IS FICTION A LIE THAT REVEALS THE TRUTH?

Humm...

Is fiction a lie that reveals the truth? I think that GREAT fiction is a lie that reveals the truth. So... it is and it isn't. If your goal is to create a summer tentpole popcorn action film, then you probably aren't interested in truth, merely money. And there's nothing wrong with that. If your goal is to write the great American novel, then it is. 

So, it's all about knowing what your goal is. Classic old TV shows like "STAR TREK" are prime examples of lies that revealed the truth about the times the writers of those shows, lived in. "Star Trek" broke new ground with the first televised interracial kiss between Kirk and Uhura. The episode "City at the Edge of Forever" (written by one of my favorite writers Harlan Ellison), is a meditation on the greater good and whether the ends justify the means. In "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," aliens whose bodies were white on one side and black on the other side, waged a race war against one another based on what side you were black on and what side you were white on. 

Which - btw - is just as absurd as hating a person because they're Black, or from the Middle East, or Gay.

Which - btw - is just as absurd and racist as thinking writers of Color are inferior to White writers.

In my upcoming Cold War spy drama "SPOOK: Confessions of a Psychic Spy," I put a microscope to the American dream. In "Spook," we have a conflicted protagonist in John Henry. Because he is the world's most powerful remote viewer, the CIA is forced to use him, even though they hate him because he is Black. While fighting for democracy in foreign superpowers, John ironically enjoys more freedoms there, than he does in his home country which has a policy of apartheid towards Black people.

Just food for thought.

UPDATES:

"DEATH DEFYER"

I just finished a rewrite of the pilot script for my TV series I'm currently shopping to studio Hollywood with a producing partner. It's about a rogue group of stunt people who, blackballed by Hollywood, endeavor to create the most dangerous live action stunt show in the world. The only thing that stands in the way is themselves.

We're looking to assemble a team (director, EP, star actor) and so far have interest.

"THE BLACK ALBUM: A Hollywood Horror Story"

I had planned on doing a big push for TBA last Friday, but was waylayed by a cold that had me so congested, I couldn't sleep for days. I plan to pull more footage from the scarist movie you'll never see and post it Online.

I am talking to investors about a reboot of the movie and have rewritten the original screenplay. I'll keep you posted. 

"SPOOK: Confessions of a Psychic Spy"

I finished my first pass of the novel a few weeks ago and handed it off to my editor. I am starting to get back notes from her now. She really dug it and said what I hope everyone says, 'There has to be a sequel.' "SPOOK" is planned as a series of novels that takes our character from 1960 through the Sixties, Seventies, and Eighties, until the end of the Cold War.

Like I said, this is my Ian Flemings' James Bond.

That's all for now.

SIN-cerely,

Carlton Kenneth Holder

"I see you!"

Images courtesy of "The Black Album"