Author: glowleaf

Hello you. Yes, you. You are a Mythographer. But who are you exactly?

They say that when you write you need to envision your ideal reader. To come up with the traits that make up the perfect person for whom who are writing and who will judge, love, treasure your books and anxiously wait for more.

So I decided to come up with my ideal reader. Soon to become viewer as well, because we have some movie projects in post-production.

I will call you a Mythographer, because “ideal reader” is clunky.

Now, this is not in any way perfect and I expect things to change. But I want to give it a try at least.

First of all, you are European.

And by European I don’t necessarily mean coming from Europe, but rather having the qualities many Europeans have. You are multilingual, at least bilingual. You appreciate history and culture because you come from a country which borders people with similar powerful cultural histories. You are an inventor, you want to know how that thingamajiggy works! You are an explorer, even if your life circumstances allow it only via reading. The explorer trait stuck with me when viewing the Rosetta mission update, in which a scientist said that Europeans are explorers at heart. It’s true.

Secondly, you like science fiction.

You don’t necessarily have a science degree, but you love reading about space and lightsabers and aliens and marvelous machines. You love the characters who live in such a world daily, fighting towards a higher goal. Honestly, our myths are not that hard sci-fi (which means very plausible and with well defined scientific limitations), so it should be easy for a layman to follow most of the tech involved. But there is always a priority to make the science fiction make sense, so usually it involves real, hard sci-fi.

You have a critical mind.

You might notice that a prominent feature of our work has to do with gods. In case it’s not clear from the general “God Complex” title we have slapped all over everything, these are false gods. They think they are gods. They delude themselves, their megalomania being the driving force behind every story. And so, the theme is “Corporations get a god complex” but really, to tell a human story we must focus on humans. So, what can a man with a god complex do, when he has the power of a corporation? Think about it. Just like “1984”, this is a warning, not a manual.

You do not get hung up in genre. 

Our works are genre-hopping by default. One is a thriller for quarter-life crisis, the other is a young adult mystery, the next is an action bloody mess. They are all encompassed by the general theme of science fiction, light cyberpunk and Greek mythology. Also, something that surprises many people is that we are also doing video production. We have in store a few short movies and planning to complete a feature length movie soon. We have an idea for a comic book if we find the right artist. I know some people say, “Oh, I read only murder-mysteries” and things like that. You are not a mythographer then, sorry. Move along.

You want to change the world.

You are a creator, a maker, an artist, a writer, anything. He who does not create, only destroys. That is my personal mantra and I believe that my ideal reader will think like that as well.

You do not mind a healthy dose of  blood and sperm.

Yes, you read that correctly. Ancient Greek drama is bloody and sexy as hell. Modern classics are all filled with healthy doses of sex and violence. Everything must be in moderation. Profanity is a part of life. A character getting shot in the leg and yelling “Gosh damn it!” is unrealistic and comical. A person, when hurt, will swear. A lot. A fuck-ton. If you take out the violence and blood from a story that should have them front and centre, you end up with a downward spiral like the Die-Hard pentalogy.

You want to support the type of entertainment you love.

We don’t mind if you pirate one thing, or gather only the freebies during our many promotions. We need you at some point to say, here, I like what you are doing, take my $2.99 for the next thing. Also ideally, you need to write a quick review at anyplace you prefer. It will help greatly. Because, in the end, if you don’t support what you love, no one will. There will be no more coming of the thing you love. Every time you buy a book from us, you make the next one happen.

This is by no means exhausting, it’s just a little thought exercise. If by any change you are a mythographer but are very different from the things I write here, go ahead and prove me wrong in the comments.

If you want to join us, get on the mailing list to get your mythographer’s stamp of approval.