The Golden Castle - David L. Riley | Author Conversations with Chris Dabbs

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Hi there, hello and welcome to author conversations with me, Chris Dabbs as usual.

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Now here's a question for you. Have you ever wondered whether there's something more to life

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than the one you're living and what you're doing? Perhaps I don't know, something you've always wanted

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to do but never quite found the courage to pursue? Well, in the Golden Castle, a young woman called

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Ronca decides to find out. Going up on her father's farm in 15th century France, she's heard stories

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about a mysterious castle that said to grant a single wish to anyone who can find it. And so,

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she wants to change stuff, right? So she sets off, leaving behind everything that's familiar to her

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on a journey that will bring friendship, danger, love and loss. But you know what, there's a question

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at the heart of this story. What is the thing that you are actually searching for? Isn't actually the

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thing that you need? Well, I tell you what, to discuss that, we've got the author of the

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of the Golden Castle here with us today, who is David L. Riley. Now, how are you doing?

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I'm great, Chris. Thank you for having me on. Hey, listen, no problem at all, no problem,

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this is going to be great because I love the idea of a fantasy adventure that explores

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that family and hope and courage and finding your own way in life. So I think it's going to be

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fantastic to listen to this. Thank you. And, but, but, but, but, yeah, well, before we get into the book,

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though, let's talk about you a little bit. You know, what's your background? And how did you first come

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to writing? Okay, so when I was a child, I always thought and dreams and I've had dreams

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where I'm going to go, I'm on a dinosaur, different places. So I always had thought of writing

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what I was dreaming. I came from a big family of five, five siblings and filled it up. Yeah,

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outside of Philadelphia, Glenn Aldrin Pennsylvania. And where I lived, everything is real close. So we

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had a lot of friends. So we always made stories of outside the house or inside the house.

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Yeah, five kids in three bedrooms. It's hard to just be by yourself. So that's where it all started.

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I wanted to just tell my story and talk about different things.

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Now, right, that's interesting. And I guess that gave you some privacy, right? So, you know,

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being able to write your own thoughts down your own imagination down. That's correct, especially

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in a house like that, right? Gosh. So, right. So was it always something that you wanted to do, really?

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Or was that an ambition that came along as you grew older in terms of actually writing, not just writing

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your stories? I have ADHD and a many of you know, it was about ADHD and a bit of dyslexia. And that

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means when you're right, you're right, sometimes backwards and same things with writing numbers. So I

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always wanted to write, but never had the time. School, I played every sport you could think of as a kid.

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And then when I came here to Texas, I had my own construction company and I worked with a railroad.

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So now I have time to put in the time and put my thoughts down and tell a story. So that's where I am

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right now. I'm really excited about it. Yeah, I'm not surprised. Okay, well, I mean, great. So you've got

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time now to sit and do your passion, right? So let's talk about the golden castle then.

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What was the first idea that eventually became the golden castle? Was it the castle itself?

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Was it the character of Ronca? That's quite an interesting name as well, by the way.

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Or was it just something else entirely? When you started writing, did you really know where

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the story would end? Or did it just form as you went? The story pretty much wrote itself once I got

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started. I have a friend of mine and she went through a lot of hardship, lost her dad and just being

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around or talking to her. So I started writing little notes and we got down to why don't you put it

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on, you know, in a book, why don't you put it on the story? And so my first manuscript was 60 pages

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and then other people saw it and they said, this is good. So I started writing more, writing more.

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And this book has probably two reams of rewrites. So I'll just keep going on and on.

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So I wanted Ronco to reflect my friend and what she was going through and try to help her and also

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put the character in a situation where she learns and when she gets to that destination,

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it's something that she's really excited about. So this is the thing about learning on the way,

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right? Because inside the book, it seems that Ronco grows up surrounded by people who love her,

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which is lovely. Yet she feels there's something still missing from her life. Why did you give her that

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sense of restlessness? Because you would think that you'd be happy really, wouldn't it? Or was it

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something that you recognized in your own life that you wanted to sort of put into the book and be

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able to discuss? Like I said earlier, I have five life-saving buildings and it's hard to be getting

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all the attention. Mom and dad love me all the way, but you know, it's just what it was. Now with

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Ronco, she lost her mom when she was young and her stepdad might be given too much away, raised her

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the best he could. So she lived, they lived south of France and they had a farm. So when her mom passed,

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she told her a story before she passed the Golden Castle. When you reach it, it'll answer all your

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questions or a wish will come true. As a child, she thought about that and it just kept it with her.

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So she's always wanted to lead the farm, but was afraid to. And by the time she came a young adult,

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she had to encourage to do it. And she said she has to do it before she moves on to take it over

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the farm or move it on to some else. So that part of the story was, we selected, for example, living

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filled out. I have five, four boys, one beautiful granddaughter and a work tram track and then

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BNSF was going around the country and I got hired. So I was leaving my friends and my family

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to come to Texas. So I kind of understood the character I was of Ronka and related to me a little bit,

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what I did. So kind of leaving everything behind. Yeah, for a reason, but not feeling very happy with it.

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Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. So it's not so much running away or anything else like that. It's just,

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I think you hit the note on the head that you said it was kind of like an itch had to be done before

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she took over the farm. That sort of thing. Yeah. That's first. Yeah. I think that happens quite often,

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doesn't it? You know, people who see that their life is going in one direction. And they know they

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have to go in that direction, but they really do try and do something else before they have to do that.

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Right. Yeah. And that's part of Ronka's story is you don't have to be stuck if you have that idea

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doing something you just you have to do it because you're going to regret it. And that's the

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that's what I was trying to have the readers get something out of it. That's that's it.

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The start of it would be of the book. That's so true. You're so right, David. I'll tell you

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the honestly, so many. I mean, I wouldn't say regrets in my life, but you know, I wish I'd gone to

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I don't know if you guys have heard of it over there. Right. There's an island, Spanish island called Ibiza.

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Right. Or Ibiza, wherever you want to call it. Anyway, so this is party island kind of thing. Right.

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You guys have got your own party islands over there and Australians have got barley or whatever.

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Anyway, so it's all very famous for a particular type of dance music and stuff like that,

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which I was into when I was growing up. Yeah. I've never never been. I've never been there. It's very sort of

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the famous thing. I'd love to go there as an old geezer. I just stand with all these.

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There were not all geezers. Come on now. I don't know. I don't know. I just why is man. That's it.

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I've done a do. Yeah, exactly. Okay. I'll go with that. So, but I mean, I could go there and I could

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stand at the back probably with loads and loads of other old geezers who are doing exactly the same thing.

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But yeah, I maybe I will. Maybe I will. But I wish I had done that and done all those crazy party

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things. So I understand what you mean by that. And I think that's just a very small thing, isn't it?

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But I think lots of people want to go on like a self-discovery trip, say before they go to college

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or they've gone to college or whenever. Really, don't they? Before they get married even, right?

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Right. Exactly. Being, sorry, growing up in a small town, I lived in the Glen Hall in Pennsylvania.

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It was like 15 miles outside of Philadelphia. I was able to pretty much go anywhere. New York was two

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hours, Jersey was an hour and a half. So I was able to do that, but it was just confined in an area.

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I love maybe 150 miles. So when I just started to do traveling, it was scary, but I had to do it.

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I just had to do it to say I did it and feel like I was successful. So I understand exactly what you

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mean. So with Ronca, she was confined to her farm and she always thought about what's out there.

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So when she left on her quest, she met a bunch of other people, all different wealth, poor friends.

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She has seen a while and they went through this journey. And Ronca, once she left, there was a darkness.

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She always felt this darkness. When she was out of control, there was darkness we take over.

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And the first chapter you'll explain that, but through the whole journey, when she feels like

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she can't handle a certain situation, the darkness takes over. So these other characters

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help her along the way. So there's a lot of fascinating ideas that I put in there that you think

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it's going to be one way and then I twist it around. So yeah, that's pretty much I want the character

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represent to young ladies out there, especially 18 to 21, they're facing the world. And the

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challenges are out there. And sometimes you feel like you're on the wall and the darkness is

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closing in on you and I just want to try to explain. And I mean, it's young girls, but it could be anybody

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that is equal there to help you and you not by yourself. So that's some of the idea that I was trying to

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put in this novel. Yeah, that's that's that's interesting. So when she's cornered, it as you say,

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things turned dark, right? Right. Right. Oh gosh, right. Yeah. And I suppose that that makes it

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different from just a normal sort of, oh yeah, hi, hi, hi, it's off to the past. Exactly.

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So instead of going along, I'd say, oh yeah, I spent however long in this place and that yeah,

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right. Okay. So that's a nice twist, actually. He gives it some bones, doesn't it? I think that's

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quite good. So okay. So she sets out on this on the journey to find the castle. Did you do any research

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on it really to find out about women in the 15th century and how they would have been taken as she

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was making her journey? Is that why she had to make friends on the way? I mean, okay. When I first

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decided to actually write this novel, I just didn't want to put it out there any place. So I did some

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background checks and of course, France and the revolution and when the Roman Empire was there,

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I kind of fell in love with that and I put in the first novel and all the three, I had four novels.

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So I put a little bit of history there. So when somebody knows that era, you're going to be reading

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it and be like, wait, this did happen. So I did the background check and then obviously I did

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kind of look up some type of information of the women, the men, what did they did to jobs,

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those type of things. The king, what was the king's the way he is because it's a real king Charles.

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So I implemented that into the books. So I gave it to a friend of mine. She was reading it and she's

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like, wait a second. I learned it's a high school. So it was really cool. So that's where I'm going with

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the historical part of it. I don't know, pretty. Yeah, I mean, I've got to say this. I can't remember what

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Richard Brook was. It's quite famous when I don't know, maybe 10 years ago, something that came out

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and it was a, say, there's an south of France and oh gosh, I can't remember the name of it. I should have

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looked it up. Anyway, so it's talking about all these places, you know, that I've been to. I've been

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to the south of France quite a lot. I like it there. And then there was that movie as well, wasn't it, by

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the cry, Michael Crichton. Yeah, yeah, you know the one I mean, the time traveling kind of thing. Yeah,

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I can't remember that one either. They definitely know, but yeah, I got it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So,

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I mean, and that was actually quite, well, time traveling, yeah, it was a technology thing, wasn't it?

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But that was a, that was really good. And I thought they did that quite well, didn't they? Because

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they got stuck back there. I don't think it, maybe it was the 15th century, whatever, but whatever.

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I think that it's an interesting point to make that it isn't just like a happy, go lucky kind of

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story, right? Right. And so you bringing in all of those things really helps that character to

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develop along the way, right? I mean, there's quite a lot of loss and hardship in the stories,

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isn't it? I mean, alongside the adventure and romance and moments of humor, I mean,

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why did you feel, why did you mix everything together? I mean, you could have just made it a nice book,

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right? As opposed to her feeling, all these things, or other people feeling these things.

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When you read this now, it's very emotional. And I do want to tell people that,

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here's hardship and there's love and it gets pretty emotional. And I just feel that I put myself

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into this. Believe it or not, when I write it again, read it again, read it again, I get emotional

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because I get feel the characters and what they're going through. Especially Jacob, Jacob kind of

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reminds me of myself. He's a proud father, a four-boy, a four-boy, a great daughter. He's proud of his

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daughter that he doesn't want her to go on this quest, but he knows he has to or she goes on this quest,

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but he knows she has to. So I can relate to Jacob pretty much through the novel. But like,

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when I wrote this, I didn't want it, like you just said, I didn't want to just be one way.

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You know, I want to people to read it and get their own ideas. It's very emotional. If you don't

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have a good feeling by the end of the novel, I didn't do my job. And that's why I was trying to do

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for me. I think you're setting up that up well. As you say, you've written four novels now,

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which is pretty good, isn't it? I mean, that's good going. You've got, you're really off-flowing.

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Like I said, it's right in itself. It really is. Of course, I have a lot of friends that give me

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input. Just fine. I can sit around that quest of wine. I'm just like, hey, what are we going to do here?

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What are we going to do here? Because you know, you're right first. You're right the last. You start

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following all the middle parts. And we're sat there one night, a friend of mine, and we'll have a

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class of wine. And like, how can we get this chapter together to make this sense? And it just worked

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out fine. We just knocked it out. And that's part of it. When people read this, I want them to read

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his with friends and talk about it and get their opinions, their ideas. Like I said, there's about

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two or three twists where when you're really like, oh, wow, I didn't see that coming. So yeah, it's a lot of fun.

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Yeah, so it's not, yeah, exactly. So it's not just to read. It's not just a historical book. It's

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not anything else. It's something that you want people to share. Now I get that. That's, I don't like that.

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And that really does match up with how you wrote it then, doesn't it? As you say, sitting around with

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friends and discussing everything. As opposed to it, just being editors at large kind of thing.

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That you never got. So I want people to, and again, I'm not having myself in the back. I like, I gave

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the man's trip to friends and they couldn't, they couldn't take put it down. They said, I've read six

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chapters. I can't wait to go home and read the rest. So that was, that was already comforting. So

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fingers crossed. Is that? Yeah, exactly. Now that isn't because you gave them strong wine and liquor was

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I promise them to come back. No, that's fair. Okay. So did you feel that there must have been some

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difficult parts to write? Because I think at one stage, you said that you actually just wanted to

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sort of like give it up, right? And yes, that's it. It's, it's my first novel. I'm like, how do people do

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this? How do authors do this? Because as you read it and then you read, then you read it again,

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it doesn't make sense to you. So you change it again, you change it again. And because I did it

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eight months, but it wasn't every day. And as you gave it up, I just, yeah, I put it aside. I said,

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I can't do this right now. Three weeks later, came back and just worked on it again. It's just

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flew, flew by it before you know it. The second book, like I said, I'm writing that and it's just,

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I sit there before I know it's six, seven hours, go by. It's very, it's very rewarding that I can do

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this because like I said, I made DHD and I actually kind of have my time, put my, my thoughts into it,

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besides other people helping me out. The one thing I want the readers to know, I wanted to create

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a young woman who readers could see themselves in this story, not just, you know, just reading it. I

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want them to feel it. So hopefully that works. She meets a lot of different characters.

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She changes everybody's lives. So as she gets to the end, they say, you changed our lives.

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She says to them, excuse me, because she says, thank you for changing my life, but it's the opposite,

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it's the opposite, the other way. So yeah, it's, I think it's a few good stories.

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It sounds great. And I mean, I can hear you're quite proud of yourself, right? And you're

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in emotion about finally being able to sit down and spend the time on something that you wanted to do

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because of the DHD and all that, that sort of stuff because it does make it difficult to finish things,

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doesn't it? And yeah, you know, wow, yeah, that's fantastic. So the help that you had with your friends,

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everything else is great as well. And also, of course, if Runker is changing people's lives,

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hopefully that's what you're going to be trying to do with the, you know, pretty your,

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your outlook out there. Yeah, yeah, I get it. I just want everybody to know there's challenges.

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You can overcome them challenges. You don't have to do it by yourself. And that's why I decided

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to do this because there's family, there's friends, you just got to reach out. You don't have to be

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so proud. And that's what I was trying to do. And there's people, there's characters in here,

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they don't want her help. But then also, and they decide, I need your help. And it's, this is worth,

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that's the, what I'm trying to tell everybody or let them read that, get something from it,

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that family, friends, acquaintance, teachers, coaches, anybody that they're there for you.

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I know that's, do you know what? That is a really important thing to actually mention, isn't it?

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Because, you know, I think a lot of people think that they have to, that they have to keep it inside

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themselves. Right. Exactly. And they just, yeah, I think unsurprisingly though, right? Because it's

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really tough to open up to other people. Yeah. Exactly. Especially if you feel that you should have

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that issue in the first place, right? So, or you, no. So, okay. So, Ronca actually helps other people

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as well as them helping her. Then she finds the council. But don't tell us. Oh, I don't tell us.

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Now, yeah, exactly. He's really cool. I think the end is really good. I think, yeah. Yeah. It's,

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yeah. Don't say it. Don't say it, David. We want to know. People ask me what,

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people ask me about it. And I start talking about, I start rambling on and then I go, oh, I can't tell you

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this. No, no, give me more. No, I can't tell you more. That's just, just, just, just by the box.

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Yeah. We don't need any spoilers from your book. No, exactly. And then the second one is like,

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oh, I talked to so many people about it. I can't write it up. You know what I'm saying? It's like

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my friends are going, let me read it. Let me read it. I'm like, nope. No, I'm annoying you about this one.

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Oh, okay. So, is this the first in a series? I know. Is it? Yeah, it's the standard.

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My plan is four. So 14, 10 to 14, 28. So that period where France divided, no history,

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from an empire, England, France, Germany, all those things start happening.

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Joan of R. And that is, okay, too much already. That's not, that's pretty good. That's my fault process is

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tried to get especially a young child to read it. And then they can learn about it. And then they can

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ask their dad, they can ask their mom, or they can ask their teacher, hey, what's the Roman Empire?

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What's France? Different history about the book. And hopefully, exactly. Yeah, how many popes?

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Yeah, right. That's not stuff. Is that quite? Yeah. Like every year was a different vote.

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The man. Exactly. And then as you said, you know, parts of northern France belong to England.

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And the other thing I was interested because when I was reading, it's a hundred year war.

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And like, oh my gosh, so much could happen. And then that was towards Jan. I'm like, okay,

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this is exciting. I don't want to do this. There you go. See, that's the thing, isn't it?

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Well, first, who are listening and watching? It's a good idea to write about what you love.

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What you're interested in, right? So no, cool. Okay. So guess what? We're running out of time.

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I don't believe it. Always have. I know. We always, you know, on author conversations,

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we talk and we, you know, and it always happens. It's so annoying for me. Oh gosh. But listen,

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finally, so David, having spent so much time creating this world, right? And these characters.

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And also, of course, you know, planning the next series, the rest of the series and things.

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One has writing the golden castle and the series, right? Talk to yourself because that's what

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I'm interested in learning about. So what have you learned about you, basically, along the way?

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Okay. So my background is once I start something, I'll find any way to finish it.

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I was a nice hockey referee for 15 years and I wanted to go to the show and I started level one,

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got up to level five, did juniors, did, went all over place in Philly, New York and Jersey.

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And I met people in network. I said, I want to be an interior referee. I moved the Dallas and

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USA hockey. I was top level five and I actually got to do it in 1999. I refereed the Dallas stars

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a preseason game and that's the really one, the standard cup. I also had a DJ and entertainment company

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in Philadelphia, New Jersey. Storylock, just a little like, little bar. I said, you know what? I want to

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do this. So I just kept out it, kept out it, learned in music, went all up to different places, watch

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DJs and I sold it out. When I moved there, it was very successful. So when I start something,

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I put my mind to it and I challenge myself and if I can do it, I'll ask you, I'll ask someone else

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about how to do this or your podcast. I pull all your podcasts up and I watched all of them give me

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some information. So this is really the most, how can I explain this? Exciting part that I thought I

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can never do. I grew up in the kind of school, you know, in a teaching history, English didn't teach

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comprehension. It was like, you go to the basement and do a paper. So as I was going through high school,

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I wanted to write. I wanted to write. I didn't know how to and yeah, I just did everything I could.

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Talked to myself and I'm excited and I hope the bucket turns out the people like it.

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The analogy keep going. I'm pretty good. That's a really cool story isn't it? I mean, gosh.

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So you can really skate backwards in? Yes. And ski backwards.

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But what can you say? I can't skate backwards. Yeah, I can't snowboard. I can't. I'll tell you

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funny story. I'm okay. So I go to Denver. I have four boys. 36, 35, 33, 19. And there will be

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granddaughters of 16. And my second, my hands, my second one, he likes to skate. So I'm a skier.

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I'm not a stilb water. So we go to Denver and he's got to snowboard. Let me try. He goes, no,

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let me try. So I go to a bunny hill, boom, my face. I said, okay, this is something I won't try.

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Because I knew I'm not up to offer that. I'm too old. But yeah, so you got it. I'm in all my life.

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And yeah, so learn how to skate backwards. And I'm excited about the next chapter. So here we are.

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Excellent. Well, but you know what? I've never met an NHL ice hockey referee before. Oh,

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any kind of ice hockey referee to be honest. So I'm so I'm very I'm quite happy. That's made my day.

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There we are. Done. So well, listen David, thank you very, very much for joining us.

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The Law and Nation's been a big cross. Absolutely. It's been lovely talking to you too.

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It's been a blast. And we've learned a lot about each other, I think. So everyone, my guest has been

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David L. Riley and his book. Ron, we've been talking about mostly is the Golden Castle.

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You'll find more information about David and the book in the description accompanying this interview.

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And don't forget to check out his page on author conversations as author dash conversations.com

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forward slash David. Right. So also, where can people get in touch with you on social media and

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all that sort of stuff? Yeah, on Facebook, social media, we are actually putting out a new

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website that'll go social or every every platform. So they just need look for it and

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we're doing a new Facebook page that's in the process right now. But just it'll be out in social media.

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You know, everywhere, hopefully everywhere. Yeah, brilliant. Okay. I remember you can go to author-conversations.com

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forward slash David dash Riley to see this interview and to see some other bits and pieces as well.

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So that'll be good too. But listen, David, it's been wonderful. Thank you very much for coming along.

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And hopefully we'll speak again in the future when you're next to that. I love to.

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Yeah. Brilliant. Great. We'll have a good rest of the day and I'll see you again. Okay. Bye.

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Cheers. Bye. Oh, yeah. I got the carry it over. So if you can see the you see the banner?

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No, it hasn't moved. Oh, yeah. Just a Stanley Cup champions.

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That's the Dallas Thor as they signed it. It's all signed by the Dallas. See?

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Appreciate it. You know, I think that. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing. It's like I tell people I try to

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tell my kids and I I see them do. Hey, they're if you have the dream, just go ahead and do it. Figure it out.

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And they do it. And I'm like, I did much. You know, go to school, you know, whatever you need to do.

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And yeah, I just I'm loving this right now. I'm really enjoying it. And you've been left.

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If you enjoyed this conversation, you can watch more author conversations here.

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[Music]