Even Roses Have Their Legends
by Daniel L Rappaport
Please read to the bottom, as there is a surprise!
"Still round the corner there may wait, A new road or a secret gate."
-J.R.R. Tolkien "Well, well, well.... It's about darned time that idiot blog writer showcase a blasted entry that features us!", exclaimed Morgana. "Morgana.... What, exactly, is wrong with you today?", questioned Grenadiya. "Oh, she's just full of her rotten self, as per usual.", said Kabire. "Yes! Full of power to know all and see all!" "Ugh. Shut it!", yelled an annoyed Lazul.
The Legend of the Lost Rose is extremely near and dear to my heart. It's the very first Apple Book that I wrote. At the time, I had no idea as to whether or not it was going to turn into a trilogy.
I am speaking, of course, about "The Lost Rose" trilogy.
When Steve Jobs announced iBooks Author, my creative world completely changed. It's the most advanced eBook software that has ever been created.
Sadly, Apple has since stopped developing for it and has offered Pages up as a replacement. While one can't really compare with the other, I imagine that iBooks Author will still be excellent software, as I don't really see anything in that breaking any time soon.
As it is, it's still ahead of its time.
Here is my description of the work, that is posted on the Apple sales page:
"In a time and place apart from our own there is a dying planet governed by the rules of Magick.
The mysterious rose perched atop the northernmost mountain is dying with the planet; if it dies, the whole world will fall into darkness.
A young frog called Spark spends his days creating beautiful paintings in his cozy underground home.
After a while, he can no longer ignore the looming changes coming to his land.
With fewer flies to eat each day, Spark musters the courage to open his eyes and see the true nature of the destruction ravaging his beloved planet.
Under the watchful eyes of the greedy, dragon-like Apovil creature, Spark decides to seek advice from Iris Buttergrow, the oldest and wisest faery in the land.
After the faery Iris Buttergrow reveals the shocking truth behind the impending doom of his planet, Spark embarks on a journey to save the Lost Rose.
Spark's crosses vast deserts full of holes and dried seabeds parched by the calamity are just examples of the destruction.
On the way he must find the only Magick in the world that can save the planet...the rare blue Pixie Dust.
However, Spark's journey isn't just about traveling miles.
In fact, the key to the planet's survival is not outside of Spark, but within him.
Will he find the hidden strength within himself before it's too late?
If he fails, the entire Magickal world will fall into decay and be lost forever.
_____________________
It also was the first book to be published by my esteemed publishing company - North Hamilton Press.
The name is actually inspired by what Disney did with its publishing company, Hyperion Publishing.
Hyperion Avenue is the street that the original, large Walt Disney Studios (essentially, where Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was created, amongst everything else from in and around that time) sat.
A significant place, where I grew up, and somewhere that had tremendous impact on my life (and still does) is an apartment building, in Beverly Hills, that is located on North Hamilton Drive.
It's where Pazzaria Productions was born.
And, so, I honor it with the name.
With this Apple Book, it also laid the foundation for exactly what it is, and the direction that I was, at the time, headed in, with regard to the company’s extremely unique and magical mission statement:
“Everything that a guest would see, eat, buy, touch, do wear, etc… all has to do with their own personal adventure within our world.”
Now, how do we do this?
Within each chapter of the book, there is a piece of full screen, touch animation that as you tap in succession, the animation moves forward. This serves to bring you closer into our world.
As well, there is a piece of merchandise that either moves your own personal story forward, and/or that of the character with which you are following.
Okay. So, I have a trilogy of three really interesting Apple Books. The question now becomes… Where do we go from here?
There are a lot of possibilities, of course.
Of course, there are the fairly obvious choices of turning “The Lost Rose” trilogy into an animated feature film or television show.
With all of the streaming services out there, in in and around a year’s time, after I have gained a sufficient audience through my own channels, I might be able to convince at least one of them to produce something.
But, a “one and done” entity, such as this, to be quite frank (potential, tremendous monetary gains aside), isn’t exactly the Pazzaria Productions way.
I want your story to continue, in your own life, after the film is over, or the last episode has ended.
How does this happen? What is the “secret sauce”?
There are lots of answers, as technology currently stands.
I am not looking for “traditional” ways of integrating these. Anything that I do has to be totally fun, original, and unique.
Heck…. (And I LOVE Disney), even their website (AND THEY ARE AN ANIMATION COMPANY!) doesn’t have the dynamic range of movement and sound that mine does:
And, I spent less than pennies, on the dollar, in comparison to what Disney likely did.
But, that’s okay. They do what’s right for them, and it works. No questions asked.
Just as Trader Joe’s is the “anti grocery store”, we are the “anti entertainment company”.
Throughout my journey, time and time again, from an overwhelming majority of people, there has been a request for an Amazon eBook.
It’s gotten to a point to where I just can’t ignore it any more. I have a Kindle Fire in hand, to test the thing on.
The eBook is called “Pazzarian News Today”, and will be a collection of breaking news stories, from throughout the Apple Book trilogy.
I have some art for it done.
It needs to now be written.
It will be created in Adobe InDesign, and I will be exploring what under-utilized, but exciting, immersive technologies that I can apply to the eBook.
It never really did make too much sense to me to simply do what everyone else is doing. Otherwise, why come to me?
Anyhow, I know that I digressed, quite a bit, from “The Legend of the Lost Rose”, but, I wanted to give you a bit more of “sneak peek” into what goes inside of my brain.
I both hope and trust that you found it interesting and maybe even a bit inspiring!
As in the other two Apple Books, there is also a piece of merchandise, that is purchased from within the book, that is then shipped to the home, and moves your own personal story forward, within our world.
© and TM 2022 Pazzaria Productions
