Milo's World
| last update 2006Sep18 |
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| Defenestration is running a very short story I wrote in their January 20th issue. I created this forum should anybody get the urge to comment/criticize/congratulate ;-) |
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What is Milo's World?
It's primarily the story of reclusive Milo, confronted with catastrophy to
which he appears to be the unlikely solution. Or is he the cause? Letting
himself be drawn into a one-sided war against supernatural might, he hopes that
in the bargain his life will at last begin to make some sense -- but the quest
that at first seemed a relatively simple matter of black and white is
dissolving in a field of gray, and Milo's world has become more confusing to
him than ever.
My writing is an exploration of the destructive elements in ourselves. I
write largely about such humanistic concerns as our fears, our sometimes sense
of alienation, and our desire for redemption. Milo's World is my central
expression of these themes -- a collection of fantasy stories with certain
settings and characters in common.
With the Milo's World cast I aim to create a diverse group of occasionally
dark personalities. In my experience, people with diverse backgrounds and
qualities often find it difficult seeing eye to eye -- making for a world in
which heroes and villains are rarely mere heroes or villains.
Why Fantasy?
I believe one advantage of the fantasy setting is that it offers a multitude
of ready-made metaphors. Bugbears of the mind become bugbears of the
wilderness. The refuge of a life spent in denial might be a castle keep under
siege.
Fantasy fiction is often (much of the time rightfully) characterized as
escapist reading of no real substance. All of the obvious arguments in favor
of recreational escapism aside, modern psychology and many eastern faiths agree
that much of man's day-to-day fear has in its turn no substance either.
Many times fear that is being fled must be no more real than the illusion
which is fled to. When this is the case, the most useful home for discourse on
the nature of fear cannot be in psychology books. It must be in the
underpinnings of escapist literature.
Having said that, Milo's World remains a fantasy story. Its true Sturm und
Drang is concealed most times more or less safely beneath a thin and
appropriate layer of sword fights, rousing adventure, and grotesque monsters.
I hope that it's fun in all the right places, and something more where there is
the potential for it to be so.
| Stories (and poem) |
"Supernatural"
by Miakoda
reproduced here by permission | I've known Miakoda since before Milo's World was even an itch in the back of my mind. She's been proofreading the project for me on and off since the beginning. This poem is a reenvisioning of one of the Milo's World short stories named Totem Animals -- Miakoda created it while proofing the story's earlier drafts. I, as always, am too close to my own writing to have any usefully objective opinion, but my wife feels it captures the mood of the story very nicely and I've read comments by readers who regard the poem positively as a stand-alone work. Totem Animals itself will likely eventually appear here. As I write this (Oct12), I plan to begin its final editing cycle in a matter of days. |
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| No stories here yet I'm afraid... they'll appear gradually as I try to get magazine publication before posting them. |
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Gallery |
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Deirdre's Realm:
Naipaul and Shelter
1280x688 pixels
Text isn't really legible. The thumbnail is a full-sized piece of the big map, so it actually has more detail than you'll see here. |
Deirdre's Realm:
Naipaul and Shelter
3730x2006 pixels
May kill your browser. In a future version of this map I'll probably make a useful reduced version by relabeling everything with an appropriate font size. |
Goblin by mobii (153 KB)
This one's probably my favorite so far among the more finished sketches... the woods make a real difference to the atmosphere. My only objections are that it's too bipedal -- it shouldn't be able to stand up that straight without crouching -- and maybe the torso's a hair on the thick side. But it does grow on me a little more every time I see it. Earlier of mobii's goblin images are archived in the forums. |
Bester's Dream
by aliana (161 KB)
Dali is a significant inspiration for aliana. This is her re-envisioning of what Bester saw during his dream in the Durant/Kuora story. I like it quite a bit. :-) Note the way Simak is both the center of a two-dimensional sprawl and the center of a three-dimensional tunnel. The branches twining out to form various tortured souls... to one side a rent heart... the sharp dualism in the face. It's very clever. |
Author's Blog
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Monday, September 18th, 2006: After eight and a half
months of work (which is one hell of a lot more than I expected it to take),
MeW (Mearn's World) is ready to go. I didn't want to mail it until I had four
complete issues (which turned into four and a half complete issues simply
because of the way the scenes broke down), but now that's done and I just sent
off the first issue and a synopsis to Dark Horse Comics.
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Sunday, May 28th, 2006: I've been reading comics more
or less steadily since I was 13 (beginning with X-Men #181 if anyone's
curious). I believe firmly that they are stories first and foremost,
and I oppose the periodic mindset that emerges that the industry should be
steered, censored, or regulated on the basis that negligent parents might not
bother to take an interest in what their children are reading. (I myself am
not pleased with the direction Mr. Ellis is taking Tony Stark recently, but I
would by no means feel it my right to suggest his interpretation of the
character should be denied anybody who might like to read it.)
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Having said that, it is of course undeniable that the ideals presented in
comics are a factor in shaping the lives of many young people. I would not be
who I am if I hadn't read what I did through the mid 1980's (incidentally a hot
time in comics censorship, with Watchmen, DKR, and many other works introducing
new and often more adult themes into the industry than had been seen
previously).
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What I'm leading up to in my slow, meandering way is New Avengers #6,
which I've just finished reading (yes, I'm aware it was published a year ago.
Sue me, I like my comics a story-arc or three at a time). What Mr. Bendis has
done here, whether it was his intention or not, is found one more little way to
show the next generation that to be a patriot and to oppose a given
administration's ideals are not only not contradictory, but are sometimes
almost mandatory. Thank you, Mr. Bendis. (And the dialog in #4 and #7 is
hilarious.) (And after reading the suburban brawl in #7 I want Steve McNiven
to pencil Mearn's World. His facial expressions seemed a little loose in early
issues but seem to be steadily improving -- watch Logan on the helicarrier in
#8.)
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Friday, January 20th, 2006: I found myself in an
interesting conversation yesterday about what it was that created a need for
artists, and I said some things I didn't know I believed until I said them.
:-)
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I'd raised the question of why there were artists when what artists did
primarily was to induce an 'artificial' emotional experience. We all have the
potential to feel deep emotions and we all lead lives in which there are
opportunities to feel these emotions. An exceptional few might not have these
opportunities, or might not take advantage of them, and for them there is
escapist literature and graphics, which I distinguish from art and will say no
more of here. This leaves the question: Why do we use artists to induce a
contrived emotional experience instead of simply living our own lives?
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What I found myself spontaneously arguing was that there is often a
sociologically-induced rift between our true emotional state (extending into
the thoughts we would 'naturally' think given no societal checks) and our
socially acceptable emotional state.
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This all came up as an effort to explain something my wife described.
She works as a schoolteacher in California, where (in our district at least)
there is tremendous pressure right now to comply with the 'no child left
behind' act. This 'compliance' unfortunately often takes the form of
documentation and exhibition for the benefit of lawmakers that has little to do
with real education, and often interferes with real teaching in that time spent
testing, re-testing, filling out redundant or largely pointless paperwork, and
putting up bulletin boards that are visually impressive physical cues that
teaching is happening when in fact they are only visually impressive and
tangible but in many cases have nothing to do with real education -- all of
these things limit time spent actually teaching.
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My wife finds this hypocrisy very stressful, and was in a shambles after
a meeting two days ago in which additional time-consuming regulation was piled
upon the teaching staff's already limited educational hours. Yesterday, told
by coworkers that she seemed to be handling the new regulations much better
than most of them, she explained that the previous evening she'd decided that
the best course of action might be to simply not comply. That gave her a sense
of peace, and from it she found the strength to comply with the regulations
despite their being in nobody's real interest.
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She told me that "they looked at me like I was an alien."
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I believe that the kind of settling my wife experienced, from which new
ways of dealing with an inner conflict become apparent despite no change in
outward circumstances, is not uncommon. I expect that many people have
experienced this phenomenon at one time or another in their lives. Why this
reaction, then?
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I think it's due to the aforementioned rift between what we do
feel and think and what we may allow ourselves to feel and think.
Discovering a transformational view within the settled mind is not a phenomenon
unique in all of human experience to my wife. I don't think it's even
uncommon. But it's not something that is generally acceptable. It threatens
the notion -- often taken for granted -- that 'self' is something continuous
and unitary.
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The result is a roomful of people who have probably experienced something
similar before but are forced to conclude publically that there's something odd
about my wife. :-) Perhaps they concluded there was something odd in
themselves if/when they've experienced their own paradigm shifts.
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Which brings me back to art and artists. I believe artists are typically
more in touch with themselves than is usual, and less subject to sociological
demands. Certainly there's no shortage of labels like 'strange', 'antisocial',
or 'poorly adjusted' where artists are discussed. I believe this allows
artists to create works that help others to reconcile this personal/societal
rift by proxy -- the thinking and feeling of the artist, made available to us,
helps us to bridge a gap that we would be unable to bridge on our own resources
hindered by this created duality.
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Sunday, January 15th, 2006: Milo's World and other
writings are on hold while I do a six-issue (possibly seven- or eight-issue)
series of comic book scripts collectively named "The Man Who Wasn't There".
It's set in an alternate history that diverges from ours about the time of the
JFK assassination. The story features a charismatic figure who's emerged from
the past with a hidden agenda, to find that several powers have been waiting
patiently to oppose him. The first two issues are already rough-drafted.
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Apr-Jun 2005 blog
Jul-Sep 2005 blog
Oct-Dec 2005 blog
