If Mother Nature walked the earth... What would she see? What would she do?

About the Artists

MONICA RICHARDS

Best known for her musical work as half of the critically acclaimed duo, Faith and the Muse, Monica is also a writer, composer and multimedia artist living near Los Angeles. Her graphic collage and original artwork have graced CD covers, magazine articles, and gallery walls. Best known for her expressive mythical symbolism and her intense use of color and contrast, her work tends towards world-wide female deities and familiars. A graduate of American University with honors in Literature, Monica has published three books through The Mercyground.

JAMES NEELY

James is a graphic artist and illustrator who also specializes in 3D animation and imagery. His highly detailed drawings, paintings, and pen & ink lean toward the Mythical, Fantastic, and somewhat Visionary, including Dragons, Monolithic Sites of Great Britain and Europe, the Feminine Mysteries, Mystic Symbolism, and Chivalry. Some of his original paintings hang in private collections in the U.S. and Europe. He resides in Virginia Beach, where he runs his own illustration, graphics and art apparel company, Ddraig Graphics, inspired by the Welsh "Y Ddraig Goch" (The Red Dragon).

A background to the series... Anafae is the title for Mother Nature, who emerges from the earth as a strange Otherworldy Woman.

In a future Dark Age, the global powers have been split into 9 Meta-Nations, referred to as MetNats. The most powerful is the United States-turned-GBC Metanation, also known as GenetiBioCorp. As the leading manufacturer of biotechnologies, GBC has pushed its patented seed and food industries on poorer nations, while ignoring the long term results...

The world, devastated by overpopulation, is slowly turning into a wasteland. Land, air, and water are severely contaminated through intense agricultural production, sewage, and pollution; mass deforestation has led to the loss of most wildlife habitats; surviving fish and mammal species are kept in deplorable preserves and factory farms.

People in the richer MetNats have largely enclosed themselves in high-rising, self-contained cities, where all their needs are met with ease. They are completely closed off from the natural world, even trees in parks are now simply metal replicas.

In remote areas, there is an Underground of sustainable networks that live quietly under the radar, continuing to use Ancient Wisdoms to grow food and restore the natural world. As the MetNats grow stronger, they begin to outlaw the methods used by Underground communities in order to legally arrest them and thus wipe them out. One particular teacher of the Old Ways is of great interest to the GBC MetNat...

After an unusually harsh winter, there is a distinct mass-awareness that something is terribly wrong; those living in the rural areas notice the silence first -- the sky is empty of birdsong; croplands, blighted by Winterkill, are still dry and dead as the season warms. Trees, barren and lifeless, begin to crack and collapse. Even the corporate growing centers yield nothing.

For humans and mammals the globe over, not one birth is recorded; all pregnant women miscarry; farming animals kept pregnant for milk production dry out; cloning laboratories suddenly have no results. Wounds, surgeries, burns, and rashes show no signs of healing; people begin to wither away and crumble to dust...

It is defined as a Global Plague; the sickness spreads as the weather gets hotter; mass hysteria begins to rise, superstition and forgotten belief systems begin to fervently take hold.

In this hellish world, Mother Nature awakens to find out what has become of her realm...

These are the Tales of Anafae. Expanded from an original short story, "Anafae" is the new series created and illustrated by Monica Richards & James Neely.

Anafae. As the very soul of the earth, her awakening leads to a curiosity so strong, she manifests into the form of a mysterious woman, with all the source power of regeneration emanating from within. Accompanied by Fauz Fenris, her guardian canine, it is up to Her to decide whether she will bring the earth back into Natural Order.