PASS IT ON

My novel "SPOOK: CONFESSIONS OF A PSYCHIC SPY" has been out for a few months now and it's exciting to see everything that is happening with it. 

In the past, I would have just written it as a spec script and gone through the traditional channels to try and sell it to a studio or studio level company. The company buying my script would have complete control over how it was produced. They could bring in other writers and change anything they wanted. My biggest concern would be they would change the lead character from African American to White. In initial pitches where I talked about how pivotal the Civil Rights movement was to the story I was telling, I actually got statements like, "I really like the whole Cold War spy/Civil Rights dynamics. But is there a way we can do that and have the lead character be White?  Just for sales' sake."

Or, equally as bad, I shop my script and it doesn't sell. Hollywood gatekeepers have their own agenda and it has nothing to do with finding the best script. It's about deal making, making the most money possible and nepotism. 

Without the backing of a studio or studio level company, my spec scripts that don't sell inevitably end up in the back of my sock drawer.

That's why I'm still excited about going straight to the audience for my novels without a traditional printing house. I don't think a traditional printing house would get it anyway. It's not traditional enough.

Also, by printing and building my own audience, I own the project. It is an intellectual property. I can still license a screenplay adaptation to a studio. Only now, they be would less likely to change anything of major importance in the story.

That being said, I am pleased to find out that people who have read my book are passing it on to other people after they are finished. To me that's the greatest compliment (other than giving me a positive review on my Amazon page).

So, whether you bought my book Online, at Book Soup on Sunset in Los Angeles, Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena or if I've given you a free copy (I carry copies around with me and give a copy to anyone who expresses a true interest in reading it), please pass it on once you're done.

There are a billion books being sold Online. I believe that even with those odds, a good book will eventually find an audience. And I wrote this from the heart.

Thanks.

CHECK IT OUT HERE

SPOOK LIVES

This won't be a very long post. I've been on a very tight schedule between working on the new book and trying to promote the two books I already have out.

GAME

It's too early to say too much, but there is interest in SPOOK as a video game from an award winning filmmaker who has been involved in producing video games for Ubisoft ("Assassin's Creed") for the last few years. We should be meeting soon to discuss the possibility. I never thought of SPOOK as a video game, but once I wrapped my head around it, I had a lot of great ideas including how to visually show a mind being remote viewed (cool). I see it as a story-driven, decision based game with an exotic cast of characters. I'll find out soon if the producer is on the same page as I am.

MOVIE
On the other front, the screenplay adaptation of SPOOK is already out to one studio producer and my manager will be getting it to two other studio companies in the coming weeks.

BOOK
I'm working on new deals for the novel.

I should begin work on the sequel to SPOOK in another six months (I have a couple of other novels that I'm working on first). I'm brainstorming on the title for the new book.

That's it for now. Or in the words of the immortal James Brown, "SAY IT LOUD, I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD!"