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"...we finally made it into high Nzul, a mysterious realm, its atmosphere beset by mist and grey-dark clouds, but of exquisite grandure shaped in snow and stone. The thick cloud will part and admit narrow shafts of sun that glow upon snow clad slopes, then quickly close up again in shadow. We took the rugged mountain pass and traversed the treacherous glaciers, at last nearing the super-fortress, the Arc du Baffay.
A pale demigod of centuries remote awaits the pilgrim: the colossal effigy of The Dire. Chiseled out of a mountain crag and itself like a mountain in stature, it towers beside the crumbling bridge that spans the gorge of Kanth. Ten
Much of H.G, potter's writing is steeped in the classical and medieval tradition. His arrangements purposely evade modern rules and tones of conventional fiction and instead steer the reader toward the sense of an antique text. The words correspond to what an actual monk might have set down. He thereby provides for full immersion into the Whitehawk milieu. He insists that his writing be assigned a new term of genre, for it only borrows the forms of Fantasy, such as mysterious creatures or monstrous foes. He keeps close to a meta-historical this-world-narrative, much more ostensibly than we find in other parallel 'fantasy worlds.
THE WRITING OF H.G. POTTER
thousand slaves of the ancient world worked the precipice and formed the hooded image of Thendel the Apostate, founder of the Nzul. He stands as a sentinel, his mailed fist clenched upon the enchanted claymore Elmethodon. According to legend the rebel elf wielded the dark blade in combat during the Auroran wars. At the dawn of the world he strove against the very power of the sapphire throne on Mt. Argunizial. Banished to this outland, he nevertheless claims the title "Liberator."
His visage veiled, the titan seemed to greet us with a sincere pity and tacit disdain."
Never Leave Your Monasterry (chapter 30)
For example, he will use such historically loaded terms as crusades.' This, he says "is contrary to Fantasy, certainly not found in Middle Earth or Narnia. However, if you can call something like "Pirates of the Caribbean" Fantasy, and not Historical Fiction, eventhough it takes place in historical time including religious context and references to Christ, then certainly my work also could be placed as Fantasy." Eventhough other-worlds were the launching point of Whitehawk, he wanted to transform it into something not distanced from the actual mind of Medieval times, focusing on, rather than avoiding, the centrality of religion. Religious engagement is often very diminished in mainstream Fantasy, which more often depicts only the pagan rites while relegating Christian knowledge and life to narrative structures, and certainly not mentioning the Church. Authentic encounter is decarnated as spiritual allegory or metaphor. Whitehawk instead would take on the full story of religion. His new subgenre he calls "Similitude" in which metaphysical realities are dream-crafted into a mythos system, giving a sense of fantasy while being rooted in this world. In many places he found it necessary to merge the prose narrative with epic poetry fashioning a "proem." He prefers to imitate ancient modes of presentation modeled after authors like Homer, Vergil, Dante, and Shakespeare. The representing style is epic and considerably more relaxed than the common fantasy writers who must conform to certain parameters, such as not mentioning God. He does not consider himself as a writer putting on a performance for the reader, rather more like a radio receiver picking up an unusual transmission from the past.
H.G. Potter
Masters Greek & Latin WSU,
Masters of Divinity
Ordained 2009
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: He had set down a twenty page story-manuscript describing the fall of the wizardic college Nystol as background for his rpg milieu. (that was 1988). Heavily influenced by the classic dramas in high school, (plays like Hamlet) the Latin teacher also learned Greek in grad school, delving into Homer, Aeschylus, and many other classics. He taught Greek Mythology and Greek Drama at the university and high schoool levels. As a young artist, he also studied illustration and continued to incorporate these things into world-building, drawing from Dante, Tolkien, Umberto Eco, and even Gary Gygax, among others. He finished a four year MA in Classics at WSU in 1992 and worked as lecturer in local colleges and universities, then later as a private school instructor. Discerning the call to priesthood he was accepted to Saint Pope John XXIII National Seminary and was ordained in 2009. Soon he took up writing again, revamping the old stories and making these books for his parishioners. He considers his writings to be epic comedy modeled after the classic authors and hopes his work will be useful in re-storing the Christian culture of Western Civilization. He serves the faithful by hospital work and caring for the elderly, with Confessions, Mass and Sunday preaching in a TLM parish in the Midwestern United States. The priest-scholar studies Biblical Hebrew and draws from Scripture as well as the ancient mythos-traditions of Western Civilization and rich history of the Christianity in medieval times.
LISTEN
Opening ChapterAuthor reads NLYM
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Realms of Whitehawk
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