💀Take Time to Listen
Finding a Story in the Shadows
This episode of Into the Storymaze: a short dark mood piece inspired by art from Jody Fallon; appreciation for Ian Tregillis’ crackling Milkweed Trilogy; and a look at the rarely seen monster-fest that is the Harvest of Evil poster.
My friend Jody Fallon is an incredible artist of extraordinary commitment to his craft, bringing a unique dark beauty to his creations. He’s given me the OK to take his art into the Storymaze, and see what stories get inspired…or revealed. Here’s what this one said to me…
No one ever took the time to listen.
This was Its gift. A gift of knowledge. And of power. To be the ears for those who had a tale to tell.
They sought It out. In forests, deep in caves. Often It was in the lost places. Sometimes, though, it would be surrounded by a thousand other people. But no one noticed It or the tale-teller, because the others were not seekers. They simply did not know how to listen.
In each case, It would take the story in. The confession. A secret wish. Doubts, worries, wonders. It accepted their offering. And when each had finished, when the person had nothing left to say — they had nothing left at all. Used up, their most important tales told, they would fall at Its feet.
But It could not leave them where they lay, to decay, to be forgotten. To do so would dishonor the offering they had made. Their heads became the totems it would carry from secret glen to hidden cove. When the skin fell away, It could still recall how exposed teeth had once been part of a grateful smile. It could look into empty sockets and recall how eyes had gleamed with excitement.
In the shifting piles, skull bone knocking against skull bone. A rhythm. The hollow echoes gaining strength to become a calling.
"We are here. We are waiting.
"We will listen."
Know someone who’d enjoy time in the Storymaze? Invite them to join us…
Ian Tregillis "Milkweed Triptych" is a page-turner trio of sci-fi WW2 era thrillers that presses all my right buttons: bent history, body horror, dreadful sorcery, and alien entities set on wreaking havoc on humanity. A Nazi supermen project uses twisted, electro-technology to power-up a horrific (and sometimes heartbreaking) platoon that starts to give the Germans an edge. To counter that, the British unleash their "Milkweed" project — conjuring demons by way of olde English dark magic. It's kinda dark X-Men meets Lovecraft.
I enjoyed getting lost in Tregillis’ use of historic detail and the way he built action, with great character moments for many of the players on both sides of the war. British secret agent Raybould Marsh is the connecting thread across the three books — Bitter Seeds, The Coldest War, and Necessary Evil — with escalating stakes, awful losses, inter-dimensional consequences, and some truly unexpected twists. I groove on stories that finish up and I don't want them to end — and this trilogy was definitely one of those. He's got a new set I'm looking forward to visiting with soon.
What are you finding inside your Storymaze?
I snapped a high-ish rez shot of this rare retailer promo poster — “Harvest of Evil” — as just an invitation to enjoy the season.
Look at that Simon Bisley art. Look at that epic conjuring of so much horror comics goodness all at once.
Look at the fact I got to have my name 2X on that 1 amazing poster.
Enjoy the spooky time of year: early Happy Halloween! (More Oct. 31 treats to come…)
"The creative adult is the child who survived." — Ursula Leguin
Amazing Times
Thanks for taking a break from the dark web to check out this share-out of projects I’m working on, plus things that have me jazzed. I’m D.G. Chichester. If that looks pretentious, feel free to just call me “Dan”, and have a go at the last name as Chai (like the tea) Chester (like it looks).
I earned my word-cred writing comic book titles like Daredevil, Terror Inc., Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD and Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, along with all manner of digital widgets in the world wide web of advertising. I keep my storytelling cred by trying new things — this is one, with more on the way. I like weird tales, so if things here bend that way — now you know why!
Folks seem to like the comic book adventures I’ve written, so if you haven’t checked one out — please do. Many are now available in fab collected editions.
For the lonely moments between newsletters…
@dgchichester — 280 characters from the Twitterverse
@dgchichester — images via Instagramland