It’s frustrating sometimes being a writer of horror. For instance, no matter how finely tuned my imagination may be to the darkest corners of humanity, I could never think up anything quite as horrifying as the picture to your left. It’s important to remember that there will always be someone out there outdoing your best efforts, so the difference between failure and success might come down to such arbitrary matters as perseverance, serendipitous contacts, and – as is likely in this unfortunate case – pure, dumb luck. Sure, the photographer may have known that both of these individuals would be attending whatever event was tasteless enough to let them both in the door, but who could have really predicted this morsel of malevolence and morbidity. Look at them. Their brief union maintains enough combustive loathing to wipe out half the room if held for too long. And I want you all to know that I posted the above image after great deliberation, and considered several times to abort the idea, but in the end I thought it held too important a message for those writers and lovers of horror to censor: monsters are real. Therefore, our work is important to expose them and their minions.

Especially the minions.

Okay, away from my “scared straight” segment and onto other news with a nicer picture. I’ve received my first rejection letter from the good people at Trident Media Group. I name-drop them not because I want to rail them for refusing to stop the presses and herald my obvious genius, but to thank them for such a thoughtful return correspondence. Even though they touched a small nerve by saying they weren’t “enthusiastic enough” about my pitch to consider representation, they referred me to a website that might help me find someone who was. Forget that I was a screenwriter contacting an agency dedicated to authors of novels and so forth, they still cared enough to reward my stupidity with what little direction they could offer. So, I salute you TMG! You’re a credit to your industry. Who knows, perhaps we’ll meet again.

And I’m not just joshing about that. As I’ve mentioned in some detail several times before, I’ve been hopelessly and passionately drawn to my next project, currently titled The Unveiling. It affords me some new and fun challenges regarding a very different kind of story and main character (although related in the way all my reluctant heroes seem to be, not to mention this painting jones I’ve got) and requires that I do quite a bit of research. But I love research, and am looking forward to digging into the six books I just purchased on various aspects in and around the City of Paris on and around the turn of the 20th century. So much was happening there at that time, that it must have been regarded as the most culturally exciting and transforming place on earth, which dovetails nicely into my emerging theme. So I did what I usually do and hit my bookstore in the hopes of finding some interesting and enlightening reading material. Six books and $72.68 later, I’ve got plenty to keep me busy for awhile. The last time I did a period piece was Outside Men, and I’m seriously looking forward to tackling this one which will be of a completely different tone and, if you will, hue – it will be spooky but cooler, much closer to Picasso’s blue period than the brash and bold imagery of the Second World War. And I have an “opening credits” sequence which I’m dying to write that should seduce as well as chill. Excellent.

But first, it’s time to hit the books and decide if what I come up with belongs as a screenplay, or perhaps in the form of another submission that the folks at Trident Media Group can actually use.