Fiction: The Butterfly Dragon I: Heroes Of Our Own by Brian Joseph Johns
The only thing that I ask you in return for reading this book which I've made freely available online is to support any one of the the charities that I sponsor on this site. Please if you can mention to them that your donation resulted from my books or books, I'd greatly appreciate the mention though it is not required.
The charities are as follows:
The charities are as follows:
The Cancer Research Institute (World Wide Cancer Research)
The Princess Margaret Foundation(Cancer Research)
The Reeve Foundation (Research Cures For Paralysis)
The ALS Society Of BC (Lou Gehrig's Disease)
Muscular Dystrophy Canada (Muscular Degeneration)
United Nations Fund
United Way Worldwide
Humane Society International
These charities represent what I as an individual and author stand for and they affect the world in reality in ways that I'd like to affect the world through the vehicle of my writing and other creative endeavors. Despite my sometimes controversial posts, I as a Canadian citizen and citizen of the world believe in everyone's rights and the rights of the creatures with which we inhabit this world. We're all that we've got really and when we encounter life elsewhere in this bizarre existence, those rights will matter just the same and keep us from sliding into another dark ages.
Regardless of gender (including sexual orientation), age, culture, belief (or lack thereof), physical or mental ability we all have rights that should be respected throughout the world and that no disagreement needs to turn into bloodshed. Often the only things in life that lead to blood shed are when those rights are taken from an individual or a group of individuals in such a way that results in those affected taking their rights back by force.
Warning: This story deals with some mature situations. Reader discretion is advised.
So if you can, and I sincerely hope that you can, please give something to any one of the charities listed above. These charities are not my burden carriers just because I am doing this. Its an honour to be able to use this technology to achieve such goals and to work with through my heroes and with them too.
Thank you very much and all the best to my gracious readers,
Brian Joseph Johns
Warning: This story deals with some mature situations. Reader discretion is advised.
Legal Copyright
The Butterfly Dragon I: Heroes Of Our Own – The Full Edition
This book may not be reproduced for sale without the express permission of the author.
ISBN: 978-1-988106-02-1
Copyright © 2012 Brian Joseph Johns
Disclaimer
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, dragons, living or dead (or super powered), or actual events is purely coincidental.
Preface
This story was inspired by characters I had thought of years ago and recently those who I'd fleshed out playing MMOs like DC Online, Marvel Heroes and Champions Online which I highly recommend to any explorer of virtual worlds. None of the content of these stories is drawn from any of those companies or their creative properties in game or out. None of the hero names or concepts are drawn from any of those online games and the stories are independent of those online worlds. The great part about them is the fact that they can act like a design pad for creating the visual concept of a superhero from scratch.
The idea itself is definitely inspired by the rich histories of superheroes as presented in the many comic book companies throughout the ages and as an exploration of the hero archetype.
The origins of the characters within started from my childhood in a North York community in 1981 and earlier. I was a bit of a nerd and an outcast myself and could relate with Alicia's character in some ways. As I grew older and I came out of my shell, I'd noticed that many people would often miss out on many of life's opportunities as a result of bullying. Being forcibly made to fear the world and people often by another group of people whose intent was often very cruel. I'd also at that time noticed that there were people, often loners themselves who'd earned their confidence and their strength, who'd use that strength to protect virtue, innocence and those who'd fall victim to such acts.
Some were Guys, but more often than not, they were Women. So this story isn't just about Women who become superheroes. Its about one Woman whose choice to help bring someone out of their shell actually affects the world in a very big way. That's really where the story begins. The story though has its share of Men heroes as well but you'll have to read it to know. So this book is not about Women versus Men or some other form of duality designed to polarize and pit people against one another. Its about a Woman, who having experienced adversity in her life as a Chinese immigrant to Canada, chose to help another lady that was slightly overweight to get over her self consciousness and develop a better self image. That's just the beginning but that beginning has a big impact upon their future.
The story is also about leading edge research, investment, obsession, corruption, blackmail, a resort island and the effects that fighting for virtue and responsibility can have in the overall scheme of things in this sometimes bizarre and seemingly directionless world. You never know when just that once that you might affect the future of human kind by your willingness to act or by your willingness to show restraint.
If you are interested in helping in research to further the cause of cures for Cancer by donating a little bit of the idle computing time from your computer, try these projects:
World Community Grid
http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
Boinc Distributed Computing Project
http://boinc.berkeley.edu
The idea is that you can just download the client software and let your computer work on tests for the development of cures for such diseases and you too can help out real heroes. Maybe even become a hero yourself.
Brian Joseph Johns
Continue to Prologue: Two Little Butterflies
