100 Facts
alternative title / possible subtitle:
“White Lies & Black Truths”
Mark Stephen Meadows / pighed
pighed@bore.com
4, Rue Androuet, 75018, Paris, France
- or 1090-a Palmetto, Pacifica CA, 94044, USA
"Facts are the enemy of truth."
- Cervantes. Man of La Mancha
OVERVIEW:
100 Facts is a carnival of contemporary fables, touching the lives of beggars and businessmen,
sweeping across the past and the present and delivering these dreams and nightmares to the reader in a
stunning visual format.
Fables and myths are the simplest form of psychological drama. The basic tool of primitive
language housing complicated psychological meaning has been polished by able hands (Aesop, Grimm,
Perrault). But this tool can be sharpened with modern means and contemporary content. Its an old art form
that needs a new approach.
In 100 Facts, each fable is coupled with an image. An image next to a story can be a dangerous
combination because it often distracts the reader’s imagination from the text in hand. But if text portrays
specifics and imagery portrays generalities (as we see in television newscasts and movie trailers) then the
imagination is easily pried open and the reader is introduced to a powerful machinery of dreams.
Portions of 100 Facts have, in some cases, been read and already won awards. Meanwhile the
imagery of 100 Facts is a combination of photography, illustration, painting, and 3D modeling techniques
that have been shown in galleries in North America and Europe and sold as prints. So the visual work has
already proven itself as engaging and commercially-viable material. But these two media have not been
provided a context in which they can live together and deliver the full potential impact of the visual
narrative.
100 Facts is designed to offer many things to many people. It is a series of short stories that are
intrinsically connected. Therefore, a reader may spend two minutes or two hours with the book, depending
on available time. The book can be skimmed or studied. It is small enough to be carried but large enough
to immerse. It is something between a spellbook and a romance novel. It represents a new genre of
literature. It is, simply, a series of 100 small mysteries for readers to interpret and, in the end, because no
morals are given, to solve.
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
AUTHOR CV:
Mark Stephen Meadows is an American artist and writer, currently living in Paris. He was most
recently Creative Director for a venture of Stanford Research Institute and prior to that held the post of
Artist-In-Residence at Xerox-PARC where he conducted research in reading, interactivity, and visual
art. He has been a professional writer, artist, and designer for over 14 years, creating works that defy
traditional distinctions of "technology", "narrative" and "visual art."
His 3D animation and interactive design has impacted companies from Lucasfilm to Microsoft,
and he has been exhibiting his mixed media artwork since 1987 in galleries and museums throughout
the United States and Europe. Meadows' work has received awards from Ars Electronica, the CooperHewitt National Design Museum, and the National Information Infrastructure (NII) highest honors,
among others.
He has recently completed Pause & Effect, The Art of Interactive Narrative (http://pauseeffect.com/) and currently shows his artwork at Galerie Machine Simple in Paris (http://machinesimple.com/).
Relevant Experience
-
Published author of both linear and interactive narratives
Published / Fine Art Photographer, Painter, 3D Animator, and Illustrator
Published graphic designer
Internet / digital media veteran
University-level professor
Internationally-known public speaker and presenter
Education
Meadows completed his bachelors degrees in math, philosophy, and literature from St. John's
College in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Prior to that he managed to avoid completing degrees at The San
Francisco Art Institute (painting and photography), University of Colorado (philosophy), Harvard
University (biology), and Bemis Art School (painting).
Personal Information
Born Biloxi, Mississippi, USA, Sep 28, 1968. Fluent in French and English, able to confuse
spanish-speakers. Able to de-code attic and Homeric Greek, as well as Latin, Java, C++, and cocktail
conversation. Founder and principal of Construct Internet Design, Blowtorch Communications. Forest
Fire Fighter, Pike and Sierra National Forests (1989-1993), US National Track Cycling Team/USOTC
(1986).
More information may be found at http://bore.com/
NOTES AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
This project represents work that Meadows has done in the past. His award-winning websites
accomodate up to 200,000 discreet visitors per month and currently averages approximately 50,000
visits (over 1 million hits) per month. This audience is an existing base of readers that have already
expressed interest in this material and actively purchase both his writing and imagery.
Amery Calvelli facilitates his promotion as a writer and an artist. With the publisher's
approval we recommend she work as promotions manager for the book as it is published and launched.
Meadows, as an experienced author, is open to working with acquisitions and content editors
as we recognize the importance of their contributions and welcome their input.
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
SCOPE:
Genre: Short-Format Visual Fables (collection)
Production Schedule: 6 Months (details below)
Manuscript Length: 25,000 - 40,000 words
Image Count: 110 (300 dpi, CMYK TIF)
Physical Format: 8 inch square cover dimensions
Print Specifications: 4-color page spreads, 5-color cover (recommended)
SAMPLES & EXAMPLES:
Writing Samples
~ Love Story ~
Once there was a girl that was born without a mouth. She lived alone in a
small apartment in a big city. She was young and quite beautiful and, as you
can imagine, a bit lonely. The girl did not like to go out into the world very
much because people would stare at her and wonder how it was that she had
been born without a mouth. And so she would stay at home and play her
violin.
Sunset was an important time of the day for her because she would pick up
her violin and birds from the neighborhood would come to sit quietly on the
window and listen to her songs. There were mostly the large pigeons, but also
small sparrows and sometimes a crow or a robin would listen. They were a
small audience.
This went on for years and years and the girl became a very skillful violinist.
She liked to think that her reputation among the birds grew because each year
there were more and more birds on the window. They would sit quietly and
listen and sometimes she thought she could see little smiles. The birds would
sit on the window sill and sit on the bed and on the table and cover the floor to
listen. She would play songs that she wrote, or songs she learned from
listening to her radio. The birds were very polite and they did not make a mess
of her house because they enjoyed her music.
One evening, while she was playing a particularly difficult passage from
Vivaldi, she stopped playing because a curious bird had appeared among the
others on the window sill. This bird had been born with arms instead of wings
and the other birds stayed away from him as his arms had only very few
feathers and, compared to the other birds, he looked very strange and could
not fly.
He carried a piece of paper in one hand and a pen in the other.
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
~ Narrow Path ~
A young woman walked a narrow path. To her right was a huge cliff made of
smooth black marble. To her left was the sky. And the path between them
was, as I have said, narrow and straight.
One day she met a black goat on the path and he said to her, "I could tell from
a mile away that we were kin. And I could tell from a mile away that you have
been walking this path for a long time."
The woman replied, "Yes, I have been walking along this precipice for as long
as I can remember."
The goat smiled and said, "Look!" and he lept from the path.
The woman watched him bound down the face of the cliff below and she saw
that it was not as smooth as she had once thought.
There were, indeed, small footholds.
She watched until the black goat had disappeared.
In an act of faith and desperation she jumped from the cliff but instead of
finding a foothold her white wings carried her high into the clouds above.
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
Layout Samples
~ The Man At The Well ~
~ The Piglet and His Disciple ~
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
Image Samples
~ Conscience ~
~ Saint Francis ~
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
1) Introduction (~20pp)
a. Background on fables and myths :
i. History
ii. Modernity
iii. About this Book
2) 100 Facts
1) Spring Time
2) The Narrow Path
3) Sixteen Flutes
4) The Field of Hands
5) The Cathedral
6) The Tree of Wives
7) A Love Story
8) The Wasp And The Housefly
9) Conscience
10) Wishes --11) One Wish
12) Two Wishes
13) Three Wishes
14) Crutch Man
15) Small Confessions
16) June First
17) If I Were King
18) The Lunch of Money
19) Spitballs
20) Little Flowers
21) The Pelican, The Crow, And The Parrot
22) Shadows Under Ice
23) The Girl Who Had No Mouth
24) OTTFFSSE12345678
25) The Minister’s Son
26) The Red Dress
27) The Burning Bush
28) The Bone Collector
29) The Dentist
30) The Halo of Stars
31) The Man At The Well
32) The Crowd
33) Salt God
34) The Angel, The Ape, and The Ass
35) The Boy With Four Arms
36) Sister Moon
37) The Telephone That Remembered
38) A Thousand Dawns
39) The Head That Ate Itself
40) Rusted Woman
41) The Desert Ghosts
42) Scalped
43) The Thinking Robots
44) The Snake With Two Heads
45) I And You
46) The Infinite Tomorrow
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
47) The Wall
48) Sky Lover
49) 365 Ants and As Many Days
50) The Chair Maker
51) The Rainbow
52) The Gifthorse’s Mouth
53) The Queen of Fools
54) Misses
55) Morning Lovers
56) A Particular August
57) Cosmits
58) The Singing Flowers
59) The Depth Painter
60) Immaculate Misconception
61) The House of Happiness
62) Mr. Mouse and Ms. Mole
63) The Collapsing Horizon
64) Unceased
65) The Leatherbound Book
66) The Minotaur
67) The Glass Smile
68) Small Daughter
69) The Dirt Road
70) The Little Cemetery
71) Saints --72) Saint Francis
73) Saint John
74) Saint Anthony
75) Saint Aquinas
76) Saint Dymphna
77) Saint Agatha
78) Saint Denis
79) Saint Jerome
80) Saint Sebastian
81) The Butcher, The Baker, The Electrician
82) The Bird With Arms
83) D & B
84) 12 Lovers in 12 Days
85) The Red Waterfall
86) Bodies of Water --87) The Silver Lake
88) The Red River
89) The Blue Ocean
90) The Invisible Rain
91) 99 Birds
92) The Piglet And His Disciple
93) The Glass House
94) The God Who Didn’t Blink
95) The Praying Wind
96) Lunch on the Grass
97) Prowl
98) The Queen And The Television
99) If Buildings Were People
100)
100 Facts
3) Notes, Index, References, Back Matter, Etc
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
UNIQUE FEATURES:
Storytelling approach
The approach of using fables to convey more complicated and modern ideas appears
largely unexplored (see market analysis, below). Because the language is simple and the meaning
complicated readers are free to engage with the manuscript as they see fit. Fables are a highly
advanced form of a figure of speech and so they offer simple interpration of lessons and new
ideas. Additionally, because metaphor is so strong in any fable, the active participation of the
reader’s imagination heightens the reading experience.
Imagery Production
All imagery, while original work, incorporates a range of media and presents an awardwinning approach to the artistic production of the book. Worth studying in its own right, every
image is a highly-crafted visual fable, tailored to work specifically with the manuscript and page
layout. All work is of fine-art quality and some of the pieces have been sold as fine-art prints in
galleries in the US and Europe.
Graphic Design
As with the imagery of the book, Meadows has repeatedly proven himself as an awardwinning graphic designer. His work has spanned internet sites, book design, magazine design,
virtual reality design, museum installations, and fine art presentation.
The work is easily identified by specific characteristics such as scribbles overlayed on
photographs, and semi-abstract figures in dream-like landscapes. This means that the visual
identity of the book will be immediately evident from cover to cover.
MARKET ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATONS:
Primary Target Reader Market
The book’s intended audience is the lay public; active readers of fiction, poetry, and
graphic novels that are looking for more imaginative content. Because the form is old and the
content is new we expect the book to appeal to older, more scholarly generations as well as
younger audiences that are familiar with graphic novels.
People would want to read this book for three reasons: 1. As with any fiction, the book is
designed to lift the reader out of their lives and into a vivid world of imagination. This book
presents a new approach with immense flexibility. 2. The visual beauty of the book will
equivocate to a visit to a museum or gallery. This multiplies the reading experience and turns the
book into a work of art. 3. Because the stories address both general and personal topics (love,
loss, success, society) there is a range of lessons and interesting thoughts that can present to
people new avenues of thinking.
We suspect that there are ancillary audiences that would study this work from an
academic perspective as well. As Meadows is a published author on media theory and digital art,
these examples of his work would bear with them an existing foundation of professional research
and reputation in these disciplines.
Competition and Similar Books
To our knowledge there are no books like this in the English-speaking marketplace. This
represents opportunity as well as risk. However, for the sake of extended research we found the
following titles which offer remote similiarities:
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
-
Sandman, 1-10 by Neil Gaiman & Dave McKean (published by Warner Books)
Deathbird Stories, by Harlan Ellison (out of print, published by Olmstead Press)
Where The Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein (published by Harper-Collins)
Where The Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak (published by Harper-Collins)
PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTION ASSISTANCE (suggested):
Editorial Assistance: Richard Kadrey
3D Modeling Assistance: Beatrice Gallay
Graphic Design: Gabriella Marks
ADVISORY & EDITORIAL BOARD (unconfirmed*):
Don Webb (author)
Suzanne Stefanec (author, media expert)
Lev Manovich (author, media theorist)
Nathan Shedroff (author, graphic designer)
Marc Lafia (artist, theoretician, designer)
Paco Xander Nathan (author, programmer)
*Note: Most of these people have served in advisory positions with Meadows’ past
projects. Upon contractual agreement of the book their participation (in a role they felt appropriate
for their interests, availability, etc) would be confirmed.
REVIEWERS:
As Meadows’ first book has been submitted for review by over 200 editors, he is in contact with
many of these people and is able to ask for their reviews again at a later date. Reviewers include
artistic, literary, academic, and media professionals in the United States and Europe.
These names and addresses are available on request.
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002
AUTHOR CONTACT INFORMATION:
Mark Stephen Meadows
pighed@bore.com
PROMOTIONS MANAGER CONTACT INFORMATION :
Amery Calvelli
amery@pushllc.com
PARTING NOTE:
Naturally, we hope you find this proposal of interest. We consider this to be a first draft
of working material and remain open to any suggestions you may have. We are confident the
material offered will appeal to readers and it is in our ability and interest to see this project
completed with the highest attention to quality and punctuality.
Thank you for your time and attention.
This document may be found at http://bore.com/w/book/100_facts/
Proposal for 100 Facts
submitted by pighed / Mark Stephen Meadows
September2002