What you see is what you get, but what you imagine is what you'll experience

Romance Odyssey is an unwavering commitment to imagination.  

Romanticism is a living phrase, metamorphized into something related to love between people. 

A romance can be anything. Trains. Planes. Dioramas of automobiles. The Deep Sea. The newly discovered Deep Biosphere. The Psychology of Competition. Fictitious depictions of giant robots overcoming otherworldly invaders, scaling in both power and size by the grace of the indomitable human spirit. Crochet and lawn care and breezy autumn evenings on the porch with a beer or iced tea, listening to kids down the street play ball in the sandlot. 

Romanticism is to be a dreamer. 

Many years ago I wrote something. I thought nothing of it. It was lauded enough to be published. Me, a ten-year-old author who thought nothing of the words he put together. 

I can hardly remember the concept behind it, but my mother never forgot. No matter what I wanted to do, she wanted me to write. 

She was a creator of a different sort. Her language was visual. Paints and oils and sketches and her own brand of art, visual of all kinds. For years she tried to tell stories of her own. Rises and falls of storyboards and scripts and concept sketches. Pitches falling short and TV deals that never were. She tried. 

We never saw things in the same wavelength.  

I watched her struggle to put words together. Even in the frustration of how age and illness and time took more from her ability, there was no envy her as she watched and listened to how I strung words together to spawn images that she couldn't match. Only love, awe, admiration. Every time I told her a story, she wanted me to put it to paper. 

There were attempts at stringing words together after. Poetry clubs. A myriad of scholarly articles done both out of obligation and passing interest. I wrote not just because it was necessary, but sometimes it was fun. 

Sketches and character summaries. Plot twists and worldbuilding. A mine of ideas, walls scraped lightly to find shimmers of concepts, but nothing tangible or truly delved into. A cavern of fool’s gold, covering the wealth beneath. 

After she passed, lines became pages became tomes. Not yet refined. Held from prying eyes. But pieces of it placed here and there. Short stories and web guides. Work emails to online conversations. Weddings and funerals. The feedback that landscaped my foundation wasn’t “great job” or “fantastic work”. It was, “there’s something different about your writing.” 

 All these years later, her romanticism became mine. 

I'd say that I'd carry that weight, but it comes with no burden. Not a duty, but a dream. It puts nothing on, but carries me forward. The romance of ideas made stories made shared. 

 That's why I write. 

 – 

Romance Odyssey is an independent publication by WuManChu / (Marcus Wing-Yen Murray). Subscribing will grant you full access, commentary, email newsletters for new posts, and my eternal gratitude. Your subscription makes this site possible, and allows Wumanchu's Romance Odyssey to continue to exist. 

It's all Free, For Now

I come from multiple worlds. You never know who holds or lacks access to what.  

Everyone should be able to read and witness and absorb the art they desire. We know not where in the world genius resides. Only that it must be cultivated and sprouted before it can bloom. If any have ever appreciated what I have created, let it be known that it came not solely from me, but from the seas of works that have eternally inspired me to build what I could in their awe. Books, statues, paintings, animation, games, music, stories of all avenues. All of it a monument to fantasy, wonder, and romanticism. 

I have told before and I shall tell again: Some scholars need scholarships, others are blessed by fortune, and can sacrifice to make dues. 

The source of happiness is not money, but the stability that it promises is its baseline. 

Paid subscriptions will come eventually, and with them will come the promise of words worth their weight. 

If perfection is procrastination, then consider that quality costs chronocity. 

The more stable life is for all, the better we can create. 

I ask not for donations, but appreciate them. I place this statement here for your consideration. 

Words from Me to You

The added benefit of subscribing: you'll receive alerts right in your inbox whenever I send something new your way. 

A collective of those committed to curiosity, I would hope to foster a community of other subscribers who need not necessarily share the same interests or promises or experiences. 

All I ask is that you share the virtue of curiosity and that same dedication to imagination. 

Pay it Forward

 As I have come to appreciate the service, so too would I extend the invitation to you. Use Ghost, as I have, to share with an audience of your peers in the same vein, and pass me the word. 
 
The world harbors enough hostility towards intellectualism and creativity. Shall we work to make it less so? Make the world a little less dim, a bit more bright?