RICHIE SHAFFER
STORIES
I'M STARTING A NEW ADVENTURE
CARE TO JOIN ME?
LATEST
The Eight of Earth are the only humans left in existence. They were birthed from artificial wombs, a century after the extinction of mankind, on a world far from Earth, doomed to be the last of their race and surrounded by the alien citizens of the planet.
As Leo attempts to save the human race from its second and final extinction, he stumbles upon a mysterious Ancient vault that kickstarts a chain of events that will change the course of history. Now, all Eight lives begin to spiral out of control as they encounter: century-old secrets, a debt owed to a ruthless crime lord, an incurable disease, a deadly jungle, the soul-crushing guilt of death, and a battle for one man’s mind.
They’re humanity’s second chance… but they have to survive Valenia first.
UPCOMING NOVEL
7 Fun Facts
1.
I played Major League Baseball for the Tampa Bay Rays. My first hit was a homerun and this above GIF of me went viral immediately after.
2.
I invented my own board game called Welcome to Woodland: the Worst Town in the World... It may very well be the worst board game of all time.
3.
I can clap with one hand. As you can see, I'm a man of many talents.
4.
My father was an SSA in the FBI, directing multiple Task Forces such as Organized Crime and Joint Terrorism, post 9/11.
5.
I have an alter ego named Dicky Danger and he streams video games on Twitch weekday mornings.
6.
One night in 2016, I partied in Cuba with members of White House staff, dozens of other top ranking government officials and was introduced to a man who staffers referred to as "the most powerful man on Earth". I wasn't allowed to know his name or what he did... I still wonder to this day if they were messing with me or if I met a real member of the Illuminati?
7.
One night, when driving through the Smoky Mountains, my gps randomly directed me off TN-71 onto a creepy dirt road. It then proceeded to lead me to some rural graveyard in the middle of nowhere. I've never been more scared in my life.
My Story
Square Peg, Round Hole
As the title page says, I'm starting a new journey and can't wait for you to take it with me. I'm a recently retired professional baseball player diving headfirst into this new adventure of telling you the stories that keep me up at night, excited. Since I could walk, I've had a baseball bat in my hands. It has, without any exaggeration, been my entire life for nearly 3 decades. It consumed my childhood, I went to college for it, I won a junior olympic gold medal because of it and I had a memory-filled 8 year professional career doing it. I played in stadiums filled with 50,000 screaming people and traveled the world having so many life-changing experiences I'd never be able to fit them all into this blurb. I've been so unbelievably fortunate. But one thing that always accompanied me through the rigid, hyper-demanding world of baseball was this free-spirited, wild imagination of mine that loved everything creative. Stories, dreams, jokes, ideas, hypotheticals, you name it. I've always been a dreamer. Disappearing into my untamable mind and exploring places that didn't exist. Always obsessed with creating something new. The kind of guy playing Settlers of Catan with friends and always trying to invent rules. The guy on all night bus rides across the country who'd annoyed his teammates because he wouldn't stop talking. The guy in high school who couldn't wait to tell his friends at lunch his elaborate dreams from the night before (even if they were consistently embellished!). The guy who couldn't help but ask "what if...".
Then my baseball career ended and I wasn't sure what came next. I had this story I'd written for fun, but I was an athlete, surely no one would give me the time of day? But I enjoy writing and I enjoy telling stories, so why shouldn't I pursue it? It was in those hesitant moments I realized I was letting the world try to shove me into a box. Telling me what I could or couldn't be in this life. So I decided to just go for it! I've always been a square peg, surrounded by round holes anyway. I can be mature and juvenile all at the same time. I'm a foul-mouthed, goofball jock with a huge heart who also ponders the existential meaning of life. I can be rash and I can be cautious. I can be boisterous and I can be quiet. It's just who I am. I'm a storyteller who just happened to be good at swinging a bat.
I don't know what will come of this journey or how I'll be received. I'll make mistakes I know that, but I can promise you this, I'll always stay true to who I am. I'm going to tell the stories I want to tell and how I want to tell them. My first novel, Valenia, is a Sci-Fi novel but I plan on writing multiple genres for multiple audiences. Fantasy, Murder Mystery, Horror, Children's Books, Humor, maybe even Literary Fiction. Why not?! The industry says I shouldn't.... And maybe they're right. But I spent my entire first career being told what to do, and refuse to allow that to happen in this one.
So, if you're a square peg out there, looking around, but not seeing a place for you, take this journey with me and let's create something awesome. Together, we'll ignore all the voices out there telling us what to do and just enjoy being who we are. And hopefully, we'll create some cool stories along the way too!
Click here to join the Square Peg Army!
A free unedited collection of short stories, essays and writing experiments. Everything from thriller scenes, to my attempt at literary fiction and inspirational thoughts. I comment below the story on the significance or origin of the post each time.
