Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. is a 30 year old IT professional with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. He lives in Tokyo, Japan. "Wild FIRE: Legend of the Ryukage" began as a video game design project when he was just 13 years old, but has blossomed into an action sci-fi epic the likes of which mankind has never seen before (or: it's like Dragon Ball Z, but starring a black guy).
I had the good fortune to meet Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. at last year's Tokyo Game Show. I was sitting down in a corner of one of TGS's massive convention halls checking out my bag of cheap swag when a distinguished-looking young black gentleman waved at me and came over.

"Enjoying the show?"
"Not really, it's been a boring show so far." My mind raced. Who was this guy? A fellow teacher I'd met at some conference? Another GAFfer? Why the hell was he talking to me?
"What game has impressed you the most?"
"I dunno...I've been sort of disappointed by the stuff I was looking forward to."
"Yeah, that's cool."
We were at an impasse. He stared at me silently for a few seconds before seeming to come to a decision.
"Hey, man, you like to read?"
"...not really," I lied, wanting this dude to just go away.
Who the fuck are you?, I mentally questioned him.
Am I supposed to know you from somewhere?"You should read this," he reached into his bag and pulled out a book. Some kind of Christian tract, I assumed. At a fucking video game show.
"Uhm, no thanks, I don't really -"
"It's free, man. Read it. It might change your life. And if you like it, just pass it along to your friends."
I looked at the title.
Wild FIRE: The Legend of the Ryukage Clans, Volume 1, by Walter S. Ragland, Jr.
"...yeah, okay. Thanks."
"No problem. Enjoy the show!" With this, the man (who I would only later realize was Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. himself) stood up and left.
I opened the book...and found it to be poorly written, self-published teenage power fantasy wankery of the highest order. Ostensibly science-fiction, the main character of the book (I assume, I only skimmed a few pages) is an Afro-American bio-enhanced powerful warrior who bears a slight physical resemblance to Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. himself. In the description, I mean. The CG art (created by Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr.) doesn't seem to resemble much other than a mannequin.

This character, named Zinjin, is involved in some sort of interstellar war against some aliens that seem to resemble Klingons mixed with Dragon Ball Z characters (as they apparently fight in hand-to-hand combat in the vacuum of space). The pivotal fight (oh, but am I giving too much away?) involves Zinjin and the alien emperor "charging up their kis" and slugging it out with each other in outer space, with the fate of Earth in the balance. Zinjin himself apparently has such good eyesight that he can see Earth space ship "several light years away."
200 plus pages of this trash. If this had been written by Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. when he was 13, it would be kind of sad, but still understandable. The fact that this was written and self-published by Walter S. "The Wild FIRE" Ragland, Jr. at 30 years of age, and that in his preface he states that he believes this book can HELP those who read it...well, I just shook my head and chuckled in a bemused sorta way.
The book includes a CD and an errata paper which announces the publication of
Wild FIRE: The Legend of the Ryukage Clan Volume 1+, which promises "Improved writing style!" and "200 extra pages of ACTION."
I'm thinking of sending the book to distantmantra.
The author's website:
www.ryukage.com (includes a link to an RPGMaker download of a game...apparently if you play the game, based on the RYUKAGE CLAN MYTHOS (tm), you can enter a sweepstakes to win a copy of the book as well as game systems, if you trust the guy with your address, lol).
P.S. I'm bored at work, as you can tell from the above post. I'm trying to entertain myself. :/