THE GAME'S AFOOT

The game is definitely afoot as Sherlock Holmes was apt to say. 

"SPOOK: CONFESSIONS OF A PSYCHIC SPY" has been attracting a lot of interest. I know there are a few favorable reviews being written and hopefully soon I will be able to announce some good news about the novel coming to select book stores.

But right now I have something else on my mind. 

It was recently relayed to me from someone in my Hollywood circle, that I am an arrogant writer for not round-tabling "SPOOK" with other writers and taking their notes. This is a common practice in the Hollywood screenplay world. After nearly every meeting, everybody and their mother has notes for the writer. It's a form of writing by committee to make your script as commercial as humanly possible. 

I've never been a big fan of writing by committee, other than making changes for budgetary reasons or to further the director's vision. I wrote my novel with a young fresh editor because I wanted a young fresh look at a novel that, while set in the past, expounds on themes that are very relevant in America today. 

When I decided to start my company BROOKLYN APACHE PRESS I did so because I wanted to have freedom as an artist to write my novels my way. I also want my voice to be the voice of the unrepresented audiences out there. I want my lead characters to be Black or Spanish or Chinese or  Middle Easterner or female or old or Gay or young. In Hollywood, virtually every script is written for a white male lead. 

What a lot of people in Hollywood don't get is that I'M A FAN OF WHAT I WRITE! I never wrote a sci-fi script because sci-fi was in. I never wrote a horror pilot because "THE WALKING DEAD" is a runaway hit. I write my stories, whether script or novel, as a fan. I'm writing the kind of stuff I want to see. 

I think that makes me selfish more than arrogant.

I love SPOOK. I am a fan of it. Every single word is exactly the way I wanted. This is my voice. It's not going to be everybody's cup of tea. I don't expect it to be. But if you are a fan of this genre, I believe you will be entertained. 

I also hope it makes you think... and feel. 

If it does, then I've done my job.