"O Boto Cor-de-Rosa" (The Pink Dolphin)

The pink dolphins are not cartoon characters nor are they to be compared with pink elephants. Well, they can be cartoon characters. In “The Conjunction of the Realms (Part One)” the pink dolphins play a huge part in helping transport the humans to the world of imagination, but in the case of Paulo Cardoso or in our material world, they are real dolphins.

For those who have not yet read the book, Paulo Cardoso made a few documentaries on preservation projects in his homeland of Brazil. One of his films, titled in Portuguese, “O Boto Cor-de-Rosa,” featured Brazilian ecologists’ efforts to save the pink dolphins of the Amazon river, not only rare at the time but also endangered. For those who have never heard of these fresh water mammals, they are called Pink Amazon River Dolphins because of a light pink tinge in their almost white skin pigmentation. The ecological project, supported by Paulo’s documentary, gave birth to legends and stories that would educate the next generation of Brazilian children on the importance of preserving our earth’s interconnected systems. In fact, Paulo’s documentary was so successful that today he states with a sigh of relief that the pink dolphin has been removed from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Resources’ Red List of Endangered Species.

On one of his recent trips to the Amazon forest, Paulo shot a large amount of footage for his new documentary “The Encounter of the Waters.” The encounter of the waters is an unexplainable phenomena where the dark waters of the Negro river and the lighter muddy waters of the Solimões river first collide, then run parallel to each other without mixing for approximately six kilometers (or three and a half miles) and finally join together to form the great Amazon river. The trip required that Paulo contract a small helicopter to get some aerial shots where the contrasting colors of the rivers could be well depicted on screen. After being in the air for a couple of hours, Paulo joined his two-man crew on the small, motorized boat to travel up the Negro River towards Janauari, an ecological park filled with streams and lakes. Paulo, his cinematographer, and their assistant traveled in the small, motorized boat up the Negro River for almost a full day and finally arrived at the ecological park. To his utmost delight, a large pack of pink dolphins, larger than he had ever seen, was at play on the other side of the riverbed. A sight that would have been so rare in the early 1990’s was now more prominent, thanks to his and many others’ efforts to save the happy, playful creatures. Paulo motioned to his camera guy to document the beautiful aquatic ballet. A sighting such as this is simply extraordinary. Every piece of footage on the fresh water creatures is valuable and irreplaceable; Paulo captured every movement of the dolphins provoking each other to good fun while they splashed, jumped, and dove in the river waters innumerous times.

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The Legend of the Pink Dolphins

Occasionally Pink lake’s reflection looked pink, especially when the sunset and clouds’ positions were just right, but most likely the lake's name was inherited from the old legend of the pink dolphins. There was a time when dolphins played in those waters. The swimming mammals were exactly like the endangered species of fresh water dolphins found in the Amazon River; they are called Pink Amazon River Dolphins because of a light pink tinge in their almost white skin pigmentation. Many young men growing up in the Glenariff area, including Phil Kingsley, cringed at the thought of having to call the lake such a girly name.

Paulo Cardoso made a few documentaries on preservation projects in his homeland of Brazil. One of his films featured Brazilian ecologists’ efforts to save the endangered pink dolphins of the northern river.

Legend tells that these pink dolphins appeared in Northern Ireland in the early 1900’s. These were not ordinary animals, but creatures endowed with powers to communicate with humans and supernaturally carry them from the material world to the realm of imagination and back. Some say they used to live in Pink lake at a time when fairies and gnomes and other creatures of the sort were visible to the human eye.

To find out more about the endangered pink dolphins and their adventures with the Kingsley family on Pink lake, you can download "The Conjunction of the Realms (Part One)" ebook in the U.S. on Amazon.com or Kobo.com, in Canada on Amazon.ca, and in the U.K. on Amazon.co.uk.

2013 © Livre Press, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 by Livre Press, Inc. Reproduction in whole or in part not authorized without author's written permission.

The Various Types of Gnomes: 2. The Saci Pererê

Some gnomes are pranksters, like the mythical Saci Pererê who lives only in the Brazilian folkloric legends. Commonly known as Saci, this one-legged little dark child smokes a pretend pipe and wears a red cap. His red cap gives him magical powers such as being able to appear and disappear. Saci is famous in Brazil for startling people and playing pranks. One of his favorite pranks is to braid horses’ tails at night. Those who find their horses with braided tails in the morning know that Saci has been there, playing with the animals. He also loves to jump into small whirlwinds and spin, but don’t get him near the water. Saci Pererê can’t stand being in the smallest brook or the largest river. Ironically, he lives near the Amazon River.

To find about more about Saci Pererê and his adventures with the Kingsley family, you can buy "The Conjunction of the Realms (Part One)" on Amazon.com.

2013 © Livre Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No duplication in whole or in part without written authorization from the publisher.

The Various Types of Gnomes: 1. The Leprechauns

Gnomes are responsible for watching over the forests, the beaches, the dunes, the deserts, the mountains, and all the animal creatures that inhabit them. The guardians of the forests in Ireland are the Leprechauns. They are well known for their intelligence, craftsmanship and humor. Their humor was always present—gnomes find most situations funny—but ever since the Leprechauns learned to drink Irish beer from the humans and began producing their own home-brew poteen, belly-laugh attacks surged throughout the community. A laugh attack is synonymous to uncontrollable laughter; a belly-laugh attack is the same thing but “boisterous.” Because of laughter’s highly contagious nature, the Leprechauns’ humor is, to this day, at an all-time high. They are about twenty-two inches tall, or fifty-six centimeters, and live in small cottages usually located at the foot of large oak or elm trees.

To find about more about Leprechauns, you can buy "The Conjunction of the Realms (Part One)" on Amazon.com.

2013 © Livre Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No duplication in whole or in part without written authorization from the publisher.

Writing for Preteens brought back memories of being eight-years old

When I started The Conjunction of the Realms, since I was writing for preteens, my memories brought me back to the time when I was eight. I began missing my family in Rio de Janeiro. We were three kids living with our parents in a very small Copacabana apartment. Every night our dad would come to the tiny room where the three of us were laying in bed, and would tell us original and hilarious stories. Sometimes, when he was really tired, he would just say—and I will attempt to translate from the Portuguese: “Once there was a cat named Lee who let out a fart for you three.” And leave the room. The three of us would be there whining, complaining, hoping he would come back and tell us a real story. It never worked. Not once.

For my 9th birthday, he asked me what I wanted. "The entire Disney collection with all the cartoon characters, and the entire Jules Vernes collection." I was hungry to read! We were not rich. Such collections would have cost him a fortune. Instead, he went through the trouble of finding an original Adventures of Donald Duck book and a hard copy of Twenty Leagues Under the Sea, both translated into Portuguese. It wasn’t a collection, but those two books were the best birthday present ever. My love for reading began to flourish. In that same year, I went on to read the entire Monteiro Lobato collection, the kids' Bible, The Indian Anhangüera, and other great pieces of Brazilian literature. "The Conjunction of the Realms (Part One)" has a slight literary resemblance to some of these authors. I would not dare compare me to any of them, but rather thank them for their inspiration and originality.