The first of… well, not so much ‘many’, more ‘a few’

So, what to start with first?

Hmm.

As you’ll probably know by now if you’ve been following this blog and the official Magic of Myths site, most of my time of late has been taken up by the miniseries I’ve been creating along with Sergio Calvet, Magic of Myths. It’s virtually complete, but I’ll go into the ins and outs of that project in another imminent blog entry.

So what else is there?

Well, a few things. The first is that last year I was signed up to write for another anthology due for release later this year/early next year, called Bayou Arcana. It’s a collection of stories set around a mystical Cajun bayou, covering all sort of subjects, from the plight and lives of escaped slaves in the deep south to the mythology and lore swirling around in the swampy environment that surrounds them. Expect stories with ghosts, demons, monsters and bounty hunters, as well as expected topics such as prejudice, racism, loss and redemption.

This came about when the man behind Bayou Arcana (and writer of its universe), Jimmy Pearson, gathered up a small selection of creators from the now defunct Insomnia Publications and asked if they wanted to be part of this intriguing project. After a few ums and ahhs, I jumped on-board with a story idea and much to my delight, Jimmy loved it and Jennie Gyllblad (my artist partner on graphic novel Butterflies and Moths) also joined.

So, now we’re in the middle of a short story called Irons in the Fire, a tragic tale of a man trying to find peace and freedom in a world which refuses him it – both on an incidental and personal level. I’m currently scripting the tale, but Jen has already done some rather amazing artwork:

You can check out more lovely artwork over at her site. And if you want to read more about Bayou Arcana, excellent comic book site Small Press Big Mouth has run one or two articles on it, which are well worth a read.

What else? Well, some rather nice opportunities have turned up, although I can’t say too much of them yet – but I’ve been asked to possibly write another story as part of another franchise, which was a very pleasant surprise. Nothing may come of it, but we’ll see – there are a lot of projects I have bubbling on at the moment, including a very unusual vampire satire series and strange prose fairy tale…

Next – some release news on Magic of Myths: season one, which is coming together very nicely. Stay tuned…