Mythlands: THE HEIST

Heist Interlude

Hi and thanks for reading PART ONE of The Heist. :)

The Heist will play out in three parts and my plan is to publish the entire epic as a trilogy, initially on Amazon - I hope you'll check it out and I'll eventually put links up here.

Actually the story is already serialized as part of my flash fiction anthology BITE SIZE STORIES (4 volumes out so far) but that mixes it with a lot of other stuff - if you're interested in how I wove each scene around writing challenge prompts, check that out starting with Volume Two. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IZSFWVA

However as mentioned above, I plan to present The Heist as a trilogy on its own and to give you more bang for your buck, it will include stories from the companion series MYTHICAL ORIGINS (These are mostly one offs and the occasional multi parter spotlighting lesser seen Mythlands characters and giving insights into the background of the Mythlands itself. The stories will be mostly deeper and explore concepts like Dopplers), character sheets (example below) and art work from some artists I am working with.

My plans for the Mythlands expands beyond these however and I hope to one day have animations, graphic novels and other media based on these characters and concepts.

So before I present the first scene of PART TWO, here are a few examples from the start of what will end up being maybe a few hundred pages of character profiles.

MYTHICAL CREATURES CHARACTER LISTINGS.

In order of appearance.

NEPOTISM (1st short story)

The Tortoise - The story of The Tortoise and The Hare originated between 2600 and 2700 years ago as part of Aesop's Fables (number 226 in the Perry Index). The story persisted throughout the ages but was most popularized in the 19th and 20th centuries.

In the present day, The Tortoise has been Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Mythical Creatures Interdimensional since the Mythlands came into being some seven decades ago. This was mainly due to The Tortoise taking charge and leading the structuring of a new society following the chaos when many characters suddenly appeared together in the new composite world. MCI is the ruling body of the Domain of the Mythical Creatures and The Tortoise it's benevolent leader.

The Tortoise is a wise and just leader who has dedicated his life to serving his people and maintaining peace and stability within the realms. He is looked upon as an equal and much respected by the rulers of other realms in The Mythlands, such as King Babar, Queen Ozma and the Godheads (The rulers of the godly pantheons - Odin, Zeus, Osiris etc).

His one weakness is his sense of responsibility for his old friend The Hare.

In appearance and personality, The Tortoise is slow of speech and body, but quick of mind and intelligence. He is ancient looking, bent over and walks (on two legs) with the aid of a stick. He is about 4.5 feet tall and is an anthropomorphic animal or Upright. He is dressed in his shell but sometimes wears suits - most often a cream suit with a panama hat. He has big brown soulful eyes and speaks in slow and measured tones. His voice is somewhere between Winston Churchill and JFK.

The Hare (mentioned but not seen in this story) - See above for original source.

On arrival in the Mythlands circa 1946, The Hare has drifted from place to place, searching for meaning to his existence and usually from one get rich quick' scheme to another. He has travelled the Mythlands extensively and being a social creature, has met and befriended many characters. The Hare is quite well liked but not taken too seriously as he is quick to act, quick to get bored and generally lacks follow through. While not the brightest of creatures, Hare is not unintelligent but he rarely bothers to think things through and beyond a certain animal cunning that he has used to mixed effect in his schemes, he lives in and for the moment.