A Novel Idea or Two

Yes, Anne, I do write other things besides this blog. I'm no one-trick pony. I'm more of a two-trick ferret. I find it difficult, however, to add to my novel, which I've been working on since 1997. It's science fiction and called, The Last American on Earth. If I get some balls surgically implanted, I may be able to screw up the courage to post a portion of it on here. I've written about 200 pages of scenes, but I have trouble bringing it all together. And it's heavy on the science, so I have done a lot of research on faster-than-light space travel, relativity, particle resistance and some other interesting things. Naturally, it's a tragedy, heavy on the dialogue and packed lovingly with irony.

Also, I'm working on a short story entitled, simply enough, Two Hills. Unlike Last American on Earth, I've kept the story simple. It's about a young gay man who seeks revenge on the person responsible for the death of his secret lover. The victim's father forgives the man who accidentally killed his son. But our protagonist simply cannot forgive, so he turns to the supernatural for help. When I'm in the right mood, I greatly enjoy writing this story. But it may never see the light of day. I respect my friends too much to ask them to read something that even I don't like.

My father wants me to write the screenplay for Patrick Suskind's amazing novel, Perfume. He gave me the book to read a while ago, and I put it away without reading it. I just recently re-discovered it and I'm sure glad I did. A wild, funky adventure. And it would make an outstanding movie, in the right hands. I may do that yet, write the screenplay, that is.

In addition to poetry, that's all I'm writing write now. Some of my emails are pages long, but that doesn't count. I have a little notebook of ideas, but most of them suck. For example, I wanted to write a musical about the Iran/Contra Hearings back in the mid-1980's. Perhaps an operetta! I imagine a comedy with a partially unsung libretto. At one point, there would be a magnificent show-stopper with Barbara Honegger, Oliver North, and Ronald Reagan himself. It would be great if I could squeeze in a young George Bush, as the son of Reagan's vice-president. I see him wistfully imagining what his presidency will be like; "I'll be king of the world some day, some day, I'll be king of the world SOOOMMMEEDDDAAAYYY!" Actually, something like that could write itself. Perhaps I could get Adam to write the music.