Tales From When I Had A Face: Intro

Here’s your chance to read the intro to the illustrated novel we’ve been working on for 3 years. I predict we’ll be read to publish – if we find the right publishing partner – in 2018. We’re working very hard at this to build a rich fantasy world that feels like it comes from original folklore, that ties into dreams and visions glimpsed in the first Fallen Cycle book.

In the meantime… check this out. And let us know what you think!

The Fallen Cycle: A battle between the light of remembrance and dark of forgetting, the burden of tradition, and the cost of progress. A war waged with stories and magic as well as guns and swords. 

All It Takes Is The Right Story. Mythos Media

Fantasy Sci - Fi Creative Commons Setting

Though it is still in development, the "world setting document" for the Altaeron fantasy / sci-fi setting has been opened to the public to explore - and possibly contribute to.

Check Out The Google Document.

Astute readers may notice that all of Mythos Media's fictional work thusfar constitutes a sort of repository of ancient pre- pre- history for this genre-blending setting. 

[Take a Trip with us... Mythos Media.]

Fallen Nation: The SINopsis

In a world where guilt-by-association is enough to convict for terrorism, two rebellious young Americans are locked in a mental asylum for a crime they didn't commit. Though not terrorists, these two are outsiders in nearly every sense of the word: a transsexual and a transgressive philosopher capable of driving even psychiatrists insane. They are found without ID, only going by the monikers of Jesus and Dionysus. It seems that their stories will end here, wandering the halls and living on anti-psychotics, but for the help of their ingenious friend Loki.

Dreams and circumstances collide as soon as they hit the road. At a bar, they meet a woman who Dionysus insists was in a dream he had in the asylum. Curiously, she introduces herself as Lilith. Thrust onstage through an odd series of events, the bar erupts into chaos. After the show she names the band Babylon, and sets them on a path of debauchery worthy of the name.

Former cop-turned-Marshal Adam Trevino tracks the trail of debauchery they cut across the country. Charged with observing them and reporting their activities back to the shadowy agency that recommissioned him, Trevino begins to wonder who the good guys really are. This uncertainty only mounts as more fans flock to Babylon with cult-like fervor.

This is no peace, love and happiness 60s revival, however. Lilith turns their rock act into the platform for an outright cultural war, with Loki as her chief architect. They steal a mobile TV broadcast vehicle and use it to launch a viral propaganda campaign. Lilith hunts the countryside for other “demigods,” prepared to awaken to their true nature and break the shackles imposed upon them by the forgetfulness of reincarnation. Dionysus also begins to wonder if their monikers are just a coincidence. This feelings grows even stronger as he falls in love with Ariadne, a fan and quickly recruited maenad-in-training. The two of them share a bond that makes them recall fragments of past or future lives together.

When a show leads to a bloody clash between authorities and civilians, Trevino is forced to make up his mind, and leads a group of hired mercenaries into the desert to remove this burgeoning threat to the American way of life, permanently.

However, he doesn’t understand the nature of what he’s up against. The more American blood that is spilled, the more likely a true revolution. To Lilith, believing herself the avatar of an immortal goddess, starting a revolution that will forever change the world just seems like a damn good time.

During this battle, and its aftermath, Trevino discovers the secret behind the nature of these “demigods.” As the story closes, we are left to consider a world very much like our own, but poised on the brink of a great transformation.

Part Fear and Loathing In Los Vegas, part Fight Club and Natural Born Killers, Fallen Nation: Party At The World’s End questions many of our cultural assumptions, makes us re-examine them, and hints at where they might lead.

Get the:

Paperback.
E-book.
Microsite. 

Related: 404 Documents, Words of Traitors. 

[Where is the fucking counterculture? Mythos Media.]

A Question of Art, Aesthetic, and a Body of Work

From An Interview over at The Dharma of Don talking about writing, publishing, and everything in-between! (Check out his blog) 

Don: The Words of Traitors is published under Mythos Media which is your imprint, if I am not mistaken. What other houses have you published under, and have you succeeded with Mythos Media where you felt you struggled with branding under your own name?

.

The Olde Occult Daze

James: My first book was released through New Falcon Press, who published Timothy Leary, Robert Anton Wilson, Aliester Crowley, Israel Regardi -- it was because of them I think that I got branded an "occult author" although that isn't really entirely accurate. I've worked on several books since then that have been released by Weaponized, which is a UK based imprint.

You will see most of those books also on the Mythos Media website. We are a brand but it isn't restrictive in the way a traditional publisher might be. For instance, several of the books with the Mythos Media imprint have other publishers, and the film we worked with was through another production house. Mythos Media at the moment is about 90% projects that I've been heavily involved in, but that isn't a rule either.

So there's essentially two things that help me decide what I want to bring in, aside from sheer circumstance. The first is the basic definition:

Mythos: (n) A story or set of stories relevant to or having a significant truth or meaning for a particular culture, religion, society, or other group
Media: (n) Tools used to store and deliver information.

That's probably the one thing we take literally. Mythos also originally meant "by mouth," it is that which is conveyed culturally, as opposed to logos. Any form of media, any story could theoretically come on our radar.

So then there's the 2nd question, which is whether it fits in with the others as sort of counter-culture media. In other words, would they make more sense being listed with a major publisher, or is it a story that would likely show up on prime-time TV? If so, then it's probably not Mythos Media material. There's a bit more about the history of the project on the About page. ( http://www.mythosmedia.net/p/rather-than-avoiding-unsettling-unusual.html )

Band Photo for "EgoWhore"

Don: Can you tell us about your publishing process and how you made decisions on The Words of Traitors? I'm particularly interested in why you chose the size you did, the paper quality, and the type of cover.

James: The print size was a very conscious decision, based on the standard for art books -- though it's within several millimeters of standard magazine size as well. It's funny to me that the standard for our supposedly least and most disposable print media are almost the same, but most standards are historically arbitrary, anyway.

That decision was arrived at as a result of the nature of the art. A lot of it includes dioramas that quite frankly are only fully revealed in their detail at poster size -- I've been running an art show for Words of Traitors that includes canvas prints at 16" x 20" and 20" x 24" size, as well as some of the originals, some of which were larger than that.

A GONZOMENTARY?!

There's no way that it would work at standard paperback size. If it could've made any sense I would've liked it to be even larger than A4, but 11" x 17" is really only feasible if it's hardbound.

What else was intentional... Well, I wanted to make a book that was more about the book itself rather than just the text -- in other words, a book that wouldn't translate well into Kindle format. It's kind of a reaction against the trend, in that way. Not all of my books are like that, certainly, but it was what made sense to me for this one.

I was actually pretty happy with the interior print quality, and that was something of a surprise. I was afraid it was going to be too glossy. It was printed by Amazon directly, and that was the part of the process I had no say in if I wanted to get it out. Paper stock and print process isn't a choice, and full color is so incredibly expensive that at $29.99 our cut is a smaller % than any of our other books. That's how it had to be -- our Indiegogo campaign raised about 1/3 of the goal, so we had to cut back -- a lot of people might have just pocketed the money and said "We'll put it out later," but that's just not how I do things. It did mean that we had to consolidate as much as possible, and it did restrict the scope of what was initially planned.

The full process involved in the book, though. That would take a lot more time and space than the average reader would probably want to take. A single piece of art in the book might have gone back and forth between myself and the artist many times before it was finished. For other pieces, I took art that was sent to me, printed it out myself, and worked it into collages or dioramas that included art I'd made, lit and photographed that, brought it into Photoshop, did a lot of digital painting with the Wacom tablet, and then maybe I'd blend it with one of the textures I'd made.

But I will say that like several Mythos Media projects before, it began with an open call to the internet, as well as to those I've worked with before, in terms of you know, here's a new project we're working on, here is the concept, do you want to collaborate? So there's always an opportunity for new blood. And it starts there...

Fallen Nation: Welcome to the Apocalypse

Welcome to the Apocalypse. A free mini comic based in the Fallen Nation world. 

Illustrated by P. Emerson Williams, written by James Curcio.

Get the mini Free comic. 

Early Announcement: Lives of Ilya Release Parties in NYC & LA

Los Angeles, August 16: Ilya Faire. Release party for Lives of Ilya.
Tara Vanflower (Lycia), Jarboe, Eva O (Christian Death), and many more!


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New York, August 22: Lives of Ilya release party. Rosetta, Balboa, North, Inswarm.




Order the full color illustrated novella on Amazon.com. (Note: the author bio information in the Amazon listing is incorrect on their webpage. We are working on having this corrected.)

Mythos Media

Mythos Media FAQ

I wrote this up today as a response to the many question that I've received about the site over the past year or two. This is a first draft, after a revision and some additions I'll put it up.

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F.A.Q.

What kind of media do you publish?

The physical products that we presently sell are books, graphic novels, and CDs. The digital products that we sell or give away for free are mostly mp3s and PDFs. However, provided the right circumstances- and the right myth- we see no reason that we may not expand into animation, film, or even role playing games. The key here is creating myths, which oftentimes relate to each other. The issue is not the container. In fact, we are in early pre-production on a film at this time, which we cannot yet speak about publicly.

Why not just publish books? (Or albums. Or...)

It is no big secret that the old approaches to publishing are dying. In fact the only thing staving it off in many cases is a couple flagship titles, and a big pool of money to draw on. At the same time, the tools for media production have become increasingly accessible to the public. The very approach to publishing media in different "containers" (DVDs, CDs, paper books, PDFs for hand-held readers, etc) has changed so that it is unnecessary to have a seperate company managing these markets based on the "container." Instead, we focus on the content being contained. If we consider it is a myth worth sharing, why not produce it in the "container" that best suits the message?

Why do you give away a lot of your digital products for free? / Why use a Creative Commons license?

PDF versions of books, on the whole, serve as advertisements of them. For free, you can read some of the book, and if you like it, you can order the physical book, or make a donation. Are there going to be people who just squint and read the book on their screen? Sure. But we don't think those are people who would have bought the book in the first place. The same goes for other digital content. We just got a listener or reader for free. Remember, duplicating digital content is free for us as well. What costs money is printing books, CDs, DVDs, etc. The bottom line with all this RIAA lawsuit nonsense is that not one cent of those hundreds of millions won in lawsuits for "pirating music" has gone back to the artists. We're artists too, and that kind of nonsense makes us sick. By all means share our products, in digital format, or with your friends in print format. Just give the artists who produced that work their just due.

We use a Creative Commons 3.0 license for these releases because it represents how we want those materials to be used: you can share them with anyone, so long as you credit, don't change the contents of the work, and don't claim you're the author. The only exception to this is that, in the future, we will release some Mythos Media music along with "remix packs" Online that you are fully free to utilize in your own music, and even sell that music, so long as you give credit to Mythos Media, the original artists, and link back to our site.

I am an artist/author/film-maker. Why publish with Mythos Media?

For one, we are a group of artists, of authors, or producers ourselves. We understand the creative process and the difficulties of bringing that product to the market, as well as the conflicts that can be created between being true to the work, and trying to put food on your table. We work directly with our artists, and if you join us, it is a like joining the team. We will help you get your work in publishable form, help you market it, and as more of our artists market their work, through them new fans can be introduced to your work as well. You can expect us to be honest with you, and to put in our effort as you put in yours.

Notice, however, that we do not say "we will single-handedly market your work." We can help you with promotional tools, utilize our growing contacts, and help consult with you on marketing your work, but at the end of the day in this marketplace you have to take some of those steps, and you have to keep on it. Most publishers take the exact same stance: they just won't be honest with you about it. It is rare indeed for an author without tens of thousands of units sold on a past title to be able to sell off their manuscript, and then walk out, never to worry about it, thinking: "the publisher will market it for me." Think again. If your work isn't worth struggling to get into people's hands and hearts, it probably wasn't worth publishing in the first place.

An added benefit of joining the team is that we have a client-side subsidiary called Synchronicity Studios. The artists, musicians, etc. in our stable are the first that we will turn to when outsourcing client work.

Mythos Media site launch

We're still working out a couple bugs and details but in general the new Mythos Media site has been rolled out. Along with a new backend (which makes it easier for us to manage), there's also streaming content, artist profiles, a blog (soon with openID), and a lot more.

Check it out, and sign up to the newsletter! Much is in the works for the next 6 months.

Fallen Nation blog

Up and running.

As you were.

The Well

Rudy Rauben has unleashed another comic, the Well. Check out the panels of the opening episode here.

Alterati.com interview with Rudy Rauben.

Lives of Ilya

I also have some exciting news about the people who will be reading the audiobook version for this project- but that will have to wait just a little bit.

More sneak peeks.

There's a hell of a lot going on behind the scenes here.

Most of it I can't make public yet- but here's a taste. The 2nd edition Fallen Nation cover:







Expect the first episodes of the Fallen Nation theatrical audiobook, the website, and the 2nd edition on Amazon by the beginning of '08.

Mick Mercer's review of Veil of Thorns: Cognitive Dissonance

VEIL OF THORNS
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
Mythos Media







Although working at another end of the noisy bastard spectrum to History Of Guns, Veil Of Thorns, and other P. Emerson Williams projects, provide the same alternative. Just when you have become used to experiencing your guitar stimulants, your ethereal relaxants, your electronic placebo, along comes Doctor Thorns, like a knight in deliberately ill-fitting armour and bellows ‘No more!’ causing all patients to fall from their beds. Where a lot of old-school Industrialists make deliberately obscure, ugly amateurish trash and new Industrialists churn out whatever club-friendly sounds they hope will land them a big record deal, there are some artists wading sternly through the same muddy waters with more artistic sensibilities. Veil Of Thorns may make threatening music but it is not without gentler asides, and often presents itself in alluring form. This is their most stylish work, but some of the thorns have an extra edge.

It’s really just down to P. Emerson Williams on virtually everything but the live drums of James Curcio, whose alarming novel I am currently reading. That’s the thing – music and other genuine influences, with P. himself a very talented artist, as I am sure many of you realise. It infuses what might be a trudging sound and throws light into murky corners. ‘Peripatetic’ has a dark rhythmical flow below a bright needling guitar and the drums stay furtive, the vocals commendably aghast, the song briskly cantering into action. It is actually hard to follow the vocal narrative but maybe that’s a good thing? ‘A Weirdness Less Expressed’ is great. If ever robots develop their own Thrash genre with a glaring sheen and viciously seedy bass pulses they will point to this song as a formative spark; more keenly urgent vocals and liquid guitar unusually catchy at times.

‘The Enigmatic Rarely Atone’ is slippier, as guitar slides away from the gleaming, undulating core. ‘Fallacy Decides Initiative’ lurches off after the seamless intro into a sighing, tumbling exercise, but ‘Delusions Of Excitement’ has low key, sweeter sounds and a dignified comeliness, deeper slopes and a playful atmospheric element. ‘Surgically Dream Like’ does what it says on the bloodbag, the cello providing a blurred setting, as though orchestral ocean liners were calling to one another, Industrial whale song!

‘Languishing In The Rusting Valley’ is not the worse holiday brochure ever, but a fractious combination of tingling guitar and grating rhythm in a plainly enjoyably melodic cacophony, as pert as the ungainly ever get. ‘Corrode And Engulf’ is deep growliness, like an ambient intestinal voyage. ‘Night Access Hallucination’ is a weird entity, being spindly, addled art-rock, with a touch of the Frank Zapata about it, with ‘Anomalous Breaks’; fun, not fearful. Austere, like monks hungover on mescaline, and then the title track itself sends you home with a cold bowl of sonic porridge.

They’re one of the few creative outlets for these more tangled sounds, and this gets the thumbs up, being a fine record, and one which some people might find easier to get into than earlier works as it’s got elements you’d recognise. Okay, you may develop extra thumbs with prolonged exposure, but what is life without risks?

By Mick Mercer.

iTunes.


http://www.veilofthorns.com
http://www.myspace.com/veilofthorns
http://joinmycult.blogspot.com
http://www.myspace.com/choronzon333

Update from the trenches.

This'll be the third night in a row that I've worked till after 5am (almost 6 now) on editing Fallen Nation: Babylon Burning.

I'm sending out the final chapters this weekend for punctuation grammar type copy editing (round 2), and then to Tovarich for re-layout.

Then... it's off to the printer/distributor. Amazon may not pick it up for a couple weeks after that.

My back is killing me, and my eyes feel like they're about ready to strike. But I've fixed so many of the flow problems I was having with the first edition, it almost seems a fair trade. (I just hope that any new typos that may have popped up will be caught in copyediting so I can move on and never have to re-visit production on this project. I'm growing to love the book, but it's time to move on.)

subQtaneous & Veil of Thorns review on Nemesis To Go

And I think they pretty much nailed it dead center.




subQtaneous:
"What strangeness have we here? This: a trippy ride through post-industrial atmospheres, guided by multi-instrumentalist and producer James Curcio. Although SubQtaneous seems to be a collaborative effort, with many names in the credits, it's James Curcio's name that crops up most often. This music runs riot from dubbed-up rumbling to heavily-fuzzed guitar workouts, from incongruous jazz odysseys to bouts of bad-trip psychedelia. At times, it resembles rock music, particularly on 'Daily Grind', which sounds like the kind of mashed-up splattery racket you'd get if you shoved Ministry down a waste disposal unit. At other times, rhythms you could (almost) dance to are hauled into the sonic melee, and there are effect-laden interludes and sample-soaked soundscapes, although even when things get a little mellow the listener can never quite escape the suspicion that monsters lurk just beyond the music. 'All You Know' is a jazzy rap, springing forward on the vibrations of a double bass, and in a way it's the most radical thing here. Stick out a white label 12" with this track on it, and I bet it would be all over hip hop radio in a week. 'Panning For Gold In Rivers Of Blood' sounds like someone slipped the orchestra that accompanies silent movies some amphetamines, while 'Out Of Control' belies its title with a tumbling, chopped-up neo-rock rampage. I'm not at all sure who SubQtaneous think is going to buy their wayward art, for it's obviously not aimed at any particular market, and the band - if indeed there is a band - takes a particular delight in eating generic boundaries for breakfast. But you know what? I'm glad this stuff is out there."




Veil of Thorns:
"Another emanation from the Mythos Media monster, in this case a solo project from P.Emerson Williams. And - somewhat surprisingly - we're in the rock zone, sort of. Veil Of Thorns are not exactly a band, but the music does inhabit a rocky landscape, even if it sometimes doesn't seem entirely comfortable there. P. Emerson Williams is responsible for vocals and most instruments, with James Curcio on drums (I'm delighted to note, by the way, that the album was engineered by someone called Fluffy) and together they brew up a dust storm of tight-but-loose guitar riffs and driving, nervy, drums. Let's sample some: 'The Enigmatic Barely Atone' has a lost-in-the-desert feel, as if the sands of the Sahara are shifting under the music as it hurtles towards the sunset. 'Delusions Of Excitement' is a fine title for a spooky, sepulchral song - the desert night has fallen, the world is hushed. Even the bass seems muted here, rumbling somewhere in the background as if Steve Severin was hiding behind a pyramid. 'Corrode And Engulf' (Veil Of Thorns are great on titles) is a grind of treated cello, half way between a lament and a threat. This music is, naturally, high on atmosphere, and if, at times, it teeters on the brink of proggy indulgence it has enough latent attitude to pull back from the brink. It's like nothing else out there, that's for sure."

iTunes picks up initial Mythos Media albums.

subQtaneous: Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation and Veil Of Thorns: Cognitive Dissonance are now available through the iTunes store.

An initial group of fifteen companies have picked the albums up for digital distribution, and we will provide the information as we recieve it. We start at the top with the trend setter for digital content delivery.

subQtaneous: Some Still Despair In A Prozac Nation downloads can be purchased here, and Veil Of Thorns: Cognitive Dissonance here.

You can purchase songs a la carte or the full albums for the complete experience.