Dear H. L.:
I just read my subscription copies of Star Marines: Alchemy (#77) and Gilgamesh: Lords of Absence (#8). I am seriously considering having these issues cast in iron and displayed as sculpture in my room at home. They are so amazing; they should live forever. They will live forever.
I made it my New Year’s resolution to read even more of the wild adventures of Commander Hyral and his Star Marines. I bought two of the Star Marines graphic novel collections you released in 2012, Cold Vacuum and Sons of Aristotle. I also replaced my favorite old dog-eared copy of Dangerous Planets because my brother played a silly prank on me: He tore it up, page-by-page, and flushed it down the toilet, while telling me to “get a life.” But what does he know? He’s only thirteen and I’m seventeen. He’s not sophisticated enough to understand your mastery of plot, pacing and character development.
Cold Vacuum and Sons of Aristotle, wow! I just wanted to let you know: The characterizations, the break-neck pace – these are masterpieces, my friend. I can hardly wait for the forthcoming Heaven’s Devils, even though it’s just an anthology and I already have all the monthly issues.
My mom gets mad at me, because I spend all my paychecks on your graphic novels from the gaming store I work at (shout out, Forbidden Zone on 7th and Broadway!) She doesn’t understand.
Even though I subscribe every month, the graphic novels have a different feel when they’re collected like that. It’s something about having all of them together, back-to-back, with no advertisements or anything to get in my way. It feels like a totally different story when I don’t have to read it in pieces! And I think there’s just something to the ink and paper your publisher uses when they’re making the anthologies – the story isn’t flimsy and floppy when I read it; it feels like a real, weighty tome in my hands. Plus it just smells different, you know? It smells wonderful.
Anyway, I’ve got a spot on my bookshelf just waiting for Heaven’s Devils.
I’ve written you probably five or six times and haven’t heard back from you yet. I know you’re a busy guy, but I hope it’s just been because you’ve been thinking about my various ideas for story arcs! It would be great to get a letter from you some time, just to let your biggest fan know how things are going. I spend so much time reading comic books and playing games that I don’t really have a lot of friends – and anyway, no one at school understands why I love Star Marines so much, so they don’t usually want to hang out anyway.
But in the meantime, I’ve got two more story arcs for you, for both Star Marines and Gilgamesh, so I’ll split them up:
Star Marines: Alchemy: The Star Marines visit a planet where the natives are fighting a one-hundred year war over which of two noble families has the divinity required by their ancient customs to take the throne. But the war is actually being orchestrated – and manipulated – by a shadowy cult led by Sho’Gorath (now’s the perfect time to bring him back! He was the best villain!) who believe that their dark god, who sleeps in the stars, won’t return to the planet until there have been enough blood sacrifices.
Gilgamesh: Gilgamesh is doing his usual Plane-shifting when he encounters an Astral wasteland called Mediterra – it’s a dead land, covered in a black, filthy ocean of scum. Backstory: Just before the inhabitants of this plane were killed by a mass of djinni, sent to that plane by the Necromancer, they assembled all of their sorcerers and wove one last spell. The spell causes anyone who enters to go into a deep sleep and live the last memories of the sorcerers, so that their culture wouldn’t be lost to eternity. So Gilgamesh would be inside the minds of all these powerful wizards, uncovering the tragic fate of these people – and could also learn some of their Time and Space magic!
Anyway, I hope you like the ideas. Please write back and let me know if you plan on using them in any way? I don’t care if you don’t pay me. I just want to see you turn them into amazing stories!
Sincerely,
Your Biggest Fan
***
Dear H.L.:
You are incredible!
I just got your e-mail today – and when I read that you’re going to start the Mediterra story arc with Gilgamesh, I thought I would just implode from the incredible splendiferousness of the excitement I felt at that moment. Thank you so much!
I showed my family right away. It proves that I’m not just wasting time up in my room reading your comics and writing stories – I’ve told them for a long time that I build worlds up there, but they’ve never believed me. They’ve always told me to “get real”, and sometimes my Mom would ask me whether I was hiding anything (drugs, girls, dudes, who knows what she thinks would be “objectionable”), or Dad would start the old “what are you going to do with your life?” conversation again.
Well… They’re singing a different tune now!
When I showed them your letter, I think they were pretty proud of me. Mom was but Dad just looked kind of troubled and told me he’d “talk to me later.” He always wants to “talk later” but then he either forgets or gets drunk. But hey, like Commander Hyral said to the Sphinx Twins on Knapharos: “We are strangers all of us, and family most of all.”
Anyway, guess what? My Dad did talk to me later! He was all grumpy about you using my story idea, and said you should pay me for it, but I told him that I specifically told you that you didn’t have to pay me. Then Dad got even more mad, and said some things he apologized for and took back later.
But he came up to my room when I was writing later that night and asked to read some of my stories. Guess what happened next:? He was in my room for like three hours reading my stuff! I guess he likes it just like you do, huh? He says he wants me to start submitting my stories to contests and magazines and things like that. He thinks I could be a writer just like you, and I do, too. I have for a long time! It’s just nice to hear someone say it – especially my Dad.
By the way, I really enjoyed the newest copies of Star Marines: Alchemy (#78) and Gilgamesh: Lords of Absence (#9). You really got ahead of me by bringing Sho’Gorath back – I knew it was just the right time for him to show back up and pester the Star Marines. And I guess you did too! Anyway, hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely,
Your Biggest Fan
***
Dear H.L.:
Thanks for your last letter of encouragement – and the fact that you’re going to give me a small credit in the March issue for the Mediterra storyline? I almost fainted when I read that!
I also received the check you sent me for the story idea. I know I said you didn’t have to pay me for it, but you sure made my Dad happier (even though he told me not to spend it on your graphic novels, to which I replied, “Duh, I already have all of them.” Except Heaven’s Devils, of course, since it isn’t out yet.)
Anyway, I just got my work paycheck, which was a little bigger because I covered a couple of shifts for Schuyler this week. He got a girlfriend, and all of the sudden he’s too cool to work at a comics store, I guess. He’ll probably quit soon.
With the two checks, I had enough money for some new clothes and still had plenty left over. With the rest, I took my family out to dinner at Mongolian Grill (my favorite restaurant!) They were really happy, and said a lot of nice, encouraging things about my writing that I feel like I’ve been waiting a long time to hear. Even my little brother liked my story!
Now, for the really exciting news: H. L., you will never believe this. I entered a short-story competition two weeks ago… and took first place! The prize? They’re going to read my story at Comic-Con! That’s in three weeks! They’re going to publish it in a little mini-booklet and everything, and sell copies of it there. I’m a real published author now, and that also means I’m going to have a booth and everything! Hey, we might even have booths next to each other! You never know.
Anyway, I was going to send you some more of my story ideas. Then my Dad said I should just write them into short stories or scripts for comic books or something else. He said I should try to win competitions with them – which I think I can do, now that I’ve done it once!
It’s not even February yet, but I can’t wait for the March issues of Star Marines and Gilgamesh – especially Gilgamesh! That’ll come out around the same time as Comic-Con, and I’ll be published in two different places by then! This could be the start of something beautiful.
Keep up the good work, H.L., and I will, too. Thanks again for everything!
Sincerely,
Your Biggest Fan