Our Kingdom of Dust

by Leonard Kinsey

"Our Kingdom of Dust" is the new novel from Leonard Kinsey, bestselling author of "The Dark Side of Disney."

Man-child Blaine McKinnon is brilliant, wealthy, and completely alone. After an emotional breakdown, Blaine starts a new life at the only place he was ever truly happy: Walt Disney World. But he soon finds that just below the surface of his childhood paradise lies a kingdom corrupted by drugs, violence, and deceit.

"'Our Kingdom Of Dust' is a fantastic and wonderfully written debut novel from Leonard Kinsey. A powerful narrative with some of the weirdest characters you'll ever meet... like a Palahniuk novel high on Pixie Dust"
-Jeff Heimbuch, Miceage.com

"Kinsey breaks new ground with a tale about addiction - mental, emotional and physical - in his look at one Disney fan's journey back to the memories of his youth."
-George Taylor, Imaginerding.com

"Leonard Kinsey is at it again, this time exposing the dark side of guests and Cast Members who'll do anything for a taste of 'Happily Ever After'. 'Our Kingdom of Dust' is one scary ride!"
-Ron Schneider, author of "From Dreamer to Dreamfinder

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy

192 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2012

About the author

Leonard Kinsey was born and raised in Clearwater, FL, and was lucky enough to visit Walt Disney World over 100 times by age 18. As an adult he still harbors an unhealthy obsession with The Mouse, has acquired a large collection of vintage EPCOT Center memorabilia, and visits WDW at least once a year, maintaining connections throughout the rest of the year with Cast Members and other Orlando-based friends and relatives.

In his spare time he has published a comic book and written and directed a feature film which received international distribution. He is also the guitarist in a rock band who appeared on a hit FOX show and released two internationally acclaimed CDs.

Reviews

[NaTaya Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

***DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS -- PLEASE READ NO FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS***
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I recently read this book, and it was really hard for me to put it down. I really liked it. At first, I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get into it -- the whole computer tech company, successful businessman stuff just did not appeal to me. But the moment the protagonist found his dead dog hanging from a tree with its intestines spilled onto the ground, the story immediately got darker and sucked me in.

Taking something as light and full of childhood innocence as Disney and EPCOT Center and turning it into the scene of darkness, drug abuse, psychoses, assault, and murder is just... well, to put it in a major cliché... it is right up my alley.

Furthermore, I simply fell in love with Lisa. Beautiful Snow White look-alike covered in tattoos, damaged and almost broken beyond repair. My kind of girl; my kryptonite.

I also love the way the story is told. It is reminiscent of Holden Caulfield from Catcher in the Rye, only much, much darker. It is wonderfully poetic.

My only qualm with the book -- the reason I gave it four stars instead of five -- is that I DESPERATELY WANT TO KNOW THE SECRET INGREDIENT IN THE DUST!!!!! There are so many hints and teasers and lead-ins... there are moments when you just KNOW the secret dust ingredient is ABOUT TO BE REVEALED... BUT. IT. NEVER. IS. And that REALLY PISSES ME OFF! I have all kinds of crazy ideas about what the dust is made of, but I have no idea if any of my ideas are correct. So, Mr. Leonard Kinsey, author of this book, if you read this review, feel free to message me privately with the answer to this question: "What did you have in mind as the secret ingredient for the dust when you were writing this book?" Thank you VERY much. :-D

[Redfox5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always a bit wary when books offer a darker Disney experience. I love Disney and it tends to annoy me when people slag it off or don't understand the magic. But I need not have worried because underneath the masterbating and the drugs, you can tell Kinsey is a Disney fan.

Blaine is a multi-millionaire whose life is on the skid. He decides to head to the one place he used to feel happy as a kid, Walt Disney World. He books an indefinite stay at The Beach Club and proceeds to get very drunk on the plane.

He wakes up in the house of the limo driver Jay. Jay is obsessed with Disney, covered in tattoos and his house is full of memorabilia. Turns out that Blaine puked over his shoes and passed out. Jay didn't want Blaine to get banned from WDW so he brings him to his house. They start a tentative friendship.

After Blaine finally checks in at The Beach club and rubs one out to Tracey on the resort video loop (seriously!? How am I ever going to watch that again without thinking of this!?). He heads to Epcot and finds everything's changed and this pisses him off. This did annoy me slightly, as I first went to Epcot in 2008 and lots of the things he's bad mouthing, I love.

He then goes to the Magic Kingdom and falls head over heels with Snow White a.k.a Lisa. Bad luck though as she turns out to be Jay's girlfriend. Shortly after this, Blaine is introduced to Dust and thats when the tale gets really sinister.

I enjoyed this book and the pages flew by. I wish we had found out what the secret ingredient to Dust was though. And I'm glad, as dark as it was, there was a happy ending. A good read for Disney fans who fancy a trip on the dark side.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinsey's writing is not going to win him any awards, but I still found his first work of fiction thoroughly enjoyable. In a way, it's fan fiction for the Disney parks, but with the same irreverence he brought to The Dark Side of Disney. His characters and story were compelling enough, but what I was really drawn to was the sense of place he created. Kinsey obviously knows WDW like the back of his hand, and gave the book an authenticity that was probably its greatest charm. Interestingly enough, the book ends up being almost of rebuke of Disney World and the escapism it fosters in people. It's an interesting argument to make, and not without some truth.

As a side note, the book won huge points with me for this quote. I'm a vegan and I've said this very thing myself countless times. I can only guess that Kinsey is himself a vegetarian to make such an astute observation. "It did not leave me with a favorable impression of Animal Kingdom. I mean, seriously, if you're going to make a whole park about animal conservation and almost exclusively sell food that contains dead animals, well, that's just kinda fucked up."

Keep it up Kinsey. Fiction and non-fiction alike, yours is definitely a refreshing and much needed voice in the Disney fan scene.

[Frank · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leonard Kinsey, the scourge of Walt Disney World follows up his wildly successful Dark Side of Disney with his first foray into fiction, OUR KINGDOM OF DUST. He does not disappoint all those who've come to embrace his alt-Disney passion. Take the realities of his DSoD travel guide and sprinkle some Disney magic and illusion all over and and you get OUR KINGDOM OF DUST.

To be fair, Kinsey is not a professionally trained writer and it shows. Yet, he is still able to craft an engaging story built around the ideals he has already set forth in his brand of writing. This is not Vonnegut and really who is expecting it to be. What you get is the same humor and rebelliousness you loved in DSoD.

If you enjoyed Dark Side of Disney your going to enjoy this story as well. Complete with the return of Draven Star on the cover (and dare I say perhaps even the model for one of the main characters). The adult Disnerd in you will love this and all of Kinsey's adventures in the happiest place on earth.

This book was also reviewed for my podcast Books, Beer and Bullshit. The episode can be heard at:
http://booksbeerbullshit.podbean.com/...

[Tammy Hastings · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book through First Reads Giveaways.

*may contain spoilers*

I really loved this book. Honestly. I just LOVED it. I read it in a little over a day. It is dark and disturbing and chilling. It is also incredibly heartbreaking. I was constantly torn between loathing the main character, pitying him, and rooting for him, hoping he'd succeed. Poor guy. He was pissed on continually. There is just nothing that he did or wanted that worked out well for him. It was quite heartening for me to get to the end and see that at least SOMETHING good finally came his way. But I also loved the way that the ending wasn't completely happy either. There was still some darkness at the end. It tied everything up nicely. After the deeply disturbing plot, a complete fairytale ending would have been a total cop-out. So yes, I really loved this book from beginning to end.

[Colin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, so an edgy story set at Disney ... I was always going to love this book. After reading The Dark Side of Disney I was really interested to see how he fared with his first novel. For me it really worked, brutal and shocking in places this is definately not a kids book but for anyone who loves Disney this book is a must. For anyone who doesn't I think it's still enjoyable but the references and backdrops to the story were the icing (or dust ;) ) on the cake as it were.

A pretty short book but didn't need to be any longer, I powered through it in little over a day and will be happily revisiting at some point in the future ... Brilliant !! :)

[Richard Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like reading novels that take place in Disney World because it makes me feel less obsessed since I didn't write it. But, then I realize that I actively sought out a novel that has the setting of a Disney park and that pride goes away.

For someone who wrote a guide book for Walt Disney World, this book is very down on the Disney company as a whole. As much as I enjoyed the story and his first book, this one is very preachy as far as the author's opinion of the direction of Walt Disney World.

The story was good. I might even say it was gripping. I really had trouble putting the book down, but at the same time there were a lot of issues with the book.

The writing is so-so. He has a tendency to reuse words within a sentence of itself. Much of the description is repetitive and repetition is common.

The characters are not well developed, they are somewhat one dimensional, and they are all very immature. There are sexual themes and foul language that feels like it is coming from the eyes of a fourteen year old.

But, those things don't get in the way too much of the very intriguing story. Had the author developed the characters a bit more and used less four letter words it could have been a five star book.

His anti-Disney ideas still kind of leave me with a bad taste, but it is probably because I was expecting a lot of pro-Disney rhetoric. But that is the nerd in me talking.

Recommended for anyone looking for a quick easy read that can deal with a little sex, drugs, and rock n' roll.

[Wayne Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our Kingdom of Dust tells the story of a cadre of mostly lovable losers tripping through the dark underbelly of the Magic Kingdom. Kinsey chooses to unspool his story from the point-of-view of his well-intentioned, but often misguided and always foul-mouthed protagonist. This choice may disguise from the reader the cleverness of the author himself. At times, Kinsey's own voice seems to break through the emotionally stunted personality of his protagonist, giving us a glimpse of that clever wit. Not that the book doesn't work as written, but it does cause one to wonder how the story might have unfolded if written from a third-person point-of-view. For that matter, it would be interesting to see the story as viewed from another of its characters, each of whom bears his or her own emotional scars and challenges.

For a first novel, the book is inventive and imaginative. Kinsey's love of Disney and knowledge of the Orlando parks' inner workings provide a fascinating backdrop for the plot. Like the current Sundance sensation, Escape from Tomorrow, the book contrasts the vaunted Disney magic with the ugliness of real life, making both seem that much more harsh in the doing.

Reading between the lines, one can make an educated guess at the secret ingredient in The Dust, the drug which threatens to ruin his characters' lives, but I'm guessing Kinsey won't let the truth "out of the vault" any time soon.

[Jarrid Crespo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book surprised me in many ways. First off, Walt Disney World itself wasn't the main focus of the story, but the backdrop...the "magic" of Walt Disney World (or lack thereof, depending on what school of thought you come from) is what really gets a main character badge here. Because of this, the story is actually accessible to folks who don't know Disney as well as some of us Disney Geeks.

Secondly, as an ex-Cast Member, I was taken aback (in a good way) by the characters in this story. The majority of the characters are based on real people that frequent the Disney parks. Knowledge of the actual people is not at all needed to enjoy the story, but if you do, it absolutely adds an extra element.

Lastly, and most importantly, the story begins at a very high intensity level and rarely drops below the bar set in the first few pages. Because of this, I was unable to put the book down. Kinsey has a descriptive way of writing that may not be filled with metaphor and allegory, but leaves you wide-eyed and in a frenzy to catch your breath. As his first venture into fiction, Kinsey really knocks it out of the park with OUR KINGDOM OF DUST. It's a short read, but that works in this case. He doesn't waste time describing every little piece of scenery or going over everyone's actions with a fine toothed comb, because the characters in the story would not...and that's what I love most about OUR KINGDOM OF DUST: it stays true to the characters.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fast, fun read with quirky, interesting characters and a quirky, interesting story to go along with them.

There is a lot of exposition, telling the reader what happened in the MC's life before the story really begins, the character himself explaining about his life and issues. When the action starts, it is interesting and well done. And when we reach the climax, it seems like it has been pretty fast. There is an epilogue, but to me the last several chapters all felt like an epilogue of sorts, just describing what happened as a result of that climax.

I liked it more than I may have otherwise because I found the story to maintain my interest, and I love reading stories centered, however loosely, around Disney and Walt Disney World.

Not for the easily offended. There is a lot of profanity in the book; that's how the MC talks. And the subject matter isn't for someone wanting a real positive Disney read or a fluffy children's story...THAT this book isn't. But for others, they will find a pretty neat character study/story. Four stars may be a little high, but this doesn't seem like a "C" effort, more in the "B" range.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I should first say that this is a very quick read with little character development and a very direct plot. It's a self published work, so I can forgive the few grammatical errors and places where an editor would have been of assistance. It is crude, with a plot revolving around sex, drugs, violence, and foul language. It's not a great work of literature by a long shot. That being said, I gave it 4 stars because it takes place at Walt Disney World and the author goes into great detail about the parks, especially EPCOT in the 80s. It is rare for me to find a Disney fan quite like myself, interested in the feeling that a piece of architecture conveys, and that is what I found in this book. I'm glad I read it and I plan to buy it. But if you're not a Mousejunkie, you should probably skip this book.

[Abigail Sweetser · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, fun and extremely we'll written! I read the whole thing in one sitting!

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can I say? I am obsessed with Disney. I had to read this to satisfy my curiosity. It was so off the wall, I couldn't stop reading it.

[John Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, this was a delightful book. I am not going to reveal too much, but despite the tragedies and trials of Blaine McKinnon, he learns a lot about life within a matter of a few weeks than he had in his whole life prior. If you are a major fan of Walt Disney World and the Disney brand, I suggest this based on the references and tidbits scattered throughout the protagonist's adventures through the Vacation Kingdom and in the surrounding murky swamplands of Central Florida. I'd also recommend this to aficionados of the mystery/horror genre. Heck, I'd even say that it reads like a Gothic horror novel at times. I wouldn't be surprised if the author set the story within the confines of the Magic Kingdom with their Haunted Mansion on the periphery of Liberty Square, perhaps during a stormy night. In fact, I loved this book so much that even when I felt I could've written a happier event, I just couldn't because it wouldn't be the same.

[Heather Leblanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read!!! It takes place with characters from the world of Walt Disney's public relations and without being at all disrespectful to the man himself, manages to weave a dark, comedic plot with funny characters. It's like those novels in which we dare to poke fun of our family members but still go on loving them--with WDW being the family.

Don't be mistaken--this is not a family read unless you are all as dysfunctional, warped, and accepting of foul language as the characters portrayed.

[Timothy Bixler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice read

The story itself reminds you of a Kubrick film. I enjoyed it thoroughly. I recommend it if you enjoy Disney fan fiction.

[Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished the book. Read it in one sitting. Have to say that I was a bit apprehensive to read this book, mixing my favorite thing in the world, Disney and a dark story. Gotta say that Kisney comes through big time. A real interesting read and the perfect mix of fiction with the Disney parks was great. I'll be reviewing the book in further detail at www.epicmouse.com.

[Amber Plaisance · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not a book for me. I stopped reading at chapter seven and then I couldn't even LOOK at the book anymore. It is about a whiney man child who happens to make it big in the computer repair industry. He loses his parents and best friends. Goes to Disney to reconnect where he acts like an even bigger whiney man baby. Not my thing.

[Jeff Heimbuch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Straight from my quote on the cover:

"Our Kingdom Of Dust is a fantastic and wonderfully written debut novel from Leonard Kinsey. A powerful narrative with some of the weirdest characters you'll ever meet... like a Palahniuk novel high on Pixie Dust."

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a fan of Leonard Kinsey, I applaud his fiction (or not?) attempt. Though not always strong writing, it was crazy, a bit morbid, and highly entertaining. Well worth the whopping $2.99 for the eBook certainly! And if he wrote another, I'd buy it to!

[Tracey]

Enjoyed The Dark Side of Disney & picked this up cheap for the Kindle.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved it. Except the part about the turkey legs, that's BS.