wolf tied up Dragon Father and threw him in a ‘cell’ made out of powerful, long tree branches. The cell was hanging from the top of a tree just above the Big Bad Wolf’s camp.

I suspect that Dragon Father did not put up too big of a fight because his subconscious expected his daughter to come and save him.

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

Apr 24
Apr 24 #257: Apology of the Red Dragon

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

I cried while my sweet Dragon Little caressed my nose. The four-and-a-half-year-old human girl was standing on the railing of the pirate ship Bonny’s Revenge, as it floated in space, and caressed me, her friend, who nearly attacked her father in a way that would never repair our relationship.

I felt all the pain of the last hundreds of years of my existence come out as I cried. All the cruelty, all the abuse. But more than that: The childhood they had stolen from me, the life of joy I had never experienced until I met Joy Shelley and her father.

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

Apr 23
Apr 23 #256: The Red Dragon Vs. Justin, Part 2

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

“Red!” he shouted as soon as he saw me in front of him. “That was unacceptable behavior! Unacceptable!”

“There will be no slaves in your adventures…” I hissed angrily at him.

“I was trying to stop the slavery!” he shouted at me. “I wasn’t the problem!”

“There will be no slaves to save…” I hissed at him again. II meant that he should not create slavery in his dreams, but I couldn’t say that to a person who does not know he ist in a dream.

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

Apr 22
Apr 22 #255: The Red Dragon Vs. Justin

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

I was in flight. I had been called by Dragon Father, but I had not come because he called.

I have told you of the world of slaves he had created in order to rescue it and of the unspeakable memories it had brought back to me.

I was furious at him, furious at this dream of slavery.

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

Apr 21
Apr 21 #254: The Missing Red Dragon

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

When Dragon Little was only four and a half years old, their adventure brought on for me one of the worst day I have had in Dragon Father’s dreams.

Dragon Father and Dragon Little came upon a mining planet in which the entire population of dwarves was enslaved by the Elf Overlord and his minions.

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

Apr 20
Apr 20 #253: Funny Joy

Age: 3, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little’s laugh is infectious. It is a laugh that makes you want to laugh.

Every time I hear her laugh from my hiding place, I do my best to suppress the laughter that comes out of me. A laughing dragon is not… something that should be viewed.

This is a day I had to hold my laugh many times.

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

Apr 17
Apr 17 #252: As High as the Sky

Age: 5, Told by The Red Dragon

“Oh, my god, look how much you’ve grown!” Dragon Father had just woken Dragon Little up, and was shocked as soon as she came out of her cabin. “Did you have a spurt over one night?” he said. “Come here.”

She was only five years old, and, half smiling, she came over to stand in front him.

“Stand tall, head forward,” he said.

She stood straight, but looked up.

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

Apr 16
Apr 16 #251: The Squabbling Squashbucklers

Age: 4.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little and Dragon Father’s adventure brought them face to face with the Wicked Witch of the Northwest in her tower.

The Wicked Witch said, “Finally! You swashbuckling fools have fallen into my trap!”

Dragon Little, only 4-and-a-half years old, raised her hands and shouted. “No! We’re not swashbuckling fools! We’re squashbuckling fools!”

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

Apr 15
Apr 15 #250: Joy the Badass

Age: 3.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Father disappeared in the middle of a swashbuckling battle with Captain Badass and his pirates.

Bonny’s Revenge and Captain Badass’ ship hung in the air just outside a cloud city, and his entire crew had leapt onto Bonny’s Revenge. Only three minutes into the battle, Dragon Father disappeared (having woken up). With him disappeared the cloud city as well as all of Captain Badass’ pirates.

But he, as almost all top villains do, remained behind.

And Dragon Little, only three-and-a-half years old, stood in front of him, metal sword in hand.

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

Apr 13
Apr 13 #249: Who's the Boss?

Age: 4, Told by The Red Dragon

Dragon Little was four years old when Dragon Father announced they would go off to fight the Pirate Witches of the West.

“I want to go to the Trampoline Stairs!” she said.

Dragon Father shook his head. “We have to save the planet first, Joy.”

She tried again after a few seconds, “I want to go the Trampoline Stairs first!”

Apr 12
Apr 12 #248: The Plank at the Edge of the World

Age: 3.5, Told by The Red Dragon

When Dragon Little was only three and a half years old, one day Dragon Father’s dream brought the two of them to the peak of the Himalaya Mountains, in search of the Golden Key.

The top of the mountain was small and there was almost no room to stand. Snow was everywhere on the ground, and now it had begun to fall as well.

At the peak, a long plank had been embedded into the rock, stretching out five meters away above a sheer drop. At its very edge, the Golden Key lay inside a hook.

“Okay,” Dragon Father took off the bag on his back and started looking inside it. “I’m going to search my bag for a long rope. I think I brought one…” he raised his eyes for a second, and his breath stopped.

Dragon Little was already on the plank, which was slightly more narrow than her small legs. She had already taken a few steps.

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

Apr 11
Apr 11 #247: The Wooden Sword

Age: 2, Age: 3, Age: 2.5, Told by The Red Dragon

I learned not to fear for a 2-year-old standing in front of a vicious villain.

His subconscious had given her a wooden sword that would defeat any villain once they have seen it.

It defeated many pirates, who just fell to their knees, crying, asking her not to use the Magic Sword of Ra.”

It defeated many robot villains, who would short out seeing her wooden sword.

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

Apr 10
Apr 10 #246: The Ice Cream Showdown

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

I was worried.

I had only arrived to Dragon Father’s dreams a few weeks earlier. After they had rescued me from my slavery (Dragon Father probably imagining it was he who had dreamt of me and that adventure), I had remained behind and watched them from my new hiding place.

I was still learning about them, still learning what they were capable of and who they were.

I have never seen my precious, precocious 2-year-old Dragon Little be left alone with a villain. But I knew that day would soon come - and no doubt had come before I had arrived - when he would disappear in the middle of an adventure, and the villain would be left behind for Dragon Little to battle.

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

Apr 9
Apr 9 #245: Today At Last

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

For a few days now, two-year-old Dragon Little has been insisting to her father that she, with her wooden sword, will be the one to face-off with the villain.

She was, of course, not fit for that. Going on daily adventure every day does not make a 2-year-old human girl become fit to defeat the villains of her father’s swashbuckling dreams.

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

Apr 8
Apr 8 #244: Maybe Today

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

“Daaaaaaaaad!” 2-year-old Dragon Little complained when her father defeated a villain again. “I wanted to do it!”

“Oh, shoot,” he said. He had promised the previous day that she would do it today. “I forgot again! Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow!”

“Definitely tomorrow,” he nodded.

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

Apr 7
Apr 7 #243: Not Today

Age: 2, Told by The Red Dragon

It was only a few weeks after Dragon Little and Dragon Father rescued me. Dragon Little, I would find later, was only two years old, and I was still getting used to the fact that these two lived a life of adventure every day.

They had thought me gone, but I was there, watching them every day from afar and from above, learning who they are, learning that their intention was honest and good, and learning to fall in love with the girl I lovingly called my Dragon Little.

Dragon Little had a wooden sword in her hand, that her father told her was a steel sword. It was a good thing, too, since she would have occasionally cut herself with it.

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

Apr 6
Apr 6 #242: Good Job!

Age: 2.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Yesterday I told you of the time just before Aragon the Mighty faced off with Dragon Father in a swashbuckling sword fight, while two and a half year old Dragon Little watched.

Today I will tell you of what happened during the fight itself.

Dragon Little watched from the side as Aragon and her father’s sword met several times, each one testing the other.

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

Apr 5
Apr 5 #241: The Secret

Age: 2.5, Told by The Red Dragon

Finally, Dragon Father and Aragon the Mighty stood there, facing each other, on the deck of Aragon’s ship.

“Prepare to meet your maker!” Aragon said, drawing his sword.

“Prepare to meet yours!” Dragon Father said.

“Dad! Dad!” Dragon Little jumped up and down behind her father.

“Not now, sweetie, daddy’s busy.”

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

Apr 4
Apr 4 #240: Hold on to Your Butt, Part 2

Age: 5, Told by The Red Dragon

It was towards the end of their adventure of the day. Dragon Father and Dragon Little had been separated and now Dragon Father was in a rocky maze in the middle of the desert and Mole Men that had sprung from the rock itself began to surround him.

Dragon Little swooped in from above. She was almost five years old, a small child, but experienced in adventure and pretty good at helming Bonny’s Revenge, their flying pirate ship.

Dragon Father held up his hand and grabbed the rope ladder she had swung over the railing.

“Hold on to your butt, Dad!” She yelled at him.

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

Apr 4
Apr 4 #239: Hold on to Your Butt!

Age: 4, Told by The Red Dragon

With sword-fighting, laser pistols, swinging off ropes, and Dragon Father somersaulting in the air while fighting with two swords, Dragon Little and Dragon Father fought off the Red Pirates who tried to overtake Bonny’s Revenge.

The Red Pirates leapt over the railing to one said and onto their ship.

“That’s right! And stay out!” Dragon Father yelled at them, his tone as happy as I’ve ever heard him.

“Stay out!” Four-year-old Dragon Little shouted after them as well.

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