Author's Note

I welcome you to Stillborn Apocalypse. This Prologue, known as The Epistilic Diary of Ontameni Shyaba, was never intended to be part of, or prelude to, a graphic venture of any sort. Stillborn Apocalypse was born as a novel, the product of watching my roommate play too much Devil May Cry as I listened to Space Team Electra's "Intergalactic Torch Song" on interminable repeat. But, like every project I pursue in the literary medium, the story begged for images that simply could not be explained through mere words.

The story of Ontameni and the Slayers opens with these five chapters, written long before I coerced Ashkta into joining the project, long even before Blue Carnation was officially born

At the point of this writing, the Eve of the New Year 2004, I still have no clue what direction the production of Stillborn Apocalypse will take. I have left the original five chapters unexpurgated, including small details and references originally meant to be explored in more depth, which may yet be. By the definition of the graphic novel it would be wise of me to include moments of literary pondering and expounding where I see fit.

As you read the Prologue you will no doubt realize why I ran into many brick walls during a long-abandoned attempt to script and actualize a graphic novel treatment of the first five chapters. It seemed foolish and wasteful to me that I might condense the flood of information and exposition of these chapters into a simple graphic presentation. Of course, if I had begun the project with the comic medium in mind, I would have taken a different direction in introducing the characters and the setting. But, I have a long way to evolve as a writer and an adaptive artist, because I couldn't bring myself to rework these measly five chapters, on which I spent most of the latter half of 2002 (I find myself at the same time proud and pathetic).

And so, for this, the first month of 2004, please enjoy the Epistilic Diary of Ontameni Shyaba, the Prologue to Stillborn Apocalypse. The images accompanying the story range from full-production illustrations to notebook-sketched concept roughs.

As you might imagine, it was difficult for me to decide how I wanted to approach posting a self-contained text Prologue before the comic section of the story even makes print. This is how I decided, because simply, you will not understand the world of Valeyria or the characters of Ontameni, Nangi, Ausine, or Fial without these precursory pages. It may seem boring and tedious to read this when you all came here expecting a comic on January 1st, but I urge you to find the wherewithal to endure.

We can only promise you that Stillborn Apocalypse will be worth your time. Every minute I invest in this project and story makes me adore it more, so I hope I can communicate even a little bit of that childlike wonder to you, the audience. Thank you, and enjoy.

Shadow Omega
December 31, 2003

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