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. This illustrated, short novel 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.
Target audience: This story is ideally suited to high school or college students studying English literature or philosophy and lends itself to classroom or group discussion. Weaving together fantasy, satire, and philosophy, and using the bar world as a backdrop, Paradise Island explores the topic of human nature and shows the folly in believing that we can control our own human nature.
Author’s note: The Map Maker and Paradise Island are both works of fictional satire. 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 and why we behave the way we do. Together these two works explore four major themes: subjectivity, truth, human nature, and happiness.
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. 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
