10/04/2021
Editorial Navegando sueños presents to you the literary work of the young Canadian writer Juan Luis Acosta, THE DRAGON, BOOK II.
The book is written in both languages, English and Spanish.
In the prologue, the renowned writer, Florencio Faúndez Saavedra, tell us:.."Just thinking about constructing a story where there are mythological and fierce dragons looks like it is hard to create them. However, in our age is not like that. Young people like Juan- Luis can.
Dragons are usually associated with battles, heroes and a confrontation world where there always will be the defeated and the winners. And if we add gods, titans, sins, demons, we can only find expectant responses to these proposals that sometimes disconcert us. It’s a magical plot.
The great writer, Gabriel Garcia Marquez said: “There’s a moment when all obstacles and conflicts move away. Then, you think about things you never dreamed about. And then in life, these beings that comes from places full of mystery and darkness, relating them with human being’s passions. We can even dare to think that the author has written his tale based in a close happening.
By the way, there’s no need to look up at Juan’s environment. Every day we see hundreds of cases in the news such as Pride, Envy, Glutton, and lust, Greed, Wrath and Sloth. They do as they please and the law won’t protect us. Through the being’s fantasy world of this story, we get to know them, because of the writer’s wide scope of thoughts. Reality tells us: Watch out! Dragons, gods, demons, titans don’t exist, except sins that are everywhere in the universe. Is there someone who can assert otherwise?
Today’s religions are monotheists, except in Asia. Therefore, we cannot speak about god, I suppose. Biblically speaking, demons do exist. They are hosts that stalk us, but in this tale, they make plans and fight with no stopping. They are all searching for power to defeat the rest in never- ending conflicts. Neither side will ever give up.
Besides being a writer and poet, I am also a social science teacher. When reading Juan’s story, it’s like I am reading the development of civilization of our world. There are never ending conflicts, war, alliances, exterminations, pauses, continuations, even love.
Walt Disney, the famous businessman who went down in history of western culture as one of the most prolific, contradictory and influential Creator of the infantile imagination, tell us: “to create fantasy, first we must understand what’s real.” However, what’s fantasy and what’s real? Many are not sure.
Are we living in a “real” world or are we part of a parallel world? Unfortunately, this world won’t stop feeding themselves with things that hurt us all. That’s the reason it’s important to highlight what Juan has written. Juan- Luis is a second-generation Chilean, Ecuadorian and Canadian, born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, Treaty Land 6 territory. Juan is very much loved by his parents and Sister Alicia. At a young age, he started creating his own fantastic heroes, especially monsters. He stands out in assembling unimaginable battles. His imagination knows no boundaries.
Since then, he has been writing about them, to get the reader’s attention, with the same enthusiasm of his maternal grandmother, Olga Rojas. Olga is also a writer and poet who have gone beyond the borders that limit us physically.
I dare to say that the fantastic genre that children and teenagers love so much, have a great short story writer.
There are probably various novel writers out there that risk writing about this world of old tales of different characters that are new in its conception. In this book, we see amazing things such as psychological profile and attitudes. Juan seems to know them well, and that’s extraordinary and obviously he enjoys them.
We will wait and see what the future has on store for a fine writer like Juan who subjugate us and attract us at the same time.
Florencio Faúndez Saavedra
(Teacher, poet and writer from Arica, Chile)
