So now we get to the prose I made for
Fictionpress, but I should probably do some explaining first. Fictionpress is the original fiction version of
FanFiction. You can write what you want in a wide variety of genres as long as what you write is original and only owned by you. Not the most exciting of descriptions, but there you have it.
So, my main prose work on Fictionpress is called
Nile High. Imagine if various gods from across mythologies were teenagers attending the same boarding school. That's the basic premise of Nile High. Told from the points of view of the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek goddess Athena. It started off fairly episodically as a wacky romantic comedy, but there was always something of an overarching plot simmering in the background. Admittedly, I was kind of making it up as I went along, and eventually things did get more cohesive, as well as a little bit Darker and Edgier. By the later chapters it had turned into an epic battle for the future of the world. Of course, I do love happy endings, and so naturally everything works out for the best in the end.
The world it took place in was an intentionally anachronistic setting that ran on essentially Bronze Age Flintstones technology. Basically, the gods and goddesses could encounter pre-modern civilization I wanted while still having modern tech like TVs and cellphones. Essentially, I had a sort of anything goes mentality with the series. There were also little touches to reminded the audience that the main characters are deities, like how they say "Oh My Me!" instead of "Oh My God"
Speaking of anything going, one of my favorite parts of the series was the way that I got to write about multiple pantheons of gods and goddesses coexisting and interacting. It was equally fun working out what everyone's personalities would be. I also indulged in a bit of satire by portraying the various heroes as Hollywood (or Helenawood, as the case maybe) stars that long to go to school like everyone else. As the the teachers of the academy, I recruited the finest figures form Arthurian Legend, the 1001 Arabian Nights and various other sources that I could find. Presiding over it all is none other than the good wizard Merlin.
Admittedly, the Greek and Egyptian pantheons got the most attention, but that was kind of to be expected give that the story is told by an Egyptian god and a Greek goddess. Still, I like to think I did a fairly good job representing the other pantheon. There's hardly any myth or legend I consider too obscure for my purposes, so if you aren't careful you just might learn something new.
You can tell I was a younger writer when I wrote Nile High, but that is to be expected. Since I made it up as I went along there's things I'd probably change now that I have clearer image of the plot and characters development, but overall I'm still very happy with how it turned out, and I often find myself rereading it from time to time.
It was a labor of love, there were a lot of grammar and spelling errors (I was busy and had a lot on my plate at the time), but it was worth it in the end. I had ideas for similar "unusual boarding school" series involving everything from aliens, to superheroes to a squeal to Nile High. However, Nile High ultimately turned out to be a tough act to follow, and those ideas never got very far.
Fear not, for there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Nile High was just such a great idea and just had so much potential that I couldn't just abandon it. I'm going to revive the concept as a series of short stories, and perhaps one day a novel or two. I'm going to be tinkering around with things and there will be some differences to makes things more cohesive. However, I hope to preserve the spirit of the original Nile High.
So, a few thoughts I had on the alterations I'm going to make for the new Nile High stories. I might have the Egyptians be students for as long as everyone else rather than recent transfers. The Roman Pantheon will exist as well, but I'll possibly have them and a few other pantheons at a different school. I had sort of set up Triton to be Athena's rival, but it never really went anywhere; in the new stories I'll have Kymopoleia, goddess of violent sea storms, to fill that role.
I'll probably have the heroes and monsters at schools for their own. Thor will be a bit more articulate and won't refer to himself in the third person. However, he'll still lovable and book dumb, and he'll be co-best friends with Anubis. Similarly, Nike will be there from the beginning, and that means Persephone might end up with a more reduced role. I'm also considering incorporating the Lovecraft Mythos at some point.
Since the only real limits are my imagination, there's room for all kinds of stories. I've already got plans for a story set in Tartessos that'll be a send up to Spaghetti Westerns, and I've even got plans to send the gods and goddesses into space. I might even do a Victorian Steampunk alternate universe story at some point. Whatever I decide on, I know it'll be a lot of fun, and I know you'll love it.
I also figured I could included stories set from the points of view of characters other than Thoth and Athena. Hey, there's a lot of gods and goddesses out there and a lot of potential stories to be had. Naturally, it wouldn't be one of stories if there weren't satire and pop culture references, and that means even more plot opportunities. Only thing I'm seriously left to figure is who'd be the best magazine to sell the stories to once they're written, and which podcast would do them the most justice.
It's the pride and joy of my Fictionpress account, then again it's the only thing I wrote on Fictionpress besides my poems, but it's still great. Go ahead and check it out, and I'll keep you guys posted on any developments with the new Nile High stories.
