Winter's Tales

[ecosophia]

The summer 2018 issue of Into the Ruins has just been released, and it contains a treat...


Longtime readers of mine may remember the first work of deindustrial fiction I ever wrote, which appeared in the last months of 2006 on The Archdruid Report. "Winter's Tales' was a set of vignettes of everyday life in an American city in 2050, 2100, and 2150, taking three samples along the familiar historical curve of decline and fall. It's been turned into a graphic story by Marcu Knoesen and Walt Barna. Yes, this is the first page. 

I'm delighted, and I think my readers generally will find the graphic story a compelling revisioning of my tale. If you don't have a subscription to Into the Ruins yet, you can pick up a copy of the latest issue here. 

Comments

I can't believe it...

[(Anonymous)]

2006? It has already been 12 years since you posted these three pieces? Unbelievable...and they are still very clear in my mind, which, I guess, is another proof of your writing powers.
This graphic adaption looks nice!

(Heinrich)

Re: I can't believe it...

[ecosophia]

Yep. It doesn't seem like that long ago, does it?

[(Anonymous)]

Are your thoughts on what 2050, 2100, or 2150 going to be like different, or has it stood the test of time (in your opinion)?

[ecosophia]

So far, we're pretty much right on track.

Cool!

[(Anonymous)]

The graphics look great. I never read those tales before, because I started reading you in ‘08.

Kevin

Re: Cool!

[ecosophia]

Thank you! Yeah, I'm really impressed with the job Marcu and Walt did with this.

Impressive!

[(Anonymous)]

Congrats, JMG! I’m so glad that these stories are being rendered into graphic format. I have a great appreciation for the graphic novel format for communicating appropriate material to a wide audience (maybe it is due to the fact that comic books were forbidden by my parents while all my friends had veritable libraries of them). I recently read a biography of Jung in graphic style and it was great!

With brilliant work like this going on, I am definitely subscribing to Into the Ruins!

Ron M

[grokrathegreen]

I just reread the prose Winter Tales as presented in After Oil the whet my appetite for the graphic presentation that I anticipate reading soon. I am really eager to see how the adaptation will work, the work of so many words can be left to the pictures, and I wonder how diffferently the artists imagine the characters from how I picture them. I am especially curious about Ol' Molly, as my present mental image of her is particularly vivid.

I think I heard rumor about graphic artists working on a couple other pieces of your fiction, but I forget the details. Does that memory fit to any facts you know of JMG?

[ecosophia]

There have been a couple of people who've expressed interest in doing Star's Reach in graphic-novel format, and I'd love to see that happen -- I think the story's very well suited to a graphic form. So far, though, nothing's come of it.

10 Billion

[joelcaris]

There's a tease at the end of "Winter's Tales" about a full length adaptation of JMG's blog post, The Next 10 Billion Years. Marcu is also working on that and my understanding is it should be out sometime in 2019; I'm really excited for that one! I've always loved that blog post and there's a lot in there that could be put to very visual life in a longer form graphic adaptation.

I would also love to see a graphic novel version of Star's Reach. I'll keep my fingers crossed that someone tackles it.

[(Anonymous)]

Congratulations. That said: for a household that gets one (1) turkey and one (1) *ham* on a *lucky* year, don't both people and place look a little too well-kept?

[ecosophia]

You can stay very well fed on rice and beans -- I've done it -- and I've been in some very poor households that were scrupulously clean...

[(Anonymous)]

For one, there was a war and I think people who don't get dead *pigs* (raised in large part because it's easy!) likely don't get many other, including more important, things. But OK, it's *possible* - so are the people depicted already exceptional as the story starts?

[(Anonymous)]

Ironically, my thought was sort of the opposite. My impression from the original article was that while things would be spartan and threadbare, there wouldn't be the semi-post-apocalyptic look. The kitchen cabinet door looks particularly out of place, but I didn't expect the poorly boarded-up fireplace and all the broken glass.