Mythos (SF, fantasy, magical realism, folklore, mythology)

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About Mythos (SF, fantasy, magical realism, folklore, mythology)

Do you devour every bit of science fiction or fantasy you can lay your hands on? Are you in love with Greek or African or Egyptian mythology? Norwegian or Irish or Indian folklore?

Think of yourself as an illustrator who has been asked to illustrate, through photography, a particular SF or fantasy, folk tale, or myth. It doesn't matter whether your myth comes from books & stories, or from movies & television, or from ancient literatures or oral storytelling. Just illustrate it!

Please read the full description for further details & posting rules.

Mythos — a literary definition: "A Greek word, referring to the spoken word or speech. It also denotes a tale, story or narrative, different from the historic tale which is called logos and is regarded as verifiable. The narrated events which form a mythic tale are not normally verifiable, their origin is nearly always unknown, and yet they have a claim to truth, which the purely fictitious narrative, for example a novel, lacks."

But for the purposes of this group, mythos includes stories, tales, & narratives grounded in worlds of imagination: speculative fiction, science fiction, fantasy, magical realism, folklore & fairy tales, & mythology.

Photo pool rules: Original photographs by you in which you are illustrating events, characters, places, etc. of the story you feel inspired by. The title and/or description should include a quotation or some form of explanation of how your photo relates to the story or tale that you're illustrating.

Please include in your tags: the name of the book, story, TV show, movie, or mythos that your photo relates to. Remember to use quotation marks for multi-word tags (or run the words together).

Although I assume that you're a fan of the kind of stuff you read & watch, the idea here is to harness your own imagination, collaborating with the imagination of those who created the stories that inspire you. Therefore, please avoid "fan" types of photos (conventions, book signings, movie posters, books, DVDs, celebrities, etc. from a fan perspective).

Photoshopping or other photo manipulation is completely welcome. So is cross-posting with other groups. So is reinterpretation of the story, seriousness, silliness & lampoon, whatever. Be imaginative!

As admin, I reserve the right to delete photos from the pool that don't follow these basic rules, or to add tags when necessary. For the moment, there's a 5 photo per day posting limit.

Discussion: Anything you want to discuss within the general topic of this group. If there's enough participation, I'll probably think of projects as well. Please feel free also to post links to other Flickr groups & websites that relate to the topics of this group -- for example, groups about specific SF or fantasy universes or franchises, etc.

Examples of what is welcome here:

Science fiction: the stories & novels of Asimov, Cherryh, Heinlein, Le Guin, etc. etc. Frank Herbert's Dune books. The Star Trek universe. The Star Wars universe. Battlestar Galactica. Farscape. Etc.

Fantasy: Tolkien & Middle-Earth (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, etc.). The Harry Potter books. Ursula K. Leguin's Earthsea novels. Charles de Lint. "Children's" fiction (that adults also love!) like The Wind in the Willows or Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, Hans Christian Andersen. And so on.

Magical realism: Jorge Luis Borges, Isabel Allende, Juan Rulfo, Dias Gomes and Gabriel García Márquez, etc.

Mythology: Mythology from any cultural group you can name. Greek & Roman mythology. Norse mythology & sagas. The Kalevala of the Finns. Raven & Coyote of indigenous North American myth. Etc.

Folk tales: The Brothers Grimm, fairies, brownies, trolls, etc.