Latest news on the John Byrne Award and alternative Boxhead social media tangents.
The John Byrne award is an online gallery that accepts art, written work and photography (among many other types of media) from the general public and displays them together at www.johnbyrneaward.org.uk. Entries are submitted in the form of a question to encourage discussion and deeper understanding of certain issues, with all submissions they receive being posted on the site to create an ensemble of pieces from all kinds of age groups, backgrounds and artistic disciplines. I'd mentioned in a previous blog that I'd attempted to write a myth called The Ballad of Fiorr & Dente which I thought would be a good fit for a John Byrne Award entry, so it motivated me to get the story finished. Now renamed Tales From The Amphitheatre under the entry title At what point does a story become history?, it was completed and submitted last week (Jan 2020) and can be read at:
The story itself became quite a labour of love. While creating a web-based digital card game last year I'd stumbled on the idea of an alien civilisation that was cursed to wander alone between universes and dimensions (largely influenced, I just realised, by The Eldar in Warhammer 40K) and began working on a legend to tell their story. A childhood obsessed with Clash of The Titans (the Harry Hamlin one) and Odyssey-inspired cartoon Ulysses 31 gave me a fascination with classical myths and I was curious to see if I could try and create something with a similar feel. A first draft was finished back in October but it wasn't quite right so it was shelved. When I found out about the John Byrne Award it made me approach the story from a different direction and develop its themes, resulting in the final piece that was submitted. I'm pleased with how it turned out and will be interested in any comments or feedback you may have.
I've created a new YouTube channel for Midnight Tayles to occasionally add music and videos from the Boxhead world. It kicks off with a song from Scottish noise-botherers Rain 28235.
I'm considering uploading some Marion music too, which might be interesting.
Instagram is one of my favourite things and I've decided to tell the story of Boxhead visually as I write at https://www.instagram.com/midnighttayles/. Images of chapters will be added in order as I work through the first complete draft, which will hopefully all hold together as a visual companion to the book (much in the same way the YouTube channel will with music).
The hashtag area:
#writing #fiction #fictionblog #sciencefiction #legends #myths #classicalmyths #JohnByrneAward #Boxhead #midnighttaylesinstagram #FumTV
Reading: 'ABBA - Thank You For The Music' (Robert Scott)
Listening to: Kebu, Jan Hammer
Watching: The Witcher, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vikings, 1917