Underworld
2019
Book, Print Media
N/A
Underworld is a short story based that is centered on a young girl on the run from the Ottoman government during the First World War who meets an enigmatic archaeologist, discovers a subterranean palace and uncovers its secrets.
Inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs’ A Princess of Mars and Stargate, the story exists in the same universe as the Naukratis exhibition, during a time where traces of the lost civilization have just been discovered.
Illustrations
Another idea taken from A Princess of Mars is black and white, lithograph-like illustrations that accompany certain sections of the story.
These drawings precede the beginning of every new chapter a la the first published editions of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia.
Design Process
Ever since I began conceptualizing Naukratis, I had always wanted to write a story that took place within the “universe”. Being a creative writing hobbyist, I took a creative writing class in my senior year and wrote a short story that took place in the same universe where the aforementioned Naukratis Civilization existed.
I had decided to have the events take place during the Armenian Genocide because I thought it would be an interesting way to drive the plot and I felt the need to bring awareness towards this tragic event. It is because of the setting that I had imposed a challenge to imply the events taking place, and at no point are the words “Armenian” and “Turkish” are mentioned throughout the story, though subtle details describe the
Much later, I had decided to create a set of illustrations that accompanied the written prose. The cover of the book was repurposed from an old illustration I had proposed for the Naukratis exhibition that was rejected on the grounds for a lack of context.
An illustration that was cut from the final publication
The aforementioned mural that inspired the book cover
