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Home» The Dream Palace

The Dream Palace

Happy Father’s Day!

Posted by Richard Long - June 16, 2013 - Ariane Zurcher, Autism, Richard Long, The Book of Paul, The Dream Palace
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Okay, I admit it. I’ve been a negligent blogger. Between finishing The Dream Palace (yay!), looking for an agent for The Dream Palace (meh!), pre-production work on The Book of Paul trailer (dyed Paul’s wig yesterday!), trying to get funding for the set design (help!), sending off rewards to donors (yay to you!) and being a husband and DAD, well, blogging has had to take a backseat. However, I’m going to make an effort to be more consistent in the future, and what better way to begin than by honoring the best thing that has ever happened to me…fatherhood.

When my wife Ariane was first pregnant, we didn’t get an amnio, or check the sex. We said we’d “take what we got.” We got a beautiful boy, Nic. Eighteen months later, we got a beautiful girl, Emma. One of each, as they say. We got “one of each” in another way, too. One autistic, one not. Yes, having children is the best thing that ever happened to me. So is having an autistic child. Our journey with autism has made me a better man than I ever thought I could be. It has changed everything in our lives, for the better. If you want to know why, the best place to see is on Ariane’s blog Emma’s Hope Book. My chronicle of our family’s journey is The Dream Palace, a YA fantasy I just completed.

Read More autistic, Facebook, Family, Father, Father's day, Home, Mary Poppins, parenting, Paypal

My Valentine Birthday! Sweet.

Posted by Richard Long - February 11, 2013 - Funny shit, Giveaways, Richard Long, The Book of Paul, The Dream Palace

Gun control? Not around my Christmas tree!

Am I really as old as that TV set? No. Cute baby, though.

My birthday is Valentine’s Day. It is a good day to be born.

Set of vintage design elements for Happy Valentine's DayTwice as many kisses; I always say. My brother was born on St. Patrick’s Day, which is odd. Two boys, two saints, both mostly fictionalized. My mom always made a heart-shaped vanilla cake, with vanilla icing and little peppermint hearts trimming the edge.  It was delicious. My awesome wife Ariane, who also happens to be an awesome chef and could fix me the ultimate birthday cake using the Magnolia Bakery recipe, but I’m off sugar. Oh well, cupcakes for the kids.

Read More Birthday, horror, richard long, Signed Paperbacks, The Book of Paul, The Dream Palace, valentines day

The Happiest of Thanksgivings at The Dream Palace

Posted by Richard Long - November 21, 2012 - Ariane Zurcher, Autism, Richard Long, The Book of Paul, The Dream Palace
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU! For those not subscribed yet there is still time to sign up for the newsletter to get a special thank you from Richard and family. If you sign up before the end of November will also receive access to the first ten chapters of Richard Long’s up and coming young-adult fantasy, The Dream Palace. […]

Read More Dream Palace, Family, Holidays, Thanksgiving

Another Sneak-Peak at The Dream Palace: Chapter Two (and why I wrote it)

Posted by Richard Long - November 20, 2012 - Ariane Zurcher, Autism, Giveaways, Paranormal, Richard Long, Sci-Fi, The Dream Palace, Thriller
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There’s still time to subscribe to the newsletter and get your Turkey Day mailing of the first 30 pages of my forthcoming YA fantasy, The Dream Palace. The first one page chapter titled “The Door” that I posted yesterday sets the mood, takes you to the threshold of The Dream Palace and introduces our first protagonist and the story’s narrator, Chris Sullivan. The second chapter, “Daisy” brings you into the Sullivan household and kicks off the action.

A bit of backstory here: I began The Book of Paul two years before I met my wife, Ariane. At the time, I had no children nor any interest in becoming a parent. But all that changed when we connected and…presto!…we had a son, Nicholas, followed eighteen months later by a baby girl, Emma. I LOVE being a dad, and love my family more than anything, as anyone who knows me well will attest. Nonetheless, I came from a very dark place and I continued to write about all the creepy, traumatic, highly sexual and violent material that fans of The Book of Paul have come to love and loathe. But as my children grew, it became increasingly clear to me at bedtime that I wouldn’t be reading any story of mine while they were still children. So, I decided to write a book for my kids that they could read before they were old enough to vote.

The theme of the story and the impetus to write it came when our daughter turned 4 years old, two years after she had been diagnosed with autism. Like many parents who receive such news, the “experts” inform parents about the “tragedy” of autism — and basically scare the shit out of you. I knew nothing about autism at the time, so I dug into the internet while Ariane read every book ever written on the subject. The news was not good. No one knew what autism was, what caused it, or how to alleviate the more difficult manifestations (I never use the “cure” word anymore for reasons I’ll go into at a later date). At this point, Emma had lost most of the language she had, was making very little eye contact and had obsessive/compulsive behaviors that could be dangerous to her.

Read More autism therapy, dreaming, lucid dreams

Special Subscriber Sneak-Peek Preview: The Dream Palace

Posted by Richard Long - November 19, 2012 - Funny shit, Giveaways, Paranormal, Richard Long, Sci-Fi, Supernatural, The Book of Paul, The Dream Palace, Thriller
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With turkey day looming like triple-decker punkin’ pie, I thought a little gratitude was in order for all the amazing support and enthusiasm that’s been served up to me and the Kelly boys in such a cornucopia of abundance. So for all our blog subscribers I have a Thank-you-for-giving Day present to munch on in between heaping helpings of you favorite holiday binge foods: the first THIRTY pages of The Dream Palace, my new YA fantasy/mystery/sci-fi/thriller (because, as all you Paul fans know, one genre is never enough for me).

This special Dream Palace subscriber newsletter will go out late Wednesday night or early Thanksgiving Day, so if you haven’t signed up yet, there’s still a little time left. Just click here now to sign up for more fun freebies, ebook gift codes and other fun surprises. And now to tantalize your turkey-primed tastebuds, here is the first short chapter of The Dream Palace:

Read More free gift codes, newsletter, Norman Rockwell, Paul, subscribe, subscriber, Supper, Thanksgiving

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