Hi everyone!
Greg invited me to play around in his blog on my inaugural release day.
I’m Toshi Drake and I’m here to inform you about dragons, cosplay and the importance of being yourself.
As I mentioned, my name’s Toshi, I live in a lovely town in Ontario Canada, still technically on the road I grew up on, still on the same river I played in as a child. (I absolutely get tickled over that fact). I work in a public library and have been fascinated by books since I was a child, much to my mother’s despair.
I’ve had written stories for my whole life. I still have my original book, Toshi’s Marvelous Medicine, at my parent’s house. It is an epic novel. My teacher despaired of me ever finishing it. In my current home, I have a collection of shorts that I wrote in grade nine where I plotted the end of my classmates. But I’m getting off topic.
So when I was eighteen, one of my friends invited me to go to a convention with her in Toronto. I was intrigued. I didn’t understand. But I loved the idea of going away.
This was my true introduction to the Japanese world of animation. (I don’t count Sailor Moon, or Dragon Ball or AstroBoy, even though I grew up with them)
I was blown away by the beauty, the art and the storytelling.
This is also where I was introduced to Yaoi. Here is the Greenwood is the first boys’ love anime I was exposed to and I was entranced. X the movie was where I found my first ship and I fell in love. Subaru and Seishiro are the only enemies to lovers I will ever read and even then it’s not good.
Point is, conventions was where I found my first people. People I understood, people who liked what I did and people who weren’t afraid to show off their quirky sides. As the years went by and conventions grew bigger, a new aspect of finding yourself appeared.
Cosplay.
Cosplay, or the long version, costume play, is where one creates and designs a costume based on a character. You become the character. You can recreate everything about the character and it is so much more than Halloween.
During photo shoots, characters act out scenes from the anime or video games or comics. Tragic scenes, battle scenes, ships and more.
This brings me to Lightning Dragons Strikes Out. I had other manuscripts started and I was a little intimidated by them and then the internet broke at work and I was bored and floundering and into my head popped Nick and Phin. Phin is a dragon because I can’t help myself and I really wanted to incorporate something I adored. People say write what you know and there I went.
Nick’s story is about a man who’s bored at home, because of doing the same thing every day. His dragon companion, Phineas, is content to stay home and play because he was told that he needed to grow up and find proper interests.
Chasing Nick to conventions, Phin’s eyes are opened to a whole new world and a new aspect of himself. He finds his people in the cosplayers and the fans of the characters he recreates. He finds people of all ages in costumes and in general, having fun with the same thing he enjoys.
I connected with Greg long before this gushing about books and what not but when I read that North (Borealis Investigations) was a fan of DevilMan CryBaby, my antennae went up and I zeroed in and pretty much exploded on to Greg. Poor guy. Probably never saw that coming.
A little long winded, but I hope you enjoyed this.
Here is an excerpt where Nick and Phin are discussing cross play and why Phin chose Chun Li. If you’ve ever played Streetfighter, you know the iconic Chun Li.
----
Nick grinned, erasing the anger. “You have the legs to pull off Sexy Chun Li.”
“Thank you! Her outfit was liberating. I was thinking that during the photoshoot tomorrow, I could incorporate some of her power moves.” Phin trailed a finger along the side of Nick’s neck, making Nick shiver. Phin didn’t look like he was pulling moves. He seemed completely unaware of what his fingers were doing to Nick. His thoughts were definitely inward as he spoke about costumes and breathable fabric. “I want to show people that she’s not a tiny dainty fighter. She’s fucking strong. Especially since she has to defeat Bison.”
Nick tilted his head slightly, giving Phin more access. The gentle strokes were soothing. Nick felt the tendrils of sleep touching him as he sank further into the loveseat. Phin’s touch had always been a comfort to Nick and he was willing to soak it all in. “She’s pretty badass. But I prefer playing Blanka or Ryu. Never Ken.”
“Ryu and Ken are the same person.”
---
You can find Toshi's book
here! I read an advanced copy and loved it, and I hope you do too!
