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Monday, December 31, 2012

Support an author, buy their books!

I was thinking again (oh no). All those books I bought, all those books from the bookshops and internet and Kindle (buy? Ha! Aren't they all free up to 7 days?). I was not only looking for some 'entertainment' but also 'supporting' the authors and the publishing houses. Yes, I've bought Dan Brown books! It's me that is to blame for publishing houses looking for crap to publish, it's my fault that 100s of thousands of potential authors clone Brown's and Grisham's books, desperately trying to get published. It's my fault as a reader that the publishing houses keep the literacy level low! And now that I have no money, I can't go and buy those books which could change the shape of the future literacy market and bring a capital 'L' back into literature. The rot will continue without me!
So, support this author, this author who's trying desperately to increase the literacy level of readers, and get a book!
My books on Amazon.com

Finally, the 4th book!

Honestly.
After 'Rage', my writings gone all over the place, writing short stories, a few poems, some ideas here and there, and 2 novellas, 'Too Dull to Die' and 'Sicknotized'.
Now a few of those ideas keep popping up and now I've got the seed of my 4th book. But what to call it?
The final inspiration came when I was listening to the Stranglers' 'Gospel According to the Men in Black'.
It'll be based on that, that's all I can say at the moment. Maybe I'll call it 'The Manna Machine', though there is alreadyy a book with that title :-(
There's a female character, 4 'strange' men (from another planet), and of course the 'evil' counterparts. The story will revolve around the Manna Machine. There is some stuff on wiki about it, but my Manna Machine is slightly different :-)~ So, watch this space :-)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Cheaper Kindles!

Yes, I finally put the prices down :-)
Amazon.com is doing something strange with the prices, I set them low, and they put them higher???
At the moment, the cheapest place to buy my Kindle books is at Amazon.co.uk.
'Man by a tree' ... £1.02
I tried to make it £0.99 but even Amazon.co.uk put it up a 3p! The other Kindle books will follow very soon, but who knows what Amazon.com is doing???

Thursday, December 27, 2012

'Man by a Tree' Chapter 7 snippet

The first mention of Sniff and Grint, the two dumb hobgoblins orderedto follow Graham Reader around...



“Let’s eat,” said Sniff, eating kept his mind off his nose. They both took out some sandwiches and ate. Grint took out his flask and poured himself a cup of hot fairy tea. He held the cup for a few moments, mesmorised by the action below in the church, or maybe his brain had just stopped, that was more probable. He burnt his hand.
“Oww! It’s hot!” Grint put his tea down on the beam they were sitting on. Sniff put his finger into the cup and measured its temperature.
“Nah, that’s okay, just be careful drinking it.” He took his finger out and continued to eat and wipe his nose.
“Drinking it? I’m not drinking that now. You put your finger in it!” Even the stupid spotted the obvious.
“Okay…” Sniff picked up the cup, measured his finger against the cup, and drank that much from the cup. “See, I’ve drunk that bit now.” He passed the cup back to Grint.
“Oh.” He seemed happy with the result. “But what about my drink? You drank most of it.”
“How about a pixie stick?” Sniff rummaged through his backpack.
“Yeah, that’s com…pen….that’ll do.” It took him time to find words, but long ones were pointless. Sniff took out a pixie stick, a tiny miniscule example of a pixie stick. “Err, that’s a bit small for a pixie stick, ain’t it?”
“Err…” Sniff wiped his nose with his finger.”Nah, it’s just very, very, far away.”
“Oh...right.” Grint was working on the math. “How long will it take to get here?”
“Oh, at least a few seconds, here it comes,” Sniff slowly brought the pixie stick closer and closer. “It’s coming, it’s coming,” closer and closer, “and here it is!” Sniff put it into Grint’s anticipating open mouth, and Grint gleefully began to chew on it. Grint was at first happy, then realising its true size, was a bit disappointed. Shrugging his shoulders, he crunched on it in his mouth and ate it, gone in one gulp.

Why 'Man by a Tree'?

That's what people ask me. Not that they read the book, just they're curious about the title. The books on the market with 'tree' in the title aren't so...interesting. But...
1. The title 'Man by a tree' is one translation of my original family name from my original ancestral place. Other translations are 'man by oak tree', or 'folk by a tree'.
2. The book 'Man by a tree' is about us monkeys. Humankind, after thousands of years of civilization, is still only a step away from their origins in the trees. We are still standing 'by a tree'. Look around, see the shallowness surrounding you...
3. The image of a man by a tree shows loneliness, being alone. There are even some scenes in the book where the main character, Graham Reader, is alone with trees.
4. And there is, of course, the obvious reason, if you have a copy in your hand, that is. You are a 'man' (long ago, 'women' were also called 'men') 'by' a 'tree' (paper is wood)
I've been told it takes a few pages to warm to the book and its style, but once you're in, you're in. Shame not many sales, there's a lot of things said in the book, and I'm not talking about Chapter 2 or 3.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The difference between Self-Publishing and 'Real' Publishing

To continue the topic that everyone's Kindle book is FREE (http://danijcaile.blogspot.hu/2012/12/everyones-kindle-for-free.html), I was thinking about the differences between Self-Published books (A) and 'Real' published books by Publishing Houses (B).
I have read 1000s of books so far in my life, of all types and standards, and in the last year mostly self-published books. In terms of writing skill, there really isn't much between A and B, except that the standard is a little higher in B...but that's not to say there aren't some real humdingers in A! AND there are plenty of bad books in B, books which are so bad I couldn't get past the first page. NO, I'm not fussy, I just don't see why I have to read regurgitated crap.
Other than writing skill, B has the advantage of marketing, distribution, advertising, money and backing (people who will push the book). Sure, group A has friends and family, but this is not the same kind of backing, they're not 'in the business'.
So, unfortunately, IMHO self-publishers have a real hard time...and don't I know it!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Everyone's Kindle for FREE

Just had a Kindle sale, but then it was refunded, which made me think. There are 3 reasons why this happened.
1. It was a mistake, they didn't want to buy it.
2. They bought it, read 1 page, hated it and asked for a refund (likely if they have an IQ of less than 80)
3. They bought it, read it all in the 7 days allowed, and then asked for a refund.
The first is understandable.
The second is just a kick in the butt. I hope it wasn't that one.
The third is...well, Amazon Kindle gives the buyer 7 days. Within those 7 days, the buyer can ask for their money back. That means that if you have the time to read a book in 7 days, you've read it for free!
Not that any of us are in this for money or anything...:-)


By the way...
Update: This post is getting a lot of hits!(yes, there's a few of them now)
Okay, as of 22 Sept 2013...
'Dani's Shorts' and 'TDX2' are still available FREE here...
https://www.smashwords.com/books/byseries/2766
All my other books are on Amazon :-)
http://www.amazon.com/Dani-J-Caile/e/B00CDX0HSM
Please review wherever you can :-)...
And I'll be in the Iron Writer Autumn Equinox Open VERY soon. Please get your voting fingers ready :-)
http://theironwriter.com/tournament/2013-autumn-equnoix-open-participants/

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Talking female dolphin heroine

Working hard on the movie script for 'Rage' at the moment. Looking good. And of course, getting ready for Christmas. It's surprising that no one wants a Jesus book for Christmas, especially mine :-(
https://www.createspace.com/3783797  (Bethlehem Fiasco)
My 1st and 2nd books were heavy on male characters, with only a few female ones, so for my 3rd I wanted a female heroine...and I got one...I guess...but she's a dolphin. Why?
1: I thought a dolphin character would be good, considering it was set in Atlantis, always connected to water, that legend, plus it gave an angle on the prejudice/different races theme.
2: I thought dolphins were loved by all...I guess not.
And why a female dolphin? Because when I tried to write a female human, I didn't feel it was 100% true, but a female dolphin was possible. I'd have to live my life as a girl to really get into a female human character...Did I become a female dolphin, then?....Only for a while :-)
https://www.createspace.com/3845760 (Rage of Atlantis)

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Scenes 4 + 5 of 'Rage'

Here's scenes 4 and 5 from the script of my 3rd book 'Rage of Atlantis'. They should be seen together, as they contrast the world of monkeys, sorry, humans, to the world of hobgoblins. I just loved writing about the hobgoblins in my books, a race of ugly little selfish lazy creatures, rather like the 'Aye-aye' in appearance but with wings.



SCENE 4: POLITICAL CELEBRATION


A large hall with stage, filled with joyous political supporters, flags, music, singing, banners, balloons, party bangers, confetti. Triumphant musical trumpets introduce OEDIOUSPELUS as he makes his way through the crowd to the stage. Supporters and sponsors congratulating, shaking his hand. PLAGAMUS stands in the way to the stage, OEDIOUSPELUS makes his way over to him slowly. OEDIOUSPELUS gets to PLAGAMUS and they shake hands.

PLAGAMUS
Congratulations! Even better than before! What a surprise.

PLAGAMUS moves closer, heads almost touching in loud noisy celebrations.

OEDIOUSPELUS
Just as well otherwise...

PLAGAMUS cuts the hand shaking and gives a stilted laugh. OEDIOUSPELUS and PLAGAMUS wave to the crowd, who are now singing their political party anthem. OEDIOUSPELUS and PLAGAMUS stand up on the stage, OEDIOUSPELUS stands behind the podium, PLAGAMUS behind him, to his right. OEDIOUSPELUS quietens the crowd with arm movements.

OEDIOUSPELUS
People of Atlantis! People of our Great Race and Nation! I want to thank you all for your support in these last historical months. And tonight, tonight you did yourselves and your nation proud!

Cheers errupt from the crowd.

OEDIOUSPELUS
But…

Dramatic pause, OEDIOUSPELUS looks around the large hall.

OEDIOUSPELUS
It is not enough to vote for me…

Crowd is silent, flags stop waving.

OEDIOUSPELUS
We must do more than vote, we must fight! We must fight this ‘unseen’ enemy which even now sought to disrupt such an auspicious day as today. They dared to strike us on such a day! They dared to strike us on our most reverent day! A few moments ago, as you heard, we were once again attacked, in our own place of knowledge, the Main Library. In the heart of our own dear city! We must fight back! We must conquer this ‘unseen’ threat which lies within! We must seek them out and destroy them! But even that is not enough! No! It is not enough! It is not enough to conquer! It is not enough to destroy! We must create the good, nurture the good, so that this evil cannot return!

Crowd errupts in euphoric joy and applause. PLAGAMUS moves closer to a waving OEDIOUSPELUS.

PLAGAMUS
Now we must go see the Auditor.

OEDIOUSPELUS
Easy, now. First the inauguration.

PLAGAMUS
“Oh, yes, of course.

OEDIOUSPELUS and PLAGAMUS continue waving to the noisy crowd.


SCENE 5 - HOBGOBLIN CAVE


From noise to silence. A large cave, some lighting on the walls, the cave filled with young hobgoblins standing around, squabbling, fighting, farting, picking noses. KAILEN is standing on a high rock, with his Generals behind him, shuffling around.

KAILEN
Welcome my fellow hobgoblins!

More farts and some jeers from the crowd.

KAILEN
As you know, my name is Kailen, Lord Kailen, your king and master!

More jeers and burps from the crowd.

KAILEN
If you were expecting a glorious and stupendous speech today, then you will be disapppointed. Just as disappointed with the rest of your miserable little lives. You’re young, you’ll learn!

The crowd quietens down a little.

KAILEN
We are an oppressed race! We are nothing! We are slaves to those in power! And don’t you forget it.

Silence.

KAILEN
Every day of your depressing little lives is without freedom, without hope.

KAILEN looks around the room, now filled with young hobgoblins listening to his speech.

KAILEN
You are the new blood! You are the new force of our race! You are nothing! But as nothing, you can be something! You can do your duty! You can serve your time! And you can look for that inch of a chance, that millimetre of an opportunity…to hit back! Obey, do as commanded, but take your chance, live your mischievous little lives right under the noses of those who oppress you! Sneer at them! Laugh at them! You do have something! You are a hobgoblin, no matter how subjugated, no matter how put down you are! And remember it! Remember that in your tiny veins there is hobgoblin blood, there is the blood of your ancestors, a noble race of villians and thieves who terrorised the universe! Remember!

Tiny applause. Some more farts, most hobgoblins now talking amongst themselves, scratching their bottoms, picking their noses, staring into space.

KAILEN
Boys? Lads?

KAILEN gets some 'yeah's from the crowd.

KAILEN
Just go.

The young hobgoblins slowly shuffle out, the Generals leave too. One hobgoblin stays in the cave, DRUKAN, with KAILEN.

KAILEN
Yes?

DRUKAN
Excuse me, sir, but where do I go?

KAILEN
Where everyone else goes, to the ranks.

DRUKAN
The ranks, sir?

KAILEN
The army, boy, the army. Now, clear off, I’m sure I have something better to do than speak with you.

DRUKAN begrudingly starts to walk out. KAILEN stops him.

KAILEN
Oh, and ‘Oi’, you?

DRUKAN
Yes, sir?

KAILEN
Have a nice day.

DRUKAN
Thank you, sir.

KAILEN and DRUKAN leave the cave separately.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Script Scene 3 - 'Rage'

I really have to start putting finger to keyboard again and transfer my books to scripts. They're very 'open' as books, they allow the reader to use their own schemata to colour the story, but as scripts the story shines through.
Here's Scene 3 from 'Rage'. I'll consider any offers :-)~


SCENE 3 – ON THE BEACH


Camera zooms down through the clouds from last scene, celebrations in Atlantis can be seen, with crowds, a few fireworks in the day, but the camera moves on, onto a beach filled with empty deckchairs. SIPHO is walking towards a secure terminal situated on the end of a low pier carrying a bucket of fish. KANG DEE the dolphin, with a small translation and voice box stuck to her head, can be seen swimming around the same area and camera closes in when SIPHO enters his code into the terminal.

SIPHO
Phew! I’m so tired I could watch a dog grow.

SIPHO sits down on the chair next to the terminal, only to feel the claw of a Blue Land crab on his behind. SIPHO grabs the crab and throws it into the deeper water by the pier. KANG DEE flops onto the end of the low pier, SIPHO smiles, and throws KANG DEE a fish from the bucket.

KANG DEE
(clickety click) What’s up, Sipho? Life’s pushing you too hard?

KANG DEE flaps his tail in the water, SIPHO relaxes back in his chair.

SIPHO
No, not really. It’s just…the menial tasks, you know, they get to you.
The paperwork, the duties, the quadrilateral quantum ratios...

A seagull screeches overhead, both SIPHO and KANG DEE look up. The beach is deserted. SIPHO presses buttons on the terminal, checking figures and watching a holographic prediction of how the Dome defence system would work. The report’s results show 96% efficiency.

KANG DEE
That would be 13.41 years. Give or take.

SIPHO
What?

KANG DEE
Dog life expectancy, that is.

SIPHO
Oh, right, really? That long?
How do you know that?

KANG DEE
Just because I spend my day eating fish and talking to my bull and kids, doesn’t mean I don’t know a thing or two. You never lose it, you know, not even after 20 million years of devolution.

SIPHO
Right.

SIPHO shuts the terminal down and turns his chair to face KANG DEE.

SIPHO
Have you checked on the Leths?

KANG DEE
Of course I have. They’re a bit sleepy at the moment, maybe I should cut back on their rations.

Some distant dolphins sounds come from the water behind in the bay. KANG DEE turns to the sound.

KANG DEE
Oh, my family. They’re calling. Sorry.
Can I go, boss?

SIPHO
Sure.

KANG DEE swims away, waving at SIPHO on her back and disappears. SIPHO locks up the terminal, stands up and watches the water. SIPHO gets splashed by KANG DEE.

SIPHO
Hey!

KANG DEE
Sorry. Habit.

A huge explosion in Atlantis makes SIPHO jump, and ripples the water. Camera quickly moves to celebrating crowd outside the Main Library, huge explosion, people shocked, back to the beach, still large sound, then picture of world, can hear a ‘fish kiss’. Back on the beach, SIPHO takes out a single tubed binocular and looks through it at the city, which can be seen through the low hills of the beach.

SIPHO

Looks like we’ve got work to do.

SIPHO lowers the single tubed binocular, and gets splashed again by KANG DEE.

KANG DEE
I’ll go see what the kids want, then I’ll meet you there.

KANG DEE swims off, SIPHO shakes off some water and quickly makes his way towards his parked personal coptor.


Saturday, December 15, 2012

Sicknotized - stream of consciousness?

My 2nd short story has finally taken shape. I was going to call it 'Code 764', or 'Olmecian Aftermath', then I stuck to 'Forgotten'. Dull, I thought. After reading through, it has got to be called 'Sicknotized', with its strange little style, sometimes moving close to stream of consciousness, sometimes relying on dialogue, sometimes on silly thoughts. Just over 6000 words, you can find it here...
http://jottify.com/works/sicknotized/
Go and have a read...please :-)

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Non-descriptive narrative is 'Good For You'

I really really really really really (enough?) hate Grisham and all those (a million clone writers) that describe things right down to the shoes and socks the characters are wearing. These writers destroy the reader's imagination, feeding their brains with 100% of information, with no room on the page to 'breathe'.
I guess my writing style is a reaction to that, writing sparse description, giving the reader almost complete control of how they 'see' the scenes/places/characters, with the reader using their own previous knowledge and schemata to fill in the details, with myself only giving essential information, and of course, the dialogue and story, which are always full of ideas and humour.

'The Bethlehem Fiasco' is the easiest to get into, as everyone has some idea of what it looks like in the book, it's hot and sandy, plus everyone already knows the story, and probably watched 'Life of Brian'.
'Man by a tree' and 'Rage of Atlantis' take about 50 pages to get into, as the worlds inside them are 'new' to the reader, but once they're 'in', they race through the fast-paced stories and say...'wow'.
So...do you know how good this 'non-descriptive narrative' is for you? Do you know how much your brain / mind will be energised? Some readers say they read a random chapter or two every day to keep (wait for it, wait for it)...open / creative / charged / happy / healthy / a smile on their face.

I write plays?

Finally, a comment on 'Too Dull to Die' from someone on authonomy.com. The comment really beings home what I've suspected for quite some time now, that I write scripts or plays, and not books, in the sense of the classic 'descriptive narrative'. Re-writing Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream for the kids at school got me thinking that way too, and even when I was directing it, helping them with them with their performances...it all made me think I'm a playwright more than an author. So, still working on 'Rage' script, and have a little of 'Bethlehem Fiasco' in script, too. I must finish all 3 books as scripts/plays sometime...
Anyway, here's the comment :-)

Hi Dani, I like the story, someone who is as lost dead, as he probably was living. It is easy to read and fast paced, a little too fast paced perhaps. I think it reads too much like a play, interspersed with a few stage directions. Which is fine if it is a play! Now, I am not someone who could be bothered to wade my way through pages and pages of descriptive rubbish, I mean if a killer has crept in to murder someone in their shower, who cares what the bathroom looks like? But perhaps a little view of what 'upstairs' was like, or a bit of back story - how did he die? Where abouts did he live, to be able to live such a banal life? At the end of chapter four (as far as I got) it states 'there was so much detail...' I will read on, of course, just to see what happens, for despite what I have mentioned, I believe that overall, it is the story that counts!
Good Luck with it...

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Midsummer Night's Dream Uploaded

Yes, my simple silly light humoured 30 minute version of Midsummer Night's Dream is on the net. I haven't written it in book 'style' yet, but I have uploaded the play's script and any other details up onto a spare site slot at...
http://djcshakespeare.yolasite.com/
...for all those ESL teachers who need a little 'classy' school play for their groups. Nothing better than Shakespeare...except for a little bit of Godot, of course. Now, to simplify that one would be just nonsense :-)

Saturday, December 8, 2012

1st taste of Publishing...back in 2000 and something...

...I moved from teaching adults to children and noticed instantly that there was a need for more visual tools for learning English. What was on the market was crap, and the best was about 30 years old, an old series from the BBC.
A few months later, an aquaintance (the MD) of a publishing company said they had an idea to teach children English, and needed someone to write some scripts and a book. They wanted to create a short 'TV series' type product, a DVD with matching book, so I got to work, and in a month produced said scripts (with pictures of camera shots), and a rough version of a picture book. They bought the patent off me, and said I should get people together to do it. I found the children, the illustrator for the book, a company who would film the series and the puppets needed for the film and book. We were all ready to go. A few weeks went by and the MD gave the whole thing over to their own Project Manager to control. Months went by without a word. After pushing and calling and e-mailing the hell out of the publishing company, I found that they wanted me to 'proofread' a revised script, which I didn't like. At this point they hadn't paid me yet, and said if I didn't proofread it, I wouldn't get the money. I did as they asked, got the money, but knew something was wrong...
One year later, the Project was scrapped. The children thought I'd let them down, the illustrator was taken on and created the book, but not to my specifications, and looked like shit. The worst to come...a new film company was taken on, with new actors and puppets, and the standard of English pronunciation (this was meant as a learning tool) was WAY BAD, the ESL children would've done it right. They tried to re-dub it with another Englishman, but it just sounded stupid. Plus it was completely the opposite of what it should've been....BRIGHT! The puppeteers played in the dark, not the way I had planned. I finally found out that the Project Manager had given the filming and puppeteering to his FRIENDS, approximately 15,000 dollars (a LOT of money in this country, think in terms of 60,000 dollars in the USA). And HE was the only one who saw it (about 50+ people) who thought the film was good.
Just before the project was scrapped, I made 2 song videos to show what I meant, and the people who worked at the publishing company loved them and wanted to know when I would finish the whole project... the Project Manager hated them, and accused me of doing to him exactly what he'd done to me.
A couple more years, I get the copyright back...:-)

Friday, December 7, 2012

Fantastic Shakespeare Performance

Well, 23 twelve year old ESL children did a FANTASTIC job of playing my version of Midsummer Night's Dream. Okay, so it got a bit hairy at the end, one kid almost fainted when he forgot his big line "Go on, moon!", and one overzealous kid speaking their line before the others, but other than that, a very good school play. The audience were mainly quiet, the most laughs and noise came from the sword fight between Demetrius and Lysander, and when Snug played the lion, roaring and biting the 'cloak' (which was a scarf).
There were sniggers and giggles at a few jokes, but it was only at the end when the audience 'erupted' with whistles and applause (as it should be). The 23 kids were buzzing! And so they should, they put a lot of work into it. The performance was exactly 29 minutes (we've got a recording - we had 2 cameras going in 2 very expensive mobile telephones, but one was cut short by the father calling to find out when the performance was on...) and myself and the children received a ton of praise, for something which has never been done before in the school, probably the district, the city and even the country! I'm writing it up in normal DJC-style :-)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Twitter + Shakespeare

All week I've been using Twitter, slowly adding more people I'm Following and about 50% Follow back, which is nice. So far, not many following at all, but it's a nice community, you can tweet to others, be funny, nice, sympathetic, agree (or disagree and be blocked). Doesn't sell any books, though, rather like this blog...
Tomorrow is the School Play of my version of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream with the ESL 6th form. Who knows how it will turn out, they have enough props! No matter what, it will be the biggest, longest, hardest, and stupidest English play ever performed in this city by children, probably in this country, and perhaps even this region of Europe! And do my colleagues and bosses recognise what a BIG DEAL this all is? No. I'm trying to get someone to video it, so it won't be lost in history. There's even my immediate English boss trying to upstage me with an 8 minute 'Goldilocks and the 3 Bears'...ridiculous. I'm sure she'll get more praise from my colleagues, too. What a sad little place it is.
Still working on 'Rage' script...slowly...:-) Plus my new 'Caveman' book...

Monday, December 3, 2012

Swearing and the Swear Free Zone

I think I got called a 'dopey cunt' by a Christian Celeb on twitter, though I'm not sure because he didn't @ me. How completely Christian of him to attack someone (maybe not me, maybe someone else) who has different views to him. Plus he said 'whoever' writes 'anti-religious stuff', which if he was pointing at me, then he's wrong on that count, too. Religions, or the faith they can create are good for you, but the organisations which control them and the followers are corrupt and always will be. 'Anti-establishment stuff', yes.
I have a 'Swear Free Zone' label on all my books, not because I'm against swearing, I swear all the time, but because the books don't need swearing in them. They might also make other people with strong beliefs attack my books just for those words. There's enough in the books to attack, let alone on that count. But wouldn't the world be a better place without the NEED to swear. Unfortunately, there are idiots everywhere (including ourselves) and there are always situations in which people swear.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Script - Rage of Atlantis Scene 1

Amazon has a 'Amazon Studio' who will look at your scripts and decide whether to buy the license or not, so I've started on my 3rd book 1st, then 2nd, then 1st. 10,000 dollars if they take it up, and MUCH more if they actually decide to make it into a movie. I'll try anything once...twice...thrice :-)
Here's the 1st scene...


SCENE 1: RUNNING

TELAUSIS being chased by a dark figure (IOLUS) through a moving crowd of people celebrating an election victory, with flags, balloons, drinks, dancing, happy faces. TELAUSIS looking back, stumbling, moves through a city square towards a building with large wooden doors, the City Library.

TELAUSIS
Get out of my way!

TELAUSIS pushes his way to the doors and moves the large ancient knocker on the City Library’s doors.(Bang bang bang) A few seconds of silence from inside.

LEUS
We’re closed!

TELAUSIS
You think I don’t know that?! Open up!

TELAUSIS looks back, searching for the dark figure (IOLUS).

LEUS
Is that you, Tela?

LEUS moves the bolts back behind the doors and one side creaks open. TELAUSIS drops through the crack, falling at LEUS’s slippered feet.

LEUS
What the…?

TELAUSIS
Leus?

LEUS
Yes?

TELAUSIS
Close the door.

LEUS pushes the door closed, keeping out the noises from outside.

TELAUSIS
Now, Leus?

LEUS
Yes?

TELAUSIS
Do you happen to have a copy of ‘The Fool’s Guide to defusing bombs’, by any chance? Preferably by Ivor Tickonme or Arthur Greenwire?

LEUS thinks and shuffles around in his slippers.


LEUS
Mmm, I don’t recall that particular edition, no…I can do a search for you on the system? Could take a while, it’s been playing up recently.

TELAUSIS
Well, then, no, I don’t think there’s…apologies, my old friend, but run. Please run.

TELAUSIS falls unconscious, his cloak opens, revealing a small pool of blood seeping from his body, and the broken head of a barbed fishing spear penetrating his frogged blazer, On the remains of the shaft is a small timebomb and explosive. Two minutes and twenty four seconds shows on the counter. TELAUSIS opens his eyes for the last time.

TELAUSIS
And if you can’t run, shuffle.

TELAUSIS dies, LEUS is in shock, then starts to shuffle away into the City Library, away from TELAUSIS’s dead body.