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Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Aliens, and a psychological profile...

Nerdrotic did a livestream this past week about another US congressional hearing on UFOs. And, as is becoming the routine, the entire affair was a big nothingburger.  Disappointment all around, and the public is still left in the dark not knowing anything about "them."  Yesterday morning, Vox Day remarked on a recent 2023 incident involving US and Canadian air forces shooting down a UFO.  We are left to presume that they likely recovered the craft.

"I’ve seen enough of the original Battlestar Galactica to know what that is. And that’s a Cylon fighter."  -Vox Day

Whomever they are, whether fey or fel, we know several things at this point that are concrete and true:

- There is a "they"
- Governments have known about them for a long time
- Governments have recovered the physical remains of these things
- People have been assassinated or had their lives ruined over this  

This doesn't seem like much.  Yes, we'd love to know who and what "they" are, the history and everything that comes with it.  But the government is being very bland in what they say about their UFO project.  Generalized truths are, at least, finally being openly proclaimed in hearings in the United States Congress.  And there are other truths and presumptions we can make, based on their own words; however, that is a conversation for later.  

For now, though, we can say that we've learned a whole lot more about our own government from this.  Washington's actions taught us a lot.  This entire situation builds a psychological profile of the United States feds and the international deep state that orbits it.  And so what do we have here?  We have a governmental power that is detached from the common citizen and doesn't represent them in any way.  We have a government that plays coy, and tongue-in-cheek---with a smirk---has lied for decades about another intelligence in our midst.  People have been killed, nudged into ruination, and driven into madness.  Lives have been wrecked.  All of this has not been done by "aliens," but our own people.

Given the lies from on high about recent plagues, presidential assassinations, sex trafficking, lawfare, weaponized immigration, the suppression of archaeological finds,  and evidence for faked official moon landings (see Bart Sibrel), we have to ask: what wouldn't they lie about?  For me, that is one of the biggest takeaways from this "disclosure" period.

As for the aliens, I don't think we'll get any kind of direct answers from the government about this.  Even if Washington did decide to be transparent on this matter, they've worked so hard to earn the distrust of the American people, I don't think the feds will ever be believed again.




For further reading, check out: The Curious Case of UFOlogist Dr. Steven Greer


Saturday, November 16, 2024

Trumpian Mandate = Mainstreamed Right?

This week, WDW Pro discussed how it appears that Disney's ABC channel is desperate to find conservatives to put on its  programs.  Does this mean Disney now opens itself to the conservative half of the nation?  Will we see the "House of Mouse" pack away its ultra-feminist programming and produce middle-of-the-road content--or even right-leaning movies and shows?

Not likely.  The pattern of left-leaning corporations doubling down to the point of organizational destruction is well known to everyone by now.  The blatant rage of Leftist celebrities--so open and exposed this post-election season--betrays a self-unawareness on the part of a Hollywood that can't trouble itself to learn about America beyond California's borders.  And this contempt of the American everyman is institutional.

"One reliable sign of corporate convergence is a stubborn refusal to listen to very clear messages being sent by the corporation's customer base.  Convergence exchanges the traditional business principle that the customer is always right for the social justice principle that the unhappy customer is always racist, sexist, and outdated, which means his complaints should be ignored."

-Vox Day, Corporate Cancer

It is true that Disney's fake Snow White, Rachel Zegler, has been upbraided behind closed doors and forced to apologize for berating Trump voters--all of whom comprise more than half the population.  But it is also true that Disney's Marvel will continue to proceed with a female Silver Surfer--this in spite of their desperate need for a successful Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

And, of course, this goes beyond Disney.  The new Dune series on HBO is, as usual, peppered with soft porn and continues Hollywood's ongoing obsession with witchcraft.  Amazon's studios carry on with the ruination of The Lord of the Rings.  The Warhammer movie project continues to be ruined.  The Minecraft movie looks ridiculous.  Doctor Who is more ignorable than ever before.  And while Alex Kurtzman is rumored to be leaving Star Trek, there are still big doubts that Skydance--Paramount's new overlords--has any inclination to repair the damaged brand.  

Mainstream success is an illusion for normal content creators.  Anyone who is not left-of-center must continue to propagate and survive amidst local and like-minded communities.  The subscription model is the best and primary way to establish a following and the successful development of created content.  Just as we in recent years have popularized the indie pulp of decades previous, the same may happen for our cloistered creators of today.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Bovodar Is Back! Issue #3

It's Fall Time.  Time for weather to get cooler, folks to get back to school, and reading to begin.  It's also the time that Mary and I picked to release Issue #3 of the Bovodar and the Bears comic.  

In this next installment, we track Bovodar's travels to the troubled domain of the Deer Folk, where our fellowship encounters their first real challenge in the journey.  

Something about this situation just doesn't seem right...


Catch another piece of the art over at Mary MacArthur's blog.  But, of course, you can read the comic itself over at Arktoons for free.

CLICK HERE to go to the latest installment, episode #18: "Get up here, savage!"  


We will be releasing a new episode every other week. This week's latest came out on Sunday, September 11th. The next episode will be coming out on Sunday, September 25th. And, of course, you can always catch up or re-read starting from Episode #1 at any time, for free, only at Arkhaven---the latest, most dynamic online source for new comic book content.

As always, if you want to get ahead and read about Bovodar's entire adventure ahead of time, please consider purchasing the novel available over at Amazon.  And if you really want to help this ongoing work, please consider leaving a review to help support this project!

Wednesday, August 24, 2022

Bovodar vs the Deer Queen




Behold, Mary MacArthur’s best work yet.  The deeper we delve into the Bovodar and the Bears project, the more she surprises me.  I’ve already shown a black and white of this full-page spread elsewhere, but it’s so vivid once we see it in color.


Just a bit of a recap of what I said previously about this page:


This year, Mary MacArthur and I are working on Issue #3 of the Bovodar and the Bears comic. And it is VERY relevant to this ongoing battle within Hollywood. It is in this very part of the story that Bovodar and his friends are captured by the evil Deer Queen.


This adversary, fashioned in the same league as the Ice Queen of Narnia, is no benevolent ruler. A tyrant, this disordered doe has usurped a stag’s role, crowning herself with a golden, artificial crown of antlers, and surrounding herself with sycophantic followers. The image above is some of the most fantastic work I’ve seen yet from MacArthur, and I was shocked when she first presented it to me this weekend. I absolutely had to show you guys.


A little commentary about this art. Perhaps you’ll notice the seating position and posture of the Deer Queen. Brownie points if any of you guys can name what she looks like in the comments box. I absolutely love how Mary portrayed the “gay orbiter” effeminate lions on the right. These pathetic predators have sacrificed their natural, virile nature to become subdued subjects to an animal who’d normally be their prey in the natural world. I like the locks of their manes—they look like band members from Queen on their 70s album, News of the World. And the censure in the front, with the smoke pouring out and intertwining up the page, with the court filled with deer like that—it’s positively Dionysian. Fun fact: I said to Mary “Maybe you should play Venus in Furs by Velvet Underground when you draw this thing.” The overall effect is what you see above. Yes, I’m gushing, guys, but this panel deserves it.”


Not a few people have correctly guessed that the evil Deer Queen, here, is meant to resemble the infamous Baphomet statue that’s been trotted out these recent years.  And, really, the entire setting is meant to look like some kind of a satanic enclave.  Were someone out there to deify Nature and flesh out just what a pagan paradise would look like, the Deer Queen’s court is one such example.


The Deer Queen is one of the first villains Bovodar and his friends come across.  She is local, being only a few days walk away from his home.  She has a domain within which she rules, and there are many clues that she was utterly undeserving of inheriting it.  Her existence is a complete reversal of the natural order.  There is absolutely nothing normal on any level with how things are conducted under her rule.  If her court seems to resemble some sort of a twisted, self-indulgent, King-Herod bazaar, it’s supposed to.  


In her city, the first thing Bovodar and his friends should be thinking is: “How do we get out of here?”

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Fey Touched: Part 2

This short segment is the following installment of an ongoing internet series.  The first part of this story is: The Lord of Two Lands 

The segment before this one is Fey Touched, Part I

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Central Park. There were certain hours designated for when an owner did not have to have their dog leashed. This was not such an hour. So Aaron was kept on a leash no longer than six feet, even though he calmly walked beside Thomas, not giving any kind of problem whatsoever. In fact, Thomas was worried just a little because Aaron was behaving too well. As a dog, Aaron was behaving so well during the walk---keeping a steady and calm pace next to Thomas---that there was even a mildly annoying bit of slack in the leash.

The park was not full. It was a weekday. To be sure, the park had its patrons. Old negroes playing chess. A young woman in a tank tops briskly walking, checking her pulse on a smart watch. A couple leisurely walking their dog passed by, and the latter sniffed and growled at Aaron. But he kept his composure and remained the abnormally well-mannered dog that he was. A breeze of fresh air rolled down from the sky and gently shook the tree branches. A few stray dandelion seeds blew across their path, and a black butterfly with blue spots flapped across the path. It was a perfect moment to be in that exact spot.

A short distance away stood a hot dog vendor. He looked directly at Thomas and Aaron, and he maintained a restrained smile on his unshaven face.

“Need some lunch?” the man asked. “You and your little friend, there?”

Thomas looked down at the dog, and Aaron nodded his head quietly. They walked over to the man who seemed just as ordinary and forgettable as any other man. Tom took a pretzel for $2. But then the vendor said:

“Nothing for your friend? Maybe a polish sausage?”

Aaron nodded quietly and compliantly to his human companion. Wide-eyed and nervous, Thomas hesitantly said he’d take one. He took it plain with nothing on it. After the vendor handed it to him, Tom just stood there hesitantly, confused about what he’d do next. The vendor said:

“Don’t worry about it, buddy. Just give it to him. I won’t say nothin’.”

And so Tom did. He squatted down and put the hot dog in Aaron’s mouth, letting him bite it piece by piece. He wouldn’t just place food on the ground. Who wants to eat off the ground, after all? And if it were true that Aaron was once a man, it’s likely he appreciated the courtesy of not being treated like the animal he was. The vendor was fully invested in watching this. Smiling, he looked over his cart at the gentle dog and sniffed.

“That last one’s on the house.”

“Are you sure?” Tom’s eyes winced with suspicion.

“Yeah, it’s okay. He looked hungry.” The vendor smiled, nodded, and stepped back. Then, looking down, he breathed in, and cleared his throat. “Say, fellas, I think you might wanna head over to Cleopatra’s Needle over that way. There’s a fairy ring growin’ over in the shade over there you might be interested in. Your friend, here, might wanna take a nap in the middle of it.”

“What?” Thomas stood up straight very quickly. He looked down at Aaron, then back at the vendor, then to the tree line in the distance, and back again to the vendor. “You’re telling me my dog’s going to sleep? Did you just poison him?”

The vendor stood aback, his hand on his heart. “Are you kidding me? Do you know how many years it took me to get a license to do this? Look, you two looked like you were in a tough spot, and I offered the free advice. And the free sausage. Here, have a free soda on the house, too.” The vendor handed Thomas an icy cold can of Pepsi. “You better get over there, though. Before some kid or a bum kicks all the mushrooms down.” He lifted his hand and pointed north. Another pedestrian stopped and reached in his pockets as he grabbed the vendor’s attention. Aaron started walking, and he gently pulled the leash taut, leading Thomas away from the hot dog vendor.

They walked about fifteen minutes until they finally came to it: Cleopatra’s Needle. That’s what the locals called it. But for Aaron, it was something much more---for this was the very obelisk where he lost his humanity at the hands of a sorcerer. Aaron’s stride slowed down, and he was afraid to approach the monument. Thomas tilted his head, looking at the ancient structure. 

“So, this is the place where it happened,” he said.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

The Bovodar and the Bears Comic Is Back

As many of you readers probably know, our online comic, Bovodar and the Bears, took a short break, starting in mid-June.  But the series has returned as of TODAY with Episode #7, "Meeting at the Secret Elm."


Come on!  What are you waiting for?

Just a reminder: We originally wanted to print out whole comic books in order to tell the story of Bovodar and the Bears.  Due to length, the novel would be separated into three parts.  Each of the three parts would be split into about six or seven issues.  Each issue would be approximately 25-30 pages.  

What we've seen up until mid-June was only one issue.  Issue #2 is now beginning, and we'll start to see Bovodar and his little friend, Grep, begin their adventure.  (Issue 2 begins with Episode 7 on Arkhaven.)  And, at this point, we will see Issue #2 progress throughout the summer.  There are some parts in it that are very fun and exciting, and I can't wait to show you guys.  Mary's work on this project has been incredible.

Our current goal is to finish the first six issues.  After the six issues are complete, we would like to have them printed in a physical omnibus, available to all.  This would mean that the Bovodar and the Bears comic will one day be available for everyone in a trilogy of omnibus comic books.  

For the time being, however, you can find our work over at Arktoons.  

You can support us by contributing to our Patreon.

And, of course, you can purchase a physical copy of the book, Bovodar and the Bears, available on Amazon.

Please do spread the word, like, and leave reviews of our work.  This project depends upon your support.

    



Thursday, May 13, 2021

Episode #2: Two Strangers Stole Our Ham!


Episode # 2 of the Bovodar and the Bears series is out this week on Arkhaven.com.  

The visual comic book format is very conducive for episodic storytelling.  We're happy to say that, thus far, the ratings for B&B have been competitive with its fellow comic releases.  These episodes are being released on a weekly basis, and as this work is being published regularly on Arktoons, we are continuously working on new script and comic content.  

Suffice to say, the recent inked illustrations are stunning, as our Patreon backers have been made well aware. So enjoy the free content, and consider supporting our work over at our Patreon page.  Becoming one of our patrons is one of the best ways to support our ongoing effort to deliver the visual rendition of Bovodar and the Bears to you and your families. 

And don't forget to like our episodes as you read them!   


    

Monday, May 3, 2021

Today, You Can Read Bovodar and the Bears on Arktoons!

It's official.



We've been holding our tongues for a while, but our team can finally confirm that our comic, Bovodar and the Bears, is now available online for free at Arktoons!  Just click on this hyperlink to visit the site, and read the first release!  

Arktoons will be releasing a new episode of Bovodar and the Bears every Sunday.  On its debut, B&B was released alongside Chicago Typewriter (By Brandon Fiadino), AI Wars (Jon del Arroz), and Swan Knight Saga (John C. Wright).  And I was absolutely thrilled to see on our first day that our views and likes were just as competitive as the other works.  Not only that, but some of the online remarks were very heartening for our team:

- "I may be biased, but Bovodar & The Bears is my Sunday favorite. Surprisingly refreshing and colorful story.  Sunday has a very strong lineup."

- "Bovodar and the Bears - good, lighter approach to storytelling, with lovely drawing. Good, wholesome art work by [Mary MacArthur]."

- "Read it, very Bear-ish. I liked it."

- "Reading Bovodar and The Bears to my 3-year old seems like it will become a Sunday morning ritual for me."

- "This looks like it could be pretty good! We need more bear stories."

- "I did not expect Bovodar & The Bears to triumph over AI Wars, but there we go."

Thank you so much for these warm reviews as well as the hundreds of people who've viewed our work this past Sunday.  Thank you so very much to Bounding Into Comics for covering the release of our project.  And we would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to Vox Day and his team at Arkhaven for including our comic in the lineup for Arktoons' debut.  This was a very high honor for us.  

Our team is very happy to commit ourselves to providing something very special.  If you would like to help support us and ensure that the adventure of Bovodar and the Bears reaches its completion, please consider visiting our Patreon and making any kind of a donation.  Any kind of support is very meaningful for us.  Our current short-term goal is to produce enough content, that we could produce a physical omnibus.  As readers will see in coming weeks, we are well on our way to that goal.  So please join us in this effort to produce fresh, new fiction for all ages.

And again, if you would like to read this week's episode of the Bovodar and the Bears comic:


Saturday, April 24, 2021

Incoming: The Arktoons Asteroid

 As mainstream comic properties the world once cherished become lesser in quality and desirability, a new player in town is coming on the scene to shake up the industry.  I am talking about the all-new Arktoons platform, which is launching next Wednesday, April 28th.  Arktoons is a digital comics site that features their comics in a panel style conducive for viewing on tablets and phones.  This comics site will be a direct competitor to Webtoons, and I understand that there is a LOT of new, fresh and independent content ready to be launched on it.  I have heard discussion about just how much material has been gathered for this site---neither Marvel nor DC property (I'm happy to say)---and I am extremely impressed by the numbers.  

Arkhaven Comics, coming to Arktoons next Wednesday.


Being an independent comic creator myself, I can assure you that both illustrator Mary MacArthur and myself are keenly interested in the developments surrounding this new platform.  I think you can guess why.    

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Fey Touched, Part 1

This short segment is the following installment of an ongoing internet series.  

The first part of this story is: The Lord of Two Lands 

The segment after this one is Fey Touched, Part 2

# # #

The semester was over, and finals were graded.  Summer vacation in Manhattan would now begin, but it didn't matter for Thomas.  His journey into higher education was destroyed---at least in that town.  Lucky him, he was the recipient of much of his late father's cashed-out 401k and a trust fund started when he was just a baby.  His apartment rent was no problem for now, although it was no longer justifiable.  His father, perhaps living vicariously through him, had high hopes for his son's future.  And although he sometimes resented his father's familial delusions of grandeur, he didn't mind so much the opportunities afforded him.  

He should be upset, he thought.  But he wasn't.  Expelled from NYU, and his girlfriend having moved out, ordinarily he'd feel like a boat without a rudder at this stage.  Perhaps he could transfer his credits elsewhere.  But he loved The City, and continuing his degree at another college could force him to leave.  This, he did not want.  New York was a land of adventure so completely different from his mid-Western small town.  A great man once said that "The modern city is ugly not because it is a city, but because it is not enough of a city, because it is a jungle, because it is confused and anarchic, and surging with selfish and materialistic energies."  And it was a jungle that he wanted.  Layer upon layer of history was there.  Frontier spirit pressed underneath 19th Century poverty, sandwiched underneath war, plastered over with modern opulence--all of it held together by the mortar of money, sex, religion, murder, superstition, and every other novelty of the human spirit.  But it was this kind of thinking--this kind of naïve, adventurous wonder--that got him expelled in the first place.  

Whatever his troubles, sad he was not.  Entirely preoccupied, he came back tot he apartment with an entire pizza, enough for him and one other.  He threw his keys in the bowl next to the door and announced his return: "Okay, I've got the meat lover's this time.  I think this one should satisfy your cravings.  You still here?"

The pitter patter of canine nails on the hardwood floor trailed their way to him from another room.  The German Shepherd stopped in the doorway and bobbed his head up and down, his tail wagging.  

"I'm not hungry for this," said Thomas.  "Honestly, I could probably only eat a fourth of this.  You said you wanted half?"

The dog bobbed his head up and down again, his mouth closed and bearing no teeth.  

"And you said you'd have a new statement?  Is it ready?"

Again, the dog "nodded."  Thomas took a few slices out and put them on a plate.  He set the box of pizza on the floor, and the German Shepherd moved in and started eating on the pizza.  

He went to the back of the apartment.  On the floor was arranged a computer, a keyboard, and a mouse.  A little tool with a band on it wide enough for the dog's paw lay next to the keyboard.  The printer, also situated on the floor, had a page printed out.  He took the paper and began to read as he reached for a slice of pizza:

"The landlord came today.  At the door, he asked out loud if you were home.  I think he suspects you have a dog in your apartment.  I didn't bark or anything.  Thank you for the pizza.  I will repay you when I'm back to normal.  Just don't ever get me dog food again, please."

Amused by that last sentence, Thomas' brow lifted, and he raised his pizza slice to the dog in salute.  "You're welcome, Aaron.  It's no problem.  Sorry about yesterday's misunderstanding.  I was in a hurry."  He eased into a chair next to his little kitchen table, stared out the window to the building across the street, and took another bite.  "I need to get you out.  You can't just stay cooped up in my apartment forever--even if you're housetrained and using the toilet.  You need some sunshine.  We've got to break this cycle.  We've got to get out and breathe while we wait to make the next move.  So I was thinking.  What do you say I go get a collar and a leash, and we go all-out and official, and I 'take you for a walk' tomorrow?  Fresh air can only help."

The dog chewed up the final morsels of his latest bite, gulping them down quietly.  He paused, looked at the front door, but returned his deliberate gaze to Thomas, not opening his mouth once.

"Look," said Thomas, holding his hands out as if to plead with the dog, "I know it probably makes you uncomfortable. But we have to at least pretend you're a regular dog if we go out in public.  It's the only way we can pull off leaving this apartment."

After a moment of consideration, Aaron "nodded" his head again, agreeing with the plan.  Tomorrow they would go out.  

That night, they abided by their stipulated sleeping arrangement.  Thomas slept in his bed, while Aaron took the couch.  But it was a sleepless night for him.  Thomas went out earlier and picked up the leash and collar.  But going back out into the wide world was a frightening prospect.  He lay there, his head resting atop his crossed over arms, staring out to the balcony, his German Shepherd eyes filled with worry.  

Then, all of a sudden, a man was there on the balcony.  It was as though he blinked into existence.  Where did he come from?  Aaron couldn't figure it out.  The figure appeared human at first, though he also looked somehow different from a normal man.  He was dressed in a formal dark suit, and when Aaron spied him, the stranger grinned back shortly before he blinked out of existence again.  

Aaron raised his head.  He even growled a bit, though he stopped himself from barking.  But once the stranger was gone, he hurried over to the wall switch, turned on the lights, and then ran over to the computer.  With difficulty, the dog pushed his right paw through the loop of the stick tool, and he used it to turn on the computer.  As he was pulling up the notepad with great clumsiness and difficulty, Thomas awoke to see his roommate preparing to "talk" to him again with a new note.  An hour later, after the dog had slowly typed letter after letter using the special tool Thomas had made for him, the printer had a full message in its tray:

"A strange man appeared on the balcony and disappeared again.  But he was not a man.  He was a creature trying to look like a man.  We have the attention of other forces at work.  I'm not sure where this one is from, though."

After reading the message, Thomas set the paper down and dated it in pen.  He'd add it to the stack of other notes typed out for him by Aaron.  He made sure the door and windows were locked.  He kept the stove and bathroom lights on for the rest of the night, and eventually his alertness wore off, and he fell asleep again.  This time, though, he allowed Aaron to sleep in the bed next to him.  He was still just a dog, after all.   

  

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Bovodar and the Bears Was Inspired By Vikings

Bodvar Bjarki in bear form fights in his last battle for King Hrólf.

Perhaps the following is an obscure fact for American audiences.  But Norwegians who've read Bovodar and the Bears instantly recognized the Norse themes woven throughout the story.  Most obvious to them is the very name of the protagonist: Bovodar Yarkery.  Perhaps to us Americans this sounds like I picked out a strange and contrived name.  However, a Norwegian native will instantly recognize the altered name of Bödvar Bjarki.  

"Who is Bödvar Bjarki," you ask?  This beloved figure is one of the main characters from The Saga of Hrólf Kraki.  This Old Norse tale is about the adventures of the legendary 5th century king, Hrólfr Kraki.  The character Bödvar Bjarki is one of Hrólfr's twelve great berserkers.  Many fantastic events and magical wonders transpire during this tale, involving treasure hunts, surprise attacks, trolls, other magical creatures, and a cleverly-disguised Odin.  As for Bödvar Bjarki, he had the power to shapeshift into a bear.  In fact, his name actually translates to "warlike little bear."  At one point in The Saga, Bödvar's body is actually asleep, while his spirit takes on the form of a bear who fights for Hrólfr against an army of fierce warriors, criminals, elves, and norns---all who were formerly hidden and empowered by the witchcraft of the half-elf, Skuld.  

With all of this talk about bears, berserkers, treasure hunting, magic, shapeshifting, and high adventure, it shouldn't be too hard now to understand what part of the world a lot of B&B's inspiration draws from.  And while it may be true that a lot of the geography and landscape of B&B borrows from the lands of the Western Hemisphere, it is clear that the characters and the story draws a lot of inspiration from the Old Norse legends and fairy tales of old. 

 


Friday, February 19, 2021

The Curious Case of UFOlogist Dr. Steven Greer

I've been trying to take my mind off of mainstream news for the past month.  Instead, I've been putting my mind more into escapist pursuits.  One particular topic that's always had my attention is the UFO topic.  I very much enjoy watching documentaries about aliens and the UFO craze.  I suppose it's been this way all my life.  I started off watching this topic being covered on Unsolved Mysteries back in the 1980s, and then in the 1990s, I remember watching discussions about alien abductions on the show Sightings.  I also can distinctly remember watching reruns of In Search Of, featuring Leonard Nimoy in the late 90s.  I think it was shown on the A&E channel.  

Funnily enough, I haven't watched the Ancient Aliens series.  I think at some point I got burned out on the topic once it became more mainstream.  But also, I had already read and thought about a lot of that show's content, and so it seemed like old news to me.  I never really bought in to the whole Nibiru speculation.  My opinion about the nature of these "alien visitations" is more along the lines of this article, actually.  I truly feel that the (largely) American phenomenon of UFO sightings is actually the very same phenomenon of medieval fairy sightings that much of Europe has as its tradition.  In fact, I'm very comfortable with the idea that these visitors are actually a third kind of angelic species that is different from Heaven-angels and demons.  I am, of course, referring to the ancient lore of how Watcher angels intermingled with humans, taught them many things, and even interbred with them---the stuff you read about in Genesis and the Book of Enoch.  

So, for me, aliens are synonymous with angels or even fairies.  And so with these considerations, I've also been listening to the Scary Fairy Godmother podcasts this past winter.  And man, are they chilling.  If you want to have a hard time getting to sleep, listen to one of these narrations before bed, alone, in a dark room.  Or perhaps even alone on a drive through the night.  My favorite one is the episode about the green light fairy.  

Enter Dr. Steven Greer

I love this guy.  I don't think that 100% of what he says is true, but I feel that a lot of it is.  And even if some of what he's saying is wrong and contains fallacies, it's just fun to suspend disbelief for a while and hear his enthusiastic talks about UFOs.  His two most entertaining documentaries are Unacknowledged and Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind.  Very slick productions, they are extremely easy to watch if you have the time.  

Unacknowledged discusses how the U.S. federal government and other powers that be have worked hard to make sure that the everyday man has no idea of what's going on with what pseudo corporate-gov forces are doing with UFO sightings and captured alien craft.  And, you know, I must say that I truly do believe that there is some sort of a shadow group out there that's beyond the power of the feds, and I think they're doing something with these entities.  If you watch the documentary Mirage Men, I think you will also be convinced that the feds are working to conceal information about this matter from the general public, based on the meticulous gaslighting campaigns they've orchestrated in the past.  There's also plenty of testimony at this point (for example THIS) from military men who've had up-close-and-personal experiences with these craft.  And let's not forget that there's been plenty of reports of how, when testing the launch of nuclear weapons, there always seems to be an "alien craft" nearby---and that these entities even will nullify the nuclear weapon so that it becomes harmless, frustrating the human operators on the ground.  

Unacknowledged becomes even more interesting towards it's conclusion, when Greer starts discussing the idea that these dark corporate-gov powers are planning to initiate some kind of a grand false flag to trick the entire world.  This makes sense to me, given that we now have a Space Force.  Greer goes on to tell us that American parties have duplicated the technology of these entities, and that many times when people spot a UFO in the sky, it's actually "one of ours."  And so, these different man-made UFO craft will be utilized to fake a worldwide attack that will be blamed on space aliens from another solar system.  It's all very fascinating to speculate.

The documentary, Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, is even more wild and fascinating, but I buy into some of that as well.  By this documentary, Greer has concluded that these entities are utilizing telepathy and other psychic/telekinetic power to materialize in and out of our atmosphere.  This same mind power is utilized to change the shape of their craft or even appear out of thin air.  This also makes sense, given the many testimonies of how, during alien close encounters, the entities do not move their mouths when there is communication, and how they seem to float, rather than walk, or that they can seemingly move through walls.  And in the context of the notion these entities are fairies/fey folk/watcher angels, it all seems consistent to me.  

Another thing put forward in Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind is the idea that Greer and his team are able to actually summon these entities through meditation.  The documentary has some wild footage of UFOs, and I can't decide if I'm seeing something authentic or computer generated.  But it sure is fun to watch.  And then there's about three highly speculative photos of purported aliens materializing in or near the group who's trying to channel these beings.  They look a bit weird, but I can't imagine these photos being fakes.  Were Greer and his people to make fake photos of aliens, they'd probably look better than this.

Sounds Like Things John Dee Would Do

I definitely believe that Greer and his team are able to channel these entities.  But I do not think this because Greer and his people have latched on to the special psychic key that unlocks interstellar technology and communication with intergalactic, highly-evolved extraterrestrials.  No, I do not think this.  But when taken in the context that these entities are the very same people as the Fey Folk, the Watchers, the "powers of the air," then I most certainly think that "summoning" makes sense.  In that context, what Greer is accomplishing is no different from the same thing performed by John Dee during Elizabethan England.  John Dee wanted to communicate with angels, and so he used techniques he borrowed from the Jewish Cabala.  I once read E. Michael Jones discuss Dee's efforts as an attempt to improve "the technology" of his era. 

Dee was most probably sent abroad to learn Cabala because both Dee and Cecil considered Cabala the cutting edge of the new science and the new intelligence technology. 

[...] 

Dee promoted imperialism, magic, usury, and the occult science as state of the art intelligence technology. "Dee is certainly following Agrippa's outline in the De occulta philosophia and that was a work founded on Renaissance Magic and Cabala. Also he hints in the Preface at higher secrets which he is not here revealing, probably the secrets of the angel-magic." 

[...] 

In an age when the King of Spain, England's archenemy, owned the gold mines of the new world, all of this had political and military implications, which is most certainly why Dee went to the continent to learn Talmudic technology and most probably why he went there as Cecil's agent. There is an obvious connection between magic and prayer: the former is a parody of the latter with supplication replaced by command.

[...]

The Steganographia brought together two of Dee's interests: angels and what later came to be known as encryption technology. In Steganographia, Trithemius proposed using angels as God did, as messengers. Trithemius's encryption system was simple. Volumes I and II of the Steganographia gave long lists of angel names, along with details on the powers of each, followed by conjurations to call them into service. Once an angel-Padiel, for example-appeared, Trithemius would hand over the message; Padiel would take it to the recipient, who would then mutter another incantation, whereupon the original message would be revealed. It was the occult version of the Western Union telegram, except the messengers were angels, and the master of this encryption technology was, if successful, indistinguishable from God. Woolley claims the Steganographia is "primarily a work of cryptography, not magic.' .... But neither Dee nor Trithemius distinguishes between the two disciplines. Books I and II "were full of ciphers, for which Europe's political tensions had produced a growing demand." But if angels could spare the spy operations the trouble of encryption, so much the better. In the 16th Century, information traveled at the speed of a horse-unless, of course, angels carried it.

- from E. Michael Jones' The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit, Chapter 10: John Dee and the Magical Transformation of England

It sounds to me as though the entire enterprise of corporate-government forces trying to tinker with the affairs of these "space aliens" and, perhaps, even reverse-engineer whatever they may have is strikingly similar to what John Dee attempted to achieve back in the 1580s.  John Dee actually succeeded when he tried to contact what he thought were angels.  Something responded to him, though it could hardly be said that they were actually angels.  At best, he was dabbling with fey Watchers, but more likely he was consorting with demons.  Whichever the case, the entities ended up suggesting Dee share his wife with other men, they'd discuss the death dates of prominent rulers, and they had Dee going around in circles about how "God's language" is spoken, yet never revealing anything useful.

It furthermore makes sense that a "John Dee situation" is likely the same kind of relationship that the shadow government is engaged in with these entities we call aliens.  But perhaps for a greater understanding, consider the documentary UFO Secret - The Friendship Case - Extraordinary Case of Mass Alien Contact.  This documentary actually shows "aliens" in a different kind of light.  In this account, we travel to Italy, where a group of young men have an encounter with "aliens" who very much look like human beings.  These entities were actually capable of causing things to materialize out of thin air, such as crumpled up notes.  And they asked at one point for delivery of fruit and food.  The kinds of situations described in the Friendship Case documentary are more striking as hijinks and gags meant to toy with human beings.  It all hardly seems like the actions of an extraterrestrial presence trying to usher humanity into a Star Trek future, and more like the flirtatious joke of a fey peoples who have a line they refuse to cross when it comes to human affairs.  

It is a concept that I've only seen one man dare to approach, the eminent Dr. Jacques Vallée.

Returning to Dr. Greer       

Is the government obtaining anything useful from their commerce with these entities?  I suppose it's possible.  We've obtained material from the fey before.  We have the Fairy Flag of Dunvegen Castle, The Oldenburg Horn, and snippets of their music.  Perhaps the ingenuity of modern Americans truly has captured different craft from these fey folk in the hopes of reverse engineering them.  Besides, the idea of a craft used by higher beings is not new.  Consider the Vimāna of the ancient Hindu texts.  These legends of flying chariots involve powerful men flying around in the sky, warring with one another, and using powerful weapons against each other in Northern India.  It's all very fascinating.      

But when it comes to the phenomenon of our day---the UFO phenomenon---many people get caught up in the idea that we are dealing with the modern notion that these are alien creatures from another planet, another solar system, or even another galaxy.  People like Dr. Greer think that these entities have traversed the interstellar medium using a psychic kind of technology that allows them to seamlessly pass through space and time, across vast distances.  He looks at these entities as space aliens, like something from a science fiction series, and that they are a part of some kind of a galactic federation that we are not yet a part of.  

To me, Greer appears close-minded.  He, like most people, cannot escape the gravitational pull of the 20th and 21st Century's mania about space aliens.  His earth-bound mind is made even more apparent when he references things like string theory and quantum physics, which are highly debatable and likely flawed concepts.  He references trendy myths of our day, such as evolution and anthropogenic climate change, which is utterly preposterous.  He looks at "aliens" as an advanced civilization.  He wants to put together a rock concert to gin up enthusiasm for the declassification of UFO encounters.  When he considers the human race, he chuckles with disdain and disgust and puts us down---so it really comes off as though he's looking at "space aliens" as a group who can deliver mankind out of ignorance.  Greer is spot-on about the idea of these entities being able to travel inter-dimensionally.  But he slips up and shows his new age, leftist bias when he puts forward these kinds of absurd notions.  

Dr. Steven Greer comes off as a man who's "got this UFO thing figured out."  The slick production of his documentaries attest to this.  So when he gets together groups of people to have sessions that involve meditation to "summon" alien craft, it really comes off as if Greer is "in the know" when it comes to outer space peoples.  But in reality, I believe, Greer's actions are no different from that of John Dee's.  His meditation is merely a prayer to the fey, a submission to a higher power that's always been here, ready to fool him.  Greer thinks he's bypassing the dark corporate-gov powers when he chooses to communicate with UFOs directly.  But in reality, he's getting wrapped up in the same spiral as them and everyone before them.  

I think there is a reason why God told mankind not to dabble with necromancy and calling upon the spirits.  And it seems to me that the fey also have a line that they also are not allowed to cross.  Some sort of rule for them that we don't know about.  And when people like John Dee, Cabalists, our deep state, or even Dr. Greer ignore that line and try to glitch the matrix of the natural universe to find a way to cheat and toy with reality like this, it can only end in disappointment.    


 

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Chatting With Comic Stars, Legends, & The Rollout Of Excellence

Mary MacArthur has released some step-by-step photos of how she put together the new cover for Bovodar and the Bears.

Ladies and gentlemen, the woman uses paints. Gouache painting, to be specific. The end product is amazing, I must say. However, seeing photos of the process of making the cover art simply blows my mind. The final cover art has been released to no one, as of yet.

And again, if you want some sneak peeks as to what we're working on, I recommend subscribing to our monthly newsletter. (Click HERE to go to the form.)


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As I was explaining earlier this week in my last post, I've been marveling at my need for an entirely new catalog of terminology in order to write out comic script for Mary.

On Facebook, I asked Jon Del Arroz and Chuck Dixon---yes, I'm talking about the famous up-and-coming comic artist as well as the famous comic writer for DC---about whether or not they had any experience in turning novels into comic books. The following conversation ensued (posted with permission):


Jack Mikkelson - Author Jon Del Arroz or Chuck Dixon, do you guys have any experience in turning novels into comic books? I'm basically re-writing the book! (Which is fine, of course.)

Chuck Dixon LOADS. My bestselling book is an adaption of The Hobbit. I've also adapted:
The Forgotten Man
Call of the Wild
Some of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books.
Some other fantasy series I forget.
Clinton Cash
and I'm currently adapting John Ringo's zombie novels.

Jon Del Arroz Yep I did Richard Fox’s ember War. It’s more work than just writing a comic from scratch I find!

Jack Mikkelson - Author  Wow. Makes me wonder what I've taken on. But I'll say this, I am enjoying this process.  Jon, did you start off writing books/novels? Or did you jump straight into comics?

Jon Del Arroz   I would say I started my first novel first but then I got bored and wrote a bunch of comics and went back into the novel after. So both ;)

Jack Mikkelson - Author I understand. Leaving a text medium for a visual medium is more gratifying, I find. You can easily see pictures. Text has to be poured through, requiring more work. More thankless than comics, I find.

Chuck Dixon My advice? Eye candy. Eye candy. Eye candy. And consider moving some of the action around so that it's better spaced through the story. There HAS to be something going on visually ALL the time.

Jack Mikkelson - Author Noted. Thanks! I'm thinking that areas that drag a bit with dialogue should be punctuated with later action. For example, after a short spate of dialogue, it skips into the future: "Meanwhile, 5 days later..."

Jack Mikkelson - Author  I've purchased the graphic novel adaptation of The Hobbit. I'll be studying this closely soon. Thanks for your recommendations. I don't suppose they sell copies of the comic script, do they? (Probably not.)  Oh, and one more question if I still have your attention. Do you find that graphic novels sell better and attract more attention than the regular print works do?

Chuck Dixon NO! If I've learned anything in all my time in comics is that the greater reading audience for fiction actively HATE comics. Prose has a MUCH larger potential audience. I mean, 1000 times greater. Comics have turned themselves into a boutique industry,

Jack Mikkelson - Author WOW. I thought that telling a story through the visual medium would be more accessible for wider audiences. This amazes me. Mr. Dixon, may I share this conversation we had today over on my blog later? I'm just amazed by this.

Chuck Dixon Sure!


I also got permission from Jon Del Arroz through Messenger to publish this shortly before I posted this blog post. 

I was very surprised when I read Dixon telling me that fiction readers HATE comics.  I've thought for a few years, now, that Bovodar's adventures would be best told through a visual medium.  But the idea that fiction readers would disdain a comic form of the novel?  I'd never considered that.  Perhaps videogames or shorts from the story on YouTube would do even better with audiences?  Who knows?  

I can say one thing, though.  This artwork that MacArthur is doing for this series is fantastic.  She puts a lot of attention, heart, and soul into the effort, and the end result is quality work.  It shows, it's impressive, and there will be more of it.  We have so much for you all.  It's a pleasure to tell this story for you guys.      

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Writing Comic Script: The Search For Body Gesture Terminology

Tonight, I was working on some things for my illustrator.  As this blog's readers will know, we're in the process of making Bovodar and the Bears into a comic series or a graphic novel.  In fact, subscribers to the newsletter (click HERE if you want to subscribe) will have already seen a preview of this comic series in this month's e-mail. 

Now, I find that writing fiction for an audience and writing a comic script for an illustrator are two completely different and very involved processes.  As many people are aware, when writing a work of fiction, you have to first put it on paper.  Then go over it to clean it up.  Then edit it again.  Then have someone look at it.  And maybe another person.  Then you go over it again.  You're always refining the work until it's presentable. 

But I am in the process of slowly transforming a novel into a comic book script format for my illustrator.  I'm doing this to give her a visual idea of what to specifically draw various scenes.  And describing a scene to an illustrator and describing a scene to a reading audience are two entirely different things. 

For example, several times in this process, I've been trying to explain to her a few gestures or facial expressions.  It would be helpful to have a catalog of body or hand gestures, as well as a dictionary/encyclopedia of facial expressions.  But I'm unsure if these things exist.  And if they do, I'm unsure I can currently afford such volumes.  Time will tell.

But I find it fascinating that I'm having to basically re-write an entire novel all over again---AND in an entirely different way---in order to pull these images out of the ether of my imagination, translate them through an illustrator, and get them onto paper for the rest of the reading/viewing world.  It's as though we are trying to psychically photograph a scene from another dimension that we can only visit in our dreams.  Writing comic script requires a knowledge of a whole new terminology, among other things.  It's been a fascinating medium to break into, and I can see so much potential in it.  Comics/graphic illustrations are set up more like a sort of 2-D theater, while raw text fiction remains an abstraction that not everyone will have the patience to see. 

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Civilized Animal Productions

Recently I have been following the work of Paul Aspen.  He runs an outfit called Civilized Animal Productions, which has been putting out a video every Sunday for at least the past month.  I've been enjoying his videos very much, I've talked to him personally, and the man is very helpful when it comes to organizing content output. 

This past month, Aspen's been discussing a writer's time management. 

One of the chief things I noted right away was when he brought up how writers have different energy levels for their writing.  For example, in a day, you might have only so much time for Grade A "pure creativity" content writing.  But you may burn through that after a while, and by the end of the day, you only have lower grades of "writing energy" that are only fit to be applied towards blogging or marketing efforts.

I'd recommend checking him out.  His website for Civilized Animal Productions can be found here.  You can also follow him on Facebook, as I have been doing, and watch his Sunday podcasts.  He's been quite helpful to me, and I would recommend him to other writers in need for some external advice.

Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Lord of the Two Lands, Part 5

I will admit, I've been watching The Thing lately.  (The 80s version and the one from 2011.)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

The old tycoon snarled and stomped and pointed his finger up at the count and his spokesman.  "How dare you play such tricks.  You honestly think we'll fall for something this far fetched?  Sorcery doesn't do things like this.  Street magicians do this.  We've wasted our time coming here.  Send my fire back to her flat when you're done with her."  He turned his back to the count, making his way off of the circular sidewalk.  He snarled again, adjusted his neck, and loosened his collar.

Yet then, he heard the shuffling of many feet behind him, and all of his colleagues once more spoke in unison with one voice: "Fashioned, was he, to be the sole ruler, the Lord of the Two Lands."

He turned and saw his associates and friends gathered around the obelisk, staring at him.  Behind the crowd towered the count.  He must have been over seven feet in height.  His delegate remained at his side, and in the back shadows stood his private security detail.  A moment passed.  The crowd flinched and woke from their spell.  Blinking their eyes and rubbing their hands, they looked at one another in confusion.

The count who stood as a statue for so long lifted his arms into the air, his palms facing upward.  He rolled his eyes back, closed them, and re-opened them.  Now they were white and almost glowing.  He opened his mouth, baring his teeth---his top two incisors sharp and pointy.  He looked upward into the sky, as did everyone.  Two lights, high in the air, descended to the place where they all were.  One light on each side of the obelisk hovered above the ground.  The count's head contorted itself, so that the nose came far out, and his ears rose up.  In the end, his head resembled that of an ancient Egyptian jackal.

The spy in the bushes cowered and lie prostrate on the ground, trembling and covered in sweat.  Surely all of the light will reveal my hiding spot, he thought.

The wealthy crowd stared with open jaws as they marveled at the count and the lights on each side of the obelisk.  The old tycoon stepped back to take in the scene before him.  All at once, everyone flinched and held onto their heads.  Then some fell to the ground on their hands and knees.  Others kept standing.  Their forms were changing.  One man turned a dark slimy green, his transformation ending once he resembled a man-frog.  Another fell down and metamorphed into a bull.  Other men and women moaned and cried out as they changed into other animals.

Smoke rose into the air amidst all the tumult, and the air reeked of burning cauterized flesh.  Some of the wealthy couples had their own security personnel waiting for them at the carriages, but when the noises, lights, and smoke began, all of the guards rushed up the stairs and beheld a cacophany of human beings caught up in a painful orgy of screeching, swelling, pulsing flesh, some being absorbed into one another, others fusing together.  Struck dumb with confusion, the guards of the aristocrats paused in fright at the roars, the bleating, and the screaming.  They couldn't make sense of the fangs, jowls, claws, batwings, and slithering, half-absorbed people, or the strange sight of half-man half-fish creature.  When they reached for their guns, they were gone.  As were the tazers and batons.  In short order they, too, fell to the ground and writhed in agony, themselves transforming until they became pigs.

Apart from the security men, three men, writhing on the ground, were dragged by an invisible force into each other.  Their clothes ripped from their bodies as though something was violently stripping them naked.  Their groans became muffled as their mouths disappeared, and in a gruesome display, the flesh of the trio formed together in one great mass with six legs sticking out, and the change continued until a single head of a lion emerged, and the six legs became that of six goat legs going around the main body of the creature like a wheel.  Another person, who it was the still-normal tycoon couldn't tell, was doubled up on the ground, their upper torso turned into the bust of a hawk.  Still another person was changed into a goat-man who fell over himself when he tried standing on his hooved feet.

When it all appeared finished, the frog-man and the cat-woman were dragged by an invisible force into one another, and when they fused, they became a two-headed creature---one head cat, the other head a frog---atop a base of spider legs.  While most of the other elites were transformed into animals or half-animals, this fusion of the tycoon's wife and the frog-man was the most unnatural of them all, and it caused the sweaty, flush old man to step back a little further.  This horrendous display was all for him.

"The express resemblance of the gods is changed into some brutish form!" laughed the count's spokesman.  "And they, so perfect is their misery, not once perceived their foul disfigurement, but boast themselves more comely than before.  And all their friends and native home forget, and they roule with pleasure in a sensual sty."

"Supreme Therion!" the wealthy man uttered, bowing.  "I have vast wealth.  Connections.  Infrastructure.  We can set up great things if we work together.  Tonight alone, you've liquidated over a third of my competitors.  Work with me!  Teach me your magick!  Let me be your corporate representative.  I have so much I can offer you!

A sharp pain suddenly brought the tycoon to his knees. His hair falling out, including that of his moustache and his eyebrows, he brought his hands to his face.  Something was happening to him, though he was not transforming as of yet.  Then, an invisible hand grabbed at his feet, dragging him screaming, until he was brought into the melded cat and frog creature.  After becoming absorbed into the monster, two more spider legs grew out of the creature's base, yet the original head of the man remained.  Thus, the creature was such, that it contained the head of a cat, a frog, and an old man atop a base of spider legs.

The count's smirking spokesman stepped towards the spider creature and crowned the old man's head with a wreath of leaves---a prop from the earlier play.  "My lord was more interested in a merger, I do believe."

The tumultuous herd of animals and creatures moaned and squealed, bleated and grunted.  The lights hovering on each side of the obelisk grew ever-brighter, until finally everything became white.  When the light disappeared, everyone was gone.  The man in the bushes breathed a sigh of relief.  He looked all around, but found there was no one there but him.  The count, his men, the rich aristocrats, and even the line of carriages were gone.  In fact, there were even a few people strolling the sidewalks.

Slowly, he made his way up to the obelisk, which now was only lit by the streetlamps that encircled it.  On the ground lay the cup and the necromancer wand from the earlier play.  He picked them up and found them to be harmless.  He quickly looked all around himself, swiftly returning his eyes to the two props in his hands.

"So there you are," said a voice.  He looked up.  It was the count's spokesman standing in front of him.  Behind towered the dark count, staring straight into his eyes.  "Did you enjoy your vacation?"
The fearful man fell back onto the ground, scooting away.  "No one who knows Lord Nobilious' name in this world escapes us.  You ought to know that."  He stood, turned, and bolted off toward the Great Lawn.  "It's time to come home," yelled the voice.

He thought he was well away and out of danger from the count.  But then, he found himself falling over, and rolling on the ground.  When he looked at his own body, he found he was no longer a man, but a dog.  He barked into the night and ran for his life out of Central Park.   




Thursday, August 29, 2019

Lord of the Two Lands, Part 4


The conversation was difficult to hear.  A power couple approached the count and asked something.  But their question was difficult to make out.  A lone man spoke on behalf of the count, who stood tall, dark, and silent, his eyes staring onward, beyond everything around him.  But then, after the spokesman talked, the husband, an older man in a tuxedo with a grey mustache and blue eyes, raised his voice in a temper, and he was easier to hear.

"Ley lines and Freemason rituals.  All very fascinating," said the indignant man.  His face darkened into a red hue.  "But we didn't come here for a history lesson.  We've taken a risk bringing our friends out here like this.  These are not ordinary people."  As the man spoke, two of the count's security men tensed up, edged forward, and closed in just a little around the count.  "We have properties all over this city.  We own foundations.  We have dual citizenship.  You have a lot of powerful people here.  Now, if you're just some eccentric millionaire, then our business is through, and you will pay for wasting our time tonight.  But---"

"But if you're what we think you are," interrupted the tycoon's younger wife, "and you're the sorcerer we've all heard that you are, then it's time to build bridges and make alliances.  So, tell me.  Are you, by any chance Egyptian?  Is that why you brought us out here to this obelisk?"

The speaker smiled diplomatically and extended his hand out, as the count continued to stand silent, cold, and taller than everyone standing in the circle that surrounded the monument.  "My master has spent a great amount of time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, though also a lot of time spent throughout Europe as well."

"A citizen of the world," smiled the woman.  "So, what can you tell us about Egypt that we couldn't read out of a book?  Do you know something more than what's in that museum over there?"  She pointed east, towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Her smile was the only one amid a grim collection of stony faces.  The rest of the group of moguls and their wives crowded in around the woman, their pupils dilated and their eyes staring straight, as though they were no longer themselves.  Together, in unison, the crowd chanted together, "Read it.  Read the stone."  And at this, her jaw dropped, her lower red lip quivering almost in fear, were it not for the thrilled look in her seductive young eyes. 

"Read here, my lady," said the count's delegate.  He bent over and pointed down to a plaque at the base of the obelisk.  "Read this right here.  Read loud enough for everyone to hear you."

She leaned over, and as she did, the eyes of the crowd returned to normal.  They all leaned in, watching her, curious to hear what she would say.  She read, a flirtatious smile returning to her lips: "The golden Horus, content with victory, who smiteth the rulers of the nations." 

"That is who my master is," said the count's spokesman.  "He 'smites the rulers of the nations,' as you can read here.  Look, now."  The count held in his hands the necromancer's wand and the magical cup from the play.  No one saw how he got them.  Perhaps the director gave them to him as a memento.  Whatever the case, in that moment, it was as though he pulled those props straight out of the air.  The count handed the glass over to his delegate, still saying not a single word, but now he looked down at the woman as his speaker continued: "My dear lady, 'you invert the covenants of Nature's trust, and harshly deal like an ill borrower with that you received on other terms!  Refreshment after toil, ease after pain, that have been tired all day without repast, and timely rest have wanted!  But, fair virgin, this will restore all soon!'"

He shuffled himself, there in the bushes.  It was about to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.  If he jumped out to stop what happened next, either the guards of the tycoons, or the guards of the count would pin him to the ground, and they'd disappear him that night.  No police presence in the city could protect him from these dangerous people. 

The tycoon's wife smiled more, the freckle on her cheek making her look all-the-more younger and coy.  Her eyes widened, and she played along: "T'will not restore the truth and honesty that thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies!" She turned her eyes from the delegate to the count himself, who looked down upon her with his amused ebony countenance.  She continued: "What grim aspects are these?  These ugly-headed monsters  Mercy guard me!  Hence, with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver, hast though betrayed my credulous innocence?"

She addressed the count, but again, it was his delegate who returned with his poetry.  And as he did so, he held out the glass to the lady once more, offering it to her to drink.  "List, Lady!  Be not coy, and be not cozened!  Beauty is nature's coin!  It must not be hoarded, but must be current, and the good thereof consists in mutual and partaken bliss!"

She pushed the cup away from herself, her husband's eyes wide and his face flush as he watched the exchange with the count's spokesman.  "I had not thought to have unlocked my lips in this unhallowed air, but that this Juggler would think to charm my judgement!"

Once more, though, the servant held out the glass to the lady, but this time the count extended his hand a little in the direction of the cup and the lady, gesturing for her to accept the gift.  The spokesman said: "But this will cure all straight!  One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight beyond the bliss of dreams.  Be wise, and taste!"

A bright smile grew across her face, and the rest of the small upper crust crowd leaned in to watch, as she accepted the cup with both of her hands, drawing it slowly to her lips, but never taking her eyes off of the count.  Perhaps she's rewarding the count for acknowledging her, he wondered.  "I drink this cup for the powers I serve."  And then she drank. 

Swiftly, her eyes flashed wide.  She dropped the cup.  Gasping, she clutched at her chest.  Bending over, she went down, moaning, grabbing onto her head, swaying back and forth, until she finally went to the ground and she was on her knees.  Turning black, her hair went into her head, but fur came all over her face and all parts of her.  She couldn't speak---her mouth was changing its shape.  Her feminine moans grew higher in their pitch until she no longer sounded like a woman.  Then there was a black tail that came out of her dress, and her eyes turned yellow, until finally she looked like a humanoid cat, collapsed on the ground and dazed. 

Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Lord of the Two Lands, Part 3


He knew where they would likely go: The Obelisk.  It was the most fitting location for what was about to take place, and it was nearby.  If he could race across the grass and take short cuts, he might be able to stay caught up with the train of carriages.  So off he went.  Running past Turtle Pond and beyond the Great Lawn, he came to a line of benches underneath a tree.  Sitting and waiting around Central Park at night made him nervous, but being so close to the count made him even more nervous.

Damn blue bloods are going to get themselves killed, he thought.  He turned around where he sat and spied over a hundred feet behind him a set of stony stairs that led up a little hill.  A fiery torch blazed on each side of them.  Probably placed there earlier in anticipation for what would happen next, he thought.  Atop the hill stood a grove of trees, and above the treeline, The Obelisk shot into the sky, its ancient face standing defiant against the darkness.

He was in luck, too.  The carriages had just pulled up.  He was ahead of them, and he had a good spot.  But what would he do next?  What could he do?  First, the count stepped out of his carriage, and with his attendants, they slowly walked down the sidewalk.  After he was well away from his carriage, the other guests who wanted to visit with the count were allowed out of their carriages.  By the time they had all caught up with him and started visiting, he realized he couldn't hear any of them.  He'd have to get in closer.  It would be tricky, though.  There were attendants standing beside the horses of each carriage.

So, carefully he slipped from his seat and took a walk down the sidewalk.  But further away, when he thought he was out of sight, he circled back and hid behind trees and brush on the north side of the Obelisk.  He was quiet as he could be, but he couldn't help but wonder if any of the guards or attendants heard him.  Then, to his horror, the count and his guests moved to the north side of The Obelisk so that they were right in front of him.  Surely, he thought, he would be seen now.  He knelt down as quietly as he could, steadying his breath, moving slowly.

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

You Can Now Sign Up To Our Newsletter

As things progress with the re-release and the graphic novel project, we've decided to roll out a newsletter this month.  That way, if you want to keep up with all of the new developments of Bovodar and the Bears and related projects, we can send you our monthly updates. 



Also, there will always be a form on the right side of this blog that you can fill out to subscribe.  (I may be adjusting the formatting and look of that form as we proceed.)

We'll be including goodies such as previews and bonuses in the newsletter that you just won't have access to through the blog alone.  So if you want to see some privileged, unreleased material, the newsletter is the place where you'll be seeing it.

We look forward to hearing from ya. 



Lord of the Two Lands, Part 2

The Defeat of Comus, by Sir Edwin Henry Landseer


Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

After the sun set west of Central Park, the play began.  The evening star was high in the sky, and the stage was well-lit by the lights of the Delacorte Theater.  Usually tickets to Shakespeare plays were free in the summertime, but tonight's event was special, and it was necessary to buy a ticket to attend.  The seats were completely full on this evening.  This obscure play was a very special event, probably arranged with a lot of money, and it attracted a lot of people who heard about it though word-of-mouth.

He sat in a seat in the upper eastern corner, and this allowed him to see beyond the stage to Belvedere Castle in the distance, the starlight twinkling in the surface of Turtle Pond.  Yet more importantly, he had a good view of the audience from his vantage point.  In the very front sat his target: a wealthy African count---or so everyone believed.  He was tall, bald, and all of his attention was focused on the act in front of him.  Surrounding the count sat a dozen servants.  They were men dressed in evening suits, keen and aware of everything around their master.  Outside of that group sat a small gathering of high society.  Many were older men in their suits with very young wives dressed in evening gowns.  No doubt, they were there for the count, and not the play.  Several of the women did not look at all comfortable with their surroundings, though he could tell that many of them tried to humor the count and enjoy the performance.  Outside of that core were what appeared to be professors, young academics, and other eccentric types intrigued by obscure, avant-garde trends.

The play was originally called A Maske, and it was specially made for the cultivated and erudite Bridgewater family, to be presented at Ludlow Castle on Michaelmas Night in 1634.  However the play eventually came to be known simply as Comus years later.  The operatic "Puritan masque" was written for a family that, at that time, had been struggling with scandals of despoiled innocence as well as possibly witchcraft.  And so, the script involved an innocent and chaste young girl trying to find her way through a forest after being separated by her brothers.  The darkness of the night seems impenetrable and ominous.  And then, she comes across the sorcerer, Comus.

According to the program, Comus was an impure reveler like his father, the god Bacchus, and he had taken up after his mother, the goddess Circe, who took pleasure in transforming men into half-animal creatures.  The performance centered around Comus' efforts to tempt the lost girl, that she would give in to his seductive charms.  With his necromancer's wand and a glass filled with magical potion, Comus urges the lady to drink from his cup and give in to his enchantments, that she may be transformed and join with the rest of his beastly quarry.

The count was entranced with the performance.  It could have been only him watching the show.  He noticed no one else around him.  Toward the end of the play, the girl's brothers entered the scene, threw down Comus's cup, and rescued their sister.  After an act of sea nymphs dancing to baroque music, there was a final eulogy by the lady's Attendant Spirit, and then the play had ended.  When the lights went out, and there was a brief pause, the count stood from his seat immediately and clapped loudly.  Shortly after followed his attendants, and then followed the nobility that surrounded him.  The cast came out onto the stage, and the count's attendants tossed up flowers to the actors as they graciously bowed to their benefactor who used his money and influence to make the play possible.  Many of the blue bloods were looking at the count, smiling with him and then turning to the actors to cheer them.

The performance over, the next part of the evening would be crucial.  He had to follow the count at a distance, but keep close enough to perhaps hear what was being said.  His life was in jeopardy.  If he were caught, the count would go beyond all natural law to make sure he was punished.  He had to stay calm and keep a clear head so he could take notes later.  So much hinged on what he would find out tonight.

The retinue followed the count, and several of the admirers tried talking to him.  But the count was always quiet.  He allowed his chief servants to speak for him.  This servant acknowledged the nobles, and with his white-gloved hands, he gestured for them to follow the count outside of the theater.

Keeping up with the count would be difficult without a car, but he had to try his best.  Carefully slipping through the crowd, he made his way outside to find the count and his train strolling out to West Drive.  There, parked in the street stood a train of horse-drawn carriages.  It was obvious to him they waited for the play's benefactor.  The count boarded his carriage with his few closest men.  No other person was there to visit with him.  The tall, dark man sat still and solitary, staring forward thoughtfully---as though he were looking beyond the world itself.  The remaining servants and some of the rich filled the rest of the carriages.  Then, they took off at a leisurely pace.