Topic: The topic of the story, that of a wise hermit teaching younger people, is a common theme in stories. Among these stories are The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham and The Karate Kid. Of those stories told by the hermit, I had no prior knowledge.
Introduction: The introduction provides a clear explanation of how the middle section of the story is to unfold, while still allowing enough mystery to keep the reader in the dark. By presenting the stories through the hermit's voice, the mystery is prolonged.
Design: The photographs provided on several pages show, in the first instance, a picture of an older man who appears to be a sage, and, in the other instances, isolated dwellings in the mountains. These help increase the sense of mystery that the introduction has produced. They also add a sense of solitude or isolation to the setting. The other aspects of the page (those which are not photographs or text) do not add much to the atmosphere of the story. The home page presents only a photograph of the hermit, creating a sense of mystery that is sure to make readers want to discover who he is.
Leather-bound travel journal
Source: Pinterest
Storybook 2: Rama's Bestiary (Link)
Topic: The topic of mythological creatures is one that has interested me, but the specific beasts covered in this storybook are ones with which I am unfamiliar. The topic is interesting in that it provides a perspective on the mythological creatures that is different from the tradition third-person perspective of Indian epics. It provides one person's personal experiences of said creatures.
Introduction: The introduction is intriguing in that it has the same perspective as a "choose-your-own-adventure" novel. It provides a relatively concise background of the book and of the author. The last statements add to the story in that the book is presented as something lost, yet found by the occasional wanderer.
Design: The page provides sufficient images to create the sense of illustrations from a journal. Each part of the story is accompanied by images of the monsters or of the book. The use of loosely connected documents would provide further mystery to any story that I created.
A letter
Source: Wordpress
[Unfortunately, the author didn't provide a link to this image, but rather, to the web page hosting the image. I haven't been able to find the original image. The other images from this storybook appear to be copyrighted or to have restricted usage terms.]
Storybook 3: Greek Heroes (Link)
Topic: While I certainly can't call myself an expert on Greek mythology, I know more about its pantheon than that of Indian mythology. The mixture of Greek mythology and significantly more recent settings is not a now phenomenon. Perhaps the most famous example of this is Dante's Inferno.
Introduction: The introduction is the story of a person who, while in a desert, finds a scroll which tells the story of several figures in Greek mythology. That this person, Joed, is starving only adds to the levels of interpretation; perhaps this person is only hallucinating that they have found the scroll.
Design: The desert photo adds to the sense of isolation and desolateness of the primary setting, while the addition of images of Greek gods adds to the sense of something ancient having been discovered.
Perseus and Medusa
Source: Greek Myths & Greek Mythology
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