I can say that finally my new book 'Rice Pudding with Golden Spoons' is finally ready and published.
If you ask yourself about what is this book going? About death, but then in a very funny way. The death and what will happen after Life, don't need to be always a sad subject.
One day I was thinking, why not writing a book about how funny life could be after the death. Imagine a God that watch television and have a jeep; A Nostradamus who once was a famous predictor in his live and is the best friend of the Holly Creator now.
The idea to write this book happened about 7 years ago. That time I wrote it in Dutch.
A few months ago I rewrote it, but with a longer story.
Now, the English version is even bigger, with much more things that are going on and with much more illustrations. The illustrations of the new book were done with the great help of Jamile Pixote, who was a lot of nights awake to have the designs ready at time. Near that, I had the great help of my good friend Wayne W Smith for it, and gave his opinions about some things.
Now that the English version of the original 'Rijstpap met Gouden Lepeltjes' is ready. I can say that I am pretty satisfied with the result. For sure a good book if you like to laugh. But also a good book if you are afraid from the death, or if you need to deal with the subject 'deceased'.
On this page I give some information around this book; Cover, illustration, links and text.
Rice pudding with golden spoons - cover
Rice pudding with golden spoons -introduction of the book:
Everyone need to die one day, we all know that. The funny part is that we don’t know what will happen after the dead. Is there a heaven, is there an hell or is there just nothing. Some people believe in reincarnation; Being reborn again and coming back to the planet earth.
During all the years there were a lot of movies about ghosts and life after dead around. An example of this; The movie ‘Ghost’ from the 80’s. Actor Patrick Swayze, who is in the mean time already a few years dead was the ghost in the movie. A man that got killed, became a ghost and staid on earth to try to get in contact with his wife to tell her what happened to him.
What really will happen when your death, we have no idea. I remember that when I was a child, I asked my grandmother: ‘Please granny, when you’re death one day, give me a sign, let me know what happened afterwards’, but she never gave me any sign or never came over to tell me what happened or where she was.
Almost my whole family died; That includes a mother, a father, uncles, grandmothers -and fathers, brothers and sisters.
None of them ever came to me afterwards to tell me that there was live after dead.
Knowing that we all want to know what will happen after the death; Will there be a paradise, will there be anything, we all would like to have an answer on that.
A lot of times I thought: ‘Maybe my grandmother never came to tell me something, because maybe it is so good after the death, that if everyone would know this, that people would considering to do suicide’.
Strange thought but anyway it was for me an answer to myself why she never came to inform me.
Years ago I had an accident, pretty bad. So bad that I ended up in a temporary coma.
In that coma I have seen a long white hall, a nice beach on the end, with the most beautiful flowers. Flowers much bigger then here on earth. The air I was breathing there was so fresh. Almost like pure oxygen. On the beach was my whole death family waiting on me. They all looked so happy. Even my oldest brother Patrick, that died from cancer was there and looked so healthy. More healthier then I had seen him for the last day on earth before he died.
My sister told me that it wasn’t my time yet, that I needed to go back. Even didn’t had the time to ask my grandmother why she never had came to give me a sign…
After those words I was back, have seen my body laying down in a bed. What happened after that I don’t know. The day after I waked up, started to cry and told to my wife: ‘I want to return, I want to be there again’.
Off course she didn’t believe anything from all what I was saying. I remember I cried for a few days; I wanted to be dead again.
That is what I call it, a kind of dead experience during live.
Years before, when my oldest brother died –He had cancer, we all were informed that he had six months to go.
Even being informed that he would die, we didn’t informed him about it.
One night, I was dreaming. A very nice dream, because my brother was sitting in front of my desk talking to me: ‘Alex, where I go, you can’t go with me, but know I am happy now and that all my pain is gone’.
Patrick had indeed a lot of pain from the stomach cancer he had.
After his words in my so realistic dream, the phone at home waked me up. It was four in the morning.
My first reaction after picking the phone up was: ‘What?!!!’.
That was a reaction on the words that were told to me through this phone call, coming from the hospital: ‘Your brother died about five minutes ago’.
Always I have been thinking that my brother came indeed to me, to inform me, to let me know that he was okay.
A friend of me who is a doctor had afterwards as reaction that my brother came indeed to me that night, through my dreams, in my sleep.
He told me: ‘Your brother did this because you both were so close together’.
Weird was it anyway. But it was indeed the truth that we were very close with each other.
Patrick was dead and joined my whole dead family. I was in a kind of dead experience before…
Was there then really something after the dead? And if there was, would it be something like we all known from different religions? There are so many religions, but there is basically one God.
A God that is called by different names; Deus, Allah… So many religions, but basically also the same place after dead: The Heaven.
Dead is a sad part to think about. A lot of people don’t like to talk about it. So, writing about it, would be the same sad thing… or it could be the same sad thing.
So I was thinking years ago, why not writing a book about live after dead. But in a totally different way, a funny way.
Not in a way that everyone gone be sad and will be ready to start crying.
To started this book, there need to be a God. Someone that was the creator of the world, the people; Just like it is in so many religions.
There must be a place where you go after the dead. We going to take the heaven…
And because so many religions are with Jesus and Mary involved, they will become a part of the book too.
But for this kind of stories, unfortunately you need to have a dead person.
If we use our illusion now, and trying to see the live after dead in a positive and funny way, then we can start.
Near God, Jesus and Mary, I will involve some other people. Basically famous people that once walked around on this planet.
And as so many religions have; I will involve the hell and their leader Satan.
The idea I had to write this book, came years ago in me up. Not only because my brother died, not only because my grandmother never gave me a sign, but also because I was thinking on all those children that die daily on the world. Children that die from cancer, diseases, …
They also don’t know what will happen after the death. So, for them it would be nice to hear a kind of funny story in the way you gone read now.
A story written for young and old, a story for all who need to die one day.
Rice pudding with golden spoons -some text of the book:
‘I have it so cold, I am shaking… I even can’t bread anymore’, was it what Linda thought that afternoon.
Linda is dead, and works now for God the father. Creator of heaven and all the beautiful things.
The creator had an hard time that day. It was his only free day of the month, but also today God needed to work.
Already since a few days, there were much more dead people on earth then usual.
All souls, ready to knock on the big galvanized heaven gate.
The heaven gate was almost five thousand years old, and even the Father realized, that there needed to come soon a new one.
The reason that there were more souls now, was because on the planet earth there was recently a tsunami. And all those victims needed to be Welcomed in Gods paradise.
Linda was the secretary of God. A kind of same work she had done on earth.
Linda’s job was to type in all the names of dead people in the computer system.
A very difficult job. For sure when it came to type in the names of Spanish and Chinese souls. Terrible it was when Linda needed to type an Arabic name. She found it very difficult, all this kind of strange names.
God had in the mean time enough of it. He was completely stressed out.
‘Take a break, my Father’, Linda said, while also she could observe how nervous God was.
‘Why there needed to be a tsunami this time of the year’, mumbled God: ‘It is always the same, when it’s almost my birthday, then more people are dying on that blue planet. It seems like they all know that it’s gone be my birthday soon; -That they all want to be here to celebrate it’.
‘But the people on earth don’t know when it is your anniversary, my Father’, reacted Linda.
Also the Holly Creator knew that those new souls, arriving in his paradise, didn’t know that soon it was again God’s birthday.
The birthday of God was every year a big party.
Meanwhile, the Creator was already a few million years old, and still at this age, God felt him really healthy. A few times a week he went to the gym, this to keep himself in condition.
God loved to go to the gym. For him it was a moment of being away from stress and work.
Off course he almost never went alone to the gym. Mostly he went together with his best friend Nostradamus.
Nostradamus was a big fortuneteller on earth, but died in the year of 1566.
When he arrived in the Heaven, God didn’t allowed him first. The Father didn’t liked the fact that he had informed, that time too many people on earth about what will happen in the future...................‘Finally’, spoke Jesus, who was tired from walking and standing so many times on his crutches.
Also for him this spa was a good thing.
On the big entry, Rufulus the boss of the spa was already waiting on them.
‘Peep-Peep’, he said in the direction of the creator.
It was that way, that only Krimsak, the leader of the planet could speak. All the other citizens from Dentius could only Beep. Beepz was then also the national language on this planet, but very difficult to understand.
Even God, who had created this planet, those creatures and their language, had it difficult to understand Beepz.
‘Peep-Peep-Peep’, Rufulus spoke, and God could understand very well that he mentioned that their room was ready.
Following Rufulus through many halls, they finally arrived at the room of God.
‘Is it here?’, God asked.
‘Beep’, answered Rufulus, while God went already inside.
‘What the hell is this?’, was the Father asking into the direction of Rufulus, watching in the mean time to a bunk bed for three persons: ‘You think I gone sleep in this?!’, continued God, and became very upset.
‘Beep-Beep’, reacted Rufulus with fear in his voice.
For sure Rufulus wasn’t very intelligent. But Jesus and Linda understood very well, that Rufulus had done this for doing good.
‘My father can’t sleep in a bunk bed’, was what Jesus said, after seeing how upset his father was: ‘My father is to old for this’.
Finally Rufulus understood that this wasn’t a good idea to put his Creator in such a kind of bed.
‘They are totally nuts here..’, mumbled God, while Rufulus brought them to an other room.
Again God was upset, by seeing the new and different room.
A nice bed was graceful standing in the middle.
But God was so tired that he reacted:
‘You really think that we are going to sleep with three in one bed?’.
‘Beep’, answered Rufulus, what meant ‘no’.
‘We take the other rooms’, was Linda’s answer.
‘There are here so many rooms’, Jesus said: ‘And I always wanted to sleep in a bunk bed’...........
..........So fanatic that he hit three stars.
This didn’t count, because the rules were very clear. Only two stars could be hit.
But Quatrinus just wanted to proof that he was a very good player.
When the next round started and the twenty last souls allowed to participate in the final, a disaster happened.
Quatrinus hit one star so hard that hit went with high speed in the wrong direction.
Straight into the direction of a space shuttle that was on a mission a few several thousand miles away.
A huge explosion was the result, and seven dead astronauts who were standing in front of the Heaven gate a few minutes later.
‘You idiot!’, screamed God in the direction of Quatrinus and was stamping with his foot on the Heaven floor, so hard the whole Heaven was shaking.
‘The seven astronauts are here’, said Saint Peter who came with them to God. ...........Rice pudding with golden spoons - one of the illustrations
