Tales of the Ragoon, Sam's Winnings

[morriss003]

Aloha,
My second book, "Sam's Winnings," which is a story from "Tales of the Ragoon," is now available at Smashwords and Amazon for $1.
Here is a short blurb.

"For five minutes, Jack ranted at the top of his voice. Jane asked that the outgoing audio be muted to spare the classrooms from hearing the curse words that Jack was spewing at the Ragoon. Eventually Jack ran out of invective, or maybe he just got tired.

Once he was silent, the Ragoon asked him, "Why in The Spirit's name would you bet your sister in a poker game to win a mere hundred dollars? Your financial statement shows that you have forty thousand dollars in a college fund."

"It was a joke!" snapped Jack.

"A joke?" answered Jane icily. Her calm demeanor changed. Her eyes were flashing as she stood up, leaned across the table, and slapped Jack's head so hard that he recoiled in astonishment.

"You gambled your sister away for a hundred dollars, Judas," she yelled.
Damn, the crazy woman doesn't even know my name, Jack thought as he leaned back and rubbed his reddening cheek."

Stan Morris

[dreams]

Congratulations!

I loved the reference to the large paperweight in the blurb of your new story, Kate's Movie Star.

[nomesque]

Damn, the crazy woman doesn't even know my name

Love it.

[morriss003]

Thanks, nomesque. I'm glad to see that book in your signature. Next Monday, if you don't mind, I'll feature it here;

http://www.mahalo.com/smashwords

Stan Morris

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by morriss003

Thanks, nomesque. I'm glad to see that book in your signature. Next Monday, if you don't mind, I'll feature it here;

http://www.mahalo.com/smashwords

Thanks! Publicity always appreciated

[dreams]

I just finished, Tales of the Ragoon, and found myself not wanting to put it down. I just loved Sam and how he handled everything.

Most of the town names are very familiar to me since I was a Valley Girl (Central, that is), so I was able to picture the various trips that were taken. I even found myself liking the Ragoon. Are they going to be characters in future stories?

for a very enjoyable story!

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by dreams

I even found myself liking the Ragoon. Are they going to be characters in future stories?

for a very enjoyable story!

Aloha, Dreams and thanks for the kind words. I plan to write several of these stories, all centered around the area between Stockton and Merced. I use to live in Concord and I visited this area a lot. The first time, I was 4 years old and my grandmother and I took the bus from Los Angeles to Merced where her sister lived.
Stan

[cbell]

Oh, look at that, dreams was here before me! I should have guessed, as we have such similar taste. I know I'll like "Tales of the Ragoon, Sam's Winnings" now!

dreams, read "Surviving the Fog", also by Stan Morris - you'll love it.

Thanks, Stan! I just purchased Ragoon from Smashwords.

[dreams]

Soul mates!

I'm still waiting for Kate's Movie Star.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by dreams

Soul mates!

I'm still waiting for Kate's Movie Star.

It's taking me a while. November was a busy month, with a lot of farm work to complete and the house to get ready for the holidays. But I'm thinking about the next part.

[cbell]

Stan, while I admire your writing style very much and I loved "Surviving the Fog", I hated the "Sam's Winnings" storyline.

EDIT: I should emphasise here - I hated the story, but I didn't hate the book. It was very readable and well-written.

Sam's quite a good, likeable character who mostly did his best with a situation beyond his control, but I hated what happened to Ashley and both their families.

This might be some teen boy's fantasy come true, but the story just made me feel shocked and angry.

I read the whole book, hoping the humans would get an explanation from the Ragoon for their behaviour, or revenge against them, or at least punish them somehow before the end - it feels unfinished to me. Unlike dreams, I hated the Ragoon.

A good read, but a confrontational, horrible story. Only my opinion, of course!

I had nightmares after reading this book.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by cbell

I read the whole book, hoping the humans would get an explanation from the Ragoon for their behaviour, or revenge against them, or at least punish them somehow before the end - it feels unfinished to me. Unlike dreams, I hated the Ragoon.

A good read, but a horrible story. Only my opinion, of course!

Oh, no! It's our first opposing views on a book!

And yes, the story should continue in the next book I believe. I liked the very different storyline with the Ragoon and the fact that I couldn't anticipate where it was going.

[cbell]

To be honest, I'm looking forward to a sequel!

I hated the Ragoon (damn insects), but I didn't hate the book. I don't finish reading a book unless it's offering me something worthwhile and I finished reading this one over 2 nights.

Sam's Winnings is a very worthwhile read, but many of the bad deeds that happened went unpunished. Am I too much of a moralist?

Maybe a sequel can rectify all the outrageous things that happened in the first book.

[morriss003]

Originally Posted by cbell

To be honest, I'm looking forward to a sequel!

I hated the Ragoon (damn insects), but I didn't hate the book. I don't finish reading a book unless it's offering me something worthwhile and I finished reading this one over 2 nights.

Sam's Winnings is a very worthwhile read, but many of the bad deeds that happened went unpunished. Am I too much of a moralist?

Maybe a sequel can rectify all the outrageous things that happened in the first book.

Aloha,
I wrote an incredibly long reply which, when I tried to post it, got lost in the system. I've got to remember to write those kinds of replies in wordpad first and then save them. Oh well. A shorter version. Maybe this will make it through the system.

The idea was to take this theme and NOT turn it into a John Norman "Gor" series. Instead, show decent people responding to an indecent situation.
I'm not sure which bad deeds you are referring to. I did want to show that kids do stuff that they are later ashamed of, that they lie to their parents when they think that it's for a good reason, and that often they are basically little rascals. So a boy will peek in the girl's shower and the girls, although they are angry about that, don't rat him out. That's their culture. I don't defend it, but I'm not in denial about it. I want to write about kids for how they are, not how we wish they were.

I was a bus driver for a time for a middle school. I'm still stunned at the conversations that I overheard. (not willingly).

A lot of my stories will involve examining morality. As much as I would like to avoid that, my upbringing makes it impossible. I am who I am.

Wow this is getting long too.

[cbell]

mmm, it's annoying when long replies are lost before they're posted - it's happened to me several times.

I found the bad deeds of the Ragoon confrontational and confusing. I felt for the humans and their helplessness - but why didn't they try to do something rather than just accepting such horrible decisions? I don't understand why the Ragoon had so much power over them. OK, this book really did made me think!

I loved the way that the kids stood up and fought back against the bikers in Surviving the Fog. They were empowered, rather than helplessly going along and being trampled. I think you write about kids very well and you obviously have a good understanding of contemporary teenagers.

I don't understand the psychology of why the Ragoon did that to Ashley and her family (and, by this, Sam and his family and the friends who were dragged into it). How did the Ragoon get so much power? OK, they had technology - but why did the humans let them become so dominant? Why would the Ragoons punish teens and their families so harshly?

Ah, maybe I'm just over-thinking it all and have lost the point of your story - examining morality and explaining how decent people cope with an indecent situation.

It's good to feel challenged. You've done that. Thanks, Stan!