Inside The Mind Archives

December 9, 2017May 26, 2024

The Beauty of Mythology

BLOG OF FOG | INSIDE CROW

The Beauty of Mythology

In our minds, we all see different worlds.

Every great book holds the mythology of its people—realistic or fancied. They hold truths to our society, our place in it, and our unified fears. With every noble myth you find morals, and a wealth of lies. Often, these lies become us like the atoms that move us. It is difficult to see, but if searched. One may find new interpretations to formerly established ideas.

A great deal of our perspective tends to hinge on the imparted knowledge of our elders. Yet, as we grow we also learn from what inspires us and threatens us. For we all suffer our own trials guarded by monsters.

In our minds, we all see different worlds. Humanity, are a people of many interpretations, one webbed with a history of infinite misunderstandings. Our chronicled triumphs and failures may be argued as facts, but within every impressive narrative the art of imagination can be observed.

“Liar! I know that you humans build your life in lies. It starts with your mortal lords and their fabricated gods. They use fictitious stories to impregnate the minds of people, and like herds of sheep they do as their told.”

–Iko Sunflower, Lunora and the Monster King

Knowledge is memory, science is reason, and poetry is fantasy. Together they communicate our past with vitality. In my eyes, the writers that established human history are among the most powerful mortals to walk. Their words embody the voices of countless, and are even heard after their bones have withered and gone. Their dreams and experiences influenced civilization alongside the Kings and Queens of antiquity.

These words often carry our beliefs, laws, and wisdom. However, what can be deemed true? Mythology is a collection of recorded accounts, a form of history but embroidered to explain the present or the unknown. Yet, the same can be said about everything in the past.

For is history not merely an assortment of perspectives agreed upon by those that survive and rule it?

Art by: Allan Gower

Is something touched by the imagination or hyperbolized real? To a degree, yes, because it is driven by the viewpoint of the individual that experienced it. Something fabricated may not exist now, but it may one day. Everything is subject to scrutiny, yet we cannot ignore the fact that what may seem fictional to us, is factual to another.

Personally, I look towards science to validate my own conception of reality. I would rather fight to know the truth, than deny the chance of it. Yet, even science is not fully grounded. The math may sit right for now, but it can change as with our perspective. Due to this alone, I cannot dismiss another person’s reality, nor can I deny the existence of the Old Gods.

We all have a right to exist in our own narrative. We do it the moment we are born, and the moment we dream. Often these are worlds that never were, places trapped in our minds until written, but without them we would go nowhere. Mythology has become a great part of our lives, and it will continue to do so. With every new book, the possibility of a new myth is born.

Art by: Omer Tunc

They are as real as the sun, and like the sun, untouchable. They are the dreams that motivate us. The warnings that guide us, and the place we seek to be when life is grueling. They turn us into explorers, heroes, philosophers, stargazers, villains, and much more. They are our chosen escape.

With every book read, a new world, life, or love has the chance to be discovered. Within our stories, the memories of forgotten voices can be heard. They are a timeless gale. In my life, I allow mythology to show me a life I never had. Why deny it as unreal, when reality is decided by the beholder.

EXPLORE EUKARIAN MYTH

Quote to Inspire:

“I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just were.”

–Neil Gaiman

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H.S. Crow

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AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND INSPIRING CREATOR

Drift in the Eversea

H.S. Crow has literary works appearing in all mediums of entertainment with a focus on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. He is an author traversing the theoretical and myth with novels and comics exploring the breathtaking Caligo, a vast universe containing our dreams and nightmares. Notable books include Lunora and the Monster King, Stars of Glass, and the upcoming epic Drums of Fog. However, his brilliance also transcends into poetry and music with scores that instills emotion and magic. The young author and music producer aims to challenge current issues with the imagination, and enchant the heart and mind of any who dares explore his madness.

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H.S. Crow has literary works appearing in all mediums of entertainment with a focus on fantasy, science fiction, and horror. He is an author traversing the breathtaking Caligo, a vast universe containing our dreams and nightmares. Notable books include Lunora and the Monster King, Stars of Glass, & the upcoming Drums of Fog.

November 4, 2017May 27, 2024

To Be A Writer

BLOG OF FOG | INSIDE CROW

To Be A Writer

Everyone has a story to tell…

To write is not just seeing the world through a kaleidoscope of possibilities, but a means to shift the tides of color that exist within it. What we write has power—not only in the micro scale of things that affect an individual’s life but the macro that can influence an entire generation, and even a nation.

The greatest story is one written from the heart. It is one based on your experiences, emotions, and imagination. It is ingenuity and reinvention. It is a way of seeing the world. The greatest characters I have ever written about have been retellings of people I have come across in my journeys.

“Creative people have it hard. There is always something trapped in their noggins yearning to escape like a caged animal, both too free and wild to contain. Little does the world know it will often scrape the inner walls of the mind until it gets what it wants.”

–H.S. Crow

You see, what you may think is ordinary is not the same elsewhere. Everyone has a story to tell. You may not think so, but they do, and it is a wondrous thing to explore. From the bits and pieces of our own lives we can create a new world with fantastic roads filled with our hopes and fears. In this world we can find tragedies and triumphs that can help shape who we are.

Anything written has the ability to convey numerous dimensions of a subject. It is a grand thing that allows a reader to discover their own interpretations of a tale or a discussion that may seem one dimensional; when in truth it is not. The magic of a story is when the characters come to life, and defy our expectation. When this happens we gain perspective, wisdom, and above all the thrill of a good story.

Art by: Tomas Honz

Words enlighten us. They are the forefront of everything that makes us human. With words we can find art, music, history, theory, and dreams. They define our means to communicate and gain culture. With our words, we have achieved modern civilization. It has started and stopped wars. It has molded young minds, and broken old ways. It has fueled political strife, and also relieved it.

Words have oppressed, and liberated countless. It is a weapon that can be used to inspire and save lives, or discourage and forsake them. It is a tool that has freed us from the horrors of being forgotten, and secured our future.

Writing is a sacred calling that pulls at the soul. It is the air you breathe. It flows through the veins like a carmine river, and pumps the heart. It is a part of you. Putting a pen between shaky fingers over the unknown vistas of pale opportunity is not for the faint of heart. It is an enduring struggle that takes control of you.

Art by: Tomas Honz

Being a writer means helping others through your experiences and that of everyone you have connected with. It is giving the reader the chance to experience something new, or something they may wish to brave. It is a loving and hostile touch, a patient and eager ghost, and also a test of time. Yet, even with all these extremes it is something I could never overturn. It has officially become my life.

What it means to be a writer should not be defined in a sentence. It is a powerful decision that breaks, and redefines you. To share every anxiety, desire, emotion, and mistake to countless strangers is unnerving, but priceless. You are giving them a window to explore through your eyes, and mind. I am proud to be a writer. Proud to escape this reality alongside you, and explore the ‘what if.’

“…Whether you prefer to read, listen, watch, or write—know there is soul behind it. Thank you. Never forget the roots that made us human..”

–H.S. Crow

EXPLORE EUKARIAN MYTH

Quote to Inspire:

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

–Ernest Hemingway

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H.S. Crow

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Drift in the Eversea

August 15, 2017May 27, 2024

The Subjective World

BLOG OF FOG | INSIDE CROW

The Subjective World

The truth is subjective, and forever in conflict.

From the turbulent sensation of your beating heart to the hot air escaping your dry lips, or the sounds of distant cars and voices as you balance your feet over wonky stones, and even what you see—is it real? Many would say yes, but is it real to the person next to you? Now that is a question worth contemplating.

The way you experience reality is not black and white. It is endless shades of gray. Not one pair of eyes will perceive the same horizon. In fact, the nature of reality and what you comprehend from it are completely separate things. The major components of perception are the collection of information, and the processing of said information.

It is a widely accepted belief that the human body only has five senses—typically involving sound, sight, smell, taste, and touch; however, touch alone has several somatic senses that include the perception of pressure, temperature, and pain. Some scientists list as many as twenty-one senses, many of which we have never contemplated on.

These senses help define our personal reality, but how would you react to sensory deterioration? Would you notice it? Most likely, it would shock and change you. Many astronauts and pilots undergo rigorous training meant to redefine their accepted view of reality. Some even go as far as to flip their view of the world upside down.

This training or rewiring of the brain occurs not just in them, but in all of us. Many times it is unnoticed. It happens with your tolerance of pain while playing sports, or your understanding of color when painting, and even how you distinguish sounds when practicing an instrument.

“Wayward Child, stare into the water and open your mind. See your reflection and embrace what may not be.”

–Fiddle, Lunora and the Monster King

Every day we realize a new outlook of reality—one exclusive to us withal. Must we stomach these changes, especially if we become impaired with a warped impression of the world? Would we accept this new and altered reality? Maybe, but what is classified as truth in the first place?

Let us imagine that you exist in a world where everyone lacks functional hearing. Sound does not exist because you cannot perceive it. Would you notice it? To imagine something unknown is similar to traveling an uncharted expanse that lacks anything familiar. It would be beyond interpretation. You can speculate the presence of it, or use math to confirm its legitimacy, but in the end you are ignorant of the experience it holds.

The same can be said with color. Humans have three kinds of cone cells whose job is to detect certain wavelengths of light. One cone only sees blue, the other sees only green, and the last solely sees red. We have no cone cells designed to see beyond the primary colors. Yet, somehow our mind has learned to see between the spaces of perceivable color by mixing the three primary wavelengths of light. In a sense, we imagined the gaps like missing pieces to a puzzle, and it has become a crucial part of our subjective reality.

Many colors fit in the spectrum, except for magenta, brown, and pink. Those colors like achromatic shades do not exist at all. They dwell only in our mind. Is experiencing it enough? Maybe, but does it confirm the existence of the reality in question, especially if all colors are deemed fabrications of the mind.

To further communicate the degree of our faults, what we experience as color and images is actually electromagnetic waves. The same applies to the vibrations we perceive as sound. Smell and taste revolve around this concept as well. Nearly everything including that sugary treat you had the other day are all products of the mind created to grasp the existence you assume you live in.

Our perception does not identify the world as it actually is. Strangely enough it only discerns what you are capable of recognizing. Due this problem, information is constantly misrepresented. The truth is subjective, and forever in conflict.

Art by: Tomas Honz

Other things that shape our reality are the interactions we have with people. The society you exist in as a whole molds us. Our understanding of the world starts with our parents, then our peers, and lastly the media and government. We exist with many human made rules that dictate who we are, what we do, and what our dreams entail.

We constantly reevaluate our lives with the faded print of the dead, and the fresh ink of the living in search of certainty when doubt runs high. Do these adopted perspectives contain verity? I believe to some degree it does.

The reality we perceive and the existence around us will never be one of the same. In my opinion, there are many aspects of the truth—layers that complement and contradict each other. Just because you cannot see something does not mean it does not exist.

We are all individuals capable of determining our own facet of reality. Some day we may uncover the true inner workings that move everything, but will we understand it for what it really is or will our minds alter it?

Art by: Tomas Honz

To survive it is believed that an organism has to comprehend the environment it dwells in. Their senses allows them to understand the dangers that lie around them. To perceive correctly broadens the probability of preservation; however, I no longer believe this to be the case.

Recently, a scientist named Donald Hoffman proposed the idea that an organism may get away with only knowing the pedestal of the system they inhabit. I believe he is on to something. Like in a game, you only need to know the buttons and the visuals, but not how it fundamentally works. You do not need to know the ones and zeroes that exist behind the images. The same applies to life.

According to science, the universe is composed of an immeasurable number of vibrating strings. These strings are in essence the true existence, but how do we know what these strings look like? Are they even strings or vibrating filaments at all? Is it even possible to picture it without the math? We can try, but it will rocket us back to our imagination—ideas influenced by our attempt to visualize reality.

Our imagination is a part of the existence we live in, and it warps with our imperfect perception of the world. To respect all views is a tough decision to consider, but it can be the start to a friendlier world where every dream is tangible.

Special thanks to Antonio Mangino for the great philosophical discussions that fueled this journal entry.

EXPLORE EUKARIAN MYTH

Quote to Inspire:

“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

–Albert Einstein

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H.S. Crow

Author, Producer, and Adventurer

ALL POSTS

AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR, PRODUCER, AND INSPIRING CREATOR

Drift in the Eversea

September 16, 2016May 27, 2024

Thoughts of a Monster King

BLOG OF FOG | INSIDE CROW

Thoughts of a Monster King

In our minds, we all see different worlds.

To be given time to decide our ambition, character, and future is a luxury, but even when granted is it ever enough? The lucky that manage to live beyond conception in the land of Nevermore learn quickly of the brutality the world holds. We enter the existence with a cry of muddled emotions. Fear and sorrow being the most powerful forces, yet there is beauty beneath the flux of pain and confusion. There is opportunity.

To be alive is the greatest gift, even when its luster fades. However, worry not. It is temporary. Clean the surface enough with the right material, and the luster will return. Bad things happen, it is a part life. It is needed in order to better decipher the good that dwells inside and around us. Yet, it is easier for a terrible situation to drown it out, and that alone can curse an individual from starting anew.

We are known for our dangerous aversion when a situation is against us. We jump with great conviction to express it, but our logic is often lost in the crossfire of emotion. The feelings that often defines us, also determine wars. It is natural for heart strung creatures like us to enter folly when rationality blurs.

We are capable of sacrificing our own happiness or that of others for sake of self-preservation, comfort, and love. Morals were created to divert us from the innate urge to claim our desires. It is the fiddle that controls our true nature with one that is created.

“Over the obsidian hills and the sunken yellow dale, through the vast oceans of fog and the fires of nevermore, sits the fickle doors of the land of twilight. I will traverse it all, and execute righteous judgment on all that oppose me..”

–The Banished Oberon, Lunora and the Monster King

These ethical motives has helped us create a society with rules that allow us to live side by side, but are these rules perfect—let alone right? Who defines them, and why does it have to define you? Regardless, there are moments when society and its mortal forged rules fail us. Everyone has their own interpretation as to what right and wrong is after all.

In the end, what alters our understandings of the world, our place in it, or what we hope to never become revolves in our environment, upbringings, and status. All of which vary from person to person and the challenges faced, especially when we falter. When the heart is hurt it is pricked with an itch that never goes away. We can learn to use it as a strength, or allow it to crumble the person we were. Ignoring it may work in the beginning, but it does not eliminate the decision needed to move forward. Whatever the choice, everything aids in the molding of our character.

Where misery exist, happiness dwelled. None is ever without.

When creating the Monster King I felt the need to explore these ideas, and that of death. I was reminded that it can happen to any of us, at any moment and time. Death comes for us all. It watches, but never waits. It does not need to. It is there when needed, and bears result. Many of us have learned to fear this end, yet to some it is not always a ghastly thing. It can be a much needed rest when the body has grayed and withered, yet the problem lies when it comes too soon; such as a child.

The Monster King is a banished Oberon—Overlord—that served in Caligo prior to the wars that tore his kingdom apart. Nevermore is a region trapped in a paradox that contradicts the laws of physics governing our known universe. It is a place torn from our existence, and tossed into a pocket dimension. In this tale, the Monster King is a grieving parent tortured by the loss of his only child.

When the painful news reached his wife, the queen, she forsook him and walked off the highest balcony. The king took her suicide as an act of betrayal, and cursed her memory. Her death is not mentioned in the tale due to the scribes effacing her from history. It is believed that her action was proof of his failures as father and husband, and he could not bear it.

Art by: Gij

The King represents someone who has lost everything. His daughter represented the future, and losing her destroyed him. In life, most families never recover from the tragedy of losing a child. Who would you become if everything you loved was taken from you? As a king he holds great power, but how terrible is it in the hands of someone desperate for vengeance and fueled by hate?

To build his character I learned a great deal about tyrants, and the people that followed them. Tyrants are often born from a good heart, and bear a tragic past. They are silver-tongued and driven. I discovered how effortless it is to be obsessed with the need to write a wrong, especially when the wrong blinds you from your own wickedness or means to get the deeds done.

One thing is certain, all rulers fall. Nothing is permanent, and this applies to our character in every aspect. We are always changing and redefining our understanding of the self, especially in times of pain. The loss of a loved one transforms us, and that pain never goes away. To understand grief through the eyes of this forlorn parent, I had to remember a pain I fought to forget.

Years ago, I was once going to be a father, but fate changed its mind. I never got to see my son or hear his cry. I only held the thought of his existence, and fleeting as it was I know he was there. He existed, and for a moment his name was Shade. This part of my life feels almost ancient. It feels disconnected. Regardless, that day birthed my need to write. It became my means to make him and everyone from then on immortalized. Words can shape the future, and define history.

The death of my son influenced mine. At least, it is what I told myself. Sadly, I could not live a lie. It is easy to deceive your own perception if you try hard enough, but sooner or later the truth slithers back. I realized the real reason I started writing was to ease the pain in my heart before I attempted to end my life. Writing was my escape. It warmed me from the cold nights, and stopped me from leaping off my tower, but just like the king . . . I could not bear it. I needed a new purpose, and I created one. I found it in you, all of you.

However, the same cannot be said for the Monster King. He is stuck in an internal war, and hate is one of the only things keeping him alive. His mind has traveled to a place where hope and despair are one of the same. The once liberal and benevolent leader has become despotic and malefic. His authoritarian rule is raw with emotion and retribution. He has swayed countless with the idea of change and has used propaganda to spread influence.

Devour the life of a human, and claim the power to rule…

Art by: Gij

In his warped mind he seeks to protect the realm as a whole, and he is, but the last menace that sits on the Obsidian Throne. He is his own enemy as his actions to close every border and silence every threat becomes uncontrollable. The inhabitants of Nevermore live in fear due to his rule. The catastrophic consequences of a derailing kingdom has stirred rebellion, and obscured morality among its inhabitants.

With every revolt, thousands die. The discrimination towards humans have created divides among the monsters and sprites, and by the time the Lunora and the Monster King story begins the realm is breaking because of it. The king has become everything his late daughter once strived to eliminate, and countless now live in fear or at war. His actions have created severe discord, prejudice, and overall genocide in a land that was once blanketed by flowers.

The king represents our current state of affairs. We live in an age where governments are often controlled by corrupt corporations that routinely suppress us from the truth. Everything is monitored, and information is power. Media guides the ignorant into predetermined social constructs that inhibits actual creativity and freedom. Music lulls us into conformity as school prepares us for slavery. We are not in control of our lives. We are deluded with the idea of it, but the moment we become a threat. Silence is what waits.

Art by: Gabriela Garcias

The Kingdom of Nevermore is fogged with discrimination. It is a place with many imagined walls, and barely any bridges to cross them. Like the monsters and sprites of this world, we are also trapped in a senseless cycle of fabricated differences. We obsess about country, gender, and race as if it has importance, but does it? Colors do not exist, except in our minds.

Countries are human tagged regions with invisible barriers that can change at the whim of a signed document, and sex might be determined by reproductive biology, but gender expectations are not. They are based on an individual’s perspective and what they feel is best for them. Our inability to recognize and accept each other is what stifles our world as a whole.

Do not let the mistakes of your forefathers define you. The fog is thick, but you have the potential to be greater.

To every parent that has lost, to every person that has loved, to every dream that has been crushed, and to every victim that has suffered injustice – you are not alone. I hear your cries, and I will use words to move the tides of discord.

Be the light in the darkest hour, others will shine with you.

I hope you enjoyed my inner rantings. If you are interested in reading Lunora and the Monster King | Click Here

However, I have started releasing the manga that takes place after the events of Lunora and the Monster King. It is called Lunora and it can be found on Line Webtoon and Tapas comic apps. Lunora is a manga, and is easier to digest than a play. In the end, it depends what you would prefer to explore. Below is a link to the Line Webtoon!