Paradise Island: A Dreamer's Guide to the Life Lessons We Learn From Our Own Human Nature

Are we masters of or servants to our own human nature? This illustrated short story presents a satire on human nature. “Human nature” are two words that are used often, but what exactly do they mean? This work explores, in narrative form, that mysterious collage of traits, emotions, and idiosyncrasies that describes the way we are and the way we behave — our envy, vanity, greed, and white lies as well as our loyalty, generosity, love, and honor.

Paradise Island is a fable about a young adventurer who travels to the sunny, fun-filled island of his dreams, but struggles to keep paradise found from becoming paradise lost. A product of inspirational and literary fiction, this work will appeal to readers interested in fantasy, satire, and philosophy in fiction.

From the Publisher: This illustrated novel is ideally suited to high school or college students studying English literature or philosophy. It is a think piece that lends itself to classroom or group discussion.

From the Author: What is the difference between the stories of The Map Maker and Paradise Island? The Map Maker is a short story that presents a satire on human perspective (how we see the world). Paradise Island is a short novel that presents a satire on human nature (why we are the way we are).

Author’s bio: Brandon Royal is an award-winning writer whose educational authorship includes The Little Blue Reasoning Book, The Little Red Writing Book, The Little Gold Grammar Book, and The Little Green Math Book. During his tenure working in Hong Kong for US-based Kaplan Educational Centers – a Washington Post subsidiary and the largest test-preparation organization in the world – Brandon honed his theories of teaching and education and developed a set of key learning "principles" to help define the basics of writing, grammar, math, and reasoning. A Canadian by birth and graduate of the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business, his interest in writing began after completing fiction and scriptwriting courses at Harvard University. Since then he has authored a dozen books and reviews of his books have appeared in Time Asia magazine, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal of America, Midwest Book Review, The Asian Review of Books, Choice Reviews Online, Asia Times Online, and About.com. Brandon is a five-time winner of the International Book Awards, a seven-time gold medalist at the President’s Book Awards, as well as recipient of the “Educational Book of the Year” award as presented by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. He has also been a winner or finalist at the Ben Franklin Book Awards, the Global eBook Awards, the Beverly Hills Book Awards, the IPPY Awards, the USA Book News “Best Book Awards,” and the Foreword magazine Book of the Year Awards. He continues to write and publish in the belief that there will always be a place for books that inspire, enlighten, and enrich.

“A delectable dish of human foible, served with parsnips baked in irony oil, all topped with a sprinkling of satire-roasted fennel seeds.” —Justin Hurwitz, Editor, The Harvard Lampoon