The House At The Edge Of The Woods

Via the magic of e-mail, I now have in my possession the full script of The House At The Edge Of The Woods (what on Earth was Mike thinking when he gave it that title?)

Additionally, he has furnished me with an alternate opening that he couldn't make work, and a couple of previous versions of the script back when it was called 'Mortal Remains'. (Actually, I think I might go back to that title, is has a certain ring to it.)

This means that I can now immerse myself in the script in all its various forms, find out what works and what doesn't, do a bit of mixing and matching, and insert my own take on the entire thing.

I'm actually rather excited about it. It feels good to be embarking on a writing project once again.

In a brief e-mail conversation with Mike, we've decided that once this collaboration is complete, we'll have a chat about working together on a couple more projects, one called "Malzburg's Last Theorem" and another simply entitled "A".

"Malzburg's Last Theorem" is an intriguing concept which I won't go into just yet, but it has shades of William Peter Blatty's "The Ninth Configuration". I think it has enormous potential.

"A" is a different kettle of fish entirely. If I recall correctly (because we originally discussed it some time ago) it deals with the concept of isolation. At one time, I was doing research into the phenomenon of acute social withdrawal which, in Japan, has been given the name Hikikomori.

Again, I think this has the potential to be something rather special.

But, for now, I must warm up my writing muscles with some rather lighter fayre. Thus, I immerse myself in the world of teen horror. With a twist...

On a separate note, I've been thinking lately about The Gentlemen's Club. At present, it's languishing on a couple of hard-drives somewhere, unloved and unwanted. We should really put our minds to sending it out there again.

In the meantime, I'm considering putting a few choice excerpts from it on this blog. Not quite a serialisation, but just enough for people to get a flavour of it.

I'll cogitate on the idea for a bit longer.