Continuing to Build, One Step at a Time
- crystallinemythos
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
SUMMER 2026 - What a Time to Be Alive
The Summer if flying by quickly, just as the years seem to come and go. As always, life is challenging, full of work, complicated, expensive, and increasingly perplexing for common people. I get this sense as I watch social media and AI continue to take over the landscape. People are falling into their phones. The job market seems weird. I know there is a lot of disagreement, whenever we start talking about the economy or whatever, but it seems to me like robots and data centers are moving us into a somewhat uncanny future. It's not too unlike what I've explored in my science fiction stories. Add two parts glossy technology and a tablespoon of consumer advertising and you get Machina, the grand city-state setting of the High Tech Era in the The Crystalline Mythos.
I often find myself critiquing things, not as a complaint, but as a simple means of processing the world as it changes. I guess the world is always evolving, but it's faster now. I think those Singularity guys were basically right about this, (not that I agree with them on much else, necessarily!) But the technology curve is accelerating, and the science fiction found in the books we used to read is being outpaced by the reality of the scope of this incredible change.
This has been affecting my own process in some interesting ways, I suppose. Mainly, I've been moving away from digital art for the past couple of years. I’m a bit burnt out by the subscription models for a Iot of the creative software I learned to use while growing up.
Instead, I've been using ink pens and coloring with markers. I invested in a large scanner to add 11x15in. drawings from my illustration portfolios onto the net for people to see. I've also been thinking more about drawing comics again. I'll include a recent sample page here.
ALIEN GAMES
A new story concept from the Crystalline Mythos.
This story would feature Cindy Sinework, and Davey Bugdorf, a couple of Artaro Corp. employees who find themselves abducted by aliens. The character Cindy comes from my descriptions of Apathia Labs, a dream advertising lab located in Machina's Apathia District. As an intern turned Technical Assistant, Cindy worked closely with Dream Directors, Nero and Ramses Drake, as well as the charismatic Dream Operator, Sal Powers. Here's the first page of the comic:
A bit about Davey Bugdorf- Alien Games would also follow the character, Davey Bugdorf, a very cranky private contractor who worked between two companies, Artaro Corp. and Vexx Systems. The truth is, Vexx Systems could probably be its own storyline, but I thought it would be funny if this character was also abducted onto the alien craft in the ALIEN GAMES storyline.
THE ALIENS IN ALIEN GAMES:
The Aliens in this story are species I call the Suthrans (sometimes called Sutrans or Suth. I'm still adjusting some of the naming conventions.) The Suthrans are a species much weirder than the Zul of my previous stories. They live primary in cave systems, and are carniverous (unlike the Zul who eat processed nutrients originated from alien plants etc.) Put plainly, the Suthrans eat bugs, and meat in general. Unlike the Zul, the Suthrans do have male and female counterparts, though they gestate their offspring in egg-like pupa sacks outside of the body. Suthrans have sharp teeth and big round eyes for seeing in the dark. They speak their own language, but can learn Earth languages easily. They speak in unsettling voices, however, and seem to squelch (and spit) as they attempt earth speech. They are not particularly empathetic creatures, though they are capable of of it. Many of them find human misery to be entertaining. These characteristics will inform the storyline I'm developing which involves a sort of "alien game show" about humans and other species stuck in sort of alien zoo and contest scenario.
OTHER THINGS I'M WORKING ON:
ADDING BITS OF JAPANESE LANGUAGE TO THE WORLD
Another thing I've been doing is practicing a bit of Japanese. I've learned a lot, but obviously I have a lot more to learn. But, as I continue to practice and improve, I find myself using various Japanese characters in my drawings and paint-pen paintings.
DRAWING MORE BUILDINGS AND SCENERY
I've been drawing a lot of buildings. This is an area where I've been wanting to improve. I also think its a good way to create the visual language of Machina and West Enon, etc.
In the image below, I drew the Easy Breezy Fishery and Processing Facility from the short story Subnautica. This story can be found the Dream Operation Vol. 1 book. It features the character, Gilbert Pez, a coworker of Grim Glitchfield. Gilbert is just a guy who seems to actually like his job. He doesn't mind the awful smell of the processing facility that much, and he likes to eat seafood at a discounted rate. He's honestly just a background character, but I wanted to drawing this setting and he seemed like a good part of the overall picture.
Hopefully, I'll continue to make some more progress on comic book related stuff in the coming months. We'll see what happens! Special thanks to everyone who has supported the project on Patreon, and special thanks to everyone who has purchased a Dream Operations book on Amazon. Thanks guys! I'll keep everyone updated as I put out more artwork, etc.
-Teej
July 2026
Support the Project HERE: www.patreon.com/crystallinemythos
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