My name is Nicole Marie Guiniling–and if you’re wondering how to pronounce my last name, start here.
I’m a couple of things. I’m the owner of As Astra Comix, a small micro-publisher and company devoted to political and historical comics. I review, research and write comics–and offer my help with like-minded folks looking to create. I live with my husband and a small, goblin-like creature in Toronto.
My husband, Jules, is a U.S. War Resister–if you want to understand what that is, click here.
Together, we are involved in a project called Front Lines International – a project that seeks to unite “Occupier” and “Occupied” against war.
All this aside, my ongoing creative project is a comic series called INHERITANCE, which has yet to fully come out of my brain. The crux of the project is that it seeks to American people with their long-lost history–that is, all of the Americas.
There’s a lot to all of this, so follow along, thanks for reading, and please stay in touch.
PEACE.
@NMGuiniling
NMG 
Hello Nicole:
Like I said to you on my Blog, I wanted to actually write some feedback and–when it comes down to it–a little more dialogue.
I think you are making something very ambitious and, as if that weren’t enough, very unique as well. When I was in high school, we had very rudimentary depictions of History. However, I was very fascinated with what I could absorb and as I went on to the higher grades, our courses become more nuanced. I knew that there were things that were missing, indeed, also missing on the University level as well, but I don’t know: I take what information I can get and build from it.
I myself am interested in politics only in the context of human behaviour and motivations of enlightened self-interest. I have to admit that one of my favourite characters in Star Wars was Emperor Palpatine for that same reason: because for all of his evil, he understood sentient nature. In a slightly less evil way, that is how I go about understanding the subject of human politics and interactions, and it shows. But more than that, I just mythologies and stories which–when you get right down to it–is what History ultimately is. History is a narrative told by different people in different ways.
That is one of the reasons why I am so intrigued by your self-made Inheritance (which is really one of the few worthy legacies anyone can leave: to themselves) because there will be characters going back and forwards through time to see and interact with these different stories that shape the stories we live through now.
Now, as for Pan … I’m really intrigued by the incarnation that she is. It makes me wonder what the difference is between her and the other memory spirits. Because I can more than imagine that bad shit happened to the memory spirits of Europe, and Africa, and quite a few other places in this world. I imagine they all have their issues and I am curious as to see Pan’s as the American mnemos spirit.
I have actually grown interested in the idea of psychogeography: of how people leave imprints on the land they have dwelt in and how the comings and goings of generations change things–change a spiritual landscape or mindscape–and how some things still manage to remain the same: I mean, we are talking about human beings after all.
I feel like I have so much to say and I will forget something here. In some ways, the fact that you are tackling politics and history in this way is intimidating: in that it makes me look at what I am writing and making. It sounds very socio-political and there are only a few other things I made once that comes close to that: though they only glance on some issues. I tend to be a lot more abstract in what I look at, but I make sure make it relate: as much as I can.
All I can add now is that I do a similar thing with my own notebooks. I will allocate certain things into one and not touch it for a while. Sometimes they are never touched again and others have all kinds of things crammed in the margins. Mythic Bios itself actually started and still continues in a serial of notebooks. Well, that’s it. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours and I am really glad you have chosen to follow me in my Mythic adventures. Take care.
P.S. Oh, I *was* a Torontonian. Now I live in the Greater Toronto Area, but still it is cool that a comics creator close by decided to respond to my Blog. That means a lot.
Also, as if that post-length comment wasn’t enough, I just want to add that I find the concept of an organization or power going throughout time trying to “white-wash” history utterly fascinating and it makes me really want to see how your protagonists encounter these forces and try to stop them. That is all.
Hi Matthew,
Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to look at Inheritance! I can’t tell you how much it means to me when fellow writers and artists not only take the time to hear about my story–but to offer me their thoughts and interpretations as well… it really is a treat for me.
I have had many thoughts that dovetail on some of the ideas you mention here… particularly Pan’s relationship to other spirits. I often find that I’m getting way ahead of myself in my plot developments, but that’s not altogether a bad thing, right? Despite any of my uncertainties as an as-yet unpublished writer, one thing of which i am confident is that I’ve spent a lot of time crafting a plot that accommodates expansion–in the directions that I’m interested in… that is, history, politics, natural sciences and mythology.
I find your interest in Palpatine intriguing! I think my favorite sci-fi/fantasy character, for many years, has been Golem… there is no human being who hasn’t been there… who cannot relate to the archetype of inner conflict, or the “duality of man”.
Thanks again, All the best, I’ll be following your posts!
-Nic
Hello Nicole. It’s me again. š I wanted to give you this: http://wp.me/p2qfuv-sz. It is a link to my page which has the Reality Blog Award which I want to nominate you for. You are working on something that I feel is really important: I mean, where can you go from exploring the nature of History itself? The answer is many places and I think that you might have some interesting answers to some interesting questions on this strange meme. I hope to speak with you again sometime soon. Take care.
— Matthew
Hi Nicole:
I wanted to nominate you for this: http://wp.me/p2qfuv-uF. It is the Very Inspiring Blogger Award because, like I said, I believe you are doing some very important work. Anyway, I hope that you are doing well and I will write to you soon I’m sure. Take care.
Thanks, Matt! Your support for my writing means a lot to me.
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Thanks for visiting!