By now, anyone who knows of MAS work, especially the urban tale,
Street Journal, has heard of the writing force behind it, but what some might not know is that Creator, Jonathan Syphax, is veering away from the comic gender, for a moment, in order to delve into writing prose with his collection of short story packed into an anthology book slated for release towards the end of the upcoming summer. Now, that does not mean that Jorge Media (co-writer of the successful urban graphic novel, Street Journal and creator of Russ 5377) will totally be out the creative loop, but just less involved in the intricacies of story development as he was in Street Journal.)
As for the anthology, it is made up of The accumulation of three stories.
The first is about an older man, who unbeknown to his dying wife makes a deal to get her life back. It is a daringly romantic story, which pits one undying love in conflict with ones moral choices.
The second, takes place in an old, abandoned cabin in upstate New York. Trevor, our unsuspecting protagonist finds himself caught in a cat an mouse with a werewolf, which happens to be his brother, the only person still alive out of his family, each second counting down to midnight before the full moon.
The third is of a Troy Burbank, a successfully lawyer on the rise, who, in the attempt to better his life for his wife, takes a partnership position to head a new branch of the law firm he works for in the quite town of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Upon moving into his new home, he finds a old, abandoned painting in the attic, in turn, unearthing something which best kept buried beneath the home.
Now, Jonathan is quick to say that he did not invent the horror gender, nor that he can duplicate the shear mastery of such greats as Edgar Allen Poe, William “Peter" Blatty, Robert McCammon, or more recently, modern day master of horror, Stephen king, but rather to write a piece of work that hopefully aspires towards those crowning achievements of these writers mentioned above. He knows that it is no easy task!
Nor is he the first to admit that, “
prose writing is the toughest form of writing there is.” Jonathan went on to say, “
The writer is working from virtually nothing, just a clear piece of paper, a pen and the many scattered images in his head, which he must make sense of, in most cases, at a minimum of 120 pages a shot. At the least it is a daunting task,” but, that is the testament that one loves his work...
But he has no illusions about the challenges he is taking on. “
If you are writing a hundred page story, with, on average, 50 words per page, that is 5000 chances to screw up the readers road through whatever world you create. In a comic book, you only have twenty-two pages per issue, times six books, 120, all of which are facilitated by visual depictions of what the writer is trying to portray. With prose, your words are your picture, painting in the image. One poorly place word, phrase or character description and the picture is skewed, a factor that very well may take the reader out of that world for good and once they close the book, well, their gone.”
For Jonathan, this is not the only daunting factor in the mix. This will be the first project, coming off of the success of Street journal, where the sole responsibility of his prose will lie upon him. When asked about that, he had this to say.
“
It is a bit scary, to go into a project knowing that one of your strongest allies in my writing process is going to have a more hands off approach, especially being as self conscious as I am when it comes to my writing. I truly am my worst critic, and my toughest teacher. Jorge will be advising me. I can’t phantom writing anything without his direct editing input. It certainly will be challenging to write a complete prose without him fine tuning the details.”
In the end, he understands that it is the work, which speaks for itself, and the fans, not the writer which, tells of ones greatness. It is a bold step(especially as an independent) to do a full, anthology novel, and one not without it’s risk. It is fertile ground that Jonathan is willing to tread, and if that it a mark of anything, is it that of a true writer. Having that said, one can not contemplate Jonathan’s success as a prose writer; only time will show the mark left behind in the sand; but something tells me, it will be a trip worth taking!
Also, watch out for a sneak peek at the first chapter of one of the stories in the upcoming anthology book, exclusively here at
Masmediastudios.com.
