Greetings, travelers. Some of the best trips that we take through the Otherworld are return trips to places we’ve been before. Our experiences shape our perception, and it’s always interesting to see things through new eyes. In today’s case, we’re going to be talking to someone familiar yet new to the Otherworld in some ways—a persona reimagined, with some interesting notions and thoughts to discuss. Read on to learn about Armond Coleman, and his book Grasshopper Sharpshooter. It’s going to be a fun ride.
Tellest: Greetings to the entity known as…Armond Coleman! I’d love to give some brief context to our readers and let them know that you and I had worked together before, though with a different persona presenting. When we first set out to collaborate again, there were little touches that made you feel familiar to me, but it wasn’t until I dove into your new book, Grasshopper Sharpshooter, that I really understood the delightful chaos that pulled us into one another’s orbit again.
We’ll touch on that again soon, but I also wanted to thank you for sharing your time. This new book is a sanity-breaking tome with some great messages, and a style that is designed to get you thinking in some outside-the-box ways. To that point, I absolutely know it took you a lot of time to get everything that found its way into this book in place. You work with a ton of people to see your vision come to pass, and I’m excited to discuss more about how this latest story was brought to life.
Armond Coleman, welcome!
Armond Coleman: Greetings to you all! It feels refreshing to be back! Almost like it’s been an Eternity since I last participated in an interview, haha. Must be a weird sense of Deja-Vu I suppose. Anyhow, I’m so honored and excited to discuss the delightful insanity that I’ve been cooking up for over 20+ years. This should be an enlightening conversation.
T: In a traditional interview, I ask a foundational question that sequel interviews don’t necessarily dive into. But this is an unusual interaction that we’ve found ourselves in, and I’m interested in seeing how it all plays out. What do you think was the person or media that sparked your creative curiosity? Did you have a storyteller, in any medium, that made Armond Coleman decide, “I need to create, and get my own ideas out into the world.”
AC: My dad, plain and simple. Like myself, he always aspired to tell stories like no other and I inherited that “obsession” from him. Growing up in the 1990s and 2000s, the amount of ground-breaking art and tech that I was exposed to eventually introduced the best conundrum I could ever ask for: what do I pursue as a Vocation? Is it films, music, video games, books, comics, or something else? I couldn’t figure that out and it drove me “mad”, haha. Since our time is finite and you can’t do everything at once, I quickly found myself “seized” by the paradox of choice. In our previous interview, I once mentioned how I originally gave up on my dream to tell a novel story upon drawing the wrong conclusions from both a lack of wisdom and experience. Well, part of that reason was because of how overwhelming my storytelling influences were on me at that time. “I can’t do it all, but I want to, yet if I try then I’ll just produce generic slop,” was the thought process that my mind kept looping back to. The “excess of innovation”, one might say, was rewarding yet punishing for my aspirations as water poisoning is to the human body. That’s where my “inciting incident” began, I suppose, haha.
T: Well, the nice thing is that you’ve managed to do something that bridges a lot of gaps and becomes a bit of a multimedia project. And there’s no rule that says you can’t explore those avenues in the future. I like to think that creativity is seasonal, and you never know what season is coming next!
AC: Facts! Someday when I’m either in my 40s or 50s, I’ll consider working on a Hypothetical video game that I’ve drafted that is both a semi-canonical entry in the myth while also being a tribute to the Survival Horror genre of video games and RPGs; I’ll give you a hint as to what this Hypothetical game will be about: In the Ole version of the myth, within the SRPG section, there is a four-panel illustration of ATC and his Collaborators surrounded by Cryptids inside of a mansion within a moth-like Dungeon. No spoilers, but that illustrated situation has more importance to my sequel project that I’m working on right now (TSM) than what you’d assume upon first glance. And yes, that same moth-Dungeon is based on a real-life American Cryptid. That’s all I can say for now haha.
I digress. Looking back at the work that I’ve done so far as being the building blocks for what I’m finalizing now has been enlightening. The feeling of “I’m not finished” is what I rely upon to continue Remixing my magnum opus. Looking back on the past three years, I’m no longer surprised how I ended up here. Haha, what more can I say.
T: Both the great—and maybe sometimes bothersome—part of a mind like yours is that it’s likely always generating ideas. I do wonder if you also have some issues with telling it to quiet down sometimes, though!
AC: That’s my Asperger’s syndrome at work; both fortunately yet unfortunately, haha. It’s for that reason that it took me this long to figure this all out. Trying to determine and actualize your potential while grappling with undiagnosed autism can be a treacherous yet hilarious endeavor in the dark comedic sense of the word.
I’m at the Age now where I’ve thankfully found my Vocation and at a perfect time. If an individual like myself can achieve the improbable despite these handicaps, then I’d be a fool to just ride off into the sunset knowing that there are others like myself who are still stuck in their own version of Tartarus.
My Vocation of Narratology is my way of paying it forward for the ones who have yet to exist, while also providing an Opportunity to any Free Spirits out there who just need some kind of lifeline. I’m proof that my odd beliefs can make a difference. Hence why I also wanted to reveal my actual identity. Individuals are likely to relate and hear what you have to say if you put yourself out there and they can see for themselves how alike you are to them.
In Naranathism, the Role of Narratologist is the equivalent of a bodhisattva in Buddhism. I’ll leave that comparison there, as it sums up why I’m doing what I’m doing until I go night-night lol.
T: You mentioned how your dad aspired to tell stories as well. Did he ever get the opportunity? Did any of his stories or ideas help to shape the work that you went on to make?
AC: He did, in fact. And while I’m no longer on speaking terms with the man, I still respect his skill at the craft. His personal beliefs and perspectives on Reality imprinted themselves onto me at an impressionable Age. From there, I began to formulate my own ideas about Reality and existence. Although it did take me a while to formulate the courage to do what I’m doing now, I can say with confidence that my decision to do “the thing” was because of my pops. And yes, my old man published his first novel back in 2021 called “Perfect Justice”, the first in a trilogy. I’ll link his first book . No spoilers, but the book’s synopsis is…wild, haha:
T: You seem to have a healthy enough personal understanding of where you stand with your father. Sometimes it’s hard to separate someone from their art, but you seem to be able to identify the way to do that, and I wonder if that’s because of some of the things you’ve learned about yourself growing up, and even while creating this story.
AC: Agreed! And the genre of the “ro·man à clef” has had a profound influence on my subgenre of Remix Fiction for the reasons you’ve stated. A lot of individuals are not doing psychologically well. Go on Tik-Tok for some examples at your own peril haha. I digress. I mentioned Tik-Tok because of the amount of insight and research that can be acquired from it via observing content creators on YouTube compiling those short Tik-Tok clips into commentated compilations.
It’s horrifying when you notice the same pattern: people treating complaining itself as a kind of profession or career and doing insane things like maxing out credit cards in order to live out some digital version of the American Dream. It’s unnerving because the creative spirit we all possess has become somewhat violated and twisted into a spiritual poisoning by bureaucracy, among other things.
To truly make a difference requires walking the “road less traveled.” For reasons you could probably tell when you read my book, its value is in its inherent “nonsense.” If I went out of my way to adopt an internet persona as a means of peddling my message on social media, I’d only end up diluting my insights and defeating the belief system’s goal. It’s for those reasons that I haven’t made any sales on my books so far. In the long term, as I continue to expand my system and optimize it for future technologies and Opportunities, eventually, my time to shine will arrive. And it’ll be because I earned such a moment authentically, instead of inauthentically.
T: Your book, Grasshopper Sharpshooter, is an atypical presentation, but I say that in the most affectionate way I can. You’ve managed to take concepts from various media and merge them into a reinterpretation of some of life’s lessons. But here’s the twist: as meaningful as it is, it’s a twist on nihilism intended on bringing something that usually lacks meaning into something that has it. It’s delightfully chaotic, and it allows you to play with presentation in ways that most people are unfamiliar with—or might even be uncomfortable with when they first give it a go. But that chaos is sort of the point, and it allows readers to interpret things in their own way. It’s meant to be a story that every person will experience in a unique fashion.
How would you say you came up with that as a concept, and did you find it challenging to stitch everything together in a way that both made sense and, for all intents and purposes, didn’t?
AC: Three years ago, when I decided to stop being a coward and began working on my magnum opus, I had no idea what I was doing. Up until October 2022, I was just your average NPC, struggling to be relevant in a world swiftly abandoning the analog for the digital. Another “everyman” grinding for authentic relevancy, you could say. My intentions for what you’re now reading were superficial at first. “If I can just produce something ‘cute yet comedic’ that can make me some passive income yet stroke my fragile ego, then I can truly tell myself that I made it in life,” I once thought to myself. I was struggling with depression at the time and cannabis was self-medication for me. What came next is something I’ve yet to make sense of. Originally, my masterpiece was supposed to be a satire of light novels and a rip-off of “The Zombie Survival Guide”. The character of @ (aka ATC, ACE, AESOP) was originally supposed to be an expy of both myself and my brothers. An author avatar, so to speak.
During the Spring of 2023, while showering high as a kite, I had the craziest thought. “What if this ‘life guide’ I’m making is in fact some sort of religious scripture that ants, of all things, actually believe in and rely upon for guidance to help them get through the game of life? ChatGPT had just taken over the global zeitgeist at that moment and when the idea of an AI having a religion hit me, I became a “madman” possessed. Little did I know that what I ended up producing could become something similar that the average person can rely upon if they’re unable to reconcile the effect that screen-based technology has had on their life. After I experienced that profound Moment in time, the rest, as they, say was history.
Side Note: This “complete” tome also tackles the concepts of solipsism and cosmicism as well. Naranathism is a cocktail of those two, plus nihilism, lol.
T: So, I don’t know if we ever discussed this in our last conversation, but…why ants? What was it that made you decide to focus on them as the beings to relate things to? Was it sort of interpreting ourselves as these beings that feel like we’re bigger than we really are, and that there’s a whole world beyond us?
Also, Grasshopper Sharpshooter is part of a duology, and you have ants in one part of the duology, and plants in the other part. Can you walk us through how one word can ultimately change a lot of meaning?
AC: Fantastic question. The reason why I picked the ant insect is for two reasons. Reason #1: I have a personal history with ants. My dumbass used to mess around with fire ants as a kid back in kindergarten; 1996 and 1997 were the years, specifically. Ignoring the painful bites, I found the existence of these creatures fascinating. How the hell can a measly insect like an ant not give a #$!@ despite the madness surrounding them and all of us. Inspirational if you ask me. As for Reason #2, it’s the perfect analogy. What could incentivize an insect like an ant to do what it does? A belief system like that would have to be either alien, otherworldly or both; in particular, unlike anything ever perceived or understood by humanity.
My intuition told me to model both my “presence and ambition” after the ants upon seeing how hard they go at life, no cares given.
Now, as for why the plants are involved, that’s a more straightforward explanation. The “ant” in the word “plant” felt too good not to pass up. How can I use these “plants” in my mythos to further demonstrate that my belief system of Naranathism is as much a praxeology as it is a “fictional” religion that can be used by anyone? It then hit me! What if the “plants” believe different things under the same religion unlike the ants, similar to how Catholics and Protestants perceive Christianity differently.
It was then that I found an “excuse” to go crazy on revealing the other parts of my belief system, but under a different “lens”. My sequel project will elaborate more on what the plants themselves believe and how they dispute their preferences with the ants. It’s going to be dope once I release more material!
T: It is interesting being able to see the variety of things that might exist beyond your own initial interpretation of something as meaningful as a belief system. Do you imagine you’ve got everything down pat at this point, or are you still looking to unlock additional information within your beliefs? And I suppose, do you think that’s the point of it all?
AC: Yes! I’ve just figured out the rest of my worldview, thankfully. As a matter of fact, it was only recently that the payoff for my struggles came full circle once I deduced that building my own custom website from the ground up using HTML and CSS was the ultimate solution to my issues regarding censorship and maintaining ownership of one’s media and art. THE STRANGEST MOMENT’s plot is dependent on how I go about telling it, since my Conscience is the wonder tale’s main antagonist. By working on my craft, I’ll be demonstrating to anyone interested in my belief system on how to actualize and practice it.
Life is so damn strange that it only makes sense that my artistic conclusions ended up the way that they are. It feels good starting something new. A way forward amidst the incorrect madness of our times haha. It only takes a few individuals with the wildest of ideas to change the course of things. Here’s hoping all of us engaged in the art of storytelling are within that distinguished group, because someday, the little ones growing up out there in this mad world of ours who are in need of older insights are going to thank us for it someday if we don’t give up. No different than how we ourselves were inspired in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s by the great novelists, cartoonists, musicians and other such artists of yesteryear.
T: Alright, let’s zigzag back to a year ago, when you and I first interacted, though with one of us operating under a different pseudonym! Back in the olden days of February 2025, we conducted an interview with the entity known as No Originality. Is there a creative reason for why you’re now going by Armond Coleman instead of No Originality, or is it a sort of fluid concept, where you can inhabit both of these identities for different reasons?
AC: Yes. Both “No Originality” and “No Originality Whatsoever” are the aliases of the main antagonist of my sequel story: my Conscience. Without spoiling what I’m working on next, the metanarrative of my mythology takes my pseudonyms into account. The two principal characters of GRASSHOPPER SHARPSHOOTER who are the main protagonists of my Current sequel, THE STRANGEST MOMENTS, are on the “hunt” for my Conscience in a metaphysical sense of the word. My pseudonym allows my Conscience to cover his tracks, thus throwing his pursuers off. In the context of the real world, this appears in the form of my privacy and anonymity performing a kind of “cover” for me that can deter the observation of individuals or groups who may or may not have malicious intentions towards either me or someone like me. The World Wide Web is both a curse and blessing. The information you put out can and will be seen by just about everyone. And to assume that everyone in the audience is a saint is a very risky proposition; that last part is my way of paraphrasing Machiavelli here, haha.
T: At the end of the day, this has become an even deeper personal experience. Shedding off the anonymity to present yourself to readers and fans has to come with its own feelings of duality, I’m sure!
AC: Not at all actually, haha. I decided to drop the anonymity for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the storytelling greats that I revere put their faces out there. Why shouldn’t I, haha? Also, with the way the Internet works now, an individual is considered “unimportant” if they’re not causing drama or acting dumb. It took me many years, but by the power of dumb luck, I’m back to perceiving and treating the Internet as I did during the 1990s and the 2000s. I use it as a tool once more, instead of a substitute for Reality. Even though I’m putting myself out there now via this incredible interview, it could possibly make me more relatable to a potential reader and thus worthy of giving my life’s work a shot. I will say that despite opening myself up more for the WWW, I’m still “inaccessible”. I’ve got too much going on IN Reality to forsake it for the digital, fortunately.
Another reason why I dropped my pseudonyms was because of the metanarrative I’ve created for my overall story. That reason will make more sense in due time once I’ve more material prepped for release. Awesome question overall!
T: Thanks! And thank you for always taking the time to give such thought-out responses. Even though I fully admit that your brain works way different than mine, I’m still interested in what makes you tick. Even if I don’t know what all the gears are doing, I can see they’re working, lol.
AC: I’m extremely honored to hear your assessment of my Character! And I’ve my dumb luck to thank for that. I too appreciate what you’ve done as well with your life’s work! Your blog has a nostalgic vibe about it that gives me hope that the Internet we grew up with will someday be reborn like a phoenix. Maybe that’s why we’re in the positions we’re in Currently. To do the things that need doing, even if no one will be around to give us the credit for it, much less care. Kind of similar to how ol’ Bob Ross went about approaching his Vocation lol.
And the difference between all of our psyches as homo sapiens is what makes us unique. Trying to be like someone else is foolish, because you’re not them. Same as if you attempted to imitate a brick wall…not gonna happen haha. It’s for those reasons that I take issue with Current social media and have gone about to recontextualize it as a dangerous entity in GRASSHOPPER SHARPSHOOTER. Of which, by the way, was inspired by the Hypno-Toad from Futurama lol. True story.
To any and all, please look forward to more tomes from yours truly. I’ve plotted out 7 more tomes that I’ll be aiming to release within my lifetime; these upcoming books will be crucial in helping me Achieve my goal of reaching the Age of 108, specifically.
Stay tuned!
T: This grand mythology that you’ve explored is expanding faster than I can keep up! It’s a tapestry with lots of different knots and intentional frays, and I love how it all coalesces with one another. To those who wanted to know exactly what you’ve got out there to dive into, what would you say your catalog is looking like these days? I know there’s the Ole Antmythopoeia, the Old Antmythopoeia, and now Grasshopper Sharpshooter. But I feel like I might be missing some pieces of what you’ve released.
And then I’m interested in finding out what might be coming up, as well!
AC: All of my works that preceded GHSS:ACFDODM&ACTON is what I’d like to call Breadcrumbs. You’ve probably noticed by now that I’m using certain Keywords from my belief system, haha. It’s all a part of my metanarrative, but I digress. Anything that I previously published over the last three years can now be considered “wabi-sabi” or Non-Canonical. Anyone in the Hypothetical that comes across my Non-Canon works and, of whom, is the type of person that I wrote the story for will eventually find the bulk of my work. It wouldn’t be much of an “Interpretation RPG” if everything was laid out in front of you, haha. Like a good detective or adventurer, you have to go out into the unknown to confirm your suspicions about the greater mysteries of the world. The exact same journey that I went on to deliver this metafictional scripture to you all is the same one that has to be treaded in order to make sense of it all. As such, fan fiction and/or fan interpretations of my work is what I’ve come to call “THE WONDERFUL MOMENTS: A Collective Interpretation of Divine Madness” or TWN. That umbrella term, itself, is a hint of things to come, but I think I’ll stay quiet on that for now.
Having said all of that, TWN is meant to succeed me and my work once I eventually pass away. Think of TWN as being the equivalent to the Cthulhu Mythos following H.P. Lovecraft’s passing. That’s the best example I can think of at present.
T: Since your book is on a place like Gumroad, which incentivizes community in ways that some of the big book storefronts lack, do you see a lot of things like fan fiction or reinterpretations? Do people generally get the message that you’re trying to convey, or do you sometimes shake your head and grin, wondering how they’re missing certain things?
AC: No one has read me yet lol. I’m doing what I’m doing now in order to increase my chances of being discovered. How I even found Gumroad was because of the lack of readership I was receiving on the mainstream platforms. In hindsight, that was for the best. These days, so many individuals are uploading information that swiftly buries the information that came before. Upon realizing that I’d have to become unorthodox in order to stand out, my life’s work evolved with that decision. I’ll elaborate more on where and how you can find me at the end of this interview, but in general, I’ve not been read yet. Haha, ain’t it funny; some of the greatest storytellers and thinkers were discovered posthumously, like Nietzsche for example. I’m no longer bothered by not being discovered in my lifetime now upon reflecting on the lives of the deceased.
T: It is interesting when you think about how much is out there right now, but how people do manage to find their way to certain content organically. I have no doubts that folks are going to find their way to your work and their gasts are sure to be flabbered.
AC: Neocities is what I’ll be using as a repository for my works. A custom website in that kind of ecosystem will do me far better than the mainstream platforms as far as discoverability is concerned.
And it’s for that reason that I’m glad I was pushed into this path. Once internet regulation crosses the Rubicon, we can expect to see that old school Internet resurface in more projects like Neocities.
Once you come to an understanding about the past events in your life that led you to where you are Currently and you’re able to make peace with that, I’d say you’ve won in life. That peace of mind is more valuable than all the resources on earth.
T: One of the things that adds another layer of personality into your books is that you also reinterpret video game concepts into your writing. Part of that is that video games are awesome, and why not? But the other part is that you’re given the opportunity to not just reframe the writing, but to reframe life itself through some of the lessons that video games impart. What is it that led you to see things in that way?
AC: I’ve the perfect answer for you and it won’t come from me. Haha, in fact, the best explanation for that question comes from the grandfather of Japanese role-playing games himself, Yuji Horri. This year, an biographical manga about his life story will be released, covering how the intrinsic nature of RPGs from Horri-sama’s perspective was what allowed him to achieve what we’re still experiencing 40+ years later. In a promotional interview, he’s referenced to have joked about how funny it was that when he was putting together the Dragon Quest 1 team some 40 something years ago in the mid-1980s, he couldn’t help but compare the endeavor as being no different than recruiting party members for a tabletop RPG. I want to read that manga once it’s translated, as it’ll probably explain the core tenets that guide me better than how I even understand them Currently. And who better to tell it than from one of my “storytelling grandfathers”? Haha. I’ll post a link to the article that gave me this recent news for anyone that is interested:
T: You’ve certainly got some connective tissue to Horri, in the way that he may have put together his team, but you’ve also got flashes of his early boss at Enix, Yasuhiro Fukashima, who found talent by way of contests. In a lot of ways, you’re sort of using the platform Fiverr to serve as your scouting area to find the people who best suit your vision.
I also like that things are kind of coming full circle, because Horri really enjoyed what he saw of the US-based Wizardry games, and here you are showing your appreciate for him and Dragon Quest.
AC: I’ve heard the cliche that life doesn’t “repeat” itself, but it damn sure “rhymes” a lot growing up. Only till now after I’ve done what I’ve done can I appreciate that cliche. I’ve noticed how much of my efforts seem to mirror the previous actions of my storytelling idols. I’ve no doubt you’ve noticed similar things about yourself when you worked on your own stories and projects like your blog, haha.
It might just be a generational gag too; you know, how every generation does something similar to the previous one without even realizing it until much later. I’ve realized that through Fiverr, I’ve kind of “reversed engineered” the methods and practices of companies and corporations from the past few yesteryears. Realizing that every legendary human being who has ever lived had to go out into the world and make their ambitions happen, but with inferior technologies, can really give you a well-rounded perspective on things.
T: That’s right. You’re able to take a more novel approach to finding talent because you’ve essentially got a portfolio of people right there waiting for you. It’s got to be easier to find just the right people for the cause. I know that your team is pretty broad, but you do happen to thank a few people in your work. Is there anyone you’d like to give a special shout out to who has helped to bring this project to life?
AC: Hmmm, let’s see.
Well, I need to start off by giving a special shout-out to all the females that rejected me early on in my life. You all did me a favor in so many ways and you all were not wrong for the indifference. Failure is not supposed to be bad, it’s meant to help you. In that regard, my ability to acknowledge my own shortcomings and my willingness to change for the better couldn’t have come about if I was rewarded for my maladaptive behavior. Of which, I had in spades because of my undiagnosed autism. Haha, I’m glad I could get that off my chest.
Oh, and another special shout-out to all of the individuals that helped me help myself by giving me Opportunities that I sometimes didn’t deserve, especially during my Air Force days. I do what I do now because all of you believed in my potential. In this one and only life we’ve got, I do not take that kindness for granted. I’ll pay my dues forward till my spirit leaves this earth. I guarantee it.
Lastly, I want to shout out my mother’s side of the family. All my cousins, aunts and uncles, together, gave me the best childhood I could ever ask for. And if it weren’t for my Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw being the kind souls that they were during my formative years, I might not be here today. I could have ended up becoming a statistic or a case study in a hellish timeline, but fortunately we’re here in this one. I got the assignment and I understand it loud and clear. To my loved ones, to include some that I’ll never see again, just know that you mattered, you made a difference and I’ll love you all even when my presence is no longer around. That, in essence, is what I am and why I do what I do. That is what NARANATHISM is, in essence, all about.
That’s about all I got. Thank you for the thoughtful question. I appreciated that.
T: While it takes a very specific kind of creative mind to wrangle all this together, there’s a visual component to your work as well, and that’s seen you put together a team that has left their fingerprints all over the projects. Previously, we’ve talked about the unique skills that people had and how they were able to elevate the books in their own special way. Have you found yourself working with many of these team members again as your projects move forward, or do you prefer to cast a wider net and invite more people to collaborate?
AC: At this point in my “career”, I’ve decided to cast as wide of a net as possible and leave nothing concrete. Part of the reason why my masterpiece has ended up the way it has was because of unexpected setbacks. For example, one Collaborator might suddenly come down with depression one day and can’t deliver on an illustration I need or another Collaborator has an unexpected situation that makes them inaccessible for months. The anarchic nature of my magnum opus was a result of me embracing Life as it is and accepting whatever comes my way as a kind of “progress check” from Mother Nature to see if I still have what it takes to stay in the Game. Random Encounters is what I’ve come to call those Moments. The sequel project and Current tome best exemplifies my love of Uncertainty and my ability to finally embrace it and letting it guide me to where I need to be, rather than where I “think” I should be. Who am I to assume that I know better than Mother Nature? If that was “actually” the case, we’d all be sipping pina coladas somewhere on a distant planet enjoying the celestial view right now, instead of chatting through the World Wide Web, haha.
T: Sort of just letting the wind take you.
And hey, based on that experience in the shower, it feels like nature helped you contribute to your masterpiece a little bit anyway.
Have you had any other moments like that which have steered your creative process? Has anything felt like it was trying to pivot you in a different direction?
AC: Let’s see. Well, I can say one other thing. It happened to me in 1999. I was around 7, if I recall. I played Final Fantasy VIII for the first time and the opening sequence felt like one of those religious experiences that can shift someone down a certain life path, if that makes sense. Even now, damn near 30 years later, I still look back at that moment in time with a sense of dumbfoundedness. I think that experience…whatever it was, was what allowed me to make it to this point in the Game of Life.
Additionally, another piece of media that helped incentivize me to tell the tale that I’m talking to you about now came sometime later in 2004. G4, for those of you who are old enough to know what that is (lol), became a thing on both cable and satellite television. My mentor at the time got me into JRPGs when I met him in 6th grade; we crossed paths when he and his crew saved me from a bully, haha true story. Anyhow, I digress. G4, at the time, was unloading all this new information on the gaming industry at the E3 of that year and getting to watch that sublime experience, combined with my budding companionship with my new friends and them exposing me to the kind of games that they were into had sparked in me the idea of telling my own story as a video game.
If our last interview was anything to go by, that original goal didn’t go to plan. Yet here I am, 22 years later with something decent enough to show for it haha. And I’m just getting started. Good thing I knocked this all out before having kids lol.
T: That’s an interesting concept for a memoir for sure. And just imagine the second chapter of that story with kids in tow!
AC: Wild thought for me to think about, but it could happen haha. And if such a blessing does come my way, I can actually tell my kids that they can achieve the things that they feel that they can achieve by pointing to my own life as the proof. Haha, it’s for that reason that I’m glad I didn’t have kids early. I’m good to go now, but man that would have been a tragedy, some what, if I ended up doing what a lot of careless people do when they’re only thinking short-term.
T: No Originality had mirrored their persona after Banksy, and there was a sort of intentional anonymity to that. But for Armond Coleman, is there anywhere that people could go to discover more about Grasshopper Sharpshooter, The Ole Antmythopia, or Naranathism?
AC: Due to how centralized and regulated the surface web has become with social media censorship and subscription-based control–amongst other things–you’ll only find my “complete” body of work on decentralized platforms like dTube or Odysse. Additionally, I’m in the process of creating a custom website on the Neocities website as a central repository for my art; you could say that this latest web project can be viewed as the equivalent of a “pirate radio station”.
After three solid years of trial and error, I’ve finalized and established my Vocation so to speak. Right now, you can find some of my initial posts on mainstream websites like YouTube or Twitter if you search for “TSM” or anything associated with my work, but those are just Breadcrumbs. Going forward, you can expect to find my “broadcasts” across random places on the Web. I foresee the next few decades twisting into a mundane yet profoundly stupid version of Cyberpunk, with some Folks needing to dive deeper into the unknown parts of the Web that have a vibe and feel similar to the 1990s and 2000s.
Additionally, I’ll be releasing a physical version of GRASSHOPPER SHARPSHOOTER–complete with a semi-canonical short story I wrote two years ago that’ll be exclusive to the physical tome–by the end of this calendar year through Lulu as well. Sadly, it’ll be expensive because of the production costs. Look no further than the price of my past physical works if you need some convincing. The pdf of GRASSHOPPER SHARPSHOOTER is available on Gumroad. I do want to point out that I’ve left a sort of “test” for someone who may or may not be wondering if my fairy tale is for them. If the potential “player” figures out the meaning behind the digital version’s price, then they should definitely go ahead and give my Interpretation RPG a shot; especially if their life sucks right now.
T: Armond, I wanted to thank you for returning to Tellest to divulge more about your fairy tale / memoir / manuscript of beliefs. It’s always a stupefyingly good time seeing what you’ve been up to, and I’m excited to see more people reach your awesome content. I wish you the best as you continue working on it, and I’m looking forward to hearing from you again before too long!
AC: Absolutely! And I want to thank your platform again for not only having me but for also existing. Your blog has made a lot of lives suck less thanks to your efforts to showcase the stories of the authors continuing to push the craft forward, who’d otherwise lack a voice within the mainstream. The next decade and beyond will be something surreal to behold, yet we’re heading that way regardless of how we feel. So long as we do what we’re born to do and not give up, a better tomorrow will inevitably come. Because nothing lasts forever, especially the ugly times. Thanks again for this dope interview.
And best of luck to all of you who’ve decided to play my strange Interpretation RPG(s). Who knows, it could make your life suck less permanently if you figure it all out for yourself.
T: I’d like to once again thank Armond for coming back around and giving us a peek at what he’s been doing since last February. You’re not going to find another person who puts as much of themselves into their work than this storyteller. There’s a lot to find that they’ve worked on. If you want to check out our original topic of collaboration, check out The Ole Antmythopoeia. And if you’d like to check out our more recent topic of collaboration, check out GRASSHOPPER SHARPSHOOTER. We’re looking forward to hearing more from Armond soon!
Michael DeAngelo
Latest posts by Michael DeAngelo (see all)
- Interview with Armond Coleman - February 12, 2026
- Sci-Fi Graphic Novel Promo – Max Idea Project (Volume 1) - February 11, 2026
- Sci-Fi Promo – Project: Stigmergy ([biosecure]) - February 10, 2026